Social Security Administration Open Government Plan

 April 7, 2010

Message from the Commissioner

I am excited to present the Social Security Administration’s first Open Government Plan, which will be our framework for incorporating the principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration into our plans for achieving our mission.

On his first day in office, President Obama issued a call for increased openness in government. This led to the creation of the Federal Government’s Open Government Directive, issued by the White House on December 8, 2009. The Directive called upon each federal agency to formulate a plan for how it intended to increase and accelerate openness in its programs and operations.

This plan lays out Social Security’s open government goals, objectives, and supporting activities. To obtain employee and public input into the development of the plan, we solicited ideas and comments through our new Open Government Webpage. We received hundreds of contacts during the public comment process, and we will continue to use this page as well as similar engagement processes in the future. These suggestions play a key role in the development of our plan.

We are excited about the opportunities to improve service to the American people by sharing data and information and having the public—either individually, or as part of academic, non–profit, or other government entities—help shape our policies and define our priorities. In addition, we look forward to using innovative data—sharing, collaboration, and participation technologies to support our mission.

This plan spans approximately two years; however, we expect to refresh it after we gain experience and as we receive feedback from the public and agency employees. To provide your thoughts on our plan, you may go to www.socialsecurity.gov/open and click on “Share Your Ideas”.

I encourage you to read our plan and provide feedback to help us improve it. In the spirit of open government, we are eager to hear from you. Your participation will help us make Social Security as transparent and collaborative as possible.

MICHAEL J. ASTRUE
COMMISSIONER

 

Plan Contents

Subject

Executive Summary................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Mission and Goals....................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Open Government Plan—Goals, Objectives, and Activities................................................................................... 7

Goal I: Increase Transparency ............................................................................................................................................. 7

Goal II: Expand Participation and Collaboration ......................................................................................................... 9

Goal III: Implement Open Government Flagship Initiatives................................................................................ 12

Goal IV: Make Open Government Sustainable............................................................................................................ 13

Appendices

A.      Federal Transparency Initiatives

1.  Data.gov............................................................................................................................................................................... 18

2.  eRulemaking...................................................................................................................................................................... 19

3.  IT Dashboard...................................................................................................................................................................... 20

4.  Recovery.gov ................................................................................................................................................................... 20

5.  USAspending.gov............................................................................................................................................................. 20

B.       Milestones and Completion Dates........................................................................................................................... 22

C.      Open Government Communications Plan Summary...................................................................................... 24

D.      Internal Management

1. Records Management Program................................................................................................................................. 26

2. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program....................................................................................................... 27

3. Congressional Requests................................................................................................................................................ 29

Executive Summary

In this plan, we map out our path to a new level of openness — one that reflects our commitment to increase transparency, expand participation and collaboration, implement three flagship initiatives, and make open government sustainable at Social Security.

Transparency: We are conducting an inventory of our information and evaluating our processes to release information to the public. We will release information in the appropriate format to make it useful to the public. We submitted datasets to the federal government document repository, www.data.gov, and are incorporating feedback on those datasets, as we move forward with publishing additional information. While our goal is to become even more open and transparent, we will continue to vigilantly protect the personal information the public entrusts to us. We will ensure that transparency does not put that information at risk.

Participation and Collaboration: We will expand on our long history of inviting the public to participate and collaborate with us. Our Open Government Communications Plan Summary includes potential tools and tactics for both external and internal audiences. We will continue to offer opportunities for participation on our Open Government Website (www.socialsecurity.gov/open) and will report there on ideas we receive and progress we make. We will also use our agency Internet site (www.socialsecurity.gov) to share information and provide opportunities for participation and collaboration. To encourage employee collaboration and innovation across the country, we are creating the necessary infrastructure to support existing and emerging Web 2.0 technologies. We will use social media tools in discussions about our programs and services.

Flagship Initiatives: Our three flagship initiatives — the Spanish Retirement Estimator, Online Service Enhancement, and Online Life–Expectancy Calculator — support our agency mission, goals, and objectives, as well as showcase the value of open government principles.

Sustainability: Our Chief Information Officer directs our open government plans and activities. Our Office of Open Government is responsible for managing those activities. Our Open Government executive steering committee provides guidance on overall strategic direction. We will incorporate open government principles into our new Agency Strategic Plan in 2011. Our Open Government Communications Plan Summary includes activities to foster culture change and promote open government principles in our workforce.

Mission and Goals

Our Agency Mission:

Deliver Social Security services that meet the changing needs of the public

Our Open Government Mission:

Support the agency’s core mission through the principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration

Our Open Government Goals:

·         Goal I: Increase transparency

·         Goal II: Expand participation and collaboration

·         Goal III: Implement open government flagship initiatives

·         Goal IV: Make open government sustainable

Who we are and what we do:

We administer two programs: the Old–Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. Social Security is one of the pillars of America, providing Social Security benefits and SSI payments to approximately 60 million people each month. In addition, we assist people in applying for food stamps and Medicare, including subsidies for the Medicare Prescription Drug Program. Due to the combined effects of the economic recession and the aging of the baby boomer generation, applications for retirement and disability benefits have soared. We have expanded our telephone and online services, including a very successful online retirement estimator and online retirement application that helps us meet the needs of the public.

 

Services We Provided in FY 2009
Assisted 45 million visitors to our field offices	Issued 17.5 million Social Security cards
Issued almost 55 million $250 economic recovery payments	Handled 67 million transactions via our National 800 Number
Posted 262 million earnings items to workers’ records	Verified Social Security numbers 1.3 billion times
Completed 4.7 million retirement, survivor, and Medicare applications	Completed 244,000 Medicare Prescription Drug Plan subsidy applications
Completed 2.8 million disability applications	Conducted 1.7 million SSI redeterminations
Issued 151 million Social Security Statements	Completed 321,000 SSI aged applications
Handled 1.3 million representative payee accountings and changes	Completed 30 million status changes (e.g., address, direct deposit, wage reports)
Issued 660,842 hearing decisions	Completed 89,066 Appeals Council reviews
Completed 598,000 disability reconsiderations of denied applications	Conducted 317,000 medical continuing disability reviews
Took 83,000 Food Stamp applications	Completed 2.1 million overpayment actions
Responded to 31,551 FOIA requests	Maintained the largest repository of medical records in the world

 

Open Government Plan—Goals, Objectives, and Activities

Goal I: Increase Transparency

Social Security will meet the open government principle of transparency through information sharing and accountability

We will continue to provide information to the public to enable them to understand our mission, our programs, and the actions we take. While we currently share significant amounts of non–personal information through a number of outlets and methods, there is ever–growing public demand for more information and clarity in our processes. We share the President’s commitment to making non–personal information known, and we have taken steps to make more information available electronically.

On February 6, 2010, we launched our new Open Government Webpage, through which the public can find datasets and information about our overall management and organizational structure. The public may also use this webpage to contact the agency and submit comments and ideas.

We have a responsive Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) program and have renewed our efforts to ensure transparency through a “presumption of openness.” ^[1] You will find information about our FOIA program at www.socialsecurity.gov/foia.

We have Disclosure Review Boards, governed by senior leadership, which ensures the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of data we release under the Information Quality Act. We posted 16 high–value datasets to Data.gov and plan to proactively identify and release additional information. We expect to incorporate the disclosure review process into our agency planning.

We have named a senior official responsible for the publicly–available Federal spending information. For more information about our transparency initiatives (Records Management, Data.gov, eRulemaking, IT Dashboard, Recovery.gov, and USAspending.gov) see Appendix A. We do not have original classification authority and cannot classify any document or system of record. Therefore, we do not have a declassification program.

Objective 1: Provide the public with high value information to generate ideas for improving our programs and services

We are reviewing the high–value information and datasets currently available to the public. Based on our review and the feedback we receive through our Open Government Webpage and Data.gov, we will identify additional information to release.

We are also:

·         Evaluating our processes to ensure that the information and data we release is clear, accurate, machine readable, and appropriate for release;

·         Expanding Disclosure Review Boards to ensure that the data we release is appropriate and that we adequately protect privacy;

·         Establishing an action plan to update and release data in accordance with our strategic planning initiatives;

·         Reviewing our publicly available information to ensure that it is available in the appropriate format; and

·         Exploring the use of social media to improve transparency.

Appendix B, Table 1 contains a set of milestones and expected completion dates for major activities supporting this objective.

Objective 2: Provide information to the public in an electronic format

We are identifying data (at least 5 high–value datasets and information holdings) that we have never made available to the public before, and we will provide a timetable for release. The data releases will conform to the standards of Data.gov and the Information Quality Act. In addition, we will:

·         Collect feedback from stakeholders on our current high value releases to help us identify future high–value releases; and

·         Inform key audiences, such as advocate groups and new subscribers of the available information via electronic messages and eNews.

Social Security — Committed to Excellence in Accessibility

At Social Security we are committed to making our entire Internet and Intranet content accessible to all persons with disabilities. As a leader in the Federal Government in the area of accessibility, we have made great progress with our public facing websites and IT procurement, ensuring that the public has access to our services and our employees with disabilities can work.

But we can’t stop there. With the advent of newer web–based technologies, we face new challenges in the area of accessibility. So we are redoubling our commitment to Section 508 compliance, ensuring that accommodation be made in our online documents, multimedia, social media and videos. Our goal: where ever we interface with the public or with an employee with a disability they should have full access to all services and information.

For additional details about our accessibility policy and resources for people with disabilities, please view www.socialsecurity.gov/webcontent/accessibility.htm.

 

Objective 3: Fully support and participate in the Federal transparency initiative

We support and comply with the requirements of Data.gov, eRulemaking, IT Dashboard, Recovery.gov, and USAspending.gov. See Appendix A for information about each of these activities. We will work with other agencies to jointly release data when appropriate. For instance, we will participate in Data.gov working groups covering such topics as health and jobs.

Objective 4: Develop and launch a public information campaign around significant planned actions supporting transparency

We created an Open Government Communications Plan that incorporates significant actions supporting transparency and our Open Government web page. You will find a summary of our communications plan in Appendix C.

Objective 5: Provide information to the public on internal management procedures

In our efforts to be transparent, we will go beyond releasing statistics and provide the public with additional information of interest. Documents we post will be valid, current, and accurate.

Appendix D contains information about the agency records management program, including scheduling all electronic records for retention and destruction and ensuring timely transfer to the National Archives. It also contains information about agency staffing and organizational structure, as well as the process for analyzing and responding to Congressional requests for information,

Information about the agency FOIA program, including staffing, organizational structure, and process as well as planned improvements to strengthen the response processes can be found at www.ssa.gov/foia and Appendix D.

Goal II: Expand Participation and Collaboration

We have a long history of inviting the public to participate and collaborate with us and have greatly benefited from their ideas and opinions. For example, when we consider additions to the diseases included in our compassionate allowance initiative ^[2] , we hold public hearings to gather information from medical experts, advocates, and individuals interested in the disability process. We use the valuable information and opinions we receive in the forums and other outreach venues to inform our policy decisions. Similarly, when we update our medical listings used in adjudicating disability claims, we publish an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to get ideas from the public before we begin to draft the proposed regulatory changes. Based on an employee suggestion, we participate in a project with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to determine whether some of their medical research can streamline disability case decisions.

We want to expand on the successes we have achieved so far through participation and collaboration and further infuse these principles into the way we develop policy, solve problems, and determine public preferences.

Objective 1: Provide the public with easy access to existing channels for participation

We will offer the public additional access by:

·         Informing the public when we adopt an idea submitted through our collaboration and participation portals. We will post feedback at www.socialsecurity.gov/open with continued opportunities for participation;

·         Posting information about all Federal Advisory Committee Act groups working on agency issues, so that members of the public can attend events and access relevant information;

·         Providing notice of agency–sponsored national public meetings, such as the public hearings on compassionate allowance categories;

·         Providing information about other means to provide feedback on various topics related to our programs and services;

·         Providing the public with an opportunity to comment on our proposed regulations at
www.regulations.gov, our eRulemaking initiative;

·         Using webinars to inform the public of agency issues and to solicit their questions, reactions and concerns;

·         Using focus groups for public input and usability testing before launching online services; and

·         Providing the public with an opportunity to comment on our public use forms and information collection requests, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act through email at OPLM.RCO@ssa.gov. (A full list of our data collection projects is available at www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.)

A set of milestones and expected completion dates for major activities supporting this objective is located in Appendix B, Table 2.

Objective 2: Investigate new tools to increase employee participation and collaboration  

In addition to expanding our collaboration efforts with the public, we are also committed to increasing employee participation and will build a modern infrastructure necessary to support such efforts. We will begin using these tools internally, and as we gain experience, we will expand for public use as appropriate.

For example:

·         To support internal collaboration, we installed web collaboration platforms for different segments of our user community. We continue to look at new functionality in existing tools, while researching new offerings that supplement our present tools;

·         We are in the process of creating internal capacity to host websites and applications based on open–source software solutions and we look forward to a lively exchange of ideas and program code within the growing Federal open–source software development community; and

·         We are building a new development production environment to enhance innovation by employees throughout the Nation.

See Appendix B, Table 2 for a set of milestones and expected completion dates for major activities supporting this objective.

Objective 3: Provide new and easier methods for public engagement during agency decision–making processes

We are using social media tools for idea sharing and blogs to engage audiences in discussions about our strategic planning, programs and services. We are updating our Agency Strategic Plan in FY 2011 and will use these tools to capture public input and feedback during development.

We are investigating the use of innovative tools and practices to create new and easier methods for the public to provide input into the agency decision–making processes. We are exploring the following:

·         Providing a web–based calendar displaying certain events at national and local levels, offering the public the opportunity to discuss issues face–to–face with agency leaders;

·         Holding town hall meetings to inform individuals and organizational representatives about our programs and services;

·         Sponsoring competitions and offering prizes to the public for creating beneficial tools and applications using our public datasets; and

·         Investigating the use of open government educational webcasts for colleges and universities.

A set of milestones and expected completion dates for major activities supporting this objective is located in Appendix B, Table 2.

Goal III: Implement Open Government Flagship Initiatives

Initiative 1: Spanish Retirement Estimator (S–RE)

One of the ideas we received during our Open Government Plan public comment period was to provide greater access to retirement information, which is consistent with our Agency Strategic Plan commitment to provide online tools to plan for retirement. We currently offer an online Retirement Estimator, which provides users with instant, personalized estimates of their future retirement benefits. This popular application, which was used almost three million times in FY 2009, consistently ranks as one of the top four online government applications in public satisfaction surveys.

We plan to offer the same service to our Spanish–speaking clientele and will be building and offering the Retirement Estimator application in Spanish.

This new tool will provide retirement information in Spanish and is the first step in developing online services in non–English languages. We are holding focus groups to involve the public while we develop this application.

Our tentative plan for the project is:

·         FY 2010

o   3rd Quarter — Create the architecture for the S–RE application

o   4th Quarter — Develop and test the S–RE application

·         FY 2011

o   1st Quarter — Integrate the S–RE with our systems

We will determine the specific launch date for the application after testing and integration.

Initiative 2: Online Service Enhancement

We offer our services through a variety of channels.
Many of our services are available online at
www.socialsecurity.gov or through our automated telephone systems. People can access other services through our toll–free phone number (800–772–1213). Very few services require a visit to a Social Security office, and many of those services can be taken care of on a walk–in basis without an appointment.

To help the public understand our available service options, we will build a new online tool that guides visitors to the most appropriate service delivery method for their needs. Through guided search tools, our customers will more readily arrive at the correct service channel, encouraging even more people to use our online services. Individuals who are unable to complete their claims applications online will be offered the ability to electronically schedule field office appointments to complete their claims. ^[3]

We will seek advice from industry experts on guiding online visitors to appropriate service options and will also conduct usability testing of new applications with the public. We will measure improvement through surveys and web analytic programs to ensure that users can find the services they seek. We will also monitor the number of claims appointments scheduled online to determine the staff time saved by self–scheduling. Since this initiative is part of our growing suite of online services, we will continually improve and expand it.

Our tentative plan for the project is:

·         FY 2010

o   2nd Quarter — Planning, analysis, and focus group testing

o   3rd Quarter — Developing the guided search application and appointment mechanism

o   4th Quarter — Testing and integrating of the guided search application and appointment mechanism with SSA’s systems

·         FY 2011

o   1st Quarter — Training our employees and deploying the appointment mechanism in phases

We will determine the specific launch date for the application during testing and integration.

Initiative 3: Online Life–Expectancy Calculator

We are developing a simple, online, life–expectancy calculator to assist the public with retirement planning. One factor to consider is how long a person expects to live. Many people substantially underestimate or overestimate life expectancy. A man turning 65 today can expect to live, on average, another 18 years. A woman turning 65 today can expect to live, on average, another 20 years. Using a life–expectancy calculator can help people better plan for retirement by estimating just how long they might live. This application will add a measure of accuracy to retirement planning considerations by providing average life expectancies at different ages based on gender and date of birth, and drawing on assumptions provided in the annual Social Security Trustees’ report. It will also be designed for use with our online retirement estimator. We expect to launch the calculator during 2010.

Goal IV: Make Open Government Sustainable

At Social Security, we are committed to becoming an even more open and transparent organization. However, we must balance our need to protect the sensitive and personal information we need to administer our critical programs with our desire to be transparent and provide services that meet the needs of the public. The principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration require us to approach our jobs in new ways and learn to think about service in new terms.

Goal IV provides governance structures to oversee these new approaches and plans for changing the culture of the agency so that open government values and principles are woven into the fabric of our workforce. These principles support our longstanding values of providing good service and safeguarding the personal information we maintain.

Objective 1: Foster employee engagement in open government initiatives and work toward culture change by infusing open government values and principles throughout the agency

We will implement open government changes and infuse these new principles and values into our business processes. Our efforts will be comprehensive and continuous. For example:

·         We announced the launch of our Open Government web page to all employees and we incorporated employee suggestions into our Open Government Plan. While it was not submitted through our Open Government web page, one of our flagship initiatives came from an employee who was a finalist in President Obama’s SAVE contest;

·         We will share our Open Government Plan with all employees on the agency Intranet and send them periodic updates about the plan and our open government activities;

·         We will provide our employees with easy access to open government materials on our Intranet site;

·         We will incorporate open government principles into appropriate training activities for agency executives, senior managers, and other employees. We will monitor and collect feedback on the training and make adjustments as needed;

·         We will create open government honor awards for employees, external individuals and organizations to recognize achievements advancing open government principles; and

·         Our open government communication plan will include specific actions to involve employees.

See Appendix B, Table 3 for a set of milestones and expected completion dates for major activities supporting this objective.

Objective 2: Incorporate open government principles into the way we organize and do our work

The Commissioner and top executives provide overall guidance through their senior operations meetings. Open government will be a key topic in these meetings. To understand the executive leadership functions of Social Security, see the agency organization in Appendix E, Chart 1.

Highlights of actions related to organizational support for open government include:

·         We have expanded the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to oversee innovation, IT strategic planning, security, investment management, and open government. The newly–created Office of Open Government coordinates all open government initiatives for the agency. See Chart 2 in Appendix E for the OCIO organization chart.

·         The Commissioner created an Open Government Executive Steering Committee to direct the agency’s open government activities.

·         The Commissioner appointed an executive to be accountable for the quality and objectivity of federal spending information.

·         The Executive Internal Control Committee serves as the agency Senior Management Council and is charged with management accountability for oversight of internal controls, including those covering data quality.

Appendix E, Chart 3 contains a listing of components, executives, and functions relevant to open government. A set of milestones and expected completion dates for major activities supporting this objective is located in Appendix B, Table 3.

Objective 3: Align open government activities with our mission and strategic goals

We are updating our Agency Strategic Plan in 2011. In developing our new plan, we will incorporate our open government plans and activities. Highlights of actions to foster alignment between the ASP and the open government initiative include:

·         Chart 4 in Appendix E, which shows examples of how the open government initiatives support the mission objectives and current agency goals;

·         Alignment of the next Information Resources Management Plan with open government principles and initiatives; and

·         Social Security’s open government flagship initiatives—the Spanish Retirement Estimator, Online Service Enhancement and Life Expectancy Calculator. These projects support the mission, objectives and goals of the agency as well as showcase the value of open government principles in important aspects of our work. They also address feedback received through the public engagement process.

See Appendix B, Table 3 for a set of milestones and expected completion dates for major activities supporting this objective.

Objective 4: Provide public access to our open government performance measures
and results

We will provide information about open government measures and results. For example:

·         We will post our open government goals and our performance against the goals on our website.

·         We will review our Agency Performance Plan to identify possible new measures based on open government activities.

·         We will link open government initiatives to the achievement of agency results. We will monitor and measure the benefits from open government activities. We expect that open government activities will have a positive effect on agency results. We will continue to closely monitor FOIA requests to identify additional information holdings of high value to the public. We will track our efforts in engaging the public and employees by the volume of calls for information and data. Goodwill created by open government activities may result in higher use of electronic services by the public and higher levels of satisfaction for those who transact business with us online.

You will find a set of milestones and expected completion dates for major activities supporting this objective in Appendix B, Table 3.

Objective 5: Support the transfer of open government ideas, tools, and other materials

We are a Federal leader in the use of Health Information Technology. Our work with the private sector may yield transferable ideas and tools. We will share our results and products as appropriate. For example:

·         We look forward to sharing the products of our open–source platform efforts across the growing Federal open–source development community, as well as partnering with other agencies in future endeavors; and

·         We are in the process of designing and developing an Electronic Technology Repository for communities of innovation. We expect this repository to employ open–source social networking and other tools to permit users to better manage agency knowledge, avoid unproductive duplication of effort, and share experiences. The repository will support the storage of shared materials and project artifacts, discussion boards, wikis, blogs, subscription feeds, and other pertinent information. We envision sharing these resources with other Federal organizations as well.

We will continue to actively participate in cross–government workgroups and share best practices. We also plan to:

·         Name a focal point for agency open government sharing;

·         Share any materials we develop for open government implementation; and

·         Collaborate extensively with public and private partners.

A set of milestones and expected completion dates for major activities supporting this objective is located in Appendix B, Table 3.

Conclusion

As we move ahead with our plan to become an even more open agency, we look
forward to:

·         Increasing Transparency, by sharing and being accountable for information that is of genuine interest and value to the public;

·         Fostering Participation, by offering a variety of channels for multiple audiences to engage in dialogs with us and provide ideas on how we can improve our programs and services; and

·         Furthering Collaboration, by working with other agencies and organizations to exchange ideas for improving our service to the public.

We invite you to provide comments to help us strengthen our Open Government Plan.

Appendix A

Federal Transparency Initiatives

1. Data.gov

We support the President’s agenda for the democratization of data. We added two datasets to Data.gov in 2009 and another 14 high value datasets in accordance with Memorandum M–10–06 in January 2010. The chart below shows the datasets and how they met the high value criteria of Data.gov.

Social Security Datasets on Data.gov

 

Data sets	How Social Security Meets High–Value Criteria
	Increase agency accountability and responsiveness	Improve public knowledge of agency and its operations	Further core mission of agency	Create economic opportunity	Respond to identified public need and demand
Hearings Process ALJ dispositions Hearing Office dispositions Hearings held in person or via Video Conferencing Hearing Office Average Processing Time Hearing Office Workload Data NetStat Report (average time from the hearing request date until a hearing is held)	◊	◊	◊		◊
Disability Decisions Social Security State Agency Workload Data Social Security Disability Data	◊	◊	◊		◊
2008 Freedom of Information Act  Annual Report	◊				◊
National Beneficiary Survey (NBS) Round 1 Round 2 Round 3	◊	◊	◊
Supplemental Security Income Public–Use Microdata File, 2001 Data	◊	◊
Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Public–Use Microdata File 2001 Data	◊	◊
Benefits Data from the Benefits and Earnings Public Use File, 2004 Social Security Benefit Information	◊	◊
Earnings Data from the Benefits and Earnings Public Use File, 2004 Longitudinal Earnings Information	◊	◊
“High–value” Defined High–value information is information that can be used to increase agency accountability and responsiveness; improve public knowledge of the agency and its operations; further the core mission of the agency; create economic opportunity; or respond to need and demand as identified through public consultation. (OMB Memorandum M–10–06, December 8, 2009)

 

The agency receives ideas and comments from employees and the public about additional datasets and information that they wish to see posted via web portals, idea tools, email, face–to–face meetings, etc. We will use this input, along with executive guidance, in the agency’s strategic planning process to ensure that the principle of transparency becomes part of our ongoing operating procedures. It will also inform our ongoing release of datasets and information we have not previously released.

We have been active members of the Data.gov community and work with many other agencies to advance joint releases of datasets and relevant information. This includes, but is not limited to the Security and Privacy Working Group, the Jobs Working Group, the Green Working Group, and the Health Working Group. We believe that these joint efforts may be fruitful to expose new insights in the need for data and provide opportunities for data challenges on the use of data. We are mindful of all such opportunities. We are also aware of the need to provide the data and information in a context that is understandable and displayed through visualization tools that make sense to the public.

2. eRulemaking

Social Security is a partner agency in the eRulemaking initiative known as the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS), (publicly accessible at www.regulations.gov). We began working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the partner agencies in the development of FDMS in June 2004. We participated in the design of FDMS for three months. The partner agencies worked with EPA and the contractor to design a user friendly system where the public can submit comments on pending regulations; Social Security started using FDMS on September 25, 2006.

Staff members from our Office of Regulations actively serve on several committees in the continued development and modifications to FDMS and the public–facing component, Regulations.gov.

3. IT Dashboard

Social Security is fully compliant with requirements for reporting on the IT Dashboard. Initially our reporting cycle was not aligned with the timing required for Dashboard reporting, but beginning in FY 2010, we have been reporting on a monthly cycle at the beginning of the month, as required. We are looking forward to planned enhancements to the Dashboard that will provide for more flexible reporting and richer data.

4. Recovery.gov

Our responsibilities under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) included:

·         Issuing a one–time payment of $250 to nearly 55 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries;

·         Dedicating additional resources to the processing of disability and retirement workloads, and;

·         Replacing the National Computer Center.

We developed an overall agency level plan and three program specific plans. We submitted our ARRA Plans to the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board. The Board includes the information in these submissions and reports on the Recovery.gov web site. In addition, we submit a Major Communications Report to the Board and OMB on an ad hoc basis, as major communications are released to the public.

We submit a weekly Financial and Activity Report to the Board and OMB. This report shows the total ARRA obligations and total gross outlays from ARRA passage through the end of the report week, as well as major completed activities and major planned activities for the week of the report. These reports are posted on the Recovery.gov website.

To further transparency, we also post the above items to our agency ARRA web site and provide links to Recovery.gov, USAspending.gov, and other sites that may be of interest to the public. On our agency website, we also include an overview of the ARRA, our overall agency level plan, the three program specific plans, fact sheets, and ARRA contact information. We also have information about proper communications with lobbyists, information quality, civil rights, and how the Economic Recovery Payment may affect an individual’s federal tax return.

5. USAspending.gov

We are working towards full compliance with the operational guidelines contained in Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M–09–19, Guidance on Data Submission under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA). These guidelines define the requirements for federal agencies use in reporting data to the USAspending.gov website.

FFATA requires information on federal awards (federal financial assistance and expenditures) be made available to the public via a single, searchable website. Federal awards include grants, sub grants, loans, awards, cooperative agreements and other forms of financial assistance as well as contracts, subcontracts, purchase orders, task orders, and delivery orders.

Pursuant to the guidance, Social Security reports contract data and Federal financial assistance payments data.

Contract Data

OMB M–09–19 requires contract data be provided by the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). It also requires a separate data file containing program source data (i.e., Treasury Account).

We submit contract data directly through the FPDS. We extract program source data from our in–house contract writing system, and upload the data file using the USAspending Data Submission and Validation Tool (DSVT). FPDS is being modified to accept program source data, which will eliminate the need for the separate data file.

Financial Assistance

Federal financial assistance includes grants and assistance payments made under Federal domestic assistance programs listed in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. Grant and assistance payments data are submitted using the Federal Assistance Award Data System (FAADS) PLUS format.

Financial Assistance Awards—Grants

We extract grants data from our Grants Reporting System, an in–house data base created specifically for meeting the FFATA requirements. We normally submit the data on the 5th and 20th of each month, or the last business day prior to the due date, should it fall on a weekend or holiday. Currently, we submit our grants data via e–mail to USAspending.gov.

We will be migrating to a new grants management system, which includes FFATA reporting capabilities. This new system will allow us to report via the DSVT, which is the required delivery process effective October 1, 2010.

Financial Assistance Payments—Mandatory and Entitlement Programs

We run one of the Nation’s largest entitlement programs—the Old–Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program. We also administer the Supplemental Security Income program, which provides financial support to aged, blind, or disabled adults and children with limited income and resources. Under FFATA, the payments made under these programs are considered financial assistance. Therefore, we report data about these payments to USAspending.gov.

Social Security is working to meet the M–09–19 FFATA data submission requirements. The agency payment information for these programs in the new FAADS Plus data formats. Our current reporting system was designed to report quarterly, while USAspending requires monthly reporting. We are developing the requirements and migration strategy for a new process that meets all of the requirements of USA spending.

Appendix B

Milestones and Completion Dates

Table 1–Goal I (Increase Transparency) Milestones and completion dates

 

Milestone	Projected Completion Date
Conduct an inventory of high value information and datasets	Ongoing effort began in 2009. Target date for completion is 9/2010.
Evaluate agency processes to ensure appropriate release of data	Ongoing effort began in 2009 and continues
Post at least five new high value datasets/information holdings to Data.gov in 2010	12/2010
Post five additional new high value datasets to Data.gov	9/2011
Review publicly available information to assure appropriate format	Will be done with SSA’s annual certification and review–12/2010
Reach out to key stakeholders to inform them of available information	Ongoing
Enhancement of our FOIA webpage	4/2010 initially and ongoing thereafter
Develop Data Quality Framework Plan	4/2010
Contract data is provided by the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). Agencies reporting contract data to FPDS must also provide Program Source (i.e., Treasury Account) data in a separate file until such time that FPDS has been modified to provide this data field. We use a Commercial Off The Shelf acquisition application. The interface between this application and FPDS will need to be aligned.	Alignment based upon FPDS — TBD
Migrate to a new grants management system, which includes FFATA reporting capabilities and, thereby, report via the DSVT, which is the required delivery process.	10/2010
Deliver mandatory and entitlement payment data for 2007–2009 in the new FAADS Plus data format. This is an interim process. We are evaluating the requirements to migrate from the quarterly FAADS reporting to Census to monthly reporting in the FAADS Plus format per the requirements of M–09–19.	We are currently working with OMB to provide past program payment data. Dependent on success of the file loading process. Requirements analysis and migration strategy expected to be completed by September 2010.
Review changes to information dissemination and compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act per April 2010 OMB guidance.	Information dissemination evaluation is ongoing and will reflect 4/2010 OMB guidance and due dates.

 

Table 2–Goal II (Expand Participation and Collaboration) Milestones and completion dates

 

Milestone	Projected Completion Date
Inform public and employees about their ideas adopted from portals	4/2010 + ongoing
Post information about FACA groups online	5/2010
Make decision on posting list of national public meetings held by agency	6/2010
Use electronic bulletin boards and webinars to inform the public and to obtain public feedback	Ongoing beginning in 9/2010
Create internal hosting capacity based on Drupal platform and share experience with federal community	7/2010
Make decision on hosting open government education webcasts for colleges/universities	6/2010
Continue portal and idea sharing opportunities for employees	4/2010 + ongoing

 

Table 3–Goal IV (Make Open Government Sustainable) Milestones and completion dates

 

Milestone	Projected Completion Date
Issue Draft Open Government Plan (containing Communication Plan Summary) and share it with public and employees	4/2010
Establish executive level open government steering committee	Completed
Announce new employee honor award for open government	Summer 2010
Revised Agency Strategic Plan	2011
Annual Performance Plan reflects open government activities	2011
Post open government materials on agency Intranet	4/2010
Post open government scores on website	As soon as available

 

Appendix C

Open Government Communications Plan Summary

Draft Strategy

We will continuously engage external and internal audiences about our efforts and results on transparency, participation and collaboration. Specifically, we will:

·         Educate and inform external and internal audiences about Social Security’s open government activities;

·         Collect ideas and feedback from external and internal sources about ways to improve our openness as well as our programs and services; and

·         Report on ideas we receive and any progress or action we take on them.

We will use our Internet site (www.socialsecurity.gov) as one platform for sharing information and providing opportunities for participation and collaboration with the public. We will also launch new platforms using a cloud environment. Internally, we will use our agency Intranet as a platform for keeping our employees informed and engaging them in open government ideas and initiatives.

Potential Tools & Tactics

External

·         Blogs and idea tools

·         Social media (Blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, podcasts, etc.)

·         Electronic newsletters

·         Email campaign

·         Webinars/webcasts

·         Video and slide presentations

·         Town hall meetings with public

·         National conferences and other speaking engagements

·         Advocate and stakeholder meetings

·         Focus groups

·         Surveys

·         Mobile applications

Internal

·         Electronic technology repository for collaboration

·         Commissioner’s messages (email, video, audio)

·         Conference phone calls and video teleconferences

·         Training

·         Presentations and workshops for upper management

·         Presentations for the regional offices and public affairs specialists

·         Town hall meetings with employees

·         Employee newsletter and magazine articles

·         Focus groups

·         Surveys

·         Blogs

Appendix D

Internal Management

1. Records Management Program

Our Center for Records Management provides guidance and policy for the effective and efficient management of Social Security’s record management program from the point of records initial creation to final disposition.

Our records retention policy and agency—specific records schedules are currently readily available on our Intranet website only. We will be posting this information on our agency public website. The General Records Schedule (GRS) and National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) policy are available for public access at www.archives.gov/records—mgmt/ardor/.

For all agency records, Social Security maintains a file plan and classification scheme describing the record type, the component owning the record, and the approved disposition. Although records are retained according to content, not medium (paper or electronic), the Code of Federal Regulations (36 CFR—Part 1234) establishes unique standards for the creation, use, preservation, and disposition of electronic records.

We include electronic records management in our System Development Life Cycle. We identify records management issues, including retention and disposition methods. This ensures we incorporate records management requirements into the design of all information systems, and that we maintain a Records Management program which follows NARA Records Management Guidance and Regulations, including the DOD 5015.2 Standard as required.

We have 718 applications and systems currently in use. We schedule our records under agency specific schedules or the GRS.

We will be posting the following on Social Security’s Internet site in the near future:

General records schedules

Agency—specific schedules

Electronic records schedules

Social Security responses to NARA bulletins to fulfill records management requirements

Verifications received from NARA for the permanent transfer of records

Annual Inventory of agency—specific schedules

Records management section of the 2009 e—Gov report

Disposal approvals

What Social Security has done to implement an effective records disposition program per 36 CFR 1224.40 is shown in bold font under each section (below) in 36 CFR 1224.40.

§ 1224.10 What must agencies do to implement an effective records disposition program?

In order to properly implement the provisions of §§1220.30(c) (2), 1220.32(e), and 1220.34(c), (f), and (g) of this subchapter agencies must:

·         Ensure that all records are scheduled in accordance with part 1225 of this subchapter, schedules are implemented in accordance with part 1226 of this subchapter, and permanent records are transferred to the National Archives of the United States. This is met with numbers 1–3 and number 5 above.

·         Promptly disseminate and implement NARA—approved agency schedules and additions and changes to the General Records Schedules (GRS) in accordance with §1226.12(a) of this subchapter. We currently adhere to this requirement.

·         Regularly review agency—generated schedules, and, if necessary, update them. This is met with number 6 above.

·         Incorporate records retention and disposition functionality during the design, development, and implementation of new or revised recordkeeping systems (whether paper or electronic). See §1236.6 of this subchapter. We currently adhere to this requirement.

·         Provide training and guidance to all employees on agency records disposition requirements and procedures and other significant aspects of the records disposition program. When a new or revised records schedule is issued, provide specific guidance to employees responsible for applying the schedule. We currently adhere to this requirement.

2. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Program

In order to increase transparency, by early April 2010, we will modify the FOIA home page on our public website to include an “Open Government” link. This link will take members of the public to new web pages containing information on our organizational structure, our FOIA process, and initiatives we are pursuing to enhance our capabilities. The remainder of this section is a depiction of the content of those new pages.

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests

Social Security’s Structure

The Office of Privacy and Disclosure (OPD) develops and interprets Social Security Administration (SSA) policy governing the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of personally identifiable information under the Privacy Act, section 1106 of the Social Security Act, section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, and related privacy statutes and regulations. Additionally, OPD develops policy for data exchange agreements governed by the Privacy Act and the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act (CMPPA).

OPD also directs all FOIA activities within the agency, including developing FOIA policies and procedures, establishing national guidelines for handling FOIA requests, publishing the Annual Report on FOIA activities, and reviewing FOIA and Privacy Act requests and appeals to determine the proper disclosure of records.

To accomplish our FOIA mission, OPD’s structure includes two Disclosure Policy Development Divisions, each aligned to specific Social Security Regional Offices. These alignments help us efficiently and consistently process FOIA requests, and handle disclosure and privacy matters. Regional staff may directly consult with the same core set of analysts on disclosure policy and procedure matters, instead of going through a clearinghouse process that randomly assigns inquiries to a “pool” of analysts.

This arrangement also allows the OPD analyst to become familiar with privacy and disclosure issues that may be unique to a particular geographic region due to State or local laws, or other influencing factors.

How We Process Requests

We receive FOIA requests via the internet, by fax, and through the mail. We capture FOIA requests submitted online in our electronic Freedom of Information Act (eFOIA) system. Once a person submits an online request, eFOIA generates an acknowledgement screen with a case number and a telephone number should that person need to check on his or her request.

In many cases, we charge fees to process FOIA requests. The eFOIA system allows requesters to pay online for certain routine requests, which accelerates our responsiveness to the public and reduces our administrative costs.

OPD also scans requests submitted by fax or mail into the eFOIA system for processing. eFOIA automatically assigns a case number to the scanned paper request, generates an acknowledgement letter, and stores the request for us to develop and respond.

We try to handle a request within 20 days from the date we receive it. We process requests under a “first in” “first out” basis. However, sometimes it may take us longer depending on the complexity of the request, the amount of records sought, and how much other work we have.

A complex request may require us to obtain more information from either the requester, or from office(s) within the agency. A request may require us to seek paper records that we collectively maintain in multiple geographic locations, or in archived storage.

Quality Review

Prior to releasing records in response to a FOIA request, OPD conducts a thorough internal review to ensure that we apply Social Security’s privacy and disclosure rules consistently and accurately. The complexity and nature of each request determines the level of review we require, which can include input and review by other Social Security offices within SSA such as the Office of General Law, the Press Office, or the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs.

Results

We take pride in our ability to act on Privacy Act and FOIA requests in an accurate and timely manner. The result of our efforts in this area can best be seen in our Annual Report. In 2009, we responded to over 31,000 FOIA requests, and ended the fiscal year with a backlog of less than three—tenths of one percent of our total cases pending. The agency’s performance is a testament to the experience and quality of the workforce in OPD. The average analyst has been with SSA for 22 years and has, on average, 12 years of Privacy Act and FOIA experience.

Improvement Initiatives

We continue to strive to improve our capacity and capability to respond to Privacy Act and FOIA requests.

Training

·         OPD instituted an in–house FOIA/Privacy Act training program for analysts that focuses on various technical, legal, and “hands–on” issues involved in processing requests. Some of these sessions focus on the administrative processes that arise under FOIA and that can cause unnecessary delay in responding. This training provides a formal platform to emphasize the importance of presumptive disclosure, to discuss recent disclosures, and to examine new possibilities for additional disclosures.

·         OPD maintains a strong commitment to encourage and provide staff the opportunity to attend outside FOIA training such as that sponsored by, or in conjunction with, the Department of Justice, university programs, and not–for–profit organizations. During the course of the last year, we participated in training sessions that included all levels of FOIA, including those that focused on basic FOIA overview, presumptive disclosure, and privacy policy.

·         OPD continues to provide Privacy Act and FOIA training at an agency level through our biennial Privacy and Disclosure Training Conference. This year’s conference will include sessions on the importance of openness and transparency in government.

Technology

OPD maintains a commitment to use technology to enhance our capabilities. In 2007, OPD implemented a new browser–based platform (eFOIA) designed specifically to automate much of the workflow for handling Privacy Act and FOIA requests. In FY 2010, OPD has released four updates/changes/enhancements to the system, with two more scheduled for release later in the FY to further improve our system.

3. Congressional Requests

Social Security receives congressional inquiries by phone, letter, fax, and via the Internet. The inquiries generally involve constituent–related Social Security cases, program policies, or requests for program or agency information. These inquiries most often come into the Office of the Commissioner, local Social Security field offices, the Office of Public Inquiries (OPI), and the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs (OLCA). We respond as quickly as possible to congressional offices, but sometimes it takes time to get the information we need. If we cannot provide a final reply promptly, we will provide an interim response.

In most cases, the office that receives the initial inquiry can fully address the questions raised and provide a response to the congressional office. Others may need to be referred to a different office. When an inquiry is received at headquarters, OPI or OLCA coordinate with all relevant and affected components. No matter which office handles it, we thoroughly research and answer all congressional inquiries.

Our website’s home page includes a section titled “Information for Congress.” Following the link,
www.socialsecurity.gov/legislation, will take visitors to the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs. This site includes information on agency testimony before Congress, pending Social Security–related legislation, legislative proposals and reports we have sent to Congress, and legislative history of significant recent legislation affecting Social Security Act programs.

Appendix E

Charts

Chart 1 — Social Security Administration organization chart

Office of the Commissioner

Commissioner of Social Security

Deputy Commissioner of Social Security

Office of Executive Operations

Office of International Programs

Special Advisor to the Commissioner, Health Information Technology

Office of the Chief Actuary

Office of the Chief Information Officer

Office of the General Counsel

Office of the Inspector General

Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Budget, Finance and Management

Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Communications

Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Disability Adjudication and Review

Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Human Resources

Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Legislation and Congressional Affairs

Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Operations

 

Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Quality Performance

 

Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Retirement and Disability Policy

 

Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Systems

Chart 2 — OCIO organization chart

Office of the Chief Information Officer

 

Frank Baitman

Chief Information Officer

 

Greg Pace

Deputy Chief Information Officer

Office of Information Security

Office of Innovation

Office of Investment Management

Office of Open Government

Office of Vision and Strategy

Chart 3 — Components, executives, and functions relevant to open government

Executive Lead for Open Government

Alan Lane

Associate Chief Information Officer for Open Government

Executive Accountable for Publicly Disseminated Federal Spending Information Integrity

Ron Raborg

Deputy Commissioner for Quality Performance

Open Government Steering Committee Components

Office of the Chief Actuary | Office of the Chief Information Officer

Office of the General Counsel | Office of Budget, Finance and Management

Office of Communications | Office of Disability Adjudication and Review

Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs | Office of Operations | Office of Systems

Office of Quality Performance | Office of Retirement and Disability Policy

 

Chart 4 — Examples of alignment between open government initiatives and agency strategic goals

 

Examples of Alignment between Open Government Initiatives and Agency Strategic Plan
	ASP Goal 1: eliminate our  hearings backlog and prevent its recurrence	ASP Goal 2: improve the speed and quality of the disability process	ASP Goal 3: improve our retiree and other core services	ASP Goal 4: preserve the public’s trust in our programs
OG Goal I: increase transparency	Hearings datasets posted on Data.gov	Post disability data on Data.gov	Post additional program datasets on Data.gov	Enhance our FOIA program to further ensure a “presumption of openness”.
OG Goal II: expand participation and collaboration	Appointed rep suite of services developed with reps; ASP collaborative tool will provide public with opportunity to provide input for goals and strategies for all issues, including hearings	Compassionate allowances, Health Information Technology, project with MIT	Focus groups, usability testing, electronic town hall meetings	OG portal, Post OG names, public meetings posted, OG scores posted; ASP collaborative tool will provide public with opportunity to provide input for goals and strategies for all issues and programs
OG Goal III: Flagship initiatives: Spanish retirement estimator, enhanced online services, and Life Expectancy Calculator		Enhanced online services will help those filing online, including disability claimants	Spanish retirement estimator improves service to Spanish speaking public; Life—expectancy calculator assists the public in deciding the best time to collect retirement benefits
OG goal IV: Make OG sustainable	Set up various ways to receive and consider employee and public comments	Set up various ways to receive and consider employee and public comments	Set up various ways to receive and consider employee and public comments	OG Steering Committee, OG portal, OCIO organization