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Hearing on the State of Social Security's Information Technology Hearing

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Hearing on the State of Social Security's Information Technology Hearing HEARING ON THE STATE OF SOCIAL SECURITY’S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SOCIAL SECURITY OF THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION MAY 9, 2012 SERIAL 112–SS16 Printed for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 80–257 WASHINGTON : 2013 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Mar 15 2010 19:51 Apr 30, 2013 Jkt 080257 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 I:\WAYS\OUT\80257.XXX 80257 COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS DAVE CAMP, Michigan, Chairman WALLY HERGER, California SANDER M. LEVIN, Michigan SAM JOHNSON, Texas CHARLES B. RANGEL, New York KEVIN BRADY, Texas FORTNEY PETE STARK, California PAUL RYAN, Wisconsin JIM MCDERMOTT, Washington DEVIN NUNES, California JOHN LEWIS, Georgia PATRICK J. TIBERI, Ohio RICHARD E. NEAL, Massachusetts GEOFF DAVIS, Kentucky XAVIER BECERRA, California DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, JR., Louisiana MIKE THOMPSON, California PETER J. ROSKAM, Illinois JOHN B. LARSON, Connecticut JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon TOM PRICE, Georgia RON KIND, Wisconsin VERN BUCHANAN, Florida BILL PASCRELL, JR., New Jersey ADRIAN SMITH, Nebraska SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada AARON SCHOCK, Illinois JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York LYNN JENKINS, Kansas ERIK PAULSEN, Minnesota KENNY MARCHANT, Texas RICK BERG, North Dakota DIANE BLACK, Tennessee TOM REED, New York Jennifer M. Safavian, Staff Director and General Counsel Janice Mays, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON SOCIAL SECURITY SAM JOHNSON, Texas, Chairman KEVIN BRADY, Texas XAVIER BECERRA, California PATRICK J. TIBERI, Ohio LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas AARON SCHOCK, Illinois SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada RICK BERG, North Dakota FORTNEY PETE STARK, California ADRIAN SMITH, Nebraska KENNY MARCHANT, Texas ii VerDate Mar 15 2010 19:51 Apr 30, 2013 Jkt 080257 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 I:\WAYS\OUT\80257.XXX 80257 C O N T E N T S Page Advisory of May 9, 2012 announcing the hearing ................................................ 2 WITNESSES G. Kelly Croft, Deputy Commissioner of Systems and Chief Information Offi- cer, Social Security Administration .................................................................... 7 Valerie C. Melvin, Director Information Management and Technology Re- sources Issues, Government Accountability Office ............................................ 13 Larry Freed, President and Chief Executive Officer, ForeSee Results, Inc. ....... 29 William Scherlis, Ph.D. Professor, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mel- lon University ....................................................................................................... 40 Max Richtman, President and CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare ............................................................................................ 50 iii VerDate Mar 15 2010 20:01 May 02, 2013 Jkt 080257 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 I:\WAYS\OUT\80257.XXX 80257 VerDate Mar 15 2010 19:51 Apr 30, 2013 Jkt 080257 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 I:\WAYS\OUT\80257.XXX 80257 HEARING ON THE STATE OF SOCIAL SECURITY’S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 2:44 p.m., in B–318, Rayburn Office Building, the Honorable Sam Johnson [chairman of the subcommittee] presiding. [The advisory of the hearing follows:] (1) VerDate Mar 15 2010 20:00 May 02, 2013 Jkt 080257 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 I:\WAYS\OUT\80257.XXX 80257 2 HEARING ADVISORY Chairman Johnson Announces a Hearing on The State of Social Security’s Information Technology Wednesday, May 09, 2012 U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (R–TX), Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, today announced a hearing on the State of the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) Information Technology. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, May 9, 2012, in B–318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 2:00 p.m. In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consider- ation by the Subcommittee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing. BACKGROUND: Information technology (IT) is critical to the SSA’s ability to serve the public. Ac- cording to the SSA, in fiscal year 2011, the agency’s IT system supported the pay- ment of more than $770 billion in benefits to 60 million people and the maintenance of hundreds of millions of Social Security numbers and related earnings records for nearly every American. The SSA’s computers also house the electronic medical records of millions who have filed disability claims and exchange over a billion data files annually among the SSA, Federal, State, and local government agencies and businesses in order to administer Social Security benefits and other programs. As of January 2011, the SSA had 22 internet-based electronic services available to the public. In Fiscal Year 2011, Social Security processed 15 million personalized online transactions, including 41 percent of retirement claims and 33 percent of dis- ability claims. Based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index scores, the SSA has the three highest-rated online services in all of the Federal Government. Ac- cording to the SSA, IT investments have helped increase the agency’s productivity by four percent in each of the last five years. To deliver services, Social Security relies on a complex and large IT system, in- cluding sensitive data bases, hundreds of software applications, large computer plat- forms and thousands of networked computers, printers, phones and other devices. The information technology is used by nearly 80,000 employees at the SSA and the state Disability Determination Services. Until January 2009, the SSA ran its nationwide computer operations from its 30- year old National Computer Center (NCC). Since then, a second state-of-the-art sup- port center now runs approximately 35 percent of all its workloads. In February 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided $500 million for the SSA to cover the cost of building a replacement facility for the NCC and part of the cost of equipping it. After a land acquisition and contractor bidding process that took longer than was initially projected in 2009, the current projected date for complete commissioning of the new facility is February 2015, slightly over one year behind the original schedule. However, the project is currently projected to come in significantly under budget, due to a lower-than-expected construction contract. Since 2007, reports by various oversight and advisory groups, including the Na- tional Research Council, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the SSA Of- fice of the Inspector General and the bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board have called for the SSA to establish a strategic vision for its information technology in- vestments and develop a long-term plan to improve customer service. The Future Systems Technology Advisory Panel, a panel of public and private sector industry experts established by Commissioner Astrue in 2008 to provide independent systems technology advice, also recommended developing a ‘‘comprehensive, agency-wide VerDate Mar 15 2010 19:51 Apr 30, 2013 Jkt 080257 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 I:\WAYS\OUT\80257.XXX 80257 3 strategic systems development roadmap.’’ In April 2011, Chairman Johnson re- quested a report from the GAO to examine the current state of SSA’s modernization efforts and its plans for the future, which will be released at the hearing. In announcing the hearing, Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R–TX) said, ‘‘Americans of all ages are increasingly using technology for their everyday needs—from paying their bills to buying their groceries. Rapid technological innovation defines the times we live in. Social Secu- rity’s ability to serve an increasingly tech-savvy public depends on its abil- ity to develop a modernized long-term service delivery plan with the right investments of today.’’ FOCUS OF THE HEARING: The hearing will focus on the state of SSA’s IT system and the challenges it faces, IT modernization efforts to date and the return on these investments, IT manage- ment structure, and the effectiveness of the SSA’s IT strategic planning for IT in- vestment and measures to track progress. DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS: Please Note: Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit for the hear- ing record must follow the appropriate link on the hearing page of the Committee website and complete the informational forms. From the Committee homepage, http://waysandmeans.house.gov, select ‘‘Hearings.’’ Select the hearing for which you would like to submit, and click on the link entitled, ‘‘Click here to provide a submis- sion for the record.’’ Once you have followed the online instructions, submit all re- quested information. ATTACH your submission as a Word or WordPerfect docu- ment, in compliance with the formatting requirements listed below, by the close of business on Wednesday, May 23, 2012. Finally, please
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