Program Startup Costs for the Initial Rollout

  • Social Security is required to collect 50 percent of the program startup costs prior to developing the SSN verification system for the electronic Consent Based Social Security Number Verification (eCBSV) service.
  • Once selected and notified by SSA, permitted entities will receive a reimbursable package to complete within two weeks of selection. Once Social Security receives the completed package, the selected permitted entity will receive a bill to pay their prorated portion of the 50 percent of the estimated program startup costs and an initial administrative fee of $3,693 within three business days, through Pay.gov.
  • Prior to rollout in June 2020, the permitted entity will be required to submit the annual subscription fee (see below) for their transaction tier selected plus administrative fees as necessary, if greater than their initial 50 percent program startup costs contribution.
  • A permitted entity’s initial 50 percent program startup cost will be credited to future year’s fees until they are exhausted. Therefore, if the permitted entity’s initial 50 percent program startup contribution is greater than their first annual tier based transaction charge (see below) for their selected tier level, no additional payment will be necessary prior to the initial rollout.
  • The prorated portion is dependent on the number of permitted entities selected, the estimated annual transaction volumes, and the associated costs. These will be finalized once enrollment ends, and will be provided to the selected permitted entities.
  • The chart below depicts the expected contribution of 50 percent program startup costs dependent on annual transaction volume. These are subject to change and will be finalized prior to billing.


Annual # of Transactions


Charge (subject to change)

1 – 5,000

$3,000 – $5,000

5,001 – 50,000

$8,000 – $15,000

50,001 – 1,000,000

$50,000 – $75,000

1,000,001 – 500,000,000

$2.5 million – $3 million

500,000,001 – 2 billion

$3.5 million – $5 million

Annual Tier Based Subscription Fee Model

  • Social Security will use a tier based subscription fee model to collect the full cost of eCBSV services. There are five tiers an enrollee can select based on their estimated transactions for the 365-day annual agreement period. Entities will provide an estimate of transactions and be placed in the applicable tier level.
  • The chart below provides an estimate of the tier levels and their fees based on approximately 100 participating companies in the expanded rollout as identified from applications received in the enrollment period. These fees will be charged for both the initial and expanded rollout. These are only estimates and may change if the volume of companies participating is higher or lower than 100, if their volumes of transactions are not as anticipated, and if costs are higher or lower than estimated.

    • eCBSV Subscription Estimate 100 Participating Permitted Entities*


    Tier


    Annual Transaction Threshold


    Annual Fee

    1

    5000

    $2,500

    2

    50,000

    $7,500

    3

    1 million

    $40,000

    4

    500 million

    $450,000

    5

    2 billion

    $2,000,000

    *This chart provides an example of how we will charge for the eCBSV service. These fees are subject to change and are based on an estimated 100 participating companies the first year of eCBSV services. The tiers are based on volumes we estimated with the data provided to us at this point in time. Both the fee and tiers could change once we have better data during the open enrollment period. Once startup and systems development costs have been fully restored, fees will likely decrease.

  • Social Security will collect the remaining 50 percent program startup costs plus other costs the agency will incur for eCBSV services through the annual tier based subscription fee model from all users during the first three years of eCBSV.