NCSSMA Executive Committee Conference Call Discusses OCO Problems

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has posted the minutes of its July 12, 2007 executive committee conference call. Here is an snippet that may have some resonance with attorneys who represent Social Security claimants:

Rick [Warsinskey, NCSSMA President] spoke with Roger McDonnell [Social Security's Associate Commissioner for the Office of Public Services and Operations Support] regarding [backlogs in PC 7, which is part of the Office of Central Operations] this morning. Roger is aware that the backlogs are growing and that processing time is increasing. He has talked with Carolyn Simmons [Associate Commissioner for the Office of Central Operations] in the last month about these issues. He would like NCSSMA to share some feedback with Carolyn Simmons. Rick wants to establish a way to communicate to the module managers when there are problems. The Executive Committee discussed the issue. Some reported success by getting assistance from their Regional Offices after two attempts without success. Others reported frustration even at the Deputy Director level at PC 7. Many agreed that there are some modules in PC 7 that are very responsive and “customer” focused and that there are others that are very difficult to deal with.