Pursuant to Public Law 115-414, Good Accounting Obligation in Government Act, this technical material supports the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Fiscal Year 2023 Congressional Budget Justification and provides requisite details for Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Office of the Inspector General (OIG) public audit recommendations over 1 year old. As required, the information includes anticipated timelines for implementation and justifications for any recommendations we do not plan to implement.
We take seriously the recommendations of GAO and OIG, and we make every effort to implement their suggested corrective actions as promptly as possible. Since our last submission in April 2021, and while working through workload challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to close 56 recommendations before they reached one year old and 77 recommendations that were already one year old. We must, however, use a risk-based approach to balance this work with our many competing responsibilities. For example, many of the open recommendations included in this report require information technology (IT) changes. Because we are modernizing our IT systems over several years, we will implement these recommendations as part of that project rather than incorporating them into our old systems.
We appreciate the work of GAO and OIG. We will continue our efforts to implement their insightful recommendations.
1 This document includes open public recommendations that were at least one year old on October 1, 2021.
2 All statuses are current through February 28, 2022.
Audit Number (SSA number) Report Title |
Rec. Date |
Recommendation |
GAO Status |
SSA Implementation Status2 |
---|---|---|---|---|
GAO-15-531 (12014032) DISABILITY INSURANCE: Actions Needed to Help Prevent Potential Overpayments to Individuals Receiving Concurrent Federal Workers' Compensation |
10/09/15 |
Recommendation 4: To improve [the Social Security Administration’s (SSA)] ability to detect, prevent, and recover potential [Disability Insurance (DI)] benefit overpayments due to the concurrent receipt of [Federal Employee Compensation Act (FECA)] benefits, the Commissioner of Social Security should strengthen internal controls designed to prevent DI overpayments due to the concurrent receipt of FECA benefits by implementing the alternative that provides the greatest net benefits. |
Open |
Open. We continue to work with Department of Labor (DOL) to establish a FECA data exchange to support both agencies. We do not currently have an estimated implementation date for this recommendation. |
GAO-18-323 (12017004) RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD: Additional Controls and Oversight of Financial Interchange Transfers Needed |
5/21/18 |
Recommendation 1 (GAO recommendation 6): Work with the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) to explore options for electronically sharing data and limiting the reliance of the financial interchange process on manual data entry. |
Open |
Open. RRB expects to complete its financial interchange handbook in FY 2022. We continue to work with RRB to identify required fields to streamline their data files into a format that is compatible with our systems. We anticipate meeting with RRB in FY 2022 to finalize the file format and to finalize a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to exchange data by the end of FY 2022. |
GAO-19-58 (12018002) CLOUD COMPUTING: Agencies Have Increased Usage and Realized Benefits, but Cost and Savings Data Need to Be Better Tracked |
05/06/19 |
Recommendation 3 (GAO recommendation 35): Ensure that the [Chief Information Officer] of SSA establishes a consistent and repeatable mechanism to track savings and cost avoidances from the migration and deployment of cloud services. |
Open |
Open. We plan to implement a total cost of ownership model for our cloud expenditures. When implemented, the model will track our cloud savings and cost avoidances. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2023.
|
GAO-19-688 (12018023) SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries
|
10/04/19 |
Recommendation 1: The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should ensure that (a) the agency’s policies and guidance are specific enough so field office staff know how to apply complex suitability criteria for assessing payee suitability, such as by providing a minimum set of specific questions, and (b) additional regional guidance that is made available to staff is centrally reviewed for compliance and completeness. |
Open |
Open. We are considering policy changes to clarify suitability criteria. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2023. |
GAO-19-688 (12018023) SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries |
10/04/19 |
Recommendation 2: The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should create safeguards in the [electronic Representative Payee System (eRPS)] to ensure that field office staff fully document all required information, such as the rationale for their decision, before approving an application. |
Open |
Open. We continue to evaluate eRPS’s functionality to determine whether it can support the documentation of representative payee selection decisions. Our efforts to implement the recommendation will continue until completion in FY 2024. |
GAO-19-688 (12018023) SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries |
10/04/19 |
Recommendation 3: The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should complete a plan, including timeframes, for comprehensively evaluating if and how to leverage external sources of information on organizations’ suitability, such as by conducting background checks or credit checks on organizations or key staff that handle beneficiaries’ funds or requiring organizations to conduct their own background checks on key staff. |
Open |
Open. Our contractor completed its research on using credit reports in the selection and monitoring of organizational representative payees in July 2021. We are currently reviewing the research to determine our next steps. We expect to complete our review in the second half of FY 2022. |
GAO-19-688 (12018023) SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries
|
10/04/19 |
Recommendation 4: The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should develop and implement mechanisms to systematically obtain and review feedback from organizational payees and communicate findings to SSA management. |
Open |
Open. We will use the Engage SSA tool (an online feedback tool) to obtain feedback from organizational representative payees at the national level. We currently have no estimate for implementing this recommendation. |
GAO-19-688 (12018023) SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries |
10/04/19 |
Recommendation 5: The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should (a) establish a plan and time frame for reviewing the predictive model’s design, (b) consider additional data sources that may allow for more timely reviews of the predictive model and enhance its effectiveness, and (c) ensure that subsequent design decisions are documented in sufficient detail so the development process can be understood and replicated, either by SSA or a knowledgeable third party, without further explanation. |
Open |
Open. In FY 2022, we will completely update the representative payee model; we will fully document the process to comply with part (c) of the recommendation. Our update will improve predictive model performance by (a) expanding the scope of our historic training data to 10 years, (b) experimenting with new, more modern models, and (c) experimenting with new data available in-house and from external sources. After updating the model, we will finalize our plan for reviewing and updating the model on a regular basis. |
GAO-19-688 (12018023) SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries |
10/04/19 |
Recommendation 6: The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should require field offices to contact payees about missing or problematic annual accounting forms within a specific timeframe. |
Open |
Open. We expect to implement accounting form processing timeframes and electronic Representative Payee Accounting system enhancements by the end of FY 2023. |
GAO-19-688 (12018023) SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS: SSA Needs to Improve Oversight of Organizations that Manage Money for Vulnerable Beneficiaries |
10/04/19 |
Recommendation 7: The Commissioner of the Social Security Administration should revise the annual accounting form to enhance its effectiveness. Such revisions could include (but not be limited to) more fully ascertaining the use of collective accounts, adopting stakeholders’ recommendations on using the form to collect more meaningful data, and reflecting best practices from behavioral science insights in the design of the form. |
Open |
Open. We are working on changes to the annual representative payee accounting form. We do not currently have an estimated implementation date for this recommendation. |
GAO-20-336 (12019013) PAYMENT INTEGRITY: Selected Agencies Should Improve Efforts to Evaluate Effectiveness of Corrective Actions to Reduce Improper Payments |
04/01/20 |
Recommendation 1 (GAO recommendation 7): The Commissioner of SSA should develop and implement a process, documented in policies and procedures, to measure the effectiveness of the agency’s corrective actions for OASDI and SSI improper payments. This process should clearly demonstrate the effect SSA’s corrective actions have on reducing improper payments. |
Open |
Open. We continue to identify and measure the root causes of improper payments, and we are in the process of documenting corrective actions in multiple Improper Payment Alignment Strategies (IPAS). In FY 2021, we completed IPASs for nine areas of improper payments. Additionally, we developed a draft framework to measure the effectiveness of completed corrective actions within the IPASs. The framework includes establishing measurements and benchmarks to evaluate the corrective actions, assessing the impact of each action, and determining if additional mitigating activities are necessary. There are significant challenges in isolating the impact of any single corrective action to the overall reduction of improper payments. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2022. |
GAO-20-123 (12018030) CYBERSECURITY: Selected Federal Agencies Need to Coordinate on Requirements and Assessments of States |
05/27/20 |
Recommendation 3 (GAO recommendation 12): The Commissioner of SSA should revise its assessment policies to maximize coordination with other federal agencies to the greatest extent practicable. |
Open |
Open. We met with the Criminal Justice Information Services and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to discuss ideas for coordinating activities. Further progress in this area requires a multi-agency meeting where agencies can reach consensus regarding coordination and information sharing. We do not currently have an implementation date for this recommendation. |
GAO-20-384 (12019008) DISABILITY EMPLOYMENT: Hiring Has Increased but Action Needed to Assess Retention, Training, and Reasonable Accommodations Efforts |
06/11/20 |
Recommendation 1 (GAO recommendation 6): The Commissioner of SSA should develop and implement policies and procedures for assessing and tracking the impact of training provided to agency hiring managers and human resources staff on Schedule A hiring authority. This includes assessing the impact of its training on agency performance goals related to increased hiring of individuals with disabilities and targeted disabilities. |
Open |
Open. In December 2021, we released the Leadership Fundamentals Curriculum for managers and supervisors, which includes a training module on reasonable accommodation (RA). Additionally, from March 1, 2022 through June 29, 2022, all agency managers and supervisors are required to complete Employer Awareness Training for Managers that includes information on the RA process as well as Schedule A hiring authority. We will evaluate the training with survey assessments, and we will employ analytical models to evaluate the effect the updated curriculum has on the recruitment and retention of employees with disabilities and employees with targeted disabilities. We expect to complete this recommendation by the end of FY 2022. |
GAO-20-523 (12019005) FEDERAL EMPLOYEES’ COMPENSATION ACT: Comparisons of Benefits in Retirement and Actions Needed to Help Insurers Choose Best Options |
08/21/20 |
Recommendation 1 (GAO recommendation 3): The Commissioner of Social Security should direct the Office of Earnings and International Operations to coordinate with the Division of Federal Employees’ Compensation to take steps to modernize and improve the processes of manually generating benefit amounts with and without federal earnings and exchanging information between agencies to enable the provision of offset estimates to FECA recipients upon request and to reduce the potential for human error in applying offsets. |
Open |
Open. In July 2020, we began sending responses to DOL benefit amount requests via DOL’s web portal, rather than mailing paper responses. With this change, we saw tremendous improvement in processing times and cleared backlogged items. We have completed 75 percent of the work necessary to automate receipt of DOL benefit amount requests. When the automation is complete, DOL’s requests will come through a FAX server and automatically upload to our system for processing. As this recommendation involves the completion of data match agreements between SSA and DOL, we anticipate implementation of this recommendation in fiscal year 2024. |
3 Beginning with the submission for the FY 2022 budget, we will only report recommendations that GAO closed as unimplemented since our last submission. Please reference our FY 2021 and FY 2022 submissions for a comprehensive list of recommendations GAO previously closed as unimplemented.
GAO did not close any recommendations as unimplemented since we submitted our report for the FY 2022 budget.
1 This document includes open recommendations that were at least one year old as of October 1, 2021.
2 All statuses are current through February 28, 2022.
OIG Audit Number (SSA Audit Number) Report Title
|
Rec. Date
|
Recommendation
|
OIG Status |
SSA Status2 |
---|---|---|---|---|
A-07-15-15030 (22015005) Supplemental Security Income Overpayments Pending a Collection Determination by Social Security Administration |
9/22/15 |
Recommendation 4: Rectify the issues, including the systems limitations and unresolved diaries found during this review, causing overpayments to be unresolved. |
Open |
Open. Our new debt management product (DMP) will eliminate the occurrence of these cases in the future. We expect implementation of DMP in FY 2023. |
A-08-16-50030 (22016007) Assessment of the Social Security Administration’s Plan to Achieve Self Support Program |
9/27/16 |
Recommendation 3: Establish routine program monitoring and quality control reviews. |
Open |
Open. We are currently updating the Plan to Achieve Self-Support Control and Information System to streamline the process and improve functionality. We expect to complete these enhancements by June 2022. |
A-07-18-50294 (22017050) Manual Adjustments to Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Overpayments |
4/9/18 |
Recommendation 4: Identify error-prone MACADE inputs for overpayment adjustments and consider the cost-effectiveness of establishing user messages to alert employees of common errors before they complete their inputs. |
Open |
Open. We continue to review sample cases to determine if there were common errors that a specific alert, if created, would address. As both IT Modernization and the DMP will enhance overpayment processing, we will continue discussions to determine if this area is within the scope of either project. We do not have an estimated implementation date for this recommendation. |
A-09-17-50202 (22017044) Beneficiaries in Suspended Payment Status Pending the Selection of a Representative Payee |
6/1/18 |
Recommendation 4: Include on its Tracking Application all beneficiaries whose payments it withheld pending the selection of a representative payee. |
Open |
Open. We plan to incorporate a regional tracking application into the electronic Representative Payee System. Since implementation of this recommendation depends on system enhancements, we anticipate completion by the end of FY 2024. |
A-04-16-50145 (22018024) The Social Security Administration’s Use of Administrative Tolerance Waivers |
8/2/18 |
Recommendation 1: As part of its Debt Management modernization initiative, establish controls in the new [DMP] that ensure technicians can only use the administrative tolerance waiver for overpayments allowable under the provision. |
Open |
Open. We plan to address this recommendation with our new DMP, which is a multi-year project we expect to deploy beginning in FY 2023. |
A-02-17-50140 (22018001) Institutionalized Beneficiaries Who Have Earnings |
8/20/18 |
Recommendation 2: Determine whether there is value in establishing a control to identify Primary Insurance Amount increases caused by earnings added to the records of beneficiaries after they began residing in institutions, especially those with higher earnings amounts or older beneficiaries. If such a change would add value, make the change. |
Open |
Open. We will address this recommendation through our IT Modernization efforts. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2023. |
A-02-17-50140 (22018001) Institutionalized Beneficiaries Who Have Earnings |
8/20/18 |
Recommendation 3: Re-examine the controls to prevent the erroneous posting of earnings for individuals with previously removed or disclaimed earnings. |
Open |
Open. We are considering this recommendation as part of our IT Modernization effort. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2023. |
A-07-18-50257 (22018019) Accuracy of Disability Entitlement Dates for Primary Beneficiaries Who Previously Filed Disability Claims |
12/21/18 |
Recommendation 4: Determine whether we need to review additional beneficiaries who had prior [DIB] filings and may have incorrect entitlement dates. |
Open |
Open. We are completing an internal sample review and a work year estimate to address the cases before moving forward. We plan to implement this recommendation by December 2022. |
A-09-15-15039 (22018022) Beneficiaries Whose Payments Have Been Suspended and Who Have Death Information on the Numident |
12/21/18 |
Recommendation 2: Develop controls for suspended beneficiaries with death information on the Numident to ensure they are resolved in a timely manner. |
Open |
Open. We are evaluating the feasibility of automating death inputs for beneficiaries who have a proven date of death on the Numident. We do not currently have an implementation date for this recommendation. |
A-15-18-50612 (22018016) Supplemental Security Income Underpayments |
12/28/18 |
Recommendation 1: Implement systems controls to ensure compliance with current policy, including the two-Personal Identification Number review process. |
Open |
Open. We will address this recommendation through our IT Modernization effort. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2024. |
A-05-18-50620 (22018045) Processing of Deferred Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Benefits with a High Risk of Benefit Payment Error |
03/15/19 |
Recommendation 3: Review the population of deferred OASDI cases we identified to assess whether additional cases need correction. |
Open |
Open. We plan to release cases in the second quarter of FY 2022 with a one-year completion timeframe. We expect completion of this recommendation by the end of FY 2023. |
A-04-18-50651 (22019003) Recovery of Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Overpayments When a Contingently Liable Beneficiary Stops Receiving Benefits |
05/15/19 |
Recommendation 3: Establish controls to remove the outstanding debt from terminated contingently liable beneficiaries and transfer the balance to the original debtor for an immediate payment of the overpayment or seek recovery through additional debt collection tools when available. |
Open |
Open. We plan to address this recommendation with our new DMP, which is a multi-year project we expect to deploy beginning in FY 2023. |
A-13-17-50169 (22017049) Follow Up: Minor Children Receiving Social Security Payments Without a Representative Payee |
06/06/19 |
Recommendation 2: Implement a process to periodically identify all children under age 17 and 5 months being paid directly; and determine and document whether the Agency needs to appoint representative payees. |
Open |
Open. We released 3,563 cases for action in January 2021, and there are now 8 cases pending development in 2 regions. We anticipate completion of the remaining cases in FY 2022. We plan to initiate a yearly listing of these cases in FY 2022. |
A-07-18-50676 (22019002) Follow-Up: Underpayments on Prior Supplemental Security Income Records |
06/07/19 |
Recommendation 4: Implement a diary alert for all outstanding underpayments on prior Supplemental Security Income (SSI) records. |
Open |
Open. We determined implementing a diary alert for outstanding underpayments is not feasible. We continue to identify actionable underpayments and to address case corrections on a flow basis, which will help us determine our next steps. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2023. |
A-09-16-50077 (22018050) Follow-up: Aged Beneficiaries Whose Benefits Have Been Suspended for Address, Whereabouts Unknown, or Foreign Enforcement |
08/06/19 |
Recommendation 1: Revise its policy to terminate benefits for beneficiaries it could not locate and whose payments it had suspended for address reasons. |
Open |
Open. Revisions to our policy are currently under review. We expect to publish the policy revisions in FY 2022. |
A-09-16-50077 (22018050) Follow-up: Aged Beneficiaries Whose Benefits Have Been Suspended for Address, Whereabouts Unknown, or Foreign Enforcement |
08/06/19 |
Recommendation 2: Based on its revised policy, terminate benefits for the 59 beneficiaries identified by our audit. |
Open |
Open. Implementation of this recommendation depends on the actions we take for recommendation 1. We expect to complete this recommendation in FY 2024. |
A-09-16-50077 (22018050) Follow-up: Aged Beneficiaries Whose Benefits Have Been Suspended for Address, Whereabouts Unknown, or Foreign Enforcement |
08/06/19 |
Recommendation 3: Based on its revised policy, identify and terminate benefits for the estimated 6,374 beneficiaries identified by our current audit who could not be located and whose benefits were suspended for 7 years or longer. |
Open |
Open. Implementation of this recommendation depends on the actions we take for recommendation 1. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2024. |
A-09-16-50077 (22018050) Follow-up: Aged Beneficiaries Whose Benefits Have Been Suspended for Address, Whereabouts Unknown, or Foreign Enforcement |
08/06/19 |
Recommendation 4: Based on its revised policy, identify and take appropriate action for the 20,710 beneficiaries identified by our 2011 audit whose benefits remained in suspense |
Open |
Open. Implementation of this recommendation depends on the actions we take for recommendation 1. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2024. |
A-09-16-50077 (22018050) Follow-up: Aged Beneficiaries Whose Benefits Have Been Suspended for Address, Whereabouts Unknown, or Foreign Enforcement |
08/06/19 |
Recommendation 5: Implement controls to identify and terminate benefits to beneficiaries whose benefits were suspended for address or whereabouts unknown for 7 years or longer. |
Open |
Open. We continue to explore automation solutions for this recommendation in anticipation of the policy updates necessary to implement recommendation 1. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2024. |
A-09-16-50077 (22018050) Follow-up: Aged Beneficiaries Whose Benefits Have Been Suspended for Address, Whereabouts Unknown, or Foreign Enforcement |
08/06/19 |
Recommendation 6: Ensure it documents efforts to locate beneficiaries suspended for address, whereabouts unknown, or foreign enforcement. |
Open |
Open. Implementation of this recommendation depends on the actions we take for recommendation 1. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2024. |
A-09-16-50077 (22018050) Follow-up: Aged Beneficiaries Whose Benefits Have Been Suspended for Address, Whereabouts Unknown, or Foreign Enforcement |
08/06/19 |
Recommendation 7: Implement controls to ensure employees change the payment status to whereabouts unknown when they cannot locate a beneficiary who did not return the foreign enforcement questionnaire. |
Open |
Open. We continue to explore automation solutions for this recommendation in anticipation of the policy updates necessary to implement recommendation 1. We expect to implement this recommendation in FY 2024. |
A-07-18-50570 (22019020) The Social Security Administration’s Processing of Returned Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Payments |
09/12/19 |
Recommendation 3: Improve its controls over processing returned OASDI payments to ensure employees are using a payment worksheet or The Auditor to verify payment amounts due beneficiaries. |
Open |
Open. We completed national refresher training on this topic. Additionally, we are analyzing future controls as part of the new DMP. We anticipate completion of this recommendation in FY 2024. |
A-09-18-50655 (22018029) The Social Security Administration's Controls for Identifying Potentially Fraudulent Internet Claims |
09/13/19 |
Recommendation 7: Test whether it should use additional characteristics, such as incorrect earnings, marriage, and Medicare information to identify potentially fraudulent [internet claims (iClaims)] and document its rationale if the Agency decides to not implement this control. |
Open |
Open. Our ability to analyze the necessary data is limited because we do not have the data in an automated format. Once we migrate iClaim analytics to the Anti-Fraud Product Line, planned for FY 2022, we will be able to test some of these characteristics. |
A-04-18-50607 (22018048) Dedicated Account Underpayments Payable to Children Receiving Supplemental Security Income |
09/17/19 |
Recommendation 2: Identify and take corrective action on the remaining population of SSI recipients with unpaid dedicated account underpayments. |
Open |
Open. We expect to release cases for action in the second quarter of FY 2022 with a one-year completion timeframe. We expect to complete this recommendation in FY 2023. |
A-04-18-50607 (22018048) Dedicated Account Underpayments Payable to Children Receiving Supplemental Security Income |
09/17/19 |
Recommendation 3: Improve controls to ensure it timely pays dedicated account underpayments for children receiving SSI, such as establishing management reports, retaining diaries, and/or adding automation as discussed in the report. |
Open |
Open. After our analysis we decided to send out a management report after the initial cleanup. We are considering the feasibility of an annual ad-hoc listing. We do not currently have an implementation date for this recommendation. |
A-04-18-50546 (22019015) Overpayments Pending Collection for Miscellaneous Reasons |
09/24/19 |
Recommendation 4: Regularly monitor the debt management database, and build controls into the modernized debt system, to ensure employees take appropriate action for overpayments in a due process status. |
Open |
Open. We plan to address this recommendation with our new DMP, which is a multi-year project we expect to deploy beginning in FY 2023. |
A-04-18-50633 (22019023) The Social Security Administration’s Accounting for, and Monitoring of, Court-ordered Restitutions |
09/24/19 |
Recommendation 1: Reconcile all available Office of Investigations documentation for [court-ordered restitutions (COR) to the Social Security Administration’s records to ensure the Agency has recorded all restitutions in its systems. |
Open |
Open. We completed our business process to document and upload the COR documents into the COR Tracking tool. We expect final policy updates in June 2022 about how to reconcile the documentation and ensure we have recorded all restitutions. We do not currently have an implementation date for this recommendation. |
A-04-18-50633 (22019023) The Social Security Administration’s Accounting for, and Monitoring of, Court-ordered Restitutions |
09/24/19 |
Recommendation 2: Use the reconciled list, mentioned in recommendation 1, to ensure the Department of Justice (DOJ) is collecting the [COR cases], and if not being collected, use all methods of recovery and/or contact DOJ, as required by policy, to determine whether civil actions should be taken. |
Open |
Open. We completed our business process to document and upload the COR documents into the COR Tracking tool. We expect final policy updates in June 2022 about how to reconcile the documentation and ensure we have recorded all restitutions. We do not currently have an implementation date for this recommendation. |
A-04-18-50633 (22019023) The Social Security Administration’s Accounting for, and Monitoring of, Court-ordered Restitutions | 09/24/19 | Recommendation 4: Determine the status of DOJ’s collection efforts for the 85 [COR cases] identified in our prior audit and use available collection methods to recover these [CORs]. | Open | Open. Our actions on the COR cases depend on the completion of policy updates, which we expect in June 2022. We do not have an estimated implementation date for this recommendation. |
A-07-18-50317 (22019006) Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Beneficiaries with Overpayments on Suspended and Terminated Records | 09/25/19 | Recommendation 2: Establish a process to identify overpayments that exist on suspended or terminated Social Security numbers that the Re entitled Beneficiaries process does not detect, so the Agency can transfer and recover them via benefit withholding. | Open | Open. We plan to address this recommendation with our new DMP, which is a multi-year project we expect to deploy beginning in FY 2023. |
A-14-18-50709 (22019013) The Social Security Administration’s Controls Over Malicious Software and Data Exfiltration | 12/05/19 | Recommendation 3: Enforce the principle of least privilege for network shares. SSA should create a process for identifying shares with excessive privileges and limiting who has access to view and write to them. | Open | Open. We procured a product to perform automated network sweeps to find open file shares, clear text passwords, determine attribution via heuristic algorithms, notify owners, and mitigate ownership conflicts. We anticipate deploying this tool across our network in FY 2022. |
A-14-18-50710 (22019014) The Social Security Administration's Controls over Malware Introduced by Email Phishing |
12/05/19 |
Recommendation 5: Enforce certificate-based Network Access Controls to ensure only SSA owned assets are allowed on the SSA internal network. |
Open |
Open. On December 13, 2019, we kicked off a proof of concept for network access control with a limited number of users. We have since obtained funding for the necessary infrastructure, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agreed to provide some funding to procure software licenses. After receiving the licenses and establishing the necessary infrastructure, we selected sites and began the expanded pilot in February 2022.We currently do not have an expected implementation date for this recommendation. |
A-09-1850562 (22018053) Follow-up Beneficiaries Who Had Not Cashed Their Social Security Checks Within 1 Year |
12/23/19 |
Recommendation 2: Based on the results of recommendation 1, resolve and reissue payments, if eligible, to the estimated population of 77,140 beneficiaries and 27,468 recipients who had not cashed their checks. |
Open |
Open. We plan to release these cases for action in the third quarter of fiscal year 2022. |
A-09-1850562 (22018053) Follow-up Beneficiaries Who Had Not Cashed Their Social Security Checks Within 1 Year |
12/23/19 |
Recommendation 3: Improve controls to ensure its employees issue replacement checks to eligible beneficiaries and recipients who have not cashed their checks. This should include revising the SSI Diary Control program to track recipients who have uncashed checks on terminated Supplemental Security Records (SSR). |
Open |
Open. We are currently in discussions about the feasibility of updating the SSI Diary Control program to track limited payability diaries on terminated SSRs. We do not have an estimated implementation date for this recommendation. |
A-09-18-50562 (22018053) Follow-up Beneficiaries Who Had Not Cashed Their Social Security Checks Within 1 Year |
12/23/19 |
Recommendation 4: Document its rationale and, if appropriate, revise guidelines for determining when SSA employees must follow up to resolve why OASDI beneficiaries had not cashed their checks. |
Open |
Open. We established an inter-component workgroup to consider the recommendation and strategies for implementing a policy to contact beneficiaries who have not cashed 12 consecutive benefit checks or more. We do not currently have an implementation date for this recommendation. |
A-02-17-50143 (22019027) Beneficiaries with Representative Payees and Earnings |
03/05/20 |
Recommendation 1: Develop the records of the 25 beneficiaries and, as applicable, correct inaccurate earnings records and/or Primary Insurance Amounts (PIA) and initiate collection on any related improper payments. |
Open |
Open. We expect completion of the cases in July 2022. |
A-02-17-50143 (22019027) Beneficiaries with Representative Payees and Earnings |
03/05/20 |
Recommendation 2: Establish a process to review the accuracy of earnings records and PIA increases of beneficiaries likely to have inaccurate earnings posted to their records after their entitlement to Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance. The Social Security Administration (SSA) should apply criteria such as, but not limited to, the criteria we used in our review and revise its criteria based on the results of its reviews to continuously improve the effectiveness of the process. |
Open |
Open. We updated our policy to facilitate the identification of cases that are likely to have inaccurate earnings posted. We are currently updating processing guidance based on the policy changes. We expect to complete this recommendation by the end of FY 2022. |
A-02-17-50143 (22019027) Beneficiaries with Representative Payees and Earnings |
03/05/20 |
Recommendation 3: Implement controls to prevent automatic processing of PIA increases for beneficiaries with a history of inaccurate earnings postings. |
Open |
Open. We updated our policy to facilitate the identification of cases that are likely to have inaccurate earnings posted. We are currently updating processing guidance based on the policy changes. We expect to complete this recommendation by the end of FY 2022. |
A-02-17-50143 (22019027) Beneficiaries with Representative Payees and Earnings |
03/05/20 |
Recommendation 4: Revise notices sent to beneficiaries and their representative payees informing them of benefit increases due to additional earnings to include the employer(s) name, earnings amounts, a reminder to report errors to SSA, and instructions on reporting errors. |
Open |
Open. We are developing new notices to beneficiaries and their representative payees to inform them of benefit increases due to additional earnings. These new notices will include the employer names, earnings amounts, and a reminder to report errors to SSA. We anticipate completion of this recommendation by the end of fiscal year 2022. |
A-07-18-50621 (22019056) Manual Actions on Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Post-entitlement Alerts |
03/09/20 |
Recommendation 2: Analyze a sample of the remaining Title 2 Redesign (T2R) alerts in our population that may require corrective action and assess the feasibility of broadening the review. |
Open |
Open. We released 4,871 cases for action in August 2021 with a due date of May 22, 2022. Depending on the results of these cases, we will determine if we need to release additional cases and how to proceed with implementing this recommendation. |
A-07-18-50621 (22019056) Manual Actions on Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Post-entitlement Alerts |
03/09/20 |
Recommendation 5: Monitor T2R alerts employees cleared without taking corrective actions. |
Open |
Open. We released a new report to the program centers for their review and use. Once we review their responses, we will determine our next steps for the tool and this recommendation. |
A-07-18-50621 (22019056) Manual Actions on Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Post-entitlement Alerts |
03/09/20 |
Recommendation 6: Implement a quality review focused specifically on manually processed Title 2 Redesign (T2R) alerts to ensure the accuracy of this workload improves. |
Open |
Open. We have developed a T2R alerts quality review plan for a statistically valid review of 400 cases. We continue our preparatory work, specifically focusing on the review/feedback forms and review guide. We plan to conduct the review in FY 2022. We expect to complete this recommendation by the end of FY 2022. |
A-07-18-50621 (22019056) Manual Actions on Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Post-entitlement Alerts |
03/09/20 |
Recommendation 7: Monitor training and quality initiatives to determine whether they improve T2R alert processing accuracy and, if not, revise the initiatives. |
Open |
Open. The Title II Workgroup continues to meet regularly to discuss various issues related to T2R, analyze alerts that may benefit from updated policy information, and review suggestions to improve processing accuracy. We prepared training for program center staff. After completing the training, we will monitor T2R alert processing accuracy to determine if improvement occurred. |
A-13-13-23109 (22019041) Retirement Beneficiaries Potentially Eligible for Widow(er)s Benefits |
06/09/20 |
Recommendation 3: Evaluate whether improvements to the Agency’s quality reviews are needed to ensure leads for widow(er)’s benefits are appropriately developed. |
Open |
Open. We began our Title II Stewardship Review on October 25, 2021 from which we will identify sample cases for a targeted study to determine if there are potential entitlements for widow(er)s’ benefits. We expect to complete our study in FY 2022.
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A-13-13-23109 (22019041) Retirement Beneficiaries Potentially Eligible for Widow(er)s Benefits |
06/09/20 |
Recommendation 5: Develop additional processes to identify retirement beneficiaries who are potentially eligible for widow(er)’s benefits. |
Open |
Open. We updated our policy in July 2021. We are still reviewing the case results internally, and we plan to release an Administrative Message in FY 2022. |
A-02-14-31417 (22019005) Accuracy of Supplemental Security Income Recipients’ Reports of Separation |
07/30/20 |
Recommendation 1: Complete redeterminations for the 20 cases we or the Agency identified as questionable. |
Open |
Open. We released cases to the regions for action on August 31, 2021. We expect completion of the cases by May 2022. |
A-07-19-50799 (22020009) Miscellaneous Benefits Suspensions for Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Beneficiaries |
09/21/20 |
Recommendation 2: Analyze a sample of beneficiaries whose benefits have been in miscellaneous suspense status for an extended period to determine the appropriate corrective actions and assess the feasibility of broadening the review. |
Open |
Open. We will evaluate the results of the corrective actions we take for the cases identified in recommendation 1. Based on the results, we will determine if we will broaden our review. We do not yet have an implementation date for this recommendation. |
A-07-19-50799 (22020009) Miscellaneous Benefits Suspensions for Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance Beneficiaries |
09/21/20 |
Recommendation 3: Implement controls, such as systems alerts and management reports, to identify beneficiaries in miscellaneous suspense status and ensure employees take corrective actions timely. |
Open |
Open. As part of the Consolidated Claims Experience portion of our IT Modernization plan, we will develop a new alert to identify beneficiaries in S9 miscellaneous suspense. The new alert will also give us the necessary data to track these cases. We anticipate implementation of this recommendation in fiscal year 2024. |
3 Beginning with the submission for the FY 2022 budget, we will only report discrepancies with OIG’s Semi-Annual Reports to Congress identified since our last submission. Please reference our FY 2021 and FY 2022 submissions for a comprehensive list of previous discrepancies with OIG’s Semi-Annual Reports to Congress.
There are no recommendations that meet this criteria for the current reporting period.