United States General Accounting Office
GAO Performance and Accountability
Series
January 1999
Major Management
Challenges and Program
Risks
Social Security
Administration
GAO/OCG-99-20
GAO United States
General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20548
Comptroller General
of the United States
January 1999
The President of the Senate
The Speaker of the House of Representatives
This report addresses the major performance and
management challenges that have limited the
effectiveness of the Social Security Administration (SSA).
It also addresses corrective actions that SSA has taken or
initiated on these challenges and further actions that are
needed.
SSA has made progress on a number of fronts, most
notably on the overarching issue of playing a stronger
leadership role in the policy debate regarding Social
Security’s solvency. The agency has recently
strengthened its capacity for carrying out needed policy
analysis, evaluation, and research. SSA has also taken
actions to address challenges related to the Year 2000
computing crisis. Yet further steps are necessary to meet
the serious management challenges it still faces. Of most
importance, the agency must address long-standing
problems in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
program, which remains on GAO’s high-risk list. Although
SSA has recently developed detailed goals for improving
the management of SSI, the agency must take actions to
address the root causes of its management and
performance weaknesses and ensure sustained
management oversight and attention.
This report is part of a special series entitled the
Performance and Accountability Series: Major
Management Challenges and Program Risks. The series
contains separate reports on 20 agencies—one on each of
the cabinet departments and on most major independent
agencies as well as the U.S. Postal Service. The series
also includes a governmentwide report that draws from
the agency-specific reports to identify the performance
and management challenges requiring attention across
the federal government. As a companion volume to this
series, GAO is issuing an update to those government
operations and programs that its work has identified as
“high risk” because of their greater vulnerabilities to
waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. High-risk
government operations are also identified and discussed
in detail in the appropriate performance and
accountability series agency reports.
The performance and accountability series was done at
the request of the Majority Leader of the House of
Representatives, Dick Armey; the Chairman of the House
Government Reform Committee, Dan Burton; the
Chairman of the House Budget Committee, John Kasich;
the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental
Affairs, Fred Thompson; the Chairman of the Senate
Budget Committee, Pete Domenici; and Senator Larry
Craig. The series was subsequently cosponsored by the
Ranking Minority Member of the House Government
Reform Committee, Henry A. Waxman; the Ranking
Minority Member, Subcommittee on Government
Management, Information, and Technology, House
Page 2 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Government Reform Committee, Dennis J. Kucinich;
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman; and Senator Carl Levin.
Copies of this report series are being sent to the
President, the congressional leadership, all other
Members of the Congress, the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget, the Commissioner of Social
Security, and the heads of other major departments and
agencies.
David M. Walker
Comptroller General of
the United States
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Contents
Overview 6
Major 13
Performance and
Management
Issues
Related GAO 31
Products
Performance and 34
Accountability
Series
Page 4 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Page 5 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Overview
The Social Security Administration’s (SSA)
1998 expenditures of $408 billion constitute
over one-fourth of total federal
disbursements. When SSA became an
independent agency in March 1995, it gained
a new measure of control over its resources
as well as the authority to address various
performance and management challenges it
faces in administering the agency’s three
major programs: the Old Age and Survivors
Insurance (OASI) program, the Disability
Insurance (DI) program, and the
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.
Combined, these programs touch nearly
every American family. The OASI and DI
programs together are commonly known as
“Social Security,” providing benefits
financed through payroll taxes paid by
workers and their employers and
self-employed people to retired and disabled
workers and their dependents and survivors.
SSI provides assistance to needy aged, blind,
or disabled people and is financed from
general tax revenues.
The Challenges The most critical overarching issue facing
SSA is the long-term solvency of the Social
Security system. The Social Security Trust
Funds are forecast to be depleted by 2032
and are projected to be in a progressively
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Overview
negative cash-flow position by 2013. While
the financing problem is not immediate,
analysts agree that it should be addressed
soon to mitigate the impacts of any changes
that are made. In the past, we have called on
SSA to assume a stronger leadership role in
this policy debate by strengthening its
capacity for carrying out needed policy
analysis, evaluation, and research. In this
connection, SSA has initiated an active public
education effort to improve the public’s
awareness of the system’s long-term
solvency difficulties. Beyond this critical
overarching issue, SSA faces a number of
specific management challenges.
Long-Standing SSI Since SSA assumed responsibility in 1974 for
Issues Require More the SSI program, SSA officials have been
Active Management challenged to serve the diverse needs of
and Oversight program recipients while still protecting the
program’s overall financial health and
integrity. Long-standing challenges—such as
program abuses and mismanagement,
increasing SSI overpayments, and SSA’s
inability to recover outstanding SSI
debt—have continued, contributing to recent
congressional criticism of SSA’s ability to
effectively manage SSI and ensure program
integrity. Recently, we reported that SSI
difficulties are attributable to two underlying
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Overview
causes: an organizational culture that places
greater priority on processing and paying
claims than on controlling program
expenditures and a management approach
characterized by SSA’s reluctance to fulfill its
policy development and planning role in
advance of major program crises.
Disability Programs While SSA paid over $73 billion in 1998 in
Need Redesigning cash benefits to nearly 11 million DI and SSI
and More Focus on blind and disabled beneficiaries (including DI
Return to Work spouses and dependents), SSA’s complex
process for determining whether an
individual qualifies for a disability
benefit—the disability claims process—has
been plagued by a number of long-standing
weaknesses. On the basis of our ongoing
review of SSA’s disability claims process
redesign effort, we have found that SSA has
not been able to keep its redesign activities
on schedule or demonstrate that its
proposed changes will significantly improve
its claims process. In addition, SSA has
placed little priority on helping eligible
disability program claimants move off the
disability rolls and return to work. The
lengthy disability determination process
encourages applicants to emphasize their
inabilities—not their abilities—and
Page 8 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Overview
beneficiaries receive little encouragement to
use rehabilitative services.
New Technology To cope with increased workload
Required to Cope demands—caused, in part, by the
With Future forthcoming retirement of the baby boom
Workload Demands generation—SSA is counting on its effective
use of technology to allow the agency to
serve the increasing numbers of applicants
and beneficiaries with fewer staff. However,
concerns have been raised about the
implementation of new computer equipment,
which is intended to play a major role in
SSA’s redesigned work processes and in
better serving a larger beneficiary
population. SSA must also continue to
improve its internal controls over stored
information system data.
Progress and SSA has made progress in addressing the
Next Steps overarching issue of Social Security’s
solvency. In August 1998, the agency
announced the creation of the position of
Deputy Commissioner for Policy to serve as
the principal adviser to the Commissioner of
Social Security on major policy issues. The
incumbent will also be responsible for major
activities in the areas of strategic policy
planning; policy research and evaluation;
Page 9 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Overview
statistical programs; and overall policy
development and analysis, including analysis
focusing on Social Security’s solvency. SSA
has also taken actions that address
challenges related to the Year 2000
computing crisis. SSA made important early
progress in assessing and renovating systems
critical to preventing the disruption of
benefits and has come to be regarded as a
federal leader in addressing these issues.
With regard to progress concerning specific
management challenges, SSA recently issued
a report on SSI management. In this report,
SSA discusses the need to take aggressive
action to improve overall payment accuracy,
increase continuing disability reviews,
combat program fraud, and improve debt
collection. The report also establishes SSA’s
goals to measure the anticipated yearly
impact of planned initiatives in each of these
areas. The agency now intends to begin
planning on how it will implement these
goals in its day-to-day operations. In
addition, SSA has informed us that new
software development processes have been
implemented and that all agency software
development activities will be using these
processes by June 2000.
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Overview
Despite this progress, SSA must take further
steps to meet the serious challenges it faces.
For example, SSA has yet to make significant
improvements to its disability claims process
and continues to experience delays in testing
and implementing initiatives to redesign the
process. As a result, long-standing process
weaknesses and inefficiencies remain and
claimants likely will continue to wait a long
time for a final decision on their eligibility.
With regard to the SSI program, which
remains on GAO’s high-risk list, SSA must
produce and use research information on the
program, be more responsive in suggesting
legislative changes, and improve payment
controls and debt collection activities.
Absent these improvements, SSI
overpayments and outstanding debt will
continue to undermine the financial integrity
of the program.
In our opinion, progress is being made to
address certain management issues because
of the involvement of high-level agency
officials. Given the long-standing nature of
the challenges SSA faces and their
far-reaching implications, the agency needs
to continue to assert strong leadership, spell
out its expectations, and subsequently
marshall agency resources to translate SSA’s
plans into timely action. To effect
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Overview
meaningful change, SSA must address the
root causes of its management and
performance weaknesses and ensure
sustained management oversight and
attention.
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Major Performance and Management
Issues
The major management and performance
issues confronting SSA officials are complex,
in part, because they are closely linked to
profound changes in our country. The baby
boom generation is nearing retirement age,
people are living longer, and technology and
its applications are changing rapidly. At the
same time, the public is expecting greater
program integrity from government
agencies, even though resources are
constrained. While SSA has taken corrective
action over the years to address
management and performance difficulties,
we have identified several areas where
concerns remain: management and oversight
weaknesses in the high-risk SSI program,
SSA’s disability programs’ systemwide
difficulties, and concerns with a new
computer network designed to help alleviate
future SSA workload demands. Unless
continued management oversight and
attention are provided and corrective action
is taken in these areas, the future
effectiveness of SSA programs will be limited.
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Major Performance and Management
Issues
Long-Standing Reports by the media and oversight agencies
SSI Issues have highlighted SSI program abuses and
Require More mismanagement, increases in SSI
Active overpayments, and SSA’s inability to
Management and adequately recover outstanding SSI debt.
These issues have spurred congressional
Oversight
criticism of SSA’s ability to effectively
manage SSI workloads. In February 1997, we
designated SSI a high-risk program because
of its susceptibility to fraud, waste, and
abuse and insufficient management
oversight of the program. To a great extent,
SSA’s inability to address its most significant
long-standing SSI program weaknesses is
attributable to two underlying causes: (1) an
organizational culture that places a greater
priority on processing and paying claims
than on controlling program expenditures
and (2) a management approach
characterized by SSA’s reluctance to fulfill its
policy development and planning role in
advance of major program crises.
Our work confirms that there is a persistent
tendency to view the SSI program in much
the same way as SSA’s OASI and DI
programs—where emphasis is placed on
quickly processing claims for individuals
with an earned right to benefits—rather than
as a welfare program, where additional
income and asset verifications are necessary.
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Major Performance and Management
Issues
During fiscal year 1998, for example, current
and former recipients owed SSA more than
$3.3 billion, including $1.2 billion in newly
detected overpayments for the year. Based
on prior experience, SSA is likely to collect
less than 15 percent of the outstanding debt
in a given year. SSA’s culture has contributed
to the lack of priority placed on recovering
overpayments once they are identified. This
has been evidenced by SSA’s traditional
reluctance to use overpayment recovery
tools currently available and aggressively
pursue additional tools when warranted,
including tax refund offsets, credit bureau
reporting, collection agencies, and interest
levies on outstanding debt owed.
Recently, SSA has taken a number of actions
to improve the financial integrity of the SSI
program. For example, SSA is expanding its
use of on-line data maintained by state
Disability Determination Services (DDS) to
better verify recipient financial information
and prevent program overpayments. (SSA
funds 54 state DDSs to process disability
applications and conduct continuing
disability reviews in accordance with SSA
policies and procedures.) SSA also sought
statutory authority in the last session of the
Congress to use credit bureaus, private
collection agencies, interest levies, and other
Page 15 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Major Performance and Management
Issues
ways to recover more SSI overpayments.
Reversing the trends in SSI program
performance will, however, require
sustained management attention to issues of
program direction and a change in SSA’s
organizational culture.
We believe SSA should take a leadership role
in identifying program weaknesses before
they reach crisis levels and in developing
comprehensive plans and strategies to
address those weaknesses. However, SSA’s
approach has historically been reactive in
nature, resulting in missed opportunities to
address critical SSI policy issues. Our work
shows that SSA has been reluctant to use its
research and policy development capabilities
to assess the effects of demographic changes
in the SSI population and legislative and
court-mandated program changes. In
addition, SSA has often hesitated in initiating
changes in internal policy to address
identified weaknesses or suggesting changes
to laws governing SSI. For example, in the
recent congressional debate surrounding SSI
eligibility for children, SSA did not develop
and communicate timely information to the
Congress on the effects of prior legislative
and court-mandated changes. SSA also did
not develop its own proposals for revising
childhood eligibility policies, despite
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Issues
possessing years of data documenting
explosive growth in childhood SSI rolls,
changes in the types of impairments
qualifying for benefits, and allegations that
the program was being abused.
SSA has often viewed itself as an implementer
of program policies rather than as a leader in
formulating a policy vision. Consequently,
SSA did not address, before the issues
reached crisis levels, criticisms surrounding
the rapid growth in the number of drug
addicts and alcoholics qualifying for SSI
benefits and reports of program abuses by
recipients. In addition, SSA has not developed
options for revising policies for determining
SSI-recipient living arrangements, despite
acknowledging for many years that this
program area is highly error-prone, open to
manipulation by recipients, and a source of
considerable SSI overpayment. Although SSA
has developed an agencywide strategic plan
and an annual performance plan, as required
by the Government Performance and Results
Act of 1993, these plans still do not
adequately focus on the specific needs and
unique characteristics of the SSI program and
its recipient population. Instead, SSA’s
planning efforts have resulted in general
goals and objectives for SSA as a whole.
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Issues
SSA has acknowledged the need to play a
more active policy development role and is
currently in the process of restructuring its
research and policy components to better
address these concerns. In this regard, SSA
has made conducting effective policy
development, research, and program
evaluation a key agency goal, with attention
to the SSI program being an important
element of this goal. Additional staffing
resources are being obtained by the newly
created SSA Office of Policy. Consequently,
SSA should be better positioned to develop
policy alternatives in the SSI program.
SSA is also taking certain measures that it
believes will strengthen the integrity of the
SSI program. In this regard, SSA produced its
first SSI management report in October 1998,
which discusses the need to take aggressive
action in four areas: improving overall
payment accuracy, increasing continuing
disability reviews, combating program fraud,
and improving debt collection. The
management report established goals to
measure the anticipated yearly impact of its
planned initiatives in each of these areas.
The agency now intends to begin planning
on how it will implement these goals in its
day-to-day operations. Toward this end, each
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Issues
SSAcomponent is defining its specific role in
these initiatives.
To remove the SSI program from our
high-risk list, however, SSA must produce and
use research information on the program, be
more responsive in suggesting legislative
changes, and improve program policies. The
agency should also continuously search for
ways to improve its payment controls and
debt collection activities. Until additional
progress is made in each of these areas, the
SSI program will maintain its high-risk
designation.
Key Contact Cynthia M. Fagnoni, Director
Income Security Issues
Health, Education, and Human Services
Division
(202) 512-7215
fagnonic.hehs@gao.gov
Disability In 1998, SSA paid $73.4 billion in cash benefits
Programs Need to 10.7 million DI and SSI blind and disabled
Redesigning and beneficiaries, including spouses and
More Focus on dependents. While SSA’s disability claims
Return to Work process—used to determine whether an
individual qualifies for a disability
benefit—is time-consuming and expensive,
Page 19 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Major Performance and Management
Issues
the agency’s efforts to redesign the claims
process have been disappointing, and SSA’s
disability caseloads for its DI and SSI
programs have grown significantly in the
past decade. In addition, SSA has not
developed a plan that sufficiently addresses
actions needed to help beneficiaries fully
develop their productive capacities.
Consequently, few people have left the rolls
to return to work.
DI and SSI Programs SSA’s complex disability claims process has
Need Redesigning been plagued by a number of long-standing
weaknesses. In the early 1990s, SSA had
difficulty keeping up with a rapidly growing
workload, and backlogs grew. For example,
claimants frequently had to wait more than a
year and a half for a final decision.
Moveover, in fiscal year 1993, over one-third
of the applicants whose cases were denied at
the initial level appealed this decision, and
two-thirds of these denials were overturned.
To manage the disability caseload growth,
increase efficiency, and improve service to
its customers, SSA began a major effort in
1994 to redesign the way it makes decisions
related to its disability programs. The agency
developed an ambitious plan for change that
included testing and implementing 26 key
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Major Performance and Management
Issues
initiatives over a 6-year period. In December
1996, 2 years into the period, we reported
that SSA had made little progress testing and
implementing the plan. In addition, we found
that SSA expanded the scope of certain
initiatives, changed executive leadership for
program redesign, and risked losing
stakeholder support. In the report, we
recommended that SSA (1) focus on the
initiatives most likely to reduce
claims-processing time and administrative
costs and (2) combine those initiatives in an
integrated process and test them at a few
sites before full-scale implementation. In
February 1997, SSA issued a scaled-down
plan that focused on testing and
implementing eight key initiatives.
Based on our ongoing work, SSA has yet to
make significant progress toward improving
its disability claims process. The agency
continues to experience delays in testing or
implementing initiatives, with some
initiatives more than a year behind schedule.
More importantly, though, test results for
two key initiatives indicate that SSA’s efforts
will not result in dramatic improvements in
the efficiency and quality of claims
processing. In addition, SSA has encountered
performance difficulties with the software it
considers vital to support the redesign effort.
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Major Performance and Management
Issues
On a more positive note, SSA is currently
conducting a test that combines a number of
the initiatives into an integrated process, and
the early results for some initiatives are
more promising—although not as dramatic
as originally hoped for.
Return-to-Work Today, more than ever, people with
Efforts Need to Be disabilities have new opportunities to return
Emphasized to work, yet very few DI and SSI beneficiaries
do so. New technologies and medical
advances have provided disabled individuals
with greater independence and ability to
function. Also, the Americans With
Disabilities Act supports the premise that
people with disabilities can work and have
the right to work, and the Social Security Act
calls for rehabilitating benefit applicants to
the maximum extent possible. Yet only 1 in
500 DI beneficiaries and few SSI beneficiaries
have left the rolls to return to work.
Over the past few years, we have issued a
series of reports recommending that SSA
place a higher priority on helping DI and SSI
beneficiaries maximize their work potential.
The lengthy disability determination process
encourages applicants to emphasize their
inabilities—not their abilities—and
beneficiaries receive little encouragement to
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Major Performance and Management
Issues
use rehabilitation services. Also, work
incentives may not make it financially
advantageous for people to work to their full
capacity.
SSA has recently taken steps to expand the
pool of vocational rehabilitation providers
and give providers greater incentives to
assist beneficiaries in obtaining employment.
Specifically, SSA has (1) contracted with 389
public or private vocational rehabilitation
providers, (2) trained state agency staff on
SSA work incentives and reimbursement
procedures, (3) positioned itself to contract
with state agencies to research ways to
improve service integration for beneficiaries
attempting to return to work, and (4) made
plans to demonstrate the effectiveness of
vouchers for beneficiaries to obtain
vocational rehabilitation services from
public and private providers reimbursed on
the basis of employment outcomes. These
steps indicate that SSA has placed greater
priority on return to work. However, these
efforts would have greater effect if cash and
medical benefits were structured to give
beneficiaries greater impetus to use
vocational rehabilitation services and
attempt work. Providing return-to-work
assistance earlier in the decisionmaking
process would also strengthen SSA’s efforts.
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Key Contact Cynthia M. Fagnoni, Director
Income Security Issues
Health, Education, and Human Services
Division
(202) 512-7215
fagnonic.hehs@gao.gov
New Technology With the retirement of the baby boom
Required to Cope generation and individuals living longer in
With Future retirement, SSA will soon be serving more
Workload and more individuals. At the same time,
Demands there will be fewer SSA personnel to serve
agency beneficiaries because of agency
downsizing and expected retirements of
experienced managers and staff. To help it
handle these future workload demands, SSA
is counting on the effective use of
technology. However, SSA has faced
challenges in implementing a crucial new
computer system intended to support its
redesigned work processes and help better
serve its beneficiaries. The agency also must
address reported weaknesses in its
information systems’ internal controls.
SSA is currently in the process of redesigning
its work processes and modernizing its
computer systems to better serve an
increasing beneficiary population and
achieve improvements in productivity. A key
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Major Performance and Management
Issues
aspect of the modernization effort is the
agency’s transition from its current
mainframe-based computer processing
environment to a client-server processing
environment, in which its Intelligent
Workstation/Local Area Network (IWS/LAN)
will serve as the basic automation
infrastructure. SSA plans to install 56,500
workstations and 1,742 local area networks
in state DDSs and SSA’s approximately 1,300
field offices throughout the country. While
SSA has made considerable strides in
implementing IWS/LAN, its contractor and
some state DDSs have raised issues that could
threaten the overall success of the initiative.
In June 1998, we reported contractor
concerns regarding the availability of the
workstations specified in the IWS/LAN
contract, raising questions as to whether
they could continue to be acquired, and
identified network management and control
issues that threatened successful
implementation of IWS/LAN in some state DDSs.
In addition, we reported that SSA had not
established critical practices for measuring
the contributions of IWS/LAN toward
improving mission performance.
SSA’s plans called for designing and
developing a new generation of software to
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operate on IWS/LAN to support redesigned
work processes in the client-server
environment. However, we noted in July
1998 that SSA, as a traditional
mainframe-oriented agency, has lacked
experience in developing and using
client-server software. Although SSA planned
to fully implement improved software
development processes by June 2000, it
continued to develop critical software using
the existing weak processes. We also
reported that SSA encountered program
weaknesses and delays in developing the
first major client-server software intended to
operate on IWS/LAN. These weaknesses and
delays were expected to affect both SSA’s
planned schedule for proceeding with the
second phase of the IWS/LAN initiative and its
assessment of the performance, cost, and
benefits of this software in supporting the
redesigned disability process. According to
SSA, however, new processes have been
developed and all agency software
development activities will be using these
processes by June 2000.
SSA also needs to address deficiencies in its
information systems’ internal controls. A
recent audit by an independent accounting
firm (which can be found in the Social
Security Accountability Report for Fiscal
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Major Performance and Management
Issues
Year 1998) found, overall, (1) the agency’s
fiscal year 1998 financial statements to be
fairly presented in all material respects and
(2) management’s assertion that SSA’s
systems of accounting and internal controls
were in compliance with the internal control
objectives outlined in Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) Bulletin No. 98-08 to be
fairly stated. However, the audit also noted
continuing deficiencies in the design and
operation of information systems’ internal
controls. These deficiencies raise concerns
regarding information protection (including
access controls), continuity of operations,
and separation of duties.
Specific information protection weaknesses
were noted in SSA’s local area network,
distributed systems, and mainframe
computer security. The audit also noted that
SSA remains vulnerable should a near-term
disaster occur because of deficiencies in
components of its disaster recovery plan and
related testing of that plan. In addition, the
audit noted instances of insufficient
separation of duties, particularly in the data
operations and customer service staff
positions. For example, the audit identified
instances where field office staff have the
responsibility and capability to perform all
functions related to initiating and
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adjudicating claims. Additionally, some
personnel in the data operations
environment have both security and
operational responsibilities.
The audit indicated that these weaknesses
are significant departures from certain
requirements of OMB Circulars A-127,
Financial Management Systems, and A-130,
Management of Federal Information
Resources. As a result, the audit identified
these weaknesses as instances of substantial
noncompliance with the federal financial
management systems requirements under
the Federal Financial Management
Improvement Act of 1996. The audit report
suggested that SSA assign a high priority to
related corrective actions.
While the audit acknowledged SSA’s progress
in resolving these issues, it emphasized the
importance of continuing corrective action.
These weaknesses have exposed the agency
and its computer systems to external and
internal intrusion, thus subjecting sensitive
SSA information to potential unauthorized
access, modification, or disclosure. In
addition, these weaknesses have increased
the risk of introducing errors or irregularities
into data processing operations and allowing
some individuals to bypass critical controls,
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such as authorization and supervisory
review.
As technological changes open doors to new
ways of providing services, SSA also faces
difficult choices about how to provide
cost-effective, world-class service to its
customers. While SSA has traditionally
delivered a considerable amount of its
service through face-to-face contact in its
network of field offices, other types of
service are becoming more popular. The
demand for SSA’s 800-number telephone
service continues to grow, and SSA’s surveys
show that callers prefer to use the telephone
for more of their business. In our opinion,
SSA needs to assess its existing service
delivery structure, including its network of
field offices and teleservice centers. Based
on its findings, SSA may need to restructure
how it does business to take advantage of
new technologies and cost-effectively meet
changing customer preferences.
Page 29 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Major Performance and Management
Issues
Key Contacts Gloria L. Jarmon, Director
Health, Education, and Human Services
Accounting and Financial Management
Issues
Accounting and Information Management
Division
(202) 512-4476
jarmong.aimd@gao.gov
Joel C. Willemssen, Director
Civil Agencies Information Systems
Accounting and Information Management
Division
(202) 512-6408
willemssenj.aimd@gao.gov
Page 30 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Related GAO Products
SSA Performance SSA’sManagement Challenges: Strong
and Management Leadership Needed to Turn Plans Into
Challenges Timely, Meaningful Action (GAO/T-HEHS-98-113,
Mar. 12, 1998).
Social Security Administration: Significant
Challenges Await New Commissioner
(GAO/HEHS-97-53, Feb. 20, 1997).
Social Security Administration: Effective
Leadership Needed to Meet Daunting
Challenges (GAO/HEHS-96-196, Sept. 12, 1996).
Social Security Administration: Leadership
Challenges Accompany Transition to an
Independent Agency (GAO/HEHS-95-59, Feb. 15,
1995).
Supplemental Supplemental Security Income: Action
Security Income Needed on Long-Standing Problems
Program Affecting Program Integrity (GAO/HEHS-98-158,
Sept. 14, 1998).
Supplemental Security Income:
Opportunities Exist for Improving Payment
Accuracy (GAO/HEHS-98-75, Mar. 27, 1998).
Supplemental Security Income:
Long-Standing Problems Put Program at
Page 31 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Related GAO Products
Risk for Fraud, Waste, and Abuse
(GAO/T-HEHS-97-88, Mar. 4, 1997).
High Risk Series: An Overview (GAO/HR-97-1,
Feb. 1997).
Supplemental Security Income:
Administrative and Program Savings
Possible by Directly Accessing State Data
(GAO/HEHS-96-163, Aug. 29, 1996).
Social Security Social Security Disability: SSA Must Hold
Disability Itself Accountable for Continued
Programs Improvement in Decisionmaking
(GAO/HEHS-97-102, Aug. 12, 1997).
Social Security Disability: Improving
Return-to-Work Outcomes Important, but
Trade-offs and Challenges Exist
(GAO/T-HEHS-97-186, July 23, 1997).
Social Security: Disability Programs Lag in
Promoting Return to Work (GAO/HEHS-97-46,
Mar. 17, 1997).
SSA Disability Redesign: Focus Needed on
Initiatives Most Crucial to Reducing Costs
and Time (GAO/HEHS-97-20, Dec. 20, 1996).
Page 32 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Related GAO Products
SSA Disability: Program Redesign Necessary
to Encourage Return to Work (GAO/HEHS-96-62,
Apr. 24, 1996).
Information Information Security: Serious Weaknesses
Technology Place Critical Federal Operations and Assets
at Risk (GAO/AIMD-98-92, Sept. 23, 1998).
Social Security Administration:
Subcommittee Questions Concerning
Information Technology Challenges Facing
the Commissioner (GAO/AIMD-98-235R, July 10,
1998).
Social Security Administration: Technical
and Performance Challenges Threaten
Progress of Modernization (GAO/AIMD-98-136,
June 19, 1998).
Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Continuing
Risks of Disruption to Social Security,
Medicare, and Treasury Programs
(GAO/T-AIMD-98-161, May 7, 1998).
Social Security Administration: Significant
Progress Made in Year 2000 Effort, but Key
Risks Remain (GAO/AIMD-98-6, Oct. 22, 1997).
Page 33 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Performance and Accountability Series
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: A Governmentwide Perspective
(GAO/OCG-99-1)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Agriculture
(GAO/OCG-99-2)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Commerce
(GAO/OCG-99-3)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Defense (GAO/OCG-99-4)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Education
(GAO/OCG-99-5)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Energy (GAO/OCG-99-6)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Health and Human
Services (GAO/OCG-99-7)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Housing and Urban
Development (GAO/OCG-99-8)
Page 34 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Performance and Accountability Series
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of the Interior
(GAO/OCG-99-9)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Justice (GAO/OCG-99-10)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Labor (GAO/OCG-99-11)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of State (GAO/OCG-99-12)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Transportation
(GAO/OCG-99-13)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of the Treasury
(GAO/OCG-99-14)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Department of Veterans Affairs
(GAO/OCG-99-15)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Agency for International Development
(GAO/OCG-99-16)
Page 35 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
Performance and Accountability Series
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Environmental Protection Agency
(GAO/OCG-99-17)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (GAO/OCG-99-18)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(GAO/OCG-99-19)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: Social Security Administration
(GAO/OCG-99-20)
Major Management Challenges and Program
Risks: U.S. Postal Service (GAO/OCG-99-21)
High-Risk Series: An Update (GAO/HR-99-1)
The entire series of 21 performance and
accountability reports and the high-risk
series update can be ordered by using
the order number GAO/OCG-99-22SET.
Page 36 GAO/OCG-99-20 SSA Challenges
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Address Correction Requested
Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: Social Security Administration
Published by the Government Accountability Office on 1999-01-01.
Below is a raw (and likely hideous) rendition of the original report. (PDF)