A 10% Cut In Federal Employees -- What Harm Could That Cause?

From the Washington Post:

A Texas Republican congressman wants to cut the federal workforce by 10 percent in the next decade, impose a three-year pay freeze across federal agencies and Capitol Hill, and trim government printing and vehicle costs.

Rep. Kevin Brady's bill, the Cut Unsustainable and Top-heavy Spending (CUTS) Act, is the first detailed series of spending proposals introduced in the GOP-controlled House that targets government operations and the federal workforce. Democrats and federal employee unions have long expected the GOP to target domestic spending programs and the workforce in an effort to trim the federal deficit.

Brady chairs the Joint Economic Committee and is a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee - perches likely to put him at the center of Congress's forthcoming debate on government spending and deficits.

OIDAP Charter Renewed

Not that it comes as any surprise but Social Security has renewed the charter for the Occupational Information Development Advisory Panel (OIDAP).

Small But Telling

From the Boston Globe:

Town officials in three rural Massachusetts communities said the Social Security Administration notified them this week that it will no longer send representatives to meet locally with seniors and answer their questions, because of security concerns following last week’s deadly shooting rampage in Arizona.

In Palmer and Ware — small towns east of Springfield — and on Nantucket, 30 miles off Cape Cod, town clerks and senior center directors said the federal workers who contacted their towns specifically cited the weekend violence ...

Yesterday, however, Social Security officials denied any connection between the shootings and ending outreach efforts in some less populated areas, attributing the changes to budget cutbacks instead. ...

“There may have been a misinterpretation of the message,’’ said Stephen Richardson, a Boston-based regional spokesman for the Social Security Administration. “In terms of word for word, I wasn’t there, and I don’t know what the words were, but . . . our actions are not related to the tragedy in Arizona.’’ ...

For Nantucket residents, the nearest Social Security office is on the Cape, an hourlong boat ride away.

There are a couple of unappealing things that appear to be on display here. First, a Social Security employee tries to use a tragedy as an excuse for doing something they would have done anyway. Second, when called on it, a Social Security spokesperson, while admitting that he does not know what was said, is still sure that the problem is not what was said but people "misinterpreting" what was said. These are seemingly small things but they speak poorly for those involved.

Lockheed Martin Contract For DCPS

From a press release:

Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT - News) has been selected by the Social Security Administration to prime the Disability Case Processing System (DCPS) contract, which is an information technology modernization program committed to improving the quality and speed of processing disability claims nationwide.

An indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract, the DCPS agreement carries a 1-year base period with five 1-year options. It is valued at $200 million if all options are exercised during the 6-year contract period. ...

The new system will provide cost savings to the SSA by eliminating the need to maintain separate systems for 54 state and federal sites. It also will help the agency process disability claims faster and with higher consistency.

National Computing Center "Precarious?"

From Information Week Government:

A report by SSA IG [Social Security Administration Inspector General] Patrick P. O'Carroll Jr., examining the top management challenges the agency will face in 2011, shows it grappling with a host of IT [Information Technology] infrastructure projects the agency's IG, Congress, and the SSA's advisory board worry it can't handle.

One of the biggest problems is the agency's transition to a new data center, according to the report. The IG has characterized the replacement of the SSA's National Computer Center (NCC) -- built in 1979 -- as the SSA's "primary IT investment" in the next few years.

The agency has received more than $500 million so far to replace the outdated center, which is now so severely strained by an expanded workload over its time of operation that it may not be able to function by 2012, according to the report.

However, the SSA does not foresee completing the new center until 2015, a project the IG deems as "imperative" considering the precarious position of the existing NCC.

VOIP Problems

From Federal Computer Week:

The Social Security Administration’s voice-over-IP [Internet Provider] installations in its initial 192 field offices had problems that included long installation times, incorrect invoices, overpayments and possibly poorer customer service, according to a new report from SSA Inspector General Patrick O’Carroll Jr.

For example, the average time for achieving successful VOIP performance and functionality initially was 197 days in October 2008, which remained high for several months before dropping to 46 days in April 2009, the audit issued Dec. 28 said.

Also, VOIP might have affected customers’ satisfaction.

“Although SSA achieved VOIP functionality and performance, when we attempted to contact sampled field offices where VOIP had been installed, we encountered long wait times, disconnected or dropped calls, poor sound quality, and difficulty when navigating the telephone menu tree,” O’Carroll wrote. In addition, four of five field offices contacted said they had received negative comments from customers, he said.

Fee Payment Numbers

Social Security has released the final 2010 numbers for fees paid to attorneys and certain others for representing Social Security claimants.

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-10	32,227	$111,440,046.23
Feb-10	29,914	$105,708,101.59
Mar-10	34,983	$122,874,426.87
Apr-10	44,740	$153,478,589.32
May-10	34,686	$119,527,194.40
June-10	32,432	$111,887,579.72
July-10	32,232	$132,328,622.27
Aug-10	34,755	$119,424,346.42
Sept-10	32,660	$108,650,373.60
Oct-10	38,705	$128,133,064.77
Nov-10	31,788	$106,559,848.38
Dec-10	33,315	$108,879,872.67

Posthumously Conceived Children Give Social Security Fits

From Capato v. Commissioner of Social Security (3rd Cir. Jan. 4, 2011):

In August 1999, shortly after the Capatos‘ wedding in New Jersey, Mr. Capato was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, and was told that the chemotherapy he required might render him sterile. The Capatos, however, wanted children, and thus, before he began his course of chemotherapy, Mr. Capato deposited his semen in a sperm bank, where it was frozen and stored. ...

Mr. Capato‘s health deteriorated in 2001, and he died in Florida in March of 2002. ...

Shortly after Mr. Capato‘s death, Ms. Capato began in vitro fertilization using the frozen sperm of her husband. She conceived in January 2003 and gave birth to twins on September 23, 2003, eighteen months after Mr. Capato‘s death. ...

In October 2003, Ms. Capato applied for surviving child‘s insurance benefits on behalf of the twins based on her husband‘s earnings record. The Social Security Administration denied her claim ...

What is before us is a discrete set of circumstances and the narrow question posed by those circumstances: are the undisputed biological children of a deceased wage earner and his widow ―children within the meaning of the [Social Security] Act? The answer is a resounding ―Yes.

I think it is past time for Congress to get over whatever squeamishness it may have, address this issue and end the litigation.