SSA faces IT management problems, IG says

The Social Security Administration faces major problems with managing its IT programs to keep up with expanding workloads, according to a new audit from SSA Inspector General Patrick O’Carroll Jr.

Meanwhile, the SSA continues to struggle with managing its IT investments effectively, with problems related to system continuity and availability, system modernization, IT service delivery, IT strategic planning and management of IT investments, O'Carroll wrote.

Managing the timing of the transition from the existing data center to a new center has become a problem, the audit indicated.

“SSA estimates that by 2012, [its National Computer Center] as a stand-alone data center will no longer be able to support this expanding environment,” the report states. “Additionally, significant structural problems and electrical capacity issues have developed that now make construction of a new primary computer center imperative; however, the agency has projected that this new facility cannot be operational before 2015. “

SSA also has problems with how to modernize its legacy systems that use roughly 60 million lines of Cobol computer code.

The Cobol software is “complex, powerful and successful” and used by other federal agencies and Fortune 500 companies, O’Carroll wrote. However, “some consider Cobol a dead or dying language,” and the National Research Council said newer programming languages had more productive capabilities, he added. To further complicate the issue, a 2002 internal report said replacing the SSA’s Cobol applications was too costly and risky, and suggested restructuring them for ongoing support.

To handle an increasing volume of applications, SSA has been encouraging online retirement applications, which currently make up about 35 percent of the total, the audit states. But the agency needs to boost online applications to 50 percent by 2013 “to keep SSA’s field offices from being overwhelmed by increasing workloads,” O’Carroll wrote.

SSA's volume of telephone calls is also rising, with 68 million calls expected in 2010, up from 58 million two years before. The agency has adopted VOIP telephone systems to integrate its networks and provide faster call routing.

However, the administration's field offices have problems with the VOIP services, the audit stated. “For example, we encountered long wait times, disconnected or dropped calls, poor sound quality, and difficulty when navigating the telephone menu tree. If our experiences are representative of VOIP functionality, this raises concerns about the level of customer service provided to individuals calling SSA’s field offices,” O’Carroll wrote.

The IG identified eight major management and performance priorities for fiscal 2011, including managing IT investments, implementing the economic stimulus law of 2009, reducing improper payments and hearings backlogs, improving transparency, customer service and the disability benefits process while protecting the integrity of Social Security numbers. 

The report did not include a response from SSA officials.