1 

A Report by a Panel of the

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 

For the Social Security Administration

July 2014

Anticipating the Future: Developing a Vision and 

Strategic Plan for the Social Security Administration

for 2025-2030

PANEL

Jonathan Breul,* Chair

Alan Balutis*

John Callahan*

Timothy B. Clark*

Rita Geier* 

Doris Hausser*

James Huse*

* Academy Fellow
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Officers of the Academy

Robert J. Shea, Chair of the Board

Nancy R. Kingsbury, Vice Chair

Dan G. Blair, President and Chief Executive Officer

B. J. Reed, Secretary

Sallyanne Harper, Treasurer

Study Team

Joseph P. Mitchell, III, Director of Project Development 

Roger Kodat, Project Director

Stephanie Bailenson, Senior Advisor

Brenna Isman, Senior Advisor

Jonathan Tucker, Senior Research Analyst

Chloe Yang, Research Analyst

Matt Gripp, Research Associate

Dan Orr, Research Associate

Amanda Mullan, Research Associate

The views expressed in this report are those of the Panel. They do not necessarily reflect 

the views of the Academy as an institution.

National Academy of Public Administration

1600 K Street, N.W.

Suite 400

Washington, DC 20006 

www.napawash.org

July 2014

Printed in the United States of America 

Academy Project Number: 2183
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FOREWORD

Federal agencies routinely prepare five-year forward-looking strategic plans pursuant to 

the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA). But changing economic conditions, 

demographics and advances in information technology and communications require 

agency planners to begin preparations and strategies for devising plans that take a longer 

future view. 

At the request of Congress, the Social Security Administration (SSA) contracted with the 

National Academy of Public Administration (the Academy) to develop a vision and highlevel strategic plan aimed at helping the agency address the continuing service delivery 

challenges it may face. The Academy formed a seven-member Panel of Academy Fellows to 

complete this 10-month study to prepare for its long-term future. By shedding light on the 

challenges and opportunities presented by the uncertainties of SSA’s long-term future 

operating environment, this study contributes to SSA’s preparation to provide quality 

services to its millions of customers 10 to 15 years from now. 

Even though SSA’s future operating environment cannot be precisely known today, key 

elements of that environment can be forecast with reasonable certainty, which provides 

the agency with an opportunity to begin making needed changes. This study presents (1) a 

comprehensive future operating vision for 2025-2030 informed by extensive SSA employee 

input and by using long-term futures research and (2) elements of a high-level strategic 

plan to guide SSA’s transformation from its current operating profile to a preferred state 

that best meets customer needs in 2025-2030. A successful transformation will require 

effective leadership, mission focus, communication, integration, and funding. 

As a congressionally chartered non-partisan and non-profit organization with nearly 800 

distinguished Fellows, the Academy brings seasoned experts together to help public 

organizations address future challenges. We are pleased to have had the opportunity to 

assist SSA and Congress by conducting this study. I appreciate the active engagement of 

SSA’s leadership, employees, and stakeholders who provided important insight and context 

needed to inform this study. Also, I thank the members of the Academy Panel, who 

provided invaluable expertise and thoughtful analysis to this undertaking, and the 

professional study team that provided critical support to the Panel.

Besides its contributions to SSA, I trust that this study will also broaden awareness of the 

value and benefits of long-term future planning outside the GPRA framework, serving as an 

impetus for government-wide recognition as to the importance of taking a more systematic 

approach to it as we rapidly proceed through this 21st century.

Dan G. Blair

President and CEO 
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword.................................................................................................................................................. 3

Executive Summary.............................................................................................................................. 7

Chapter One: Background................................................................................................................11

1.1 Project Purpose....................................................................................................................................... 12

1.2 Approach and Methodology............................................................................................................... 12

1.3 Key Assumptions.................................................................................................................................... 13

Chapter Two: Understanding the Current State.......................................................................15

2.1 Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 15

2.2 Organizational Structure and Dynamics....................................................................................... 16

2.3 Electronic Service Delivery and IT Investment.......................................................................... 20

2.4 Workforce Capacity............................................................................................................................... 25

2.5 Physical Infrastructure ........................................................................................................................ 28

Chapter Three: Factors Shaping the Future Operating Environment ..............................33

3.1 Explanation of Factors ......................................................................................................................... 33

3.2 Organizational Imperatives ............................................................................................................... 35

Chapter Four: Creating An Agency-Wide Vision.......................................................................37

4.1 Vision.......................................................................................................................................................... 37

4.2 Vision Statement.................................................................................................................................... 37

4.3 Overarching Vision Components ..................................................................................................... 37

4.4 Vision Elements ...................................................................................................................................... 39

4.4.1 Vision Elements: Direct Service Delivery to Customers................................................ 40

4.4.2 Vision Elements: Indirect Support of Service Delivery.................................................. 40

4.4.3 Vision Elements: Planning and Management of Information Resources................. 42

4.4.4 Vision Elements: Workforce..................................................................................................... 43

4.4.5 Vision Elements: Organizational Structure and Dynamics............................................ 44

Chapter Five: The High-Level Strategic Plan .............................................................................47

5.1 Services ...................................................................................................................................................... 47

5.2 (Information Technology) Infrastructure .................................................................................... 53

5.3 People......................................................................................................................................................... 57

5.4 Physical Infrustructure........................................................................................................................ 67

Chapter Six: Factors for Successful Plan Implementation....................................................69

6.1 Transformation and Organizational Dynamics.......................................................................... 69
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6.2 Coordination and Accountability..................................................................................................... 71

6.3 Ongoing Futures Research and Long-Term Planning.............................................................. 72

6.4 Monitoring Key Factors that Impact the Future Operating Environment....................... 73

Appendices ............................................................................................................................................75

Appendix A: Panel and Staff........................................................................................................................... 77

Appendix B: Select Bibliography.................................................................................................................. 81

Appendix C: Participating Individuals and Organizations ................................................................. 87

Appendix D: Social Security Administration Organizational Chart............................................... 95

Appendix E: Scenario Development Methodology............................................................................... 97

Appendix F: Methodology Used in Phase 2—Vision Building

High-Level Summary of Study Team’s Approach.......................................................................113

Appendix G: Methodology Used in Phase 3--Building a High-Level Strategic Plan

Summary of Study Team’s Approach ..............................................................................................115

Appendix H: Summary of High-Level Strategic Plan Recommendations and Actions ..........119

Appendix I: Organizational Change Readiness Framework............................................................127

Appendix J: Acronyms and Abbreviations..............................................................................................131
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The future presents the Social Security Administration (SSA) with an array of challenges 

and opportunities. These include tight budgets, the loss of experienced personnel to 

retirement, increasing workloads, rapidly-changing technology, and customer expectations 

for service delivery. Strategic planning is essential if the agency is to make the investments 

needed to perform its critical missions 10 to 15 years in the future. 

Congress recognized the urgency of long-term strategic planning by requesting SSA to 

contract with the National Academy of Public Administration, whose nearly 800 elected 

Fellows are deeply experienced in the art of managing public sector institutions. A sevenmember panel of Fellows supported by a study team undertook a ten-month project to 

develop a long-range vision and recommend elements of a high-level strategic plan for 

SSA’s consideration as the agency prepares for the future. 

The Panel and study team examined the current capabilities and performance of SSA in five 

areas identified by Congress in the study: electronic service delivery; investment in 

automation and information technology; workforce capacity; organizational structure; and 

physical infrastructure. With the help of futurists and other experts, the Panel identified 

key factors affecting SSA’s future operating environment. This work informed the effort to 

develop a vision of what SSA should look like in 10 to 15 years. The vision was developed 

with broad input from SSA executives through collaborative, consensus-building sessions. 

The Panel and study team worked closely with SSA to identify key elements of a high-level 

strategic plan for achieving this vision.

Based on this effort, the Panel drew four central conclusions. 

First, SSA must improve its operational efficiency while continuing to provide access to 

quality service for all of its customers. The Panel believes that SSA should employ virtual 

channels (e.g., online, phone, videoconference) as the primary means of service delivery in 

the future while remaining committed to providing personal service delivery options as 

necessary and appropriate, including traditional in-person service delivery in the field as 

well as virtual options for providing direct assistance and face-to-face interaction.

Second, aggressive adoption of technology solutions should create opportunities both to 

improve customer service and to free up resources for face-to-face interaction and direct 

assistance where needed. Technology solutions should be well designed and so userfriendly that they become customers’ choice for conducting most transactions. This will 

require not only leadership and sustained focus by SSA, but also continuing support from 

Congress through adequate budgets and policy refinements to facilitate online service 

delivery and process improvements. 

Third, SSA must not only hasten the introduction of new technologies but also position 

itself to meet unforeseen challenges. This means that the agency must take steps to 

become more nimble, such as improving data access, developing a more agile workforce, 
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and expanding the use of shared support services to enable more rapid response to 

changing customer needs.

Fourth, while these changes will not come easily, the Panel believes that SSA can do what 

needs to be done with the support of Congress and its stakeholders. SSA has a track record 

of meeting extraordinary challenges effectively. This is a reason why Congress has often 

provided it with additional responsibilities, such as eligibility determination and income 

verification, which SSA has performed with great success. 

In collaboration with SSA, the Panel has developed a report containing a proposed longrange vision. Based on further research, the study team also devised elements of a highlevel strategic plan that provides robust guidance for SSA in its continuing efforts to 

prepare for the future. The Panel makes 29 recommendations for a strategic plan organized 

into 10 focus areas. These are listed in Figure I below.

Figure I: Focus Areas and Recommendations

Focus Area 1: Develop a more cost-effective service delivery system that is primarily 

virtual, but includes personal service delivery options as necessary and appropriate. 

1. Extend and improve virtual service delivery.

2. Rationalize in-person service delivery in the field.

3. Develop a plan to accelerate the movement of customers to virtual service delivery 

channels.

Focus Area 2: Strengthen capacities needed to guide process improvement and 

automation.

4. Undertake a comprehensive policy review.

5. Develop a business intelligence strategy.

Focus Area 3: Improve access to data to enable enhanced online service delivery, 

electronic data exchange, and data analytics.

6. Identify a portfolio of investments to improve data access guided by the agency’s 

business intelligence strategy.

Focus Area 4: Strengthen investment management process.

7. Institutionalize the enterprise portfolio management process.

8. Strengthen the capacity of business customers to develop projects.

9. Ensure that IT program management teams include strong representatives from 

business customer components.

10. Strategically use contractors to support program management teams and to build 

program management capacity over time.

11. Incorporate enterprise-level requirements in software development life cycle 

framework.
9 

Figure I: Focus Areas and Recommendations

Focus Area 5: Attract and retain high-quality employees for 2025.

12. Continue to attract talent that believes in SSA’s mission and public service. 

13. Build sustainable talent pipelines to support SSA service delivery. 

14. Create learning and development opportunities to support employee retention.

15. Use flexible work arrangements as a strategic recruitment and retention tool.

Focus Area 6: Develop an agile workforce to support the agency’s integrated service 

delivery model.

16. Develop a more flexible position and grade structure that better reflects the work of 

SSA today and in the future. 

17. Embrace a “Career Lattice” concept to offer employees multiple career development 

paths.

18. Recruit and develop employees with strong problem solving and analytical skills.

19. Use analytics to anticipate changing workforce needs.

Focus Area 7: Expand a Results-Oriented Performance Measurement System. 

20. Build on agency best practices to identify and measure outcomes.

21. Use performance data to support management decisions.

Focus Area 8: Reduce cost and increase flexibility via shared support services.

22. Identify the need and opportunity for streamlining and consolidating support 

functions.

23. Build a common understanding of shared support services. 

24. Develop standard process steps to establish formal shared support service 

agreements. 

25. Focus on accountability of shared support services initiatives.

26. Identify and embrace key flexibilities needed to enable the strategic expansion of 

shared support services model.

Focus Area 9: Capitalize on existing facilities planning resources.

27. Continue to conduct needs assessment and expand planning activities.

Focus Area 10: Strategically engage all stakeholder groups in facilities planning.

28. Coordinate with service delivery plan development.

29. Coordinate and expand outreach strategy.

SSA performs a vitally important role for the American people. Guided by this report’s 

vision and recommendations, SSA, working with Congress and other stakeholders, will be 

in a better position to meet the needs of Americans for years to come. 
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CHAPTER ONE: BACKGROUND

Organizations in both the private and public sectors face a rapidly-changing operating 

environment impacted by technological, scientific, economic, political, cultural, and societal 

changes. Indeed, the 21st century promises to be, in many respects, exponentially more 

challenging than the previous one. Regarding the impact of changing technologies, Ray 

Kurzweil, Chief Engineer at Google, has noted the following: “The whole 20th century, 

because we’ve been speeding up to this point, is equivalent to 20 years of progress at 

today’s rate of progress, and we’ll make another 20 years of progress at today’s rate of 

progress equal to the whole 20th century in the next 14 years, and then we’ll do it again in 

seven years. And because of the explosive power of exponential growth, the 21st century 

will be equivalent to 20,000 years of progress at today’s rate of progress, which is a 

thousand times greater than the 20th century, which was no slouch to change.”1

Given the pace and uncertainty of change that organizations face, futurists have advocated 

the use of long-term planning and the development of alternative future scenarios to

enable leaders and stakeholders to better anticipate and prepare for changes in their 

operating environment. By looking ahead and anticipating plausible changes, an 

organization can identify and take actions in time to meet likely challenges and 

opportunities. 

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Modernization Act of 2010, which 

substantially modified the original GPRA enacted in 19932, requires federal agencies to 

prepare a five year strategic plan that contains a mission statement and results-oriented 

goals for each major function. This is a step forward, but more robust longer-term 

planning is needed. 3

While the importance of long-range visioning and planning is increasingly recognized, most 

federal agencies outside of the defense and intelligence communities, have not engaged in 

it with a systematic and rigorous approach. However, a few federal agencies outside of the 

defense and intelligence communities are paying greater attention to long-term strategic 

futures. These agencies include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the 

Department of Veterans Affairs, and a few others.

This report of a Panel of Academy Fellows addresses long-range visioning and planning for 

the Social Security Administration (SSA),4 a uniquely important agency. SSA’s web site 

 

1Ray Kurzweil and Chris Meyer, Understanding the Accelerating Rate of Change. Perspectives on Business 

Innovation. May 2003. http://www.kurzweilai.net/understanding-the-accelerating-rate-of-change 2 Congressional Research Service, Changes to the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA): Overview of 

the New Framework of Products and Processes, (R42379; February 29, 2012), by Clinton T. Brass. 3 Leon S. Fuerth with Evan M. H. Faber provide a systematic discussion of the need for long-term planning in 

the public sector. See Fuerth, Leon S. and Evan M. H. Faber “Anticipatory Government: Winning the Future.” 

The Futurist 47.4 (2013): 73 pars. http://www.wfs.org/futurist/2013-issues-futurist/july-august-2013-vol47-no-4/anticipatory-governance-winning-future. 4 A full list of acronyms and abbreviations can be found in Appendix J.
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characterizes the importance of the agency this way: “For the public, we are the face of the 

government.”5 The agency serves virtually everyone in America at one or more points in 

his or her life, most commonly by enumeration at birth and by providing some combination 

of social insurance (i.e., retirement, disability and/or supplemental income) to recipients 

and their beneficiaries. 

Looking to the future, SSA is faced with an array of challenges and opportunities, including

tight budgets, the loss of experienced personnel to retirement, increasing workloads, and 

rapidly-changing technology and customer expectations for service delivery. Strategic 

planning is essential if the agency is to make the investments needed to perform its critical 

missions 10 to 15 years in the future. 

1.1 Project Purpose

At the request of Congress,

6 SSA contracted with the Academy to help the agency develop a 

long-range vision and high-level strategic plan to address the continuing service delivery 

challenges it will face over the next 10-15 years. It focuses on such critical issues as 

electronic service delivery; investment in automation and information technology (IT); 

workforce capacity; organizational structure; and physical infrastructure. 

This report can also be seen, in part, as a response to the recommendations contained in 

recent reports from the Government Accountability Office (GAO),7 SSA Inspector General

(IG),8 and the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB)9 calling for greater focus on long-term 

strategic planning. 

1.2 Approach and Methodology

The experience of other federal agencies indicates that the development of a long-range 

vision and high-level strategic plan are demanding tasks taking 2 to 3 years of concentrated 

 

5 From the SSA web site: http://www.ssa.gov/aboutus/ 6 The Congressional direction for conducting this study is laid out in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 

2012. Based on SSA’s “continued services delivery challenges in the coming decades,” this directive specifies 

that NAPA administer an “evaluation of SSA’s existing organizational structure, workforce capacity, physical 

infrastructure and a review of SSA’s electronic service delivery and investment in automation and 

information technology.” The result of this evaluation is a report proposing a long-term strategic plan for the 

agency, to be submitted to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations, the House Committee on 

Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance. House Committee on Appropriations, Military 

Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012, 112th Cong., 1st sess., 2011, 

S. Rept. 112-331, 1158. 7 U.S. Government Accountability Office, Long-Term Strategy Needed to Address Key Management Challenges

GAO-13-459. (Washington, D.C.: May 2013), 29-35. 8 Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, Evaluation Report: Fiscal Year 2013 Inspector 

General Statement on the Social Security Administration’s Major Management and Performance Challenges 

(Washington, DC.: December 2013), 130. 

9 Social Security Advisory Board, Facing the Challenges—Envisioning the Future (Washington, D.C.: July 2013), 

1-2. 
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effort. The Academy team accepted the ambitious challenge of assisting SSA in long-range 

visioning and strategic planning within a ten-month period.

At a high-level, the Academy’s work was divided into three phases. 

Phase 1: Understanding the “as-is” state. The starting point for mapping out future 

transformation planning is to understand the current state of affairs. To that end, 

the study team examined the current capabilities and performance of SSA, with 

particular focus on electronic service delivery, investment in automation and IT,

workforce, organizational structure and dynamics, and physical infrastructure. 

The study team reviewed key public documents that have addressed SSA’s current 

state, including GAO and SSA IG reports. A list of resources consulted is provided in 

Appendix B. The study team also conducted interviews with more than 70 SSA 

executives as well as other key stakeholders to gain additional understanding of the 

current state of SSA. A complete list of those interviewed can be found in Appendix

C. The panel was briefed on findings during this initial stage of research and 

provided guidance on areas of focus.

Phase 2: Vision building. This phase included research to understand trends and 

possible developments that may define SSA’s future operating environment in 10-15 

years; and defining the capabilities SSA will need to accomplish its mission under 

these conditions. The Panel implemented a disciplined approach commonly used by 

futurists to consider possible future operating conditions SSA may face. This process 

was informed by broad input from SSA executives, employees, and other 

stakeholder groups by means of individual interviews and group meetings, 

including a day-long workshop convened with SSA executives to build consensus 

around a vision. 

Phase 3: Strategic planning. This phase began with an evaluation of the gap 

between the agency’s current state and vision for the future. The Panel then

identified actions needed for the agency to achieve its service delivery vision 10

to15 years in the future. This process included input from focused discussions with 

SSA executives to identify key elements of a strategic plan in five different focus 

areas. The exercise was undertaken with attention to enabling the integration of 

SSA’s Agency Strategic Plan 2014-2018 (ASP) with the Panel’s strategic plan 

recommendations. 

1.3 Key Assumptions

Long-range vision and strategic planning work are accompanied by a myriad of 

uncertainties. The Panel adopted two basic assumptions about SSA’s future: 

1. SSA will continue operating as a stand-alone agency. While the federal government 

may restructure during the years ahead, perhaps by consolidating some agencies, 

this Report presumes that consolidation, if it occur, will leave SSA intact.
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2. The core programs10 of SSA will not change from what they are at present. In 

making this assumption, the Panel recognizes that Congress and the Executive 

Branch quite regularly consider proposed legislative and regulatory changes that 

might impact SSA’s core programs in future. The Panel recognizes that important 

changes in core SSA programs may well be adopted during the next 10-15 years. 

However, after consulting with SSA, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and 

congressional oversight committees, the Panel concluded that there is no use to 

speculating on how SSA programs might specifically change in the long-term future. 

SSA can, of course, amend its long-range vision and strategic plan if core program 

changes are enacted.

 

10 The original Social Security Act of 1935 has been amended several times over the years. Title 2 (United 

States Code §§401-433, subchapter II, chapter 7, Title 42) of the Act creates the Federal Old-Age and 

Survivors Insurance Trust Fund as well as the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund. From these funds, the 

Social Security Administration administers the colloquially termed “Title 2” programs. For more information 

on Title 2, go to http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title02/0200.htm#ft1. Title 16 of the Act (United 

States Code §§1381-1383f, subchapter XVI, chapter 7, Title 42.) creates the “Supplemental Security Income 

for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled” or the “Title 16” program, also referred to as “SSI”. For more information on 

Title 16, go to http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title16b/1600.htm. Together, these three programs 

make up the core programs of the SSA. 
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CHAPTER TWO: UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT STATE

The study team reviewed current SSA operations, with a particular focus on organizational 

structure and dynamics, electronic service delivery and IT investment, workforce capacity, 

and physical infrastructure. It examined these areas as they relate to SSA’s ability to 

achieve the long- range vision.

The study team conducted the current state review in two parts:

1. A background document review—a comprehensive set of background documents

was compiled including previous long-term strategic plans, Agency Strategic Plans, 

Social Security Trustees reports, Budget documents, and more.

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2. Interviews—the study team engaged about 70 SSA employees to discuss the general 

strengths and challenges of the agency and his or her line of work.12 These 

discussions were divided into comments about general agency strengths and areas 

of challenge as well as comments on four topics as requested in the project 

requirements: organizational structure and dynamics; electronic service delivery 

and IT investment; workforce capacity; and physical infrastructure. 

2.1 Overview 

In 2014, SSA is at an inflection point. While justifiably confident in its high standard of 

customer service and strong record of data security, the agency is not currently poised to 

meet the significant operating challenges it is likely to face over the next 10 to 15 years. 

Acknowledging and addressing the strengths and challenges of the agency is important. 

Strengths can be powerful, but, if accepted as enduring, they may have limiting, unintended 

consequences. Weaknesses present opportunities for change or a chance to reorient 

towards new realities. 

SSA is generally seen to do its work well. This has led policy-makers to assign it nonmission related responsibilities, thereby increasing its workloads.

13 

 

11 The compiled bibliography can be found in the Appendix B. 12 The interviewee list can be found in the Appendix C. 13 The SSA performs work to support programs other than the administration of its Old-age, Survivors, and 

Disability Insurance Programs and Supplemental Security Income Program. The ongoing, non-core mission 

tasks of the agency include assisting with the administration of five federal programs: 1)The Medicare 

program, in which SSA has key roles of processing applications for eligibility determinations, calculating the 

appropriate level of Social Security benefits in conjunction with Medicare premiums for recipients of both 

programs, and ensuring that low-income Social Security beneficiaries are provided with the opportunity to 

enroll in Medicare; 2) Employment Eligibility Verification (E-Verify), in which SSA partners with the 

Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This system allows participating employers to send employment 

verification requests for new hires, which are processed by SSA to identify inconsistencies between worker 

information and electronic records; 3) The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program (SNAP), in which SSA 

assists with SNAP applications if the household is currently applying for or receiving SSI benefits. 

Additionally, SSA is responsible for screening SSI applicants/recipients should they be subject to a 

redetermination involving SNAP benefits; 4) Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) benefits, in which SSA 
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A tactical mindset within the senior executive corps often sets a tone for the middlemanagement and front-line service ranks. Over time, short-term tactical thinking has 

engendered a short-term focus throughout the agency, and has limited opportunities to 

improve broader considerations of longer-term programmatic objectives. 

SSA has excelled in providing personal service to its customers. However, this focus on inperson service seems to hamper its ability to identify and develop other opportunities to 

improve service (e.g., online delivery, self-service, automation). Moreover, SSA has not 

fully appreciated the opportunities presented by automation to free up resources that can 

be devoted to providing direct assistance to those customers who need it most.

The sections that follow—2.2, 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5—provide observations on the four focus 

areas. These observations serve as a starting point from which a long-range vision and 

recommendations for a high-level strategic plan were developed. 

2.2 Organizational Structure and Dynamics

The structure and reporting relationships of SSA have evolved throughout the lifespan of 

the agency and these adjustments have continued to impact the culture and dynamics of 

the organization. SSA continues to review its organizational chart to identify new and 

improved ways to provide high-quality services to the customer and to make adjustments 

in a way that utilizes its human resources most productively. While the structure and 

organizational alignments affect performance and the ability to delivery services 

effectively, interview feedback reflected other key areas that support attainment of longrange vision and strategy including, organizational culture, and communication. 

Strategy and agency structure 

The OCSO was re-established in the fall of 2013 with the goal of enabling a Chief Strategic 

Officer14 who could take a high-level approach to progress the agency toward its vision in a 

comprehensive manner, identifying synergies across organizational stovepipes and 

without allegiance to a particular component. The OCSO has taken the lead in coordinating 

agency-wide strategic planning efforts – looking at both near-term strategic planning (five 

years or less) as well as the agency-wide effort to develop a long-term strategic plan. 

Shorter-term strategic planning includes coordinating with agency components in order to 

provide quarterly updates to OMB on agency priority goals and providing key development 

support of the agency strategic plan, most recently providing details regarding the 

direction of SSA through 2018. The longer-term responsibilities include working in concert 

with the Academy on the development of Vision 2025, and linking component-level efforts 

 

coordinates with the RRB to share wage and benefits records regarding employees in both Social Security and 

RRB-covered jobs. This information-sharing leads to a mutual determination as to whether aforementioned 

employees or their families would receive either Social Security or RRB benefits; and 5) Administering special 

monthly benefits for certain World War II Veterans who are current non-US residents. Congressional Research 

Service, Social Security Administration: Workloads, Resources, and Service Delivery (R40207; February 6, 2009), 

by Kathleen Romig, 6-8. 14 A Chief Strategic Officer was named in April, 2013. . The SSA Strategy Office had been disbanded in 2008.
17

of strategic planning into a long-range vision of SSA. This includes integrating technology 

needs and capacity with human resources and infrastructure considerations in a 

comprehensive, forward-looking service delivery plan. 

Other strategic-focused functions have been added, or realigned, within the agency. The 

stand-alone Office of Strategic Human Capital Management (OSHCM) was established in 

September, 2013 and reflects a growing emphasis on integrating the human capital 

elements into the strategic planning process. Doing so in close coordination with the Chief 

Strategic Officer, the Chief Financial Officer, and agency leadership integrates human 

capital planning into long-range vision development. Currently, the OSHCM is taking the 

lead role in developing strategy and planning and evaluating human capital management 

activities and the Office of Personnel manages key programs such as position classification, 

organization management and personnel data. 

Other attempts have been made to provide strategic direction and vision, and to look to a 

long-range vision for the agency and the role technology will need to play. Agency 

leadership previously attempted to develop strategy in the Office of the Chief Information 

Officer (OCIO) prior to the dismantling of this function in 2011. That reorganization of the 

IT and systems functions, including the elimination of the Associate Chief Information 

Officer for Vision and Strategy, and restructuring of key roles and responsibilities, was 

mainly attributed to efforts to streamline and reduce costs in responding to a major cut to 

the 2011 IT budget. It also is an example of the inconsistent commitment to long-term 

strategic planning, a sentiment we heard from multiple interviewees. However, the 

realignment of the IT functions, including consolidating its CIO office within the Office of 

Systems, was done without a discernible long-term, comprehensive analysis of the 

potential impact of the new roles and responsibilities. Still, consolidation provides an 

important foundation for strategic planning. In particular, the Deputy Commissioner for 

Systems now has oversight of the entire IT investment budget. 

The efforts to acknowledge long-term strategic needs have lacked sustained coordination 

and do not include a high-level approach to looking at business needs throughout the 

organization. Many of those interviewed stressed the importance of the newly-created

OCSO and its role in coordinating cross-component activities in a consistent and continual 

way, and look forward to gaining more understanding of how the office will integrate the 

various strategic planning activities currently taking place throughout the agency. 

Adapting to a new reality

SSA’s current structure includes a decentralized field agency providing services locally 

through a nationwide network of close to 1,500 offices with ten standard federal regions 

comprising over 1,250 field offices (including Social Security Card Centers), eight 

processing centers, thirty Teleservice Centers (TSC), 169 hearing offices (including seven 

satellite hearing offices), five National Hearing Centers, National Case Assistance Center, 

the Appeals Council, and headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland.15

 

15 Agency Strategic Plan 2014-2018, http://www.ssa.gov/asp/plan-2014-2018.pdf 
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Each of these ten regions was originally structured to maintain independent support 

functions, providing services to agency staff at the regional level in areas such as Human 

Resources, Communications, and Technology. The ten regions all receive key operational

assistance from regional staff, providing various economies of scale depending upon the 

size of the region. 

The regional workforce is unevenly distributed. Three regions currently employ over half 

of the regional staff (approximately 54 percent of regional staff within the field offices work 

in aligned with the Atlanta, Chicago, and San Francisco regions) and the largest region 

employs nearly ten times the staff that the smallest region does. 

Recent attrition and restrictions on hiring authorities have resulted in consolidation of 

support functions in order to provide key support services throughout the organization’s 

regional structure. For example, the Denver regional office now receives HR support from 

the Dallas, San Francisco, and Chicago regions due to vacancies in its region. Due to the 

“can do” attitude that pervades the agency, employees often determine new processes and 

procedures to ensure that requirements are met and services are delivered to the internal 

customer (the SSA employee) and that service to the end-user does not suffer as a result of 

an employee’s departure. 

The adoption of shared support services is increasing and most members of regional 

leadership have found productive ways to increase efficiency via these cooperative 

arrangements. They recognize that the sharing of support functions bolsters the feasibility 

of additional consolidations and that some additional office closures are inevitable. The 

lack of focus on a long-range vision for regional offices and functions has created a level of 

frustration for some Regional Commissioners (RCs) as they struggle to make strategic 

restructuring decisions with the future in mind. RCs acknowledge they often make 

structure changes within their region in reaction to attrition, but would prefer to make 

such decisions based on the long-term goals of the agency. 

RCs have expressed concern that the restructuring of functions has reduced promotion 

opportunities and the ability to retain potential leaders. Yet some have found new and

creative opportunities that would not have existed previously but are now available due to 

shared support services and the new roles and responsibilities that have emerged for staff.

There is a disjointed relationship between the regional support functions and the 

component leadership at headquarters. Because all of the support functions within the 

regions operate independently and report to their RCs, this leads to ultimate accountability 

with the Deputy Commissioner (DC) for Operations, as opposed to the corresponding DC

(e.g., human capital issues are addressed to the DC for Operations instead of the DC for 

Human Resources). While there is active communication across the DC functions at 

headquarters, there is a break in accountability between policies set at the DC level and the 

implementation of policies at the regional level. So the study team finds blurred lines of 

authority and inconsistent compliance at the regional level.
19

Organizational communication

Coordinated, strategic communication is a key to execution of SSA’s mission. Interviewee 

feedback revealed that while structured and planned communication flows across 

headquarters component leadership, these executive-level meetings often focus on current, 

tactical issues and do not always systematically address long-term strategy or vision for 

SSA. 

The process for communicating across components appears to cascade down to lower level 

managers, and the agency takes advantage of good informal networks. Service channels 

and systems still remain fairly siloed. Integration across program areas and delivery 

mechanisms requires a focused communication strategy to support implementation. An 

advantage within SSA is that so many long-term SSA employees have “grown up at the 

agency” and have developed and fostered many relationships that allow for informal 

channels to “push and pull” information and gain deeper understanding of challenges and 

opportunities. These informal channels enable messaging and are relied upon by leaders in 

order to gain acceptance for controversial efforts and to vet ideas early in the process. 

Formal message development for different stakeholder groups (e.g., Congress, external 

stakeholder groups, and the SSA customer) frequently happens in siloes, and is not 

frequently effected in an adequately coordinated manner. There does not appear to be a 

synchronized effort to develop one message relative to vision and strategy at the highest 

levels of leadership and to then customize that message for the audience. There is, 

however, recognition from those interviewed that the integral elements and necessary tone 

often should differ across internal and external stakeholder groups. While the agency is 

utilizing new technology and social media to enhance communications, this does not

appear to be part of a single, unified, and coordinated communication strategy for the 

agency, nor is it a tool for driving comprehensive transformational activities. 

Culture of SSA

SSA has mission-motivated employees who embody a “can-do” spirit. SSA has a customercentered service delivery mission that runs throughout the agency and, as a result, high 

customer satisfaction is achieved. The SSA workforce takes pride in being able to serve the 

public, and SSA customers often are among the most vulnerable populations in the country. 

Servicing these customers with high quality and reliability is a point of pride, as is the 

committed stewardship of the American taxpayers’ dollars and doing so with extremely 

low administrative costs. There is not, however, universal agreement about what the 

correct or optimal service delivery approach should be going forward. Interviews with 

leadership revealed a disparity of opinions on what SSA’s overall mission truly should be. 

SSA is a large agency and differing views are held regarding organizational culture. The 

challenge is that factions within the organization arise out of these differing views of the 

agency’s social insurance mission. SSA’s historical role as a safety net provider of social 

services clashes with an efficiency-focused claims-processing cultural view. The competing 

doctrines vary between primarily a transactional focus of “we get the right check to the 

right person at the right time,” as compared to a mantra of providing a more holistic, socialwork-oriented approach to improving the quality of life and experience of each customer. 
20

This disconnect for the agency has created the appearance of an “identity crisis” for the 

organization as a whole, and a lack of recognition that the agency does not need to utilize 

only one approach to providing services to those eligible beneficiaries. There is room 

within the agency to focus on both transactional and social service activities with efficiency 

and effectiveness.

SSA has extremely high standards for reliability of data security in its provision of services. 

The agency has not encountered any large-scale security breaches leading to service 

interruption. That record, achieved despite low administrative costs, is a source of pride for 

the agency. 

Risk avoidance is another defining characteristic of the SSA culture. On one hand, this has 

been advantageous in helping the agency “get things right”, a gravely necessary attribute 

for an agency that administered benefits to 61.9 million people in 2012.16 On the other 

hand, risk-aversion has also deterred growth and innovation, leading to incremental and 

disjointed change and progress. Piecemeal advancements, as opposed to comprehensive 

improvement, often lead to short-sighted technological upgrades, providing modest 

operational gains and little long-term cost savings. 

2.3 Electronic Service Delivery and IT Investment

Extension of online services and service channel integration

In order to meet customer expectations, mitigate rising workloads, and reduce costs, SSA 

has moved an increasing number of services online. SSA currently offers the public 28 

electronic services.17 Applications for two of its three benefits programs are online. The 

rate of claims submitted online rose from 35 percent in FY 2010 to 51 percent in FY 2013.18

An online application for SSI benefits has yet to be put online for a mix of reasons, including 

its complexity and potential challenges that some SSI program customers may have in 

accessing and using online services.

A major focus of the effort to enhance online services is development of a personal account 

portal, MySocialSecurity. This portal is intended to provide access to online services in one 

place, enabling customers to access and manage their account information in real time. 

Progress on this initiative was slowed by concerns about providing secure access following 

the establishment of fraudulent accounts and a large number of fraud allegations related to 

MySocialSecurity accounts.

19 However, SSA has recently developed an authentication 

 

16 SSA. Fast Facts & Figures About Social Security, 2013. 

http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/chartbooks/fast_facts/2013/fast_facts13.html

17 Fiscal Year 2013 Inspector General Statement on Major Management and Performance Challenges (A-02-14-

14056), p.11.

18 Ibid; Online filing rate for FY 2010 provided in SSA’s Performance and Accountability Report, 2012. 19 The SSA Office of Inspector General reports that in FY 2013, fraudulent MySocialSecurity accounts were 

established and Social Security benefits directed to unauthorized accounts. Also, 22,000 allegations of fraud 
21

protocol capable of providing a recognized standard of security for the applications (up to 

levels 2 and 3)20 to be accessed through the portal. SSA is now in the process of migrating 

online applications to the portal. 

While SSA has made progress in extending and enhancing online services, its efforts to 

integrate online services with options for direct assistance have lagged. SSA’s investment in 

a Voice-over-Internet Protocol system provides the basic technical infrastructure for 

offering such services as click to chat, screen sharing, and instant messaging. However, 

additional technical applications are needed. Also, SSA would need to institute changes in 

organization, business processes and workforce to support integration of service channels. 

Currently, phone service is limited to supporting general customer inquiries about claims 

and benefits. Direct assistance to customers making benefits applications online is not 

available by phone.

IT supporting service delivery in the field

The performance of field office personnel is hindered by antiquated technology. Claims 

processing is unnecessarily labor intensive due to the lack of integrated, web-based 

applications. Also, claims representatives lack integrated access to customer data and data 

from partner agencies needed to verify information. This is not only inefficient, but limits 

program integrity21 efforts.

SSA has piloted the use of self-service options, such as kiosks, in field offices to enable 

customers to complete some routine transactions. These options should reduce the 

workload of claims representatives and free their time for handling more complex 

transactions and providing additional assistance to impaired clients. However, SSA has 

been slow to scale up these pilots. 

While the shift to online services has reduced the overall volume of public transactions at 

field offices, significant processing of online applications continues to be borne by field 

offices. In its 2012 Annual Report, the SSAB reported that as many as 95 percent of online 

applications, including retirement claims, required a call-back by field office staff. Call 

backs are necessary to fill in missing information and address information that is not 

policy-compliant. While steps have been taken to address this problem, most notably 

combining two separate parts of the disability application into one, the field office 

 

related to MySocialSecurity accounts were reported. See Fiscal Year 2013 Inspector General Statement on 

Major Management and Performance Challenges (A-02-14-14056), p.10. 20 The Office of Management and Budget (OMB 04-04) describes four levels of identity authentication 

assurance levels, with Level 1 being the lowest level of assurance and Level 4 being the highest level of 

assurance. Level2: Confidence exists that the asserted identity is accurate; used frequently for self-service 

application. Level 3: High confidence in the asserted identity's accuracy; used to access restricted data.

21 Program integrity is defined in this report as the pursuit of reducing fraud, waste and abuse including 

predictive method that allows the agency to prevent these events from taking place in addition to more 

traditional detection mechanisms. It also includes coordination of activities related to sensitive data 

protection and cyber-security in order to improve the integrity of all programmatic activities at SSA. 
22

processing of online claims remains an issue due in part to the lack of controls for 

preventing the submission of incomplete or non-policy compliant applications. 

SSA has introduced video conference delivery capabilities in the field to enable sharing of 

claims-taking workload across field offices and to enable remote hearings, thus reducing 

the travel demands of hearing judges (as well as extending access to hearings to claimants 

in remote areas).

Process improvement and automation

SSA has sought to improve efficiency and program integrity through systems integration, 

transition from paper to electronic processes, and the use of data analytics to support 

process improvement and automation. The disability program has been a major focus of 

these efforts for a variety of reasons, including large hearing backlogs, controversy around 

hearing decisions, the disproportionately large administrative cost of disability programs,22

and the program cost implications of disability determinations.

SSA is currently undertaking a major investment to integrate the disability determination 

process. The Disability Case Processing System (DCPS) project will replace the 54 disparate 

systems employed by the Disability Determination Services (DDS) responsible for medical 

determinations of disability. The DCPS is a common case-processing system that will 

deliver common functionality (e.g., Health Information Technology and decision 

automation tools), enable consistent support to each DDS, and provide accurate, current, 

consistent and accessible data. Also, it will enable more efficient policy integration. It will 

provide a common electronic interface with SSA offices and systems, which are responsible 

for making the work-based determination of eligibility.

To help ensure that disability hearing and appellate decisions are policy compliant and 

consistent, the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) developed automated 

decision support tools to guide decision making of administrative law judges. It also 

employs data analytics to identify weaknesses in decision making, to inform improvements 

in decision-making tools and policy, and to target training to judges.

Current agency leadership recognizes the value of data analytics and has sought to promote 

its application across the agency and to ensure a systematic approach. ODAR staff leads a 

small training and awareness initiative through the SSA “Academy.” An Associate 

Commissioner-level steering committee on business intelligence has been working to 

locate data assets, and to identify data “owners” and authoritative sources of data. It has 

benchmarked capability with best practice and developed a vision for business intelligence 

at SSA.23 Based on this vision, sub-teams developing strategy for data governance and 

guidance to people using the data. Part of this strategy is to develop a “data analytics hub” 

for agency activities in this area.

 

22 In 2012, SSA’s disability programs accounted for 23 percent of total benefit outlays, but 66 percent of the 

administrative expenses for SSA’s three benefits programs. See GAO-13-459, Social Security Administration 

Management Challenges, May 2013, p.4.

23 See Business Intelligence Executive Vision, Version 4.3, December 2013
23

Health Information Technology24 is generally recognized as having the potential to 

transform the disability determination process, enabling more objective, accurate, and 

faster determination, as well as enabling more effective data analytics throughout the 

process. At a minimum, electronic health records in the form of scanned paper records 

speed the exchange of health information for use in medical disability determinations. In 

the form of structured (machine-readable) data, electronic health records can enable the 

automation of processing and greatly facilitate data analytics. 

SSA was an early promoter of the transition to electronic health records and has continued 

to invest over time in the development of information systems, data exchange partnerships 

with healthcare providers, and active participation in standard setting bodies. However, 

industry adoption of an electronic health record standard that provides the particular set of 

health information SSA needs for its disability determinations has been slow. In 2013, less 

than two percent of disability claims processed benefited from the use of Health IT. Slow 

adoption has been due partly to the lack agreement among federal government agencies on 

a common standard. Agreement on a common standard and industry adoption rates are 

largely outside the control of SSA. However, SSA outreach efforts have been limited by 

fewer budget resources in recent years.

Modernization of legacy systems

Since 2007, a number of independent reports have identified SSA’s heavy reliance on legacy 

systems, and COBOL-based applications in particular, as a major impediment to the 

agency’s ability to meet future service delivery needs.25 COBOL is a robust programming 

language well-suited to certain types of processing and is still widely used in the banking 

and insurance industries. However, it is costly to write, de-bug, and maintain and is not 

designed to support web-based applications. Moreover, because COBOL is no longer 

broadly used, it is difficult to find programmers to replace retiring SSA employees 

responsible for maintaining COBOL-based systems. 

 

The foundation of SSA’s processing environment is the Master Data Access Method 

(MADAM) system. This is a largely COBOL-based system that connects SSA processing 

systems to master data files on its customers. A major focus of the SSA’s modernization 

effort is a multi-year program to migrate master data files and other legacy data bases to 

modern relational database systems that enable automatic data access. 

While many legacy databases have been migrated to relational data base systems the 

legacy structure of the data continues to pose a challenge. Much of the agency’s data 

remains difficult to access, often inconsistent, and not readily integrated. This situation 

hinders efforts to enhance online service options, data exchange, and data analytics.

 

24 The term, Health Information Technology (HIT), as used here, refers to the management of electronic 

health records and the secure exchange of these records between consumers, providers, government and 

quality entities, and insurers.

25 A review of past reports is provided in GAO-12-495, Social Security Administration: Improved Planning and 

Performance Measures are Needed to Help Ensure Successful Technology Modernization, April 2012.
24

IT investment management 

Three concerns with the SSA’s approach to IT investment include: the reluctance to 

embrace transformative change; the lack of a long-term strategic focus needed to guide and 

sustain investments over time; and the lack of ability to develop and implement IT 

capabilities quickly enough. 

SSA officials generally acknowledge a risk-averse approach. They cite the concern of 

avoiding disruption to the critical public functions the agency performs and the charge of 

protecting sensitive personal information of citizens. In addition, they acknowledge the 

insularity of the agency that may limit decision makers’ perspective on opportunities for 

change. 

Agency officials attribute the lack of a long-term, strategic focus to a number of factors 

including: both a lack of agreement on vision and a lack of strong and consistent agency 

leadership in the past. The absence of agreement and leadership support has contributed to 

a tendency to spread scarce resources across projects, limiting the pace of progress on any 

given front. 

A number of independent reports have identified the need for SSA to undertake or improve 

its long-term strategic planning. More specifically, a 2012 GAO report called for SSA to 

develop a long-term enterprise architecture plan and comprehensive gap analysis to guide 

its modernization efforts to ensure that it efficiently and proactively develops the 

capabilities needed to support future requirements for online services and data exchange. 

In its written response to the GAO report, SSA questioned the need for an overall enterprise 

gap analysis, arguing that investments are better guided by a bottom-up process wherein 

guidance is provided to business customers who propose projects that are evaluated based 

on the business case together with a technology-driven process for identifying at-risk 

applications in need of modernization.26 

Leaving aside the relative merits of these two approaches, certain organizational 

weaknesses appear to have hindered the efficiency and effectiveness of the agency’s 

investment management. The pre-planning or concept development stage of the 

investment process has been identified as a particular weakness. New service delivery 

ideas often have not been clearly evaluated in terms of desired outcomes and business 

process before entering the planning stage, when business requirements must be 

translated into technical requirements to guide the development and/or acquisition of IT 

solutions. This lack of business definition elongates the planning stage and the 

development stage in so far as requirements changes are needed due to poorly conceived 

project scope. Schedule overruns are further exacerbated by limited and uncertain budgets.

In addition to not always being well conceived, projects have often been designed to meet 

individual component business needs with insufficient attention to building enterprise-

 

26 See SSA’s response in GAO-12-495, Improved Planning and Performance Measures are Needed, p.66.
25

wide capabilities. This reflects, in part, the stove-piped organization of both the business 

and technical sides of the agency.

The agency has taken some initial steps to address this weakness. Operations—the primary 

business customer of IT—has consolidated its IT-related activities under the Office of 

Electronic Services and Technology (OEST). OEST is responsible for defining business 

requirements for electronic services to the public as well as IT supporting work processes. 

The newly established Division of Innovation and Service Delivery within OEST is intended 

to build Operation’s capacity as a customer to translate new service delivery ideas into 

actionable business requirements that address enterprise-wide needs.27 A major focus of 

the Division of Innovation’s efforts is supporting the development of new and enhanced 

online services, provided through MySocialSecurity. 

SSA is also making changes to its Capital Planning and Investment Process known as the 

Strategic Investment and Review (SITAR) process at SSA. An internal review of the SITAR 

process identified a number of areas for improvement. A core conclusion was the need to 

better institutionalize the process. One step being considered is to better define the roles 

and responsibilities of the DCs who serve on the SITAR Board and place greater emphasis 

on training Board members for their role. The second is to professionalize the Portfolio 

Executive role to provide greater competence and continuity. This is considered especially 

important given the turnover in agency leadership.

2.4 Workforce Capacity

Overview

SSA has more than 60,000 employees working in about 1,500 offices across the country. 

The Operations component accounts for approximately 70 percent of the total workforce. 

The agency has a very experienced group of employees, with an average age of 47. About 

33 percent of employees have worked at SSA for more than 20 years.28 

SSA employees are passionate and dedicated to their jobs and the agency. The FY 2012 

Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) results show that most employees believe that 

their work is important and understand how it supports the agency’s overall mission. 

The agency has taken a consistent approach to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce 

that mirrors the diversity of the American public. About 68 percent of SSA employees are 

women, and 50 percent29 are members of minority groups. Women and minorities are well 

represented in agency senior leadership positions, such as DCs, Assistant Deputy 

Commissioners, and Associate Commissioners. 

 

27 OEST was established in October 2013 with the merger of the Office of Electronic Services and the Office of 

Automation Support. The Division of Innovation and Service Delivery was formed at that time. 28 SSA HR data 29 Social Security Administration. Annual Statistical Supplement to the Social Security Bulletin, 2013. 

http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/supplement/2013/supplement13.pdf
26

Disconnected service channels and siloed workforce skillsets 

SSA’s workforce structure and skillsets have affected the agency’s capacity to develop an 

integrated service delivery model. SSA currently provides services through multiple service 

channels, including in-person services, telephone, and internet. Field offices, TSC, and 

program service centers (PSC) function in silos. Segmented job duties and disparate 

position descriptions have limited the career development paths for employees. TSC 

employees can only handle part of the service process and often need to refer customers to 

field offices. Under this siloed service model, employees do not have the skillsets to address 

customer needs and process transactions from start to finish. In addition, due to SSA’s 

complex policies and rules, employees are specialized by programs (e.g., retirement, 

disability, and SSI) and can be very difficult to replace. With a shrinking workforce, the 

agency cannot afford to continue to operate in this way. Furthermore, as more work is 

automated, it becomes less necessary to maintain the current structure. 

Attrition challenge

SSA is facing a significant loss of experienced employees with institutional knowledge and 

expertise.30 The agency’s ASP identifies attrition as one of the greatest workforce 

challenges. SSA has lost about 11,000 employees31 since FY 2011. Retirement is the highest 

source of attrition. 2,631 employees32 retired from the agency during FY 2012, and 16

percent of the retirees were supervisors. According to SSA’s projection, about 45 percent of 

SSA non-supervisory employees and 55 percent of supervisors will be eligible to retire by 

FY 2022.33

Like most federal agencies, SSA is operating in an austere budget environment. As a result, 

a hiring freeze has been in place since FY 2010, and the agency has not been able to backfill its retiring workforce. As baby boomers reach their disability-prone and retirement 

years, SSA’s workload has increased significantly for the past few years, and is forecasted to

continue to grow. A shrinking workforce has challenged SSA’s ability to keep up with 

increasing workloads and meet customer expectations.

SSA has taken steps to prepare for attrition challenges. Important actions include 

developing Retirement Wave Reports to support human capital and financial decision 

making; rehiring retirees to support institutional knowledge transfer; shifting resources to 

support the most critical functions of the agency; and using new technologies to capture 

and maintain institutional knowledge. Interviewees noted that these are “quick-fix” 

approaches, and the agency lacks long-term strategies for coping with its attrition 

challenges. SSA’s most recent succession plan was issued in 2007.

 

30 SSA received the authority to hire about 9,000 employees in FY 14. The vast majority of new hires are for 

agency’s front line positions. 31 SSA HR data 32 SSA FY 2013-2022 Retirement Wave Report. August 2013 33 SSA FY 2013-2022 Retirement Wave Report. August 2013
27

Recruitment and retention 

Due to the limited budget resources and hiring freeze, it has been difficult for SSA to bring 

in new employees. As a result, the agency relies on targeted use of temporary 

employees/contractor support in some components. For example, the Office of Systems 

hires IT contractors to supplement its federal IT employees. In FY 2011, IT contractor costs 

accounted for approximately 9 percent of the agency’s IT budget, while the costs for federal 

IT employees represented 32 percent of that budget.34 According to SSA’s Information 

Resources Management Strategic Plan (2012-16), the ideal ratio of federal IT employees to 

IT contractors is 3:1. 

Generally, SSA has no significant retention issues.35 From FY 2005 to FY 2010, the agency’s 

one-year and two-year retention rates were over 90 percent and 85 percent36 respectively; 

however, it is not clear whether the high retention rates will continue as current human 

capital research clearly shows that younger employees expect to change jobs more 

frequently than previous generations. This tendency is not expected to diminish.

Training

In the current budget environment, training has become an important retention tool for the 

agency. Interviewees emphasized the importance of providing continuous learning 

opportunities to employees. The agency offers a variety of different training programs and 

its training budget is growing this year. However, as budget resources remain limited, SSA 

has cut most training that involves travel. In addition, SSA uses new technologies to 

improve its training programs. For example, the agency has implemented the “interactive 

video training” network and “Video on Demand” programs to provide employees virtual 

training opportunities. Another example within a specific component is ODAR’s “How MI 

Doing Tool”, which gives adjudicators extensive information about the reasons their cases 

were subsequently remanded and allows them to view their performance in relation to the 

average of other ALJs in the office, region, and Nation.37 Training modules have been 

developed and are linked to this tool so that ALJs can obtain training on targeted issues.

The current training model will not likely meet the needs of an SSA service delivery model 

of the future. Due to the agency’s overly complex policies and procedures, it takes two to 

three years to train new employees to become fully proficient in their work. Interviewees 

highlighted the need for accelerating the agency’s training process, in part because younger 

employees are not likely to stay in their positions for very long. 

 

34 SSA Information Resources Management Strategic Plan: FY 2012-2016, P.17

35 Retirement attrition is not a retention issue. SSA has very little difficulty retaining employees who are not 

eligible for retirement. 

36 SSA FY12 Human Capital Implementation Plan, P.5 37 Statement of Judge Patricia Jonas, Executive Director, Office of Appellate Operations; Office of Disability 

Adjudication and Review, Social Security Administration before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security 

and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 

http://www.ssa.gov/legislation/testimony_091312.html 
28

With respect to evaluating training priorities, interviewees noted that competency gap 

analysis is a significant weakness at SSA. The agency does not have a good understanding 

as to the competencies that the workforce currently possesses. Some components are 

further along than others in developing competency models. For example, the OS has an IT 

Skill Inventory to identify competency gaps that can guide training, hiring, or contracting 

decisions. SSA leadership has recognized the value of competency gap analysis, and 

competency-based management has become one of the focus areas in the agency’s new

human capital operating plan. 

Leadership

SSA has highly regarded leadership development programs. Rotation assignments are 

considered as the most effective component of these programs. However, only a small 

number of people have the opportunity to participate in the leadership programs, in part 

because budget constraints have served to limit the pool of leadership candidates. In 

addition, the agency suffers from a government-wide problem that under the current 

General Schedule (GS) system, government employees are evaluated and promoted based 

on their technical skills. Interviewees observed that SSA tends to select leaders for their 

technical expertise, as opposed to managerial excellence and people skills. 

Teleworking

Most interviewees stressed the importance of telework to the agency’s future service 

delivery. SSA has implemented telework in some components/offices (e.g., SSA recently 

started a teleworking pilot in Operations); however, the implementation process has been 

slow. According to the FY 2012 FEVS results, management resistance, technical and 

information security concerns, and job requirements (some front-line jobs require physical 

presence) are the most frequently cited barriers to the implementation of telework. 

Labor relations

SSA has a substantially unionized workforce—over 75 percent of SSA employees38 are in 

collective bargaining units. SSA is in the process of building a trusting labor management 

environment. Under the current administration, SSA has taken a number of steps to 

improve its relationship with unions. For example, the agency holds regular 

communications (e.g., quarterly meetings) with unions; SSA managers receive labor 

relations training on terms of collective bargaining agreements; and unions are involved in 

the development process of the agency’s strategic plan and human capital plan. Thus far, 

the agency has not faced significant opposition from unions on the use of contractors, 

teleworking, attrition, or automation. Most interviewees recognized the value of developing 

an effective and transparent labor management relationship. 

2.5 Physical Infrastructure 

 

38 SSA HR data
29

Overview

SSA serves the public through a network of approximately 1,500 facilities.39 The majority of 

these facilities are leased, with relatively few government-owned.40 The headquarters 

complex includes offices in Baltimore, MD, which conduct program activities and provide 

support needed to operate the agency. There is an extensive field network that provides 

the full range of social insurance services from the filing of applications through processing 

and reviews through in-person, telephone, and video services.41 The first field office 

opened in Austin, Texas in 1936 and the network has been built out to support what was a 

paper-based process with customer files stored within local offices.42 While some offices 

may be re-located at the end of lease terms or consolidated to improve efficiency in service 

delivery, there has been no major re-alignment as new technologies and business processes 

have been implemented that reduce the dependence on the provision of in-person service 

such as not requiring customer signatures for some transactions; the use of electronic files; 

and the introduction of telephone, video, and online service.

Management of SSA’s physical infrastructure is shared by:

• Headquarters—the Office of Facilities and Supply Management43

• Operations—Office of Public Service and Operations Support44

• Disability Adjudication and Review—Facilities, and Security within the ODAR45

Facilities planning 

The GAO conducted a review of SSA’s facilities planning at the request of Congress in 

2010.46 Therefore, the Academy did not duplicate this recent, comprehensive review as 

part of this study, but rather focused on the changes SSA has experienced since receiving 

the GAO’s report. 

The key finding by the GAO was that, while SSA has various processes, tools, and standards 

to help manage its physical infrastructure, the agency lacks an overarching facilities 

strategic plan. It noted that the three components that share responsibilities for facilities 

do conduct some planning efforts; however, there are no written plans to guide actions or 

clear goals and milestones to assess efforts; not all facilities were covered by then-existing 

efforts; and SSA was not fully capitalizing on the potential for cost savings through shared 

 

39 FY2015 Budget Request, Full Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees 40 Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General. Congressional Response Report: The Social 

Security Administration’s Facilities Management A-13-11-21110. November 2010. 41 Descriptions of each office type can be found in Appendix C of GAO A-13-11-21110. 42 Real Property Cost Savings and Innovation Plan FY2013-2015; Service Delivery Plan 2-20-2103 43 A description of the office functions can be found http://www.ssa.gov/org/orgdcbfm.htm#ofsm2 44 A description of the office functions can be found http://www.ssa.gov/org/orgdco.htm#opsos2 45 A description of the office functions can be found http://www.ssa.gov/org/orgdcdar.htm#obfs 

46 The key questions of the GAO review were: “Does SSA have a comprehensive strategic plan with regard to 

its facilities? What facilities are included in the plan (e.g. teleservice centers, field offices, etc.)? Does the plan 

address current and future facility needs? Given the changing demographics, increased workloads, and 

technological advancements, what is the process and/or criteria used by SSA to determine: (1) the degree to 

which currently occupied space is being effectively utilized; (2) the type, number, and location of new 

facilities; and (3) placement of staff and/or equipment within all facilities?” GAO A-13-11-21110. 
30

space. The GAO report also highlighted the need to better plan for how changes in 

technology will also change the agency’s facilities requirements.47

Current facilities planning efforts are generally short-term in nature. Twenty percent of 

field offices are scheduled to undergo service area reviews each year to ensure that service 

delivery is consistent with the needs of the area being served.48 Office leases begin a review 

approximately two years before the end of their term. The most recent service area review 

informs choices about lease renewal or possible relocation or consolidation of offices. 

At the time, SSA disagreed with the GAO’s recommendation to develop a centralized 

strategic plan. During interviews for this study, most agency representatives, when asked 

about this matter, still did not see the need for an agency-wide strategic plan. They 

indicated that work across the components continues to improve and expressed concern 

that centralizing such a function would result in a disconnect from the operational needs of 

the agency. However, several did indicate that, as more transformational technology is put 

into place, more integrated planning could aid in transitioning to the optimal use of that 

technology and greater potential for shared space.

Strategic steps

SSA has taken a number of steps to improve physical infrastructure management and 

planning. Many interviewees noted that these steps have improved the working 

relationship across components. These include:

• Real Property Cost Savings and Innovation Plan FY2013-2015 (Real Property Plan)

—this document provides an overview of efforts to streamline facilities while 

improving service. It is agency-wide in scope.49

• Update of Space Allocation Standards—in 2012, SSA updated its space allocation 

standards to facilitate the more efficient use of space due to improvements in 

technology and current staffing patterns.50

• Update of Master Housing Plan—SSA indicated in interviews that it is finalizing an 

update of the Master Housing Plan. This will guide more efficient use of space for the 

Headquarters complex.

• Centralized Space Acquisition Authority—SSA has centralized oversight of new 

space requests by requiring all to be approved by the Associate Commissioner for 

Facilities and Supply Management.51

 

47 GAO. Critical Infrastructure Protection: An Implementation Strategy Could Advance DHS’s Coordination of 

Resilience Efforts across Ports and Other Infrastructure. October 2012. GAO A-13-11-21110. 48 The process is specified in the Automated Instruction Manual System Chapter 12. It includes review of 

factors such as demographics and workload, staffing, accessibility, and other characteristics of the area.

49 Real Property Cost Savings and Innovation Plan FY2013-2015.

50 Space Allocation Standards Memorandum, April 18, 2012. This is in keeping with the Administration’s 

“Freeze the Footprint” initiative, Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-12-12.

51 Real Property Cost Savings and Innovation Plan FY2013-2015.
31

Facilities cost containment

The network of SSA facilities represents a significant cost for the agency with $727.6 

million requested for rent in FY2015.52 SSA is building upon previous efforts to streamline 

operations and to address sustainability of federal facilities including the total cost 

associated with them.53 SSA’s Real Property Plan outlines the agency’s approach for 

reducing its facilities footprint from 26.4 million usable square feet in FY2012 to 24.5 

million usable square feet in FY2015. Interviewees indicated that this reduction is due to 

more efficient operations, the updated space allocation standards, and as a result of 

workforce attrition. The expectation is that improvements in service will allow for 

infrastructure savings that can be re-directed into additional service improvements.

During the timeframe of this plan, SSA’s total rent budget is still projected to increase by 

over $33 million.54 This is due to the rising costs of commercial rent in facilities requiring 

improvements such as the construction of security barrier walls or customer waiting areas. 

The average cost per square foot was $14.18 in FY2001 and rose to $24.02 by FY2011.55

Also rising is the cost of operating facilities such as utilities, communications, and security.

The Real Property Plan includes discussion of efforts across the entire agency. Several 

interviewees indicated that it could serve as a foundation for future facilities strategic 

planning efforts. It does not include the goals and milestones GAO recommended the 

agency develop, but those could be added in future iterations. The Real Property Plan 

includes discussion of options that hold potential for additional streamlining and cost 

containment including co-location, consolidation, online and video services, and increased 

telework. As SSA implements service delivery enhancements including automation and 

additional online services that alter workflow, interviewees indicated the need to look at 

the resultant changes that might require or enable for the agency’s physical infrastructure. 

Stakeholder concerns

Relocations, consolidations, and other changes to SSA’s physical infrastructure generally 

raise concerns about service availability and jobs from both internal and external 

stakeholders. SSA has a detailed process to review service delivery and address current or 

emerging needs of the served community and includes stakeholder engagement.56 Given 

congressional concerns that the process is not comprehensive or transparent, SSA is now 

required to submit a report to Congress detailing its plans and ensuring that public input is 

sought on any proposed closures.57

 

52 Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees Fiscal Year 2015.

53 Sustainable Building Implementation Plan, December 2009.

54 Real Property Cost Savings and Innovation Plan FY2013-2015.

55 Service Delivery Plan, February 20, 2013 draft.

56 The process is specified in the Automated Instruction Manual System Chapter 12. It includes review of 

factors such as demographics and workload, staffing, accessibility, and other characteristics of the area.

57 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014: Joint Committee Report (H.R. 113-76). 
32

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33

CHAPTER THREE: FACTORS SHAPING THE FUTURE OPERATING ENVIRONMENT 

Uncertainty presents a challenge for strategic planning. This challenge is even greater in 

the case of long-term planning. The development of scenarios is widely accepted as leading

practice for incorporating uncertainty into long-term planning and strategy development.

The aim of the exercise is to inform a vision of what the organization must look like—what 

capabilities it must possess—to perform effectively under a range of circumstances. 

As part of developing scenarios, the Panel undertook research to identify factors likely to 

significantly affect the future operating environment of SSA. It identified factors considered 

to be: (1) relatively certain with respect the direction and pace of change, such as 

demographic trends, or (2) relatively uncertain in pace or direction of change. 

The study team analyzed the first set of factors in terms of how they come together to 

create organizational imperatives for SSA. They are the focus of this chapter.

The second set of factors was used to develop scenarios or possible alternative future 

operating environments wherein the imperatives and/or SSA’s capacity to respond to them 

was significantly altered. 

Appendix E provides a discussion of the methodology used to identify factors and develop 

scenarios. It reviews the full set of factors considered and the scenarios developed. 

3.1 Explanation of Factors

The Panel identified nine factors believed to be significant and relatively certain in their 

impact on the future operating environment of the SSA. 

Demographic trends related to volume of work. The aging of the population has 

predictable implications for the volume of programmatic work that will face SSA over the 

next 10 to 15 years. A GAO analysis of SSA beneficiary data indicates a 37 percent increase 

in the number of SSA program beneficiaries between 2012 and 2025. Baby Boomers have 

entered their disability-prone years prior to retirement age leading to an increase in claims 

for disability and SSI benefits together with follow-on work of conducting continuing 

disability reviews.58 This disability-related work will diminish significantly as individuals 

reach retirement age. As Baby Boomers reach retirement age, retirement claims will 

increase. Baby Boomer retirement claims are projected to continue increasing beyond 

2025.

 

58 The term Baby Boomers refers to people born during the demographic Post–World War II baby boom 

between the years 1946 and 1964. People become more likely to experience disabling conditions beginning at 

age 55. The number of Americans age 55 and older will increase by more than 10 million between 2015 and 

2020. See Social Security Agency Strategic Plan 2014-2018. 
34

Another important demographic trend related to the workload of the agency is the growing 

proportion of the population whose native language is not English. This is expected to 

translate into a growing demand for language-related services. 

Continuing fiscal constraint and a shrinking SSA workforce. Flat or declining budgets 

have become a standard assumption among most domestic agencies. In this fiscal 

environment, many retiring federal employees will likely not be replaced. A GAO analysis of 

SSA beneficiary data indicates that over a third of SSA employees will retire between FY 

2011 and FY 2020, with still more eligible.59 

Increasing demand for online services and mobile access. Demand for online services 

may be expected to increase over time as the Baby Boom generation ages. This generation, 

is more comfortable accessing services online than the current generation of retirees.60 The

rapid spread of mobile devices, ease of use, and growth in service provision via these 

devices will fuel expectations for mobile access to government services. Also, smart phones 

and other mobile devices may provide an opportunity for delivering services online to SSA 

customers who lack traditional internet access in their homes. 

Continued need to provide direct assistance options. Still, some citizens, including 

people with disabilities or no access to the internet, will need direct service, and SSA must 

make provisions for them. 

Increasing demand for data access and sharing. The past 25 years have witnessed 

growing emphasis on making government documents and data available to the public in 

the name of transparency and reducing unnecessary duplication of effort. The increasing 

availability of data and “apps” has fueled public demand for data. Also, in the evolving 

“sharing economy,” business has increasingly come to value stores of data that can be 

leveraged for commercial purposes. Finally, recognition is growing that “big data” can be 

leveraged to improve services across the government. SSA, like other data-centric agencies, 

will be under growing pressure to make its data available and to leverage this data to 

provide services outside of its traditional mission areas. 

Increasing cyber threat. It is generally accepted that cyber-attacks will increase in volume 

and sophistication. In a recent report, GAO noted the dramatic increase in reports of 

 

59 GAO-13-459, Social Security Administration: Long-Term Strategy Needed to Address Key Management 

Challenges. 

60 Pew Research’s Internet Project tracks internet use of American adults over time. Its latest survey from 

September 2013 indicates that American adult use of the internet is up from 14% in 1995 to 86%, showing 

steady growth over time (http://www.pewinternet.org/data-trend/internet-use/internet-use-over-time/). 

While only 57% of 2013 respondents age 65 and older use the internet, that figure grows to 88% of survey 

respondents in the 50-64 age group (http://www.pewinternet.org/data-trend/internet-use/latest-stats/). 

These data are important in light of the 10-15 year outlook this study has, bearing in mind that many in the 

50-64 year old group will seek SSA services in 2025-2030.
35

security incidents, the ease of obtaining and using hacking tools, and steady advances in the 

sophistication and effectiveness of attack technology.61

Changing mix of workforce skills supporting service delivery. While the precise mix of 

skills needed to support the new electronic service delivery model is not yet clearly

defined, certain skills and abilities are commonly identified as increasingly important. 

These include: cognitive skills62 (e.g., problem solving, analysis); capacity to learn and 

adapt new skills quickly; ability to communicate effectively (both in-person and virtually) 

on difficult issues; data-analytic skills; general skills and knowledge needed to manage 

transactions to completion;63 and specialized technical knowledge and skills in areas such 

as cybersecurity. 

Workforce preference for greater job mobility. Generation X and the Millennial 

Generation64 show a markedly different attitude toward their careers than prior 

generations. Younger generations are inclined toward greater mobility across 

organizations and sectors65 and are less likely to stay in a single organization for most or all 

of a career. These changing attitudes suggest greater staff turnover for many 

organizations. While the exercise of these preferences may vary depending on overall 

economic conditions, job tenure is likely to be significantly shorter on average.

Government unions. It is expected that government unions will continue to have a strong 

voice on issues related to the organizational realignment needed to take advantage of 

opportunities created by electronic service delivery, automation, and other information 

technology applications enabling new ways organizing work. Efforts to redefine roles and 

responsibilities and reengineer work processes will have to address union concerns, such 

as employment opportunities, pay grades, and work rules.

3.2 Organizational Imperatives

The factors discussed above come together to create a set of imperatives for service 

delivery organizations like SSA. These include:

 

61 GAO-13-187, National Strategy, Roles, and Responsibilities Need to Be Defined and More Effectively 

Implemented, February 2013. The number of cyber incidents reported by federal agencies to the U.S. 

Computer Emergency Team increased by 782 percent from 2006 to 2012.

62 Institute for the Future. Future Work Skills 2020. http://www.iftf.org/uploads/media/SR1382A_UPRI_future_work_skills_sm.pdf

63 Social Security Advisory Board. A Vision of the Future for the Social Security Administration. March 2011. 

Social Security Administration. Service Delivery Plan. February 2013. 64 Generation X is the generation born from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. The Millennial generation 

covers people born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

65 KPMG Government Institute. Whether You’re Ready or Not, We’re Millennial-Bound: Recruiting and 

Motivating Today’s Millennial Generation. April 2009. http://www.kpmginstitutes.com/governmentinstitute/insights/2009/millennial-recruiting.aspx

Jeanne Meister. Job Hopping is the ‘New Normal’ for Millennials: Three Ways to Prevent a Human Resource 

Nightmare. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2012/08/14/job-hopping-is-the-newnormal-for-millennials-three-ways-to-prevent-a-human-resource-nightmare/
36

Increasing electronic service delivery and automation. Tight budgets, fewer personnel, 

increasing workload, and changing customer expectations of service delivery are driving 

agencies to move services online and to automate processes. Also, advances in IT have 

enabled agencies to implement virtual approaches to organizing work, such as telework, as 

a means of reducing infrastructure costs as well as providing a more flexible work 

environment.

Realigning the organization and workforce. Electronic service delivery, automation, and 

IT-enabled opportunities for reorganizing work, together with fewer agency personnel to 

do existing work, are pushing agencies to realign their organizations. Examples include 

changes in the roles and responsibilities among components; position descriptions and pay 

grades, and work processes. Realigning the organization also entails changes in the 

distribution of employees geographically and across the organization.

Developing a workforce with a different mix of skills. The new electronic service 

delivery model will require a different mix of skills. These skills may be obtained through a 

combination of hiring new employees, retraining existing employees, and contracting, as 

appropriate.

Reducing and reconfiguring its service delivery infrastructure. The shift toward online 

service delivery, increased automation, and IT-enabled approaches to organizing work (e.g., 

telework and virtual centralization of functions) make the reduction or re-alignment of 

physical infrastructure an important opportunity to reduce costs in a tight budget 

environment.

Increasing agility. The rapid pace of technical change, evolving service delivery models, 

and increasing cyber threats place a premium on the agency’s ability to respond rapidly to 

change. Its success will depend on factors including a more robust process for planning and 

managing information resources, organizational and workforce realignment, and greater 

use data analytics.
37

CHAPTER FOUR: CREATING AN AGENCY-WIDE VISION

Long-term strategic planning is built on an assessment of present operational structure and 

service delivery, and a clearly defined vision of how the agency aspires to operate and 

deliver services in the future and what capabilities it will need to meet those aspirations. 

Chapter 2 provided a summary of how the agency operates at present. Chapter 3 reviewed

key factors that will shape SSA’s general operating environment 10 to 15 years from now. 

Based on an analysis of these factors, the Panel, in consultation with the SSA executives, 

several employee groups, advocacy groups, and others, developed a long-range vision for 

SSA. Appendix F provides a summary description of the methodology used to devise the 

vision. This chapter describes the vision. 

4.1 Vision 

In order to be usable by diverse audiences and for various purposes, the Panel’s Vision for 

SSA encompasses three layers ascending in greater levels of detail: 

• Single Vision Statement; 

• Seven overarching Vision Components; and 

• Twenty-seven more specific Vision Elements organized into five categories.

4.2 Vision Statement

The Vision Statement is intended to capture in a short phrase three key messages that 

specify how SSA will function in 2025-2030: (1) excellent customer service; (2) expansive 

use of modern technology; and (3) an agile agency that embraces change. The statement 

underscores its customer focus and embrace of technology in providing services.

4.3 Overarching Vision Components

The Vision Statement may be better understood by breaking it out into the following seven 

Components that more specifically describe how SSA aims to operate and provide services 

in 2025-2030. Consistent with the Vision Statement, the components offer a broader 

picture of various dimensions of SSA transformation. 

As a transformed SSA, we anticipate and meet customer needs 

anywhere, anytime by providing high quality virtual services.
38

In summary, the Vision Components call for a broad transformation of the agency’s 

organizational culture and service delivery model that focuses on actively and flexibly

meeting rapidly changing customer demands that may be expected in 2025-2030. To that 

end, the organization will be less hierarchical and will be demonstrably synchronized in 

planning and implementation across all operating segments. 

By 2025-2030, SSA aims to deliver services primarily by virtual means, defined as all 

modes of service delivery, except for in-person service delivery, including online, phone, 

click-to-communicate (e.g., online chat, instant messaging, and screen sharing), and video 

conference. At the same time, the agency remains committed to providing personal service 

delivery options as necessary and appropriate, including traditional in-person service 

delivery in the field as well as virtual options for providing direct assistance and face-toface interaction. 

Technology will enable more virtual service, work sharing, and automation of delivery 

processes. These developments will enable a workforce and physical infrastructure sized

and structured to manage the agency’s evolving workloads, including direct service 

delivery to program customers, program integrity (e.g., continuing disability reviews) and 

To fulfill SSA’s mission in 2025, as part of a comprehensive 

approach to delivering government services, we:

1. Value our diverse workforce that reflects the public 

we serve.

2. Achieve program integrity in everything we do.

3. Are nimble and embrace change.

4. Are flatter and integrated, and able to make timely 

decisions. 

5. Use virtual service channels as our primary means 

of service delivery.

6. Automate processes to maximize operational 

efficiency.

7. Operate with a strategically sized workforce and 

physical infrastructure. 
39

non-programmatic mission responsibilities (e.g., data matching and verification for agency 

customers). 

4.4 Vision Elements 

The seven Vision Components flow from a more specific set of Vision Elements, devised in 

order to provide greater clarity to the agency’s vision transformational goals. These 27 

Vision Elements contribute to a more precise view of the agency’s anticipated future 

operating model and customer experience that can facilitate the agency’s efforts to identify

the many discrete actions that it must plan and implement to realize this long-range vision. 

In order to better understand the relationships among these 27 Vision Elements, the Panel 

organized them into five categories: 

1. direct service delivery to customers; 

2. indirect support of service delivery; 

3. planning and management of information resources; 

4. workforce; and

5. organizational structure and dynamics. 
40

4.4.1 Vision Elements: Direct Service Delivery to Customers 

Direct service delivery to customers includes vision elements related primarily to 

improving customer service (e.g., quality and timeliness). 

In order to meet changing customer expectations for service delivery, as well as to deliver 

services more cost-effectively, SSA aims to deliver services principally by virtual means in 

2025-2030. At the same time, the agency remains committed to providing personal service 

delivery options as necessary and appropriate, including traditional in-person service 

delivery in the field as well as virtual options for providing direct assistance and face-toface interaction. While in-person delivery will be more limited than in the past, virtual 

service delivery channels will preserve and even extend options for direct assistance and 

face-to-face interaction. Service delivery will be integrated across channels (e.g., click-tocommunicate options to complement online service) and across partners, including 

agencies and non-profit service organizations, to enable greater customer convenience as 

well as improved cost-effectiveness. Policy simplification will be pursued to facilitate 

online delivery and improve the customer experience, as well as process improvement. 

4.4.2 Vision Elements: Indirect Support of Service Delivery

Indirect support of service delivery includes those elements primarily related to improving 

the cost-effectiveness of supporting work processes. 

1. Virtual service channels are our primary means of service 

delivery. 

2. We provide in-person service delivery in very limited 

circumstances.

3. Our service delivery is integrated across SSA programs and with 

external partners to ensure access to a high quality services

across government. 

4. We simplify programmatic, administrative, and operational 

policies in order to facilitate customers’ applications for benefits 

and our processing of them.
41

Employee access to an integrated set of data on customers will improve efficiency, as well 

as enhance customer service and program integrity. The automation of work processes and 

the use of expert systems enable greater efficiency thereby freeing scarce resources to be 

focused on strengthening program integrity and ensuring that direct assistance is available 

to those who need it. The virtual organization of work together with a shared services 

approach enables greater efficiency and flexibility. Data analytics guide continuing efforts 

to improve business processes and respond to changing circumstances. 

5. Our employees access integrated customer data, enabling 

efficient delivery of services across our programs and with other 

related government programs. 

6. Our work processes are fully automated, except for those 

decisions that require some human judgment. We use expert 

systems to guide employees. 

7. Our work is “portable” (e.g., electronic case files enable matching 

workload with available workforce capacity, advancing 

telework).

8. We employ shared service models for appropriate support 

functions.

9. We systematically employ data analytics to inform the 

development of more efficient business processes and ensure 

program integrity.
42

4.4.3 Vision Elements: Planning and Management of Information Resources

Planning and management of information resources includes Vision Elements related to 

the foundational enterprise capabilities needed to support such things as information 

sharing, cybersecurity, and rapid innovation of technology to meet evolving business 

needs. It encompasses not just the work of the Office of Systems, but a coordinated effort 

involving agency leaders and business customers to plan and implement new systems to 

support mission performance.

Enterprise-level data management, interoperable systems, and expanded data exchange 

support our integrated delivery of services, greater efficiency, improved program integrity, 

and the agency’s ability to respond more quickly to evolving service delivery needs. A 

robust regime for protecting information security and customers’ private information 

enables success in delivering services primarily online. A disciplined, responsive IT 

investment management process is essential to rapidly adapt to changing service delivery 

needs. Business and technical leaders work closely to ensure the marriage of well-designed 

business processes and cost-effective technology solutions. 

10. We manage data at the enterprise level and our business systems 

are interoperable.

11. We maximize data sharing with external partners.

12. We employ a robust regime for providing information security 

and protecting customers’ personal information over the entire 

data life cycle. 

13. We use a disciplined and responsive management process to 

enable planning and implementation of new business solutions, 

utilizing industry best practices to rapidly meet IT and other 

business requirements.
43

4.4.4 Vision Elements: Workforce

Among the most valuable assets of any organization is its workforce. Seven vision elements 

shape a future human capital management regime for SSA. They support the envisioned 

service delivery model. 

Employees with broader skill sets, supported by the portability of work and expert 

systems, are able to handle a variety of different workloads. Expanded job definitions and 

opportunities for career development across the organization and with partner agencies 

attract and retain talent and promote a robust, broadly capable workforce. Data analytics 

help identify and meet evolving training needs and support improved performance. 

Unions are engaged in change to enable improved performance, while ensuring that 

employee needs are met.

14. Our integrated and diverse service delivery workforce is able to identify 

customer needs and manage transactions to completion efficiently and 

effectively.

15. Technology advances create opportunities to have a strategically

structured and sized workforce appropriate to evolving workloads.

16. We make greater use of generalists with an emphasis on problemsolving, communication, and data analytics skills. 

17. We use data analytics systematically to drive workforce decisions (e.g., 

training needs).

18. Our workforce delivers services with greater agility, including use of 

project-based employee and contractor teams.

19. We employ a flexible grade and compensation structure to facilitate 

career paths that encourage employee retention by providing employee 

development opportunities across the organization or with partner 

organizations.

20. Our labor-management relations have a strategic focus on improving 

agency performance.
44

4.4.5 Vision Elements: Organizational Structure and Dynamics 

Strategically re-aligned organization structure and dynamics support the envisioned 

service delivery model and work processes. These vision elements are presented last as 

they reflect the vital role that structure and dynamics play in providing the foundation for 

an integrated high-performance service enterprise. 

Clear policy direction (e.g., decision parameters, definitions of quality) and automated 

decision support are critical to enabling a flatter organization that is both more efficient 

and accountable. Structure and processes are in place to enable the communication, 

coordination, and accountability needed for performance in non-traditional work 

environments such as telework. A shared services approach enabled by technology 

supports a more efficient and flexible allocation of staff and resources in the context of a 

21. We embrace change and recognize the importance of purposeful risk 

(e.g., encouraging new development opportunities and potentially highyield initiatives).

22. Our adaptive and open culture promotes new collaborative 

arrangements including those with external partners (e.g., other agencies 

and third parties).

23. We institutionalize long-term, strategic thinking throughout the 

organization (e.g., planning, organizational structure, and business 

processes). 

24. We enable an accountable workforce to work in decentralized, nontraditional offices. 

25. Our physical infrastructure is strategically reduced and re-aligned based 

on service delivery changes, and IT and automation investments.

26. Our consolidated and re-aligned organization integrates activities, 

eliminates duplicative work, and strengthens program integrity.

27. Clear policy direction and automated decision support empower

employees and improve efficiency while ensuring quality and program 

integrity. 
45

more collaborative approach to dealing with evolving challenges across the organization. 

Finally, strategic thinking and a risk management approach are integrated into the life of 

the organization.
46

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47

CHAPTER FIVE: THE HIGH-LEVEL STRATEGIC PLAN

Preparation of a high-level strategic plan was the focus of the project’s Phase 3. Simply put, 

a strategic plan is devised through a systematic evaluation that compares the envisioned 

future state with the current state, identifying any deficiencies that currently exist, and 

mapping out how to go “from here to there.” Thus, the starting point for constructing it is 

drawn from a combination of two pieces of the project’s work: (1) understanding the “as 

is” state of the agency, as described in Chapter 2; and (2) developing a vision of how the 

agency should deliver services in 2025-2030, as described in Chapter 4. In this chapter, 

the Panel recommends actions to achieve a future vision for delivering services.

The Panel’s recommendations were developed based partly on input from SSA executives 

during strategy planning sessions organized around five topic areas. Further information 

about these five areas and the methodology used in Phase 3 is provided in Appendix G. 

To facilitate integration with SSA’s Agency Strategic Plan FY 2014-2018 (ASP), issued on 

March 10, 2014, the discussion of the Panel’s recommendations for a high-level strategic 

plan is organized into the three categories used in the ASP: Services, Infrastructure, and 

People. In addition, the Panel’s discussion includes a fourth category to address physical 

infrastructure, as distinct from the ASP’s infrastructure category, which refers to IT 

infrastructure. 

Strategic plan recommendations in this chapter are grouped into ten focus areas, each one 

with at least one strategic plan recommendation. This strategic plan contains a total of 29

recommendations, with each focus area and recommendation clearly labeled. Finally, with 

respect to most of the recommendations, the Panel also proposes specific actions that SSA 

might take to implement a recommendation. The Panel understands that SSA is, in some 

cases, already taking such actions. 

Appendix H provides a list containing all recommendations and actions grouped under 

each focus area to enable a summary view of the high–level strategic plan.

5.1 Services 

The “Services” section of the Long-Term Strategic Plan presented here encompasses the 

three strategic goals SSA addresses in the “Services” section of the ASP—Deliver 

Innovative, Quality Services; Strengthen the Integrity of our Programs; and Serve the Public 

through a Stronger, More Responsive Disability Program. This section of the Long-Term 

Strategic Plan is organized into two focus areas. The first addresses direct service delivery, 

focusing on the need to develop more cost-effective approaches while ensuring that 

options for direct assistance and face-to-face interactions remain available to meet 

customer needs. The second addresses process improvement and automation. While 

calling for a continued emphasis on disability programs given their high administrative 

cost and program cost implications, this section looks more broadly at building the

capacities needed to guide process improvement and automation. 
48

Focus Area 1: Develop a more cost-effective service delivery system that is primarily 

virtual, but provides personal service delivery options as necessary and appropriate. 

While SSA recognizes that virtual channels (e.g., online, phone, videoconference) should be 

its primary means of service delivery in the future, it remains committed to providing 

personal service delivery options as necessary and appropriate, including traditional inperson service delivery in the field as well as virtual options for providing direct assistance 

and face-to-face interaction. While remaining true to this commitment, SSA should take full 

advantage of technological opportunities to (1) extend and improve virtual service 

delivery; (2) rationalize in-person delivery in the field; and (3) encourage customers to 

move toward more cost-effective delivery channels as appropriate.

Recommendation 1: Extend and improve virtual service delivery

SSA should extend and improve virtual service delivery by 1) improving online services; 

and (2) integrating online services with virtual options for direct assistance that allow SSA 

personnel to assist customers as needed to complete applications and other transactions. 

SSA should improve online services through the use of rules-engine driven applications and 

automatic verification of customer data. With the development of a more robust 

authentication protocol, SSA is now able to move forward with its near-term plans to 

provide formerly stand-alone online services in one place and to enable customers to 

access and manage their documents and data through the MySocialSecurity online portal. 

However, longer-term actions are needed to improve customer service and enable more 

efficient processing including: (1) the development of rules-engine driven applications, 

pre-populated with customer information; and (2) automatic verification of customer 

information based on electronic data exchanges with partner agencies.

Rules-engine driven applications are potentially more user-friendly, directing the customer 

through the application based on the customer’s previous answers and customer 

information already in the system. Also, they can reduce the processing workload by 

preventing submission of applications that are incomplete or not compliant with policy and 

by providing customers with the option for direct assistance in those cases when they are 

unable to complete the application.

Automatic verification of customer information based on electronic data exchange can 

improve customer service by accelerating determination. It also improves process 

efficiency by eliminating the need for manual follow-up with partner agencies to confirm 

customer information.

These advances in online service and process efficiency depend on improved access to SSA 

data to enable rules-engine driven applications prepopulated with customer data. Also, 

changes in policy will be required to enable automatic verification, which is in many cases 

precluded by federal and state law and policies.

SSA should integrate online services with virtual options for direct assistance. While most 

transactions may be executed online, customers will still need some form of direct 
49

assistance to help them complete benefits applications for programs, such as Disability and 

SSI, with more complex requirements. Also, customers with impairments may need 

additional assistance.

SSA should take steps to integrate online service offerings with virtual direct assistance 

options that go beyond the general inquiries now handled by the TSCs. These might include 

enhanced assistance over the phone and click-to-communicate (e.g., click-to-talk, instant 

messaging, and screen sharing) options that allow SSA personnel to work with customers 

to resolve issues as needed to complete applications and other transactions. 

Integration of virtual service channels would entail not only significant additional technical 

applications to the new Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol system, but also organizational and 

workforce changes, such as changes in job descriptions and training to support higher level 

assistance to online customers.

Recommendation 2: Rationalize in-person service delivery in the field

There are a number of reasons to expect that SSA will have to retain capacity for in-person 

service delivery in the field. These include providing service for those segments of the 

population that lack adequate online access or who require additional assistance due to 

some impairment. Also, interviews indicate that, in the case of Disability and SSI, 

substantial coordination with other agencies is required to help knit together services for 

customers across agencies, some of which are local. To the extent in-person service 

delivery is retained, SSA should take steps to mitigate the in-person service delivery 

workload that is prevalent today, and enable personnel in future to address the relatively 

more complex demands of service delivery and the particular needs of those with 

impairments.

SSA should extend self-service and videoconference delivery options to mitigate in-person 

workload in the field (near-term action). In its ASP, SSA addresses near-term steps to 

mitigate the in-person workload of field offices. These include the deployment of selfservice options (e.g., kiosks) in a number of field offices, and extending service delivery via 

videoconference (1) to enable the sharing of claims processing workloads with other field 

offices remotely; (2) to reduce the travel demands on administrative law judges for 

hearings; and (3) to ensure access to hearings for customers in remote areas. SSA should 

aggressively deploy self-service and videoconference options for service delivery in the 

field.

SSA should improve technology support to make in-person service more efficient. In 

addition, to the near-term options already noted, SSA should deploy rules-engine driven 

claims processing in the field offices and take steps to extend electronic access to partner 

data needed for verification and to enable automatic verification based on electronic data 

exchange. The rules-engine driven claims processing would improve efficiency, and prepopulated claims would improve customer service and reduce the need for customer to 

supply as much paper documentation. Rules-driven applications may also reduce the need 

for specialized training needed for claims representatives, thereby increasing staffing 
50

flexibility. Greater electronic access to partner data and automatic verification would 

enable greater processing efficiency and better customer service—quicker service with 

fewer paper documents required of the customer. 

These steps depend on data access improvements to enable rules-driven applications 

prepopulated with customer data and change in policy to enable greater electronic access

and automatic verification. 

SSA should explore options for partnering in the provision of in-person service delivery. 

Another longer-term strategy for rationalizing in-person service delivery is to explore

opportunities for colocation with partner agencies delivering similar or complementary 

services to overlapping customer populations. For instance, colocation with the 

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Benefit offices may make sense in certain areas with 

overlapping customers of disability services. Also, colocation with other federal or state 

and local agencies may make sense for serving SSI customers who also drawn on other 

social and economic assistance programs. In so doing, SSA can provide in-person delivery 

more efficiently and improve customer service by providing a one-stop service location.

Recommendation 3: Develop a plan to accelerate the movement of customers to

virtual service delivery channels

While SSA is making progress in providing services through virtual channels and there has 

been a steady increase in the use of online services by the public, the pace of movement to 

online services might be accelerated. Also, the efficiencies offered by a shift toward virtual 

service channels may be more fully realized by reducing or eliminating in-person and 

paper-based delivery processes in some cases. However, this is not always a 

straightforward proposition and is often sensitive, as in the case of moving away from 

paper notices. 

SSA should undertake a study to identify options for moving customers to virtual service 

options. In approaching this, SSA should consider the experience of Internal Revenue 

Service, a leader in the federal government in this area, which undertook a series of studies 

to identify options to meet a 1998 congressional mandate to achieve the goal of 80 percent 

of tax returns filed electronically.66

 

66 The 80% e-file goal derives from Title II, Section 2001 of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and 

Reform Act of 1998 (RRA98): (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the policy of Congress that— (1) paperless filing should 

be the preferred and most convenient means of filing Federal tax and information returns, (2) it should be the 

goal of the Internal Revenue Service to have at least 80% of all such returns filed electronically by the year 

2007, and (3) the Internal Revenue Service should cooperate with and encourage the private sector by 

encouraging competition to increase electronic filing of such returns. See two reports undertaken by Mitre for 

IRS to develop possible options. Internal Revenue Service, Advancing E-file Study Phase 1 Report: Achieving 

the 80% E-file Goal Requires Partnering with Stakeholders on New Approaches to Motivate Paper Filers.

September 30, 2008; Internal Revenue Service, Advancing E-file Study Phase 2 Report: An Examination of 

Options to Increase Electronic Filing of Individual Returns. December 15, 2010. 
51

While a plan for accelerating the movement of customers to virtual service delivery 

channels should be informed by further study, one element of this plan is clear: making 

online services so user-friendly that they become SSA customers’ first choice for 

conducting most transactions. This element is embodied in Recommendation 1.

Focus Area 2: Strengthen capacities needed to guide process improvement and 

automation. 

This section of the strategy focuses on actions related primarily to improving the costeffectiveness of the service delivery process, but also has implications for improving 

customer service and strengthening program integrity. These actions may include such 

things as process integration, moving from paper-based processes to electronic processes, 

automated decision support, the application of data analytics to decision making and 

service delivery processes, and changes in policy.

Efforts in this area should continue to focus on improvements to disability determination 

and post-entitlement processes (e.g., continuing disability reviews) given the 

disproportionate administrative cost of disability programs and the fact that 

determinations of disability are the gateway to much larger, continuing program costs. 

Therefore, this strategy advocates continued support for ongoing, longer term major 

investments such as the Disability Case Processing System, the Intelligent Disability, the 

modernization of SSI and Title II systems.

Just as important, SSA’s investments in process improvement and automation should be 

guided by a comprehensive policy review and a business intelligence strategy. 

Recommendation 4: Undertake a comprehensive policy review 

A review of policy should include administrative and operational as well as programmatic 

policies, and consider opportunities for policy simplification, harmonization of policies 

across agencies, and clarification of the agency’s administrative discretion. Simplification of 

program policies is identified as an important factor in making Disability and SSI benefits 

applications easier to navigate and to provide online, and for enabling more efficient 

processing. Simplification also offers the possibility of improving program integrity by 

improving consistency of interpretation. Changes in operational policy also offer 

opportunities, such as allowing SSI claimants to fill out at least part of the disability 

application online.

Opportunities for harmonization have been identified in two areas: (1) the adoption of a 

common standard of medical evidence used by SSA and the VA determining eligibility for 

disability benefits; (2) the adoption of a common standard for electronic medical records 

by SSA and its federal partner agencies. The former promises to improve customer service

and efficiency. By encouraging more rapid adoption of electronic medical records by 

healthcare providers and thereby providing SSA with more medical records electronically, 

the latter promises to radically improve the objectivity, consistency, and speed of disability 

determinations, as well as enabling data analytics that promise further improvements in 

service delivery.
52

The review should also consider possible changes in policy that would enable expanded 

access to data for use in determination processes and automatic verification of data via 

electronic data exchange. Such changes would greatly improve customer service, efficiency 

and program integrity efforts.

While policy changes offer a range of important benefits they have not been systematically 

examined. Also, it is not always clear what policy changes would entail. In some cases, 

statutory change would definitely be required. Other changes may simply require 

congressional approval or may be wholly within the agency’s discretion, although 

consultation with Congress and stakeholders would be advisable. Also, some changes may 

present significant administrative, technical, and political challenges. With these 

considerations in mind, SSA should:

• Identify an initial set of policy changes offering the greatest potential to advance 

strategic objectives. This process should include participation by major mission 

organizations, the Office of Retirement and Disability Policy (ORDP), and the Office 

of Budget, Finance, Quality and Management. 

• Determine what changes would require statutory or other legislative action and 

what changes are within the agency’s discretion. The Office of General Counsel and 

the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs (OLCA) should be engaged to 

review proposed policy changes and advise on preliminary strategies for pursuing 

changes. 

• Identify technical challenges and opportunities presented by proposed policy 

changes. Engage the Office of Systems to review the changes to systems and 

applications needed to effect policy changes as well as consider opportunities for 

rationalizing systems and applications suggested by policy changes. 

• Change group policy with respect to the potential to advance strategic objectives 

and the relative likelihood and timeframe of achieving changes. This prioritization 

will enable effort to be focused over time. Also, some policy changes may be 

facilitated by others. 

• Engage groups of internal and external stakeholders to lay the ground work for 

priority policy changes. A range of stakeholders may need to be engaged depending 

on the policy. These might include government unions, advocacy groups, partner 

agencies, OMB, and Congress.

Recommendation 5: Develop a business intelligence strategy. 

A strong data analytics capacity is essential to the SSA’s ability to identify and guide 

process improvement efforts, including the analysis of possible policy reforms and their 

potential business impacts. The importance of data analytics to process improvement has 
53

been demonstrated by ODAR’s success in increasing the consistency and accuracy of 

disability hearing and appeal decisions. 

Currently, SSA is hindered in this area by limitations on its ability to collect, access, and 

readily use data at the enterprise level. This reflects deficiencies in processes, people, and 

applications and tools, which must be systematically addressed through a business 

intelligence strategy.67 SSA should take the following steps as part of such a strategy.

• Develop an inventory of data that would identify what data exist in the enterprise, 

who owns them, what the data mean, why they are captured, and how they are 

currently used. This inventory would be followed by decisions establishing 

authoritative sources of data, common data definitions, and efficient data services.

• Identify those data elements needed to support key decision making and service 

delivery requirements.

• Connect business intelligence efforts to investment management process to ensure 

that modernization and new systems development incorporates key service 

delivery and management information needs. 

• Establish a data governance process, such as defining who collects and owns data, 

and who responds to data requests. 

• Establish a data hub within the agency to help channel and integrate agency data 

quality and business intelligence efforts. 

• Identify and target data analytic skills needed in the workforce.

5.2 (Information Technology) Infrastructure

This section corresponds to the “Infrastructure” section of the ASP, but it focuses on 

improving data access to enable improved online service delivery, electronic data 

exchange, and data analytics. It also includes a focus on strengthening the investment 

management process. 

Focus Area 3: Improve access to data to enable enhanced online service delivery,

electronic data exchange, and data analytics. 

A fundamental challenge facing SSA and other service delivery organizations operating in 

legacy environments is improving its ability to access reliable data, in a timely way, to 

readily address service delivery requirements. Limitations on data access constrain SSA’s 

 

67 Business intelligence is an umbrella term that includes the people, processes, applications, and tools we use 

to organize, analyze, and access information in order to improve decisions and manage performance. See 

Business Intelligence Executive Vision, Version 4.3, December 2013, p.3.
54

ability to realize improvements in electronic service delivery, data analytics, and electronic 

data exchange.

SSA has taken a two-prong strategy to improving data access—database modernization

and data architecture modernization. The first step involves migrating data from legacy 

database systems to relational data base systems that meet industry standards of 

automatic data access. The second involves changes in the structure of the data to take 

advantage of the relational data model. 

While these steps significantly facilitate data access, the needed improvements in data 

access with the SSA’s legacy environment will require substantial investment in adapting 

data and systems not designed to meet these needs. Investments in these areas could easily 

consume the entire IT budget, driving out investments in a range of important electronic 

service delivery capabilities. Therefore, this substantial investment must be guided by a 

business intelligence strategy as discussed earlier.

Recommendation 6: Identify a portfolio of investments to improve data access 

guided by the agency’s business intelligence strategy.

These investments should be planned and readied for execution as funding becomes 

available and as other windows of opportunity open, such as the need to replace at-risk 

legacy systems. 

Focus Area 4: Strengthen investment management process. 

To ensure its ability to quickly and effectively deploy IT capabilities needed to support 

evolving service delivery and decision-making needs, SSA should take the steps in five 

areas to strengthen its investment management process.

Recommendation 7: Institutionalize the enterprise portfolio management process. 

The starting point for improving the management of IT investments is to establish a 

portfolio management process. This may be defined as a disciplined method by which an 

organization’s senior leadership evaluates alternative investments to achieve strategic 

objectives. This process operates by creating the following conditions: 1) bringing together 

executives from all appropriate organizational components to collaboratively develop a 

shared understanding of agency needs in a particular mission or business area; 2) 

completing a comprehensive analysis in the mission or business area to identify ways to 

improve effectiveness and efficiency across the enterprise; and 3) creating a decisionmaking process that enables those executives to act effectively on the analysis to drive 

change in the organization. These conditions are critical to enabling executives to make the 

hard trade-offs and compromises needed to decide which new capabilities are needed (or 
55

which duplicative systems should be eliminated) for the good of the enterprise, even if it is 

not the best option for an individual organizational component.68 

In the case of large, complex organizations, it is considered good practice to divide the 

portfolio management process into two tiers: (1) a board of top executives responsible for 

making decisions about the overall portfolio of investments; and (2) a second tier of senior 

executive decision makers, who oversee individual portfolios of investments focused on 

achieving individual strategic objectives. 

Effective portfolio management is not simply a technical matter. It also involves 

transformation in so far as it aims to change how organizations make decisions—typically 

moving away from a decentralized, largely unaccountable approach to investment 

decisions to a centralized, accountable, enterprise-wide approach. It may take several years 

to develop a mature process wherein executives are able to come together to define the 

capabilities and desired end state of major project investments.69

Given this long lead time and the reality of leadership turnover, it is vitally important to 

institutionalize the portfolio management process to ensure continuity and effectiveness 

over time. SSA is seeking to institutionalize its portfolio management process both at the 

enterprise level and at the level of individual portfolios organized around strategic 

objectives. At the enterprise level, it is planning to initiate a regular process for educating 

executives serving on its SITAR board to ensure that they understand the principles of 

portfolio management and understand their roles and responsibilities on the board. 

At the portfolio level, SSA is considering the option of professionalizing this management 

function, by providing more in-depth training to perform this role. Institutionalizing this 

skill set at a working level would ensure competence and continuity in the event of 

turnover in top leadership ranks, which SSA has experienced recently. SSA should go 

forward with plans to institutionalize its portfolio management processes. 

Recommendation 8: Strengthen the capacity of business customers to develop 

projects. 

An effective portfolio management process depends on a strong planning and analysis 

capacity to support executives in evaluating the business case for a project and assessing 

possible alternatives and optimal project scope. The efficiency and effectiveness of the 

planning and analysis phase depends, in turn, on how well potential project ideas are 

developed during the pre-planning or concept stage. 

 

68 This discussion of success factors is drawn from the written testimony of Chief Information Officer Richard 

Spires for a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on Technology, 

Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform hearing entitled "How Much is Too 

Much? Examining Duplicative IT Investments at DOD and DOE," February 16, 2012. 69 For discussion of IT portfolio management as transformation, see Jeffrey Kaplan, Strategic IT Portfolio 

Management: Governing Enterprise Transformation. Pittigio Rabin Todd and McGrath (PRTM): 2005.
56

The efficiency and effectiveness of these processes and the ultimate success of an IT 

program depends critically on business customers being intimately involved in defining 

requirements, making hard functionality trade-offs, and being a champion for the program 

with stakeholders both inside and outside the agency. In the absence of this involvement, 

planning processes are elongated; costly requirements changes are likely during system 

development, testing and deployment; and the program may ultimately fail to meet 

customer needs, and thus waste scarce investment resources.

The effective engagement of business customers depends on the capacity to translate 

operational needs and new service delivery ideas clearly into business requirements to 

guide project development. SSA has come to realize that this capacity is lacking and is 

seeking to build this capacity within Operations to support the development of new and 

improved virtual delivery options. SSA should continue to build on these efforts.

Recommendation 9: Ensure that IT program management teams include strong 

representatives from business customer components. 

If IT portfolio management has decision making as its focus, IT program management 

focuses on execution. IT programs vary greatly, and no one model of program management 

fits all circumstances. However, certain positions have been identified as typically essential

to a successful program management team. First among these is a full-time business 

customer representative who can successfully work with the program management team

to define the system's requirements. These individuals should be steeped in the current 

process end-to-end and have credibility with senior management. 

Often business components do not give up the best people to fill this and other essential 

program management roles. SSA should take steps to ensure that top talent from business 

customer organizations is devoted to planning and execution of IT programs.

Recommendation 10: Strategically use contractors to support program management

teams and to build program management capacity over time.

To the extent possible, senior positions on program management teams should be filled by 

government employees rather than contractors. This is important for ensuring 

accountability and to enable the building of the long-term relationships within the agency 

needed to support program success. However, given the ongoing loss of senior personnel at 

SSA to retirements and tight budgets, reliance on contractors to fill some program 

management team roles, at least temporarily, is unavoidable. Virtue should be made of this 

necessity. The use of contractors can be an important opportunity to obtain fresh 

perspective and cutting-edge skills that extend the current capacity of the organization and 

offer the opportunity to build capacity over time. When SSA hires contractors to strengthen 

near-term technical and management capacity, it should take the opportunity for training 

junior agency staff for future program management roles and responsibilities.
57

Recommendation 11: Incorporate enterprise-level requirements in software 

development life cycle framework.70 

To ensure that all IT programs are consistent with enterprise-level requirements, these 

requirements should be incorporated into the software development life cycle framework

employed in the investment management process. SSA has done this in the case of 

authentication protocols that online service applications must meet. SSA should also take 

steps to incorporate consistent requirements for management information capabilities 

based on results of business intelligence strategy and incorporate Open Government and 

Open Data requirements into new systems.

5.3 People 

The “People” section focuses on the issues affecting the agency’s internal customers—SSA 

employees, building on the ASP and its goal to Build a Model Workforce to Deliver Quality 

Service. This section has a broader scope though, and includes four focus areas: Attract and 

Retain High-Quality Employees for 2025; Develop an Agile Workforce to Support the 

Agency’s Integrated Service Delivery Model; Expand a Results-Oriented Performance 

Measurement System ; and Reduce Redundant Workloads via Shared Support Services. 

This section includes shared support services71 (e.g., HR, IT, and Communications) 

because of its significant impacts on employees and its ability to increase efficiencies of 

internal service delivery and to free up resources for other critical tasks. 

Focus Area 5: Attract and retain high-quality employees for 2025. 

The Millennial generation will become the majority of the workforce by 2025.72 The 

“Millennial workforce” has attracted a great deal of attention of scholars, policy makers, 

and media. According to the study team’s futures research, Millennials have different 

expectations for their careers and employers. Most of them are highly educated, grew up 

with technology, emphasize learning and development opportunities at work, value worklife balance, and do not aspire to spend their entire career with one organization. The talent 

pool’s desired working environment differs from that of previous generations of SSA 

employees, so SSA must adapt its talent acquisition and retention strategies to fit the 

changing workforce demands. 

 

70 The software development life cycle framework is a structure for defining tasks performed at each step in 

the development of a software product, including planning; development, testing and documentation; and 

deployment and maintenance.

71 Interagency shared support services are not covered in this section. 72 Paul Keijzer. How to Motivate, Integrate and Retain the Millennial Generation into your Workforce: 4 

Challenges and their Solutions. http://paulkeijzer.com/motivate-integrate-retain-millennial-generationworkforce-4-challenges-solutions/
58

Recommendation 12: Continue to attract talent that believes in SSA’s mission and 

public service. 

Previous studies show that the Millennial generation is driven by “purposes.” They like 

being part of a big and meaningful mission. According to the 2013 National Association of 

Colleges and Employers (NACE) student survey, more than 70 percent of the students 

surveyed want to work for an organization that provides opportunities to build a better 

community, country, or world.73 Although the federal government’s pay may not be able 

to compete with the private sector, there are many nonfinancial motivators that agencies 

can take advantage of to inspire employees. SSA’s mission—delivering social insurance

services to the American public—offers the agency a comparative advantage in hiring over 

the private sector. SSA’s recruitment and retention efforts should emphasize the agency’s 

special mission, its broad impacts on the country, and the value of public service. Working 

at SSA, regardless of job titles or locations, provides the opportunities to make a difference 

in other people’s lives, affect some deeper social issues, and contribute to a better America. 

Recommendation 13: Build sustainable talent pipelines to support SSA service 

delivery. 

As discussed in Chapter 2, there is an increasing concern about the impact of the attrition 

challenge and talent shortage on the agency’s service delivery. As a result, it has become 

important for SSA to build and sustain strong talent pipelines to meet the needs of service 

delivery and ensure the agency’s future success. There are multiple talent pools that SSA 

can tap into. 

The agency should continue its efforts of attracting high-quality entry-level employees by 

developing robust internship programs and partnerships with colleges/universities. A 

report from the Partnership for Public Service74 indicates that a large number of college 

students, especially former federal interns, are interested in joining public service after 

graduating from college. However, only a small number of former federal interns receive 

full-time job offers from the government. Quality internship programs offer SSA a low-cost 

way to build a pipeline of talented, young professionals, providing students with the 

exposure to SSA’s daily operations, opportunities to explore SSA careers and get familiar 

with the agency culture. The agency can use internships to identify, attract, and recruit 

exceptional individuals for full-time hires. 

Engaging and retaining highly-skilled older workers will help SSA deal with projected labor 

shortages and maintain institutional knowledge. Baby boomers, a generation with 

extensive experience and a strong work ethic, are rapidly approaching retirement. 

However, research shows that most baby boomers choose to work beyond retirement age. 

According to the American Association of Retired Persons’ data, about 45 percent of the baby 

 

73 Partnership for Public Service, College Students are Attracted to Federal Service, but Agencies Need to 

Capitalize on Their Interest, March 2014. 74 Ibid.
59

boomer population plan to work into their 70s.75 The skills and talents of these 

experienced workers are an important resource SSA cannot afford to ignore. SSA should 

expand its current retiree reemployment program to support institutional knowledge 

transfer and identify additional opportunities to better engage older workers to address 

the challenges associated with an aging workforce. 

SSA should recruit for innovative thinking at all levels and should incorporate managerial 

competencies as quality ranking factors in selection for mid-level and senior-level 

positions. OPM has developed the Supervisory Qualification Guide,

76 which can serve as a 

valuable resource as SSA pursues ongoing improvement of its leadership development 

initiatives. Once SSA has exhausted all opportunities to promote qualified candidates with 

strong managerial skills from within, SSA will likely need to look outside the agency for 

qualified candidates. SSA should improve its recruitment process and policies by 

removing unnecessary requirements that would put external applicants at a disadvantage. 

General managerial competencies, rather than agency-specific experiences, should be the 

basis of the job descriptions for leadership positions. In addition, more 

interagency/intersectoral partnerships and employee transfer arrangements will help SSA 

to attract top talent from other agencies and private sector organizations, when 

appropriate.

77

Recommendation 14: Create learning and development opportunities to support 

employee retention. 

Numerous studies have concluded that opportunity for professional growth is an effective 

motivator in building employee engagement. According to the 2013 NACE student survey, 

learning and career development opportunities are the most important job attribute to 

college students surveyed.78 It is critical for SSA to recognize the impacts of learning and 

career development on the agency’s recruitment and retention, especially in a budget 

constrained environment. The study team’s current state research has found that SSA 

leadership is committed to providing training opportunities and helping employees 

succeed professionally. To remain an employer of choice, SSA should continue to 

strengthen its culture of continuous learning to support employee growth.

The study team’s research of training best practices reveals that mentoring programs are

considered a key element for enhancing organizational and individual development. A 

successful mentoring relationship provides rewarding experiences for both mentors and 

mentees. While some SSA executives mentor junior employees on an informal basis, there 

 

75 American Association of Retired Persons, A Top 10 List for Future Employment, 

http://www.aarp.org/about-aarp/press-center/info-2003/futureemployment.html 76 OPM. Supervisory Qualification Guide http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classificationqualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/specialty-areas/supervisory-guide/ 77 Partnership for Public Service. Building the Leadership Bench—Developing a Talent Pipeline for the Senior 

Executive Service. July 2013. 78 Partnership for Public Service, College Students are Attracted to Federal Service, but Agencies Need to 

Capitalize on Their Interest, March 2014.
60

is not an agency-wide mentoring program in place. During interviews, multiple SSA 

officials emphasized the value of establishing a formal mentoring program. According to 

the best practice guidelines developed by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM),79

agencies need to pay attention to a number of key factors when developing mentoring 

programs, such as leadership commitment, realistic goals and expectations, communication 

and marketing strategies, clear program policies and guidance, and regular evaluations. 

SSA should take an analytics approach to better assess the training needs at the 

organizational level as well as the individual level. According to the FEVS (FY12), only 55

percent of SSA survey respondents believe that their training needs are assessed. In the 

future, SSA should build effective tools to capture program data, organize data in a 

structured format, and use the data to identify skill gaps—error-prone areas that require 

additional training. Data analytics will allow the agency to provide more tailored training 

(rather than the same general training for everyone) to improve employee performance. In 

addition, the agency should develop individual development plans (IDP) to support 

employee growth. Developing IDPs is considered a good management practice that can 

assist employees in setting and achieving career goals.80 IDPs can also help the agency 

make a better use of its training resources and ensure that the personal career goals of 

employees are aligned with the agency’s overall service delivery requirements. 

Technology has changed the way people work, learn, and communicate. Millennials, the 

digital native generation, expect their learning environment to include technologies. SSA 

should expand its virtual training and career development initiatives to meet the changing 

needs of its employees. Compared to traditional face-to-face training, virtual training 

programs are less expensive and more flexible. For example, mentoring programs do not 

have to be face-to-face and can be accomplished through email or telephone. Virtual 

mentoring provides employees a low-cost and time efficient way to develop a mentoring 

partnership, and the choices of mentors are not limited by locations. Another example of 

virtual career development is virtual details. SSA can expand its cross-component or 

headquarters/field offices rotation programs by providing virtual detail opportunities. 

Virtual details allow more employees to participate in rotation programs to gain a broader 

perspective and discover new career opportunities without adding travel costs. 

Recommendation 15: Use flexible work arrangements (FWA) as a strategic 

recruitment and retention tool. 

The study team’s futures research has found that the younger generation has an increased 

focus on work-life balance. According to a national survey conducted by the Families and 

Work Institute, Generation X and Millennials are less likely to become work-centric.

81 

 

79U.S. Office of Personal Management, Best Practices: Mentoring. September, 2008.

http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/training-and-development/career-development/bestpracticesmentoring.pdf

80 Office of Personnel Management, Training and Development Policy Wiki. 

http://www.opm.gov/wiki/training/Individual-Development-Plans.ashx 81 In this survey, work-centric is defined as “putting higher priority on their jobs than family.” 
61

FWAs are especially appealing to younger employees who have a strong desire to better 

blend work and personal time. Some common forms of FWA include: teleworking, 

compressed workweek, part-time work, job sharing, and flexible work hours.82 Successful 

use of telework and other FWAs will help the agency reduce overhead costs, improve 

employee loyalty and job satisfaction, and increase workforce diversity and productivity. 

Technology will significantly change the working environment and enable the agency to 

develop a more virtual workforce. The notion of having to work from 9am to 5pm and 

coming to an office will likely change. Advanced technology will allow more employees to 

work effectively and efficiently from anywhere, anytime. Teleworking is quickly becoming 

increasingly commonplace in both public and private sectors. 

According to the FY 12 FEVS, only 15.4 percent of survey respondents had received 

approval to telework at SSA. As many researchers point out, the biggest challenge to the 

implementation of telework (and other FWAs) is usually not technology, but rather

leadership and organizational culture. A change in mindset is required. The agency must 

foster a culture that not only accepts, but also encourages, employees to participate in FWA 

programs. It is important for leaders and supervisors to develop the skillsets to effectively 

lead the agency and keep employees motivated in a virtual environment. Additionally, 

many interviewees cited technology security and equipment as being their major concerns 

with teleworking. However, this technical challenge cannot be used as an excuse for not 

implementing telework. To address this problem, the agency should conduct a thorough 

review of the current IT security weaknesses and develop solutions, provide IT security 

training to managers and employees, and invest in the technologies/equipment (e.g., 

laptop, software) needed for telework. Moreover, SSA should provide training to 

employees to help them understand the agency’s telework (and other FWAs) policies and 

performance expectations, and develop the skillsets required to work remotely (e.g., virtual 

communications skills and e-collaboration skills). Unions should be included in the 

designing and implementing process of FWAs, as union support is critical to the success of 

FWAs. 

Focus Area 6: Develop an agile workforce to support the agency’s integrated service 

delivery model. 

In this continuously evolving environment, workforce flexibility and adaptability are 

critical components to an organization’s success. To support an integrated service delivery 

model, SSA should build an agile workforce by adopting a flexible position and grade 

structure, providing multiple career development paths, recruiting employees with strong 

problems solving skills, and using analytics to anticipate changing talent needs. 

 

http://www.abcdependentcare.com/docs/current_news.shtml

82 Society for Human Resource Management, Workplace Flexibility in the 21st Century, November 2008. 
62

Recommendation 16: Develop a more flexible position and grade structure that

better reflects the work of SSA today and in the future. 

The study team’s current state research reveals that SSA’s frontline positions and 

workloads are highly specialized. The agency will need a more flexible position 

management structure to support its future service delivery. SSA should continue to review 

its position descriptions to identify the positions that should be combined or eliminated to 

improve the agency’s operational efficiency. Under a more integrated service model, each 

frontline position will represent a much wider set of duties and responsibilities. There will 

be no significant difference between the responsibilities of customer representatives in 

TSCs and FOs. The agency should adopt a consistent GS grade structure for its frontline 

positions across the board, facilitating employees’ career development and encouraging 

retention. Employees should develop the skillsets to handle cases from start to finish or 

hand them off in a seamless way. SSA should work with the OPM to ensure relevant 

classification standards are up-to-date and better match the new service delivery model. 

The agency should consult employee unions and other key stakeholders when making 

changes to the position and grade structure to avoid misunderstanding and obtain their 

cooperation and support. 

Recommendation 17: Embrace a “Career Lattice” concept to offer employees

multiple career development paths. 

The Career Lattice concept has emerged as a more flexible approach for an organization to 

build talent and boost employee retention in both public and private sectors. Currently, 

SSA’s workforce has the challenge of residing in traditional government career 

development paths. Some operational policies (e.g., the rule of three, which limits the 

number of cross component transfers to three per year) have greatly limited employees’ 

cross-component movements. SSA should develop more flexible policies and structures 

that enable employees to move across components more easily to gain exposure to a 

variety of functions and projects, and discover new career interests. Lateral movement 

within SSA can serve as a strategic tool to retain high-performing employees by offering 

them more flexible options to grow their career and stay in the agency. These lateral moves 

should support service delivery needs and contribute to the overall goal achievement of the 

agency. 

Recommendation 18: Recruit and develop employees with strong problem solving

and analytical skills. 

To develop an agile workforce, problem-solving and analytical competencies are 

considered the foundational skillsets that SSA should look for when recruiting. With 

advanced artificial intelligence tools and simplified program policies, highly specialized 

technical expertise will become less important for SSA frontline positions. Employees will

not have to memorize all of the rules and policies, but should be able to use their problemsolving and analytical skills to quickly learn the technical aspects of a job, and interpret and 

apply policies in a meaningful way. People who have those foundational skills can be 

shifted to other positions as needed, and they should be able to easily adapt to changing 
63

requirements. To that end, competency models for future service delivery methods should 

be researched and developed to support refined qualification standards as needed, 

including the possible development of SSA-specific selective factors for recruiting and 

examining talent. Those competency models should also underpin SSA training and 

development programs.

SSA should implement cross-training programs to broaden employee skillsets and provide 

the agency more workforce flexibility. Employees with skills outside of their immediate 

functions can adapt rapidly to expanded responsibilities. In addition, the agency should

provide more cross-component or headquarters/field offices rotation assignments. Such 

programs can help employees get familiar with the work in other components/offices, gain 

a broader exposure to the agency’s operation, and explore new career development 

opportunities. 

Recommendation 19: Use analytics to anticipate changing workforce needs. 

To improve workforce agility, SSA must develop its capability to perform predictive 

workforce analytics. In other words, the agency should rely on good use of analytics, as 

opposed to merely relying on best judgment of experiences or gut feelings, to anticipate the 

agency’s changing needs and make workforce decisions accordingly. SSA should continue 

to develop the Retirement Wave Reports to better predict employee attrition and gauge the 

overall health of its workforce. Additionally, high-quality workload and workforce data will 

help the agency develop data-driven talent acquisition strategies by providing a better 

picture of how many new employees/contractors should be hired, and what types of 

employees (and with which skillsets) are needed. Analytics will bring more rigor to SSA’s 

workforce planning to ensure the agency get the right people at the right time to support 

its service delivery model.

Focus Area 7: Expand a Results-Oriented Performance Measurement System. 

Performance measurement is a long-standing, government-wide management challenge. 

Building a results-oriented performance measurement system is not a new concept. As we 

enter a virtual working environment, measuring employees’ performance based on results, 

rather than physical presence and observed behaviors, has becomes increasingly 

important. To ensure employee performance, SSA will need to set measurable, realistic 

performance standards and hold employees accountable. Employees, no matter whether 

participating in FWAs, should have a clear understanding of what their performance 

expectations are and how they can differentiate themselves from others. 
64

Recommendation 20: Build on agency best practices to identify and measure 

outcomes. 

Researchers have identified a number of best practices83 for building performance 

measurement systems oriented toward results. First, an explicit connection between 

individual performance goals and the agency’s overall mission and strategic objectives is a 

key element of effective performance measurement. The clear linkage can help employees 

understand how their daily performance contributes to the organizations’ performance 

and transformation. Also, rewards should be linked to performance evaluation based on 

achieving results. In the FY12 FEVS, SSA employees identified performance management as 

their major concern. How to deal with employees with poor performance is one of the most 

enduring complaints in the federal government. Some SSA officials also noted that some 

managers at SSA tend to ignore low performers. Tolerance of poor performance erodes 

morale and drags down the overall performance of the agency. High performers should be 

recognized or rewarded, while poor performers should be held accountable with 

performance improvement plans developed and appropriate actions taken. Finally, 

agencies should engage labor unions early in the process to build employee buy-in for the 

results-oriented performance measurement system. Early involvement of unions is a key 

factor to ensure successful implementation of the performance measurement system. 

Following these best practices will facilitate the development of a results-oriented 

performance system and management culture within SSA.

Recommendation 21: Use performance data to support management decisions. 

Agencies are required to collect performance data to meet external reporting 

requirements, and as a result, there is a large amount of performance information available 

in federal agencies; however, not many agencies have made a good use of the data they 

have to manage for results. Agency leaders can use performance information to make

informed management decisions. GAO has identified the lack of analytical capacity as one of 

the barriers to the use of performance information.84 SSA should build and strengthen its 

capacity to effectively capture and analyze performance information to support the 

agency’s decision making. “People” is viewed by SSA executives as the top priority in 

building the agency’s analytical capacity. It is necessary for SSA to invest in developing the 

analytics talent—staff with strong skillsets to build models and use tools to analyze data, 

and turn data into understandable information to support the agency’s decision making. 

Data analytic skills are not limited to statistics and math, but also include the skillsets to 

combine data and business, and develop solutions to solve management problems. 

 

83 Government Accountability Office, Results-oriented Cultures: Creating a Clear Linkage between Individual 

Performance and Organizational Success, March 2003. http://www.gao.gov/assets/240/237578.pdf 84 Government Accountability Office, Results-oriented Cultures: Strengthening Key Practices at FEMA and 

Interior Could Promote Greater Use of Performance Information, August 2009.
65

Focus Area 8: Reduce cost and increase flexibility via shared support services. 

To date, SSA has taken piecemeal approaches within pockets of the agency to take 

advantage of shared service initiatives. The next logical step is to undertake a more 

comprehensive review of functions to identify the most widespread redundancies so as to 

focus on areas that could benefit most from comprehensive and strategic shared support

services programs. Throughout government, shared support services programs have 

brought savings in such areas as Human Resources, IT Support, and Communications. 

The focal point of increasing the shared service models within SSA is not to centralize 

employees within a defined physical space but to centralize activities and decision making 

in order to develop the foundational support for enabling a more nimble, agile and virtual 

organization. The shift towards shared support services reflects the need to reduce cost 

and increase flexibility to accommodate changes in the field structure. The following 

actions can contribute to the agency’s systematic efforts to consolidate support functions.

Recommendation 22: Identify the need and opportunity for streamlining and

consolidating support functions.

The study team’s research indicates a clear opportunity for streamlining and consolidating 

support functions within the regions, creating a structure with high levels of coordination 

between the field and headquarters. SSA should conduct a comprehensive review of the 

current field structure, the anticipated vacancies, and the most crucial vulnerabilities that 

these vacancies will create. 

Recommendation 23: Build a common understanding of shared support services. 

It will be essential to build a common understanding of shared support services, 

exchanging information about what is currently being done and the early successes that 

have been realized. A crucial step is to ensure that all members of the organization receive 

the same information from common authoritative sources of what is being done, and where 

it is being done, within SSA. Sharing this information will illustrate the duplicative 

processes and help to build support for more efficient approaches to work, and ultimately, 

improved outcomes for the customer. 

Additionally, it is essential that the value of consolidating internal service functions is 

clearly communicated to all internal stakeholders. The cost savings of reducing duplicative 

processes provides the opportunity to reallocate funds in order to provide the highest level 

of service to the most vulnerable populations. SSA should establish communication and 

knowledge management strategies for formal expansion of shared support services within 

the agency. 

Recommendation 24: Develop standard process steps to establish formal shared

support service agreements. 

Building on current early success stories of shared support services such as the Geospatial 

and Public Affairs National Database, there are several steps to be considered. Initial steps 
66

include identifying stakeholders in order to consider all who are affected as well as all who 

can benefit from streamlining activities; and developing a work group and charter, with 

defined governance guidelines. 

Essential to the process is to develop a business case to provide context and clarity about 

why an initiative should be pursued. A formal document should include:

• Background and supporting data (e.g., financial metrics on duplicative processes 

and dollars wasted); 

• Costs, benefits, risks and strategic options for shared support service 

implementation; 

• Clear recommendations for development of agreements in areas best suited for 

shared support services; and 

• Next steps including explicit timelines. 

Developing collaborative mechanisms will help to provide understanding of the disparate 

culture throughout the regions and components of SSA, recognizing that there will be new 

opportunities for geographically dispersed staff to work together. 

Recommendation 25: Focus on accountability of shared support services initiatives. 

Once a shared support service agreement has been established, it is important to establish 

clear guidelines and expectations for performance, especially in virtual shared support

services environments. It is important to track performance of the shared service 

initiatives with agreed-upon metrics and to share information regularly. Utilizing a 

mechanism similar to ODAR’s “How MI Doing” tool to provide timely, specific feedback and 

a customized training plan to improve performance, will allow for continuous 

improvement. SSA should develop a tracking tool to monitor current and future shared 

support service initiatives in order to provide continuous feedback and course correction 

as necessary. 

Recommendation 26: Identify and embrace key flexibilities needed to enable the

strategic expansion of shared support services model.

Shared support service initiatives will require creative and flexible approaches as they are 

established. SSA should identify key flexibilities needed to support expanded shared

support services, beginning with straightforward flexibilities such as the need for extended 

business hours to ensure all time zones are served and the understanding that temporary 

staffing needs may require increased physical presence of employees during crucial activity 

periods (e.g., more IT staff on the ground during an implementation phase or additional HR 

staff during an open enrollment period).
67

5.4 Physical Infrastructure

SSA’s ASP mentions physical infrastructure briefly to suggest that the agency “evaluate its 

physical footprint to incorporate improved service options.” This report, in part, responds 

to a congressional request to study physical infrastructure as an area of critical concern 

relative to improved service delivery. While physical infrastructure is an important 

element of SSA’s operations, it is one that needs to be addressed sequentially, as strategic 

decision making regarding the bricks and mortar assets takes place. This should result 

from, and not be the impetus for, a well-defined and established service delivery model. 

Focus Area 9: Capitalize on existing facilities planning resources. 

Recommendation 27: Continue to conduct needs assessment and expand planning 

activities. 

It is important to identify the best path forward for addressing current and upcoming 

needs for physical infrastructure in a deliberate and comprehensive manner. This should 

not be done by relying on opportunistic situations such as leases expiring and scenarios

where there is little or no opposition from Congressional representation and local political 

leadership. 

When addressing the location needs for staff and equipment in both the field offices as well 

as headquarters, updated space allocation standards developed in 2012 should guide the 

decision making in order to ensure that the most efficient use of space is taking place. 

These standards were modernized due to improvements in technology and current staffing 

patterns and reflect an optimal tool for physical infrastructure planning.

An integral support for the development of a facilities strategic plan will be expansion of 

the elements of the current Real Property Plan. SSA should build on the Real Property Plan 

as it provides an overview of efforts to streamline facilities while improving service. It is 

agency-wide in scope and can serve as a useful platform for supporting the value of 

strategically planning the agency’s physical infrastructure evolution

Focus Area 10: Strategically engage all stakeholder groups in facilities planning. 

Recommendation 28: Coordinate with service delivery plan development. 

Strategic decisions about physical infrastructure need to rely heavily on development and 

implementation of an increased virtual service delivery plan. This plan will review and 

adjust current shared support service strategies, flexible work schedules, and portable 

workloads to make accurate determinations of the facilities needs of the organization. 

As SSA works to identify options for moving customers to virtual service options and 

creates a service delivery plan that meets the needs of customers and employees alike, 

representatives of key groups is essential. Representation from the Headquarters Office of 

Facilities and Supply Management; Operations’ Office of Public Service and Operations 
68

Support; ODAR Facilities; and Security within ODAR need to be actively involved to ensure 

the appropriate strategic decisions are being made in physical infrastructure. 

As the service plan is developed, technology will play an expanded role in enabling 

interactions between staff and customers. Sequencing of activities relative to providing 

alternative customer engagement mechanisms is another critical aspect of strategic 

changes to physical infrastructure. Whenever possible, SSA leadership should look to 

integrate video chat in nearby facilities and promote online support tools prior to office 

closures so that these new tools have already begun to be adopted and integrated into the 

customer experience, thus providing less anxiety related to physical infrastructure 

changes. 

Recommendation 29: Coordinate and expand outreach strategy. 

Close coordination with Operations, Systems, and Human Capital activities will be 

paramount to success, as will devising a strategy for regularly engaging key external 

stakeholders such as Congress and local governments with open, collaborative dialogue.

SSA must work with a variety of external stakeholders. Involving them as early in the 

infrastructure review process as possible will allow time to collaboratively identify the best 

opportunities for strategic realignments of office locations, and to alert SSA to challenges 

that exist in the field. A deeper understanding of the environments of the field office 

structures and open dialogue for discussing potential changes provide more opportunity to 

make decisions and provide comprehensive plans to ensure that there is minimal impact

on service delivery in the process. SSA should develop a continuous and routine 

engagement strategy with Congress and other key stakeholders in order to anticipate and 

mitigate challenges or opposition to office closures. 
69

CHAPTER SIX: FACTORS FOR SUCCESSFUL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION

The foregoing outlines an ambitious vision and integrated high-level strategic plan that 

presents significant challenges to SSA as it prepares to serve its customers during the 

coming 10 to 15 years. Implementation will require strong leadership, laser focus on 

objectives, comprehensive dialogue within the agency and with stakeholders, expeditious 

investment evaluation and decision-making, accountability, and a sense of urgency. 

The road ahead is fraught with challenges that will test the proven skills and resolve of the 

SSA organization to successfully pivot its service delivery assets to meet a rapidly-changing 

future. To be sure, some employees, stakeholders, and advocates will oppose certain

aspects of this vision, opting to hold to current paradigms. Challenges to implementation of 

the strategic plan will also come from elsewhere, such as budget constraints, legal and 

regulatory limitations, and congressional influence, just to name a few. That said, the SSA’s 

leadership places the agency in certain jeopardy should it ignore or fail to overcome 

opposition that repudiates clear signals about a future operating environment in 2025-

2030. 

This chapter provides four factors that will enhance both the SSA’s planning and execution 

of its long-term strategic plan, and will contribute to its efforts to sustain a disciplined 

approach to long-range visioning and planning. 

6.1 Transformation and Organizational Dynamics

SSA touches the lives of more members of the American public than any other agency. 

From enumeration through survivor benefits, the agency provides services to millions each 

year and does so with a deep sense of commitment and stewardship. The culture of the 

agency supports this, but this culture will need to adjust so that it can also support and 

embrace the paradigm of an agency focused on innovation and willingness to take 

thoughtful, managed risk in order to improve performance. 

The culture also needs to support the pursuit of an agreed-upon mission, recognizing that 

SSA now has an “identity crisis.” Members of the organization have differing opinions about 

whether the goals of the agency should support transactional performance or should link to 

a broader social-work-oriented vision for one coordinated, federal government. 

Additionally, SSA needs to address the disparity of opinions relative to the expectations of 

the customer and the level of obligation that SSA has to provide services in the manner in 

which the customer prefers them. Interviewees have articulated the notion that the 

customer has the right to receive services however he or she chooses and yet others 

interviewed suggested that the customer will need to adapt, citing other federal and state 

services that have been moved online with extremely limited or no in-person service 

options. SSA, as an agency will need to provide one, unified position as it looks to develop 

and implement a modern service delivery plan, recognizing that this position will not 

receive universal support or agreement but that it will serve as a consistent foundational 

element needed to make progress and chart a course for developing a service delivery plan. 
70

As SSA develops its long-range vision and high-level strategic plan, the agency will need to 

identify the elements of organizational transformation that will facilitate the achievement 

of these goals. Paramount to moving forward is a clear understanding of the agency’s 

change readiness. After researching best practices for organizational transformations and 

narrowing them down to the most reputable sources85 reflecting the most common best 

practices for organizational transformation, the Panel has identified eight common areas or 

Key Success Indicators (KSIs) for successful organizational change. 

Drawing from best practices identified in both the public and private sectors, the Panel 

developed the following eight key organizational transformation success indicators, against 

which it compared and assessed the SSA. Details of the development of the KSIs as well as 

more specific examples of SSA’s strengths and challenges are listed in Appendix I. 

SSA has begun to develop key foundational elements that support organizational change, 

recognizing the need for leadership support, structural realignments and a clear long-range

vision. The major challenges for SSA as it looks to transform the organization are centered 

on what appears to be an inconsistent approach to sustaining the efforts to drive change, 

including creating urgency and sustaining the effort. The incremental and at time, 

piecemeal approaches to effecting progress have resulted in a largely static environment, 

struggling to demonstrate capacity for long-term strategic thinking. The KSIs can serve as 

guidance for establishing a comprehensive change management plan.

 

85 Transforming Organizations, by Mark A. Abramson and Paul R Lawrence; The Heart of Change, by John 

Kotter and Dan Cohen; and A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to Congressional 

Subcommittees, Results Oriented Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers and Organizational 

Transformations. 

Organizational Transformation Key Success Indicators

1. Ensure top leadership drives the transformation.

2. Establish a clear vision and integrated strategic transformation goals.

3. Design the organizational structure that will enable the vision.

4. Create a sense of urgency, implement a timeline, and show progress from 

day one.

5. Communicate frequently through multiple channels to multiple 

stakeholders.

6. Dedicate a powerful implementation guidance team to manage the 

transformation process.

7. Engage employees to seek their improvement ideas, build momentum, and 

gain their ownership for the transformation.

8. Sustain the effort by nurturing a new culture, rewarding risk, and 

measuring progress.
71

6.2 Coordination and Accountability 

SSA should form a cross-functional team to lead the agency’s efforts in implementing this 

long-term strategic plan. One key practice of successful organizational transformation 

identified by GAO is establishing a strong implementation team to manage the 

transformation process. Many government agencies, such as DoD, DHS, and USCIS,86

established business transformation offices dedicated to implementing their 

transformations efforts. In its previous study with the U.S. Coast Guard, an Academy Panel 

also recommended establishing a modernization implementation guidance team to manage 

the Coast Guard’s transformation process. 

The implementation team, with sufficient rank and visibility, should be responsible for 

overseeing the day-to-day activities associated with the implementation effort. The 

implementation team should be held accountable for carrying out all change initiatives in a 

coherent, coordinated way with a focus on high priority areas. The team should be vested 

with necessary authority to allocate resources and make decisions. 

The “people” element—the qualifications of team members—is critical to the success of the 

implementation. Best practice research suggests that a transformation implementation 

team should be a “cadre of champions.”87 A number of factors should be taken into 

consideration when selecting team members, including their titles, expertise, skillsets, 

reputations, and relationship with senior leadership and key stakeholders. Each member of 

the implementation team should have the ability to achieve results in a rapidly-changing 

environment, an adequate knowledge of the organization’s operations and services, a 

thorough understanding of the overall goals of the transformation, and trust and 

confidence of the top leadership. Additionally, team members are often selected from the 

organization’s top performers (e.g., using individual performance ratings as a selection 

criterion). 

The implementation team should be cross-functional. All components (both headquarters

and field offices) should be represented on the team to ensure accounting for a wide 

variety of perspectives in the implementation process. Team members are not necessarily 

those with top titles, but should have the authority (e.g., hold senior-level positions and be 

deputized with authority by superiors) and knowledge required to represent their 

components. Literature highlights the importance of including key line managers in the 

implementation team.

Large-scale transformation requires focused, full-time attention from implementation team 

members (as opposed to collateral duty assignments). The performance of the 

implementation team members should be measured based on agreed results and outcomes 

that support the agency’s overall mission. 

 

86 GAO, Organizational Transformation: Implementing Chief Operating Officer/Chief Management Officer 

Positions in Federal Agencies. November 2007. http://www.gao.gov/assets/270/268886.pdf 87 Ibid. P.26
72

While it is not necessary to include senior executives of an organization in the 

implementation team, team members should have visible support from and full access to 

the top leadership. Change management literature emphasizes that visible commitment 

from organizational leadership plays a vital role in sustaining momentum. It is also

important to identify a senior executive sponsor to ensure leadership accountability and 

the success of the implementation team. The team should engage in regular 

communications with the leadership to review implementation plans, report progress, 

address issues, and resolve conflicts. 

6.3 Ongoing Futures Research and Long-Term Planning

To achieve the capacity to pro-actively shape its rapidly changing future, as well as respond 

to the attendant uncertainties and challenges that the long-term future holds, SSA should 

designate a dedicated small set of staff to engage in long-term futures work—both in 

visioning and strategic planning. Among key characteristics, the team might:

1. Be embedded within the OCSO (rather than taking the form of an external 

consultant) to ensure that the team well understands agency-specific programs, 

operational issues, and culture;

2. Include individuals with knowledge of, and/or experience in, futurology;

3. Include individuals who have strong communication and research skills;

4. Build quality relationships with other federal agencies that have similar long-term 

strategy teams in order to exchange best practices and build knowledge transfer 

networks;

5. Build quality relationships with both public and private sector long-term futurists 

and consultants in order to remain abreast of current research, methodology, and 

trends; 

6. Identify and monitor key issues and variables (e.g., the adoption rate of Health IT) 

that may significantly affect SSA’s long-term future operational environment so that 

pro-active, anticipatory actions may be considered by agency leadership and

implemented if deemed appropriate; 

7. Actively communicate with all agency components with periodic updates and 

analyses that can be used for distribution across the agency, underscoring the 

forward-thinking posture;

8. Work closely with short-term strategic planners (five years or less) to ensure

consistency between long-term and annual strategic plan content across time 

periods. 

A dedicated, long-term futures team should periodically update the agency’s leadership 

with analysis of major trends and key issues that have an impact on previously adopted

visions and strategic plans, particularly in the case when the observations might merit a 

leadership decision to adjust vision and/or strategic plans. 

Even though federal agencies in large part lack systematic long-range visioning and 

strategic planning at the present time, the Panel recommends that there be a greater focus 

on this topic by federal agencies and Congress in the coming years. As mentioned earlier,
73

currently a small number of agencies focus on long-term futures. An effort has been made 

to informally bring those staff responsible for long-term strategic planning together 

periodically to exchange best practices. SSA is currently in a position to join this group of 

federal agencies in an effort to enhance a disciplined and methodical addressing of longrange visioning and planning within SSA, and even across government. To that end, SSA is 

poised to contribute demonstrably not only to its own operating future, but also to the 

federal government as a whole.

6.4 Monitoring Key Factors that Impact the Future Operating Environment

Chapter 3 identified factors that are expected to have a significant effect on future 

operating conditions, but the pace and direction of change is uncertain. These are deemed 

important for SSA to systematically monitor, at least on a quarterly basis. The task might 

best be a part of the long-term strategic process and tackled by an implementation team 

described in Section 6.2. 

The Panel reviews these factors in Appendix E. A summary list is provided below. 

1. Economy and jobs

2. Political environment

3. Pace of customers’ shift to online services

4. Cybersecurity and identity management

5. Deployment of broadband internet

6. Government approach to consolidating/reconfiguring service delivery 

infrastructure

7. Immigration policy (and other changes in law, policy and expectations that might 

lead to a spike in workload)88 

8. Expansion of health IT

9. Access to needed employee skills

SSA should review these factors and identify those likely to have the greatest impact on its 

future operating environment. This will position its leaders to proactively shape the 

agency’s future. 

 

88 The study team analysis addressed the possibility of significantly increased workload following from 

changes in immigration policy causing greater demand for labor-intensive services, such as determining the 

earnings history of the newly legal immigrants. Participants in our vision building session with Operations 

emphasized the importance of considering a broader array of changes in law, policy, and expectations that 

might lead to spikes in workload.
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APPENDICES
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APPENDIX A: PANEL AND STAFF

PANEL

Jonathan Breul,* Chair—Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; Former Executive 

Director, IBM Center for The Business of Government, and Partner, IBM Global Business 

Services; Former positions with U.S. Office of Management and Budget: Senior Advisor to 

the Deputy Director for Management; Chief, Evaluation and Planning Branch, General 

Management Division; Senior Management Analyst. Former Senior Grants Policy Specialist, 

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget, U.S. Department of Health 

and Human Services.

Alan Balutis*—Director and Distinguished Fellow, Business Solutions Group, Cisco. 

Former President and Chief Executive Officer, INPUt; President and Chief Operating Officer, 

Veridyne Inc.; Deputy Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of Commerce. Former 

positions with the U.S. Department of Commerce: Director, Office of Budget, Management, 

and Information, and Acting Chief Information Officer; Director, Budget, Planning, and 

Organization; Director, Office of Management and Organization; Director, Office of Systems 

and Special Projects; Chief, Policy and System Staff; Senior Analyst, Office of Program 

Evaluation. Increasingly responsible positions with the U.S. Department of Health, 

Education, and Welfare in the areas of budget, personnel, policy, legislation, and 

management.

John Callahan*— Director, Health Systems Management Programs, College of Public 

Affairs, University of Baltimore. Former Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget 

and Chief Financial Officer, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Acting 

Commissioner, Social Security Administration. Former positions with the U.S. Senate: Chief 

of Staff to Senator Jim Sasser; Deputy Staff Director, Senate Budget Committee, U.S. Senate; 

Staff Director, Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, 

Federalism, and the District of Columbia, U.S. Senate; Staff Director, Governmental Affairs 

Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations, U.S. Senate; Director of Federal-State 

Relations; Executive Director, Legislators' Education Action Project, National Conference of 

State Legislatures.

Timothy B. Clark*—Editor At Large, Government Executive Media Group, Atlantic Media

Co. Former Editor in Chief, Government Executive Magazine; Editor and President, 

Government Executive; Staff Correspondent and editor, National Journal; Editor and 

Publisher, Empire State Report; Associate Editor, National Journal; Writer and Editor, 

Congressional Quarterly.

Rita Geier*—Former Associate to the Chancellor and Senior Fellow, Baker Center for 

Public Policy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville; Former positions with the Social Security 

Administration: Executive Counselor to the Commissioner; Associate Commissioner and 

Deputy Associate Commissioner for Hearings and Appeals. Former General Counsel, 

Appalachian Regional Commission; Assistant Director, Commercial Litigation Branch, Civil 
78

Division, U.S. Department of Justice; Regional Director, Legal Services Corporation, Seattle, 

Washington; Executive Director, Seattle-King County Legal Services; Staff Attorney, Legal 

Services of Nashville, Tennessee; Instructor, Fisk University; Instructor, Tennessee State 

University.

Doris Hausser*—Former positions with U.S. Office of Personnel Management: Senior 

Policy Advisor to the Director, Assistant Director of Workforce Compensation and 

Performance, Office of Performance and Compensation Systems Design; Director for 

Strategic Initiatives and GPRA Implementation and Reports; Director, Position 

Classification, Performance Management and Incentive Awards Programs; Director, 

Training and Leadership Development.

James Huse*—Independent Consultant, Grant Thornton LLP. Former Senior Advisor 

(Program Integrity and Investigations), Global Public Sector, Grant Thornton LLP; Chief 

Executive Officer, InteriGuard LLC; Self-employed consultant, Independent Consultant. 

Former positions with the U.S. Social Security Administration: Inspector General, Office of 

the Inspector General; Deputy Inspector General, Office of the Inspector General. Former 

positions with the U.S. Secret Service: Assistant Director; Special Agent-in-Charge; 

Inspector; Assistant to the Special Agent-in-Charge; Special Agent. Former Commissioned 

Officer, U.S. Army.

ACADEMY STUDY TEAM

Joseph P. Mitchell, III, Director of Project Development—Leads and manages the 

Academy’s studies program and serves as a senior advisor to the Academy’s President and 

CEO. He has served as Project Director for past Academy studies for the Government 

Printing Office, the U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms, USAID/Management Systems 

International, the National Park Service’s Natural Resource Stewardship and Science 

Directorate, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. During his more than 

ten years at the Academy, Dr. Mitchell has worked with a wide range of federal cabinet 

departments and agencies to identify changes to improve public policy and program 

management, as well as to develop practical tools that strengthen organizational 

performance and assessment capabilities. He holds a Ph.D. from the Virginia Polytechnic 

Institute and State University, a Master of Public Administration from the University of 

North Carolina at Charlotte, and a BA in History from the University of North Carolina at 

Wilmington.

Roger Kodat, Project Director—Works as a financial professional and Principal of The 

Kodat Group LLC, with offices in Herndon, VA. He brings 20 years of commercial and 

investment banking experience with JPMorganChase and six years of senior level 

government experience at the Department of the Treasury. He holds a BS in Education from 

Northwestern University and both an MBA in Finance and MA in Political Science from 

Indiana University. 

Brenna Isman, Senior Advisor—Previously directed the Office of Management and 

Budget’s Collaborative Forum online initiative to help identify state-level best practices and 
79

identify innovative approaches to improving payment accuracy, service delivery and 

administrative efficiency as well as reducing barriers to access of critical human services. 

She holds a Masters of Business Administration from American University and a Bachelor 

of Science in Human Resource Management from the University of Delaware.

Stephanie Bailenson, Senior Advisor—Served on past Academy studies for the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Government Printing Office, Office of 

Management and Budget, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Coalition to 

End Childhood Lead Poisoning, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the National 

Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She holds a Master of Public Administration from 

Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government and a BA in Biology/Political 

Science from Duke University.

Jonathan Tucker, Senior Research Analyst—Joined the Academy staff in 2004, Dr. Tucker is 

a Senior Analyst with expertise in policy analysis, program evaluation, organizational 

design and management assessment, strategic planning, and information technology 

management. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from George Mason University, an MS in 

Science and Technology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BA in Public Policy 

from New College of the University of South Florida.

Chloe Yang, Research Analyst—Since joining the Academy in 2009, Chloe has worked on 

projects with a range of federal agencies, including the Office of Management and Budget 

Collaborative Forum Coordination and Facilitation project, the Government Printing Office 

Organizational Review, the Amtrak Office of Inspector General Organizational Assessment, 

the U.S. Coast Guard Financial Management and Procurement Review, and the Government 

Accountability Office Comptroller General Position Structure and Compensation Review. 

Before joining the Academy, Yang graduated from GMU with a Masters in Public 

Administration. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Financial Management from the 

Renmin University of China.

Matthew Gripp, Research Associate—Previously served as Research Associate for a past 

Academy project with the Office of Management and Budget’s Partnership Fund for 

Program Integrity Innovation. Former Attorney in private practice; Research Assistant, St. 

Thomas University School of Law; Research Assistant, George Washington University. He 

holds a Juris Doctor from St. Thomas University School of Law, a Master of Public 

Administration from The Trachtenberg School at George Washington University and BA in 

Philosophy from the University of Central Florida.

Daniel Orr, Research Associate—Prior to joining the Academy, Mr. Orr served as an 

AmeriCorps VISTA focusing on capacity-building and strategic planning for housing 

outcomes and completed an internship with the National League of Cities. He holds a 

Master of Public Administration from Penn State University, Capital College and a BA in 

Political Science from American University.

Amanda Mullan, Research Associate—Joined the Academy in summer of 2012 after having 

spent time as an intern for the Congressional Research Service in 2011 and the New York 
80

State Assembly in 2010. Has recently completed work on a study for the National Weather 

Service. She holds a Master of Public Administration from Cornell University and a BA in 

Political Science from the State University of New York at Cortland. 

* Academy Fellow
81

APPENDIX B: SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Background Documents 

Board of Trustees, Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability 

Insurance Trust Funds. 2013 Annual Report. Washington D.C.: May 31, 2013

Chenok, Dan, et. al., Six Trends Driving Change in Government. IBM Center for the Business 

of Government. 2013

Gorans, Paul and Kruchten, Philippe, A Guide to Critical Success Factors in Agile Delivery, 

IBM Center for the Business of Government, 2014.

Feig, Ephraim, SSA-2020: Vision and Strategy. Former Associate CIO for Vision and 

Strategy, SSA.

Future Systems Technology and Advisory Panel, Re-Imaging Social Security. Washington, 

D.C.: June 2010.

Future Systems Technology and Advisory Panel, Disability Backlog and Health Information 

Technology Subcommittee Report. Washington, D.C.: December 2010

Government Accountability Office, Social Security Administration Field Offices – Reduced 

Workforce Faces Challenges as Baby Boomers Retire. GAO-08-737T, Washington 

D.C.: May 2008.

Government Accountability Office, 21st Century Challenges: Reexamining the Base of the 

Federal Government, GAO -05-325SP, Washington D.C.: February 2005.

Government Accountability Office, Continuing Resolutions: Uncertainty Limited 

Management Options and Increased Workload in Selected Agencies, GAO-09-879, 

Washington D.C.: September 2009

Government Accountability Office, Social Security Administration: Preliminary 

Observations on Key Management Challenges, GAO-13-545T, Washington D.C.: April 

2013

Government Accountability Office, Social Security Administration: Long-Term Strategy 

Needed to Address Key Management Challenges, GAO-13-459, Washington D.C.: May 

2013.

National Academy of Social Insurance, Strengthening Social Security: What Do Americans 

Want?, Washington D.C.: January 2013.

Social Security Advisory Board, A Vision of the Future for the Social Security Administration. 

Washington, D.C.: March 2011.
82

Social Security Administration, Vision 2010. Baltimore, MD.: August 2000. 

Social Security Administration, Agency Strategic Plan (ASP) 2013 – 2016.

Social Security Administration, Agency Strategic Plan (ASP) 2008 – 2013.

Social Security Administration, Agency Strategic Plan (ASP)1988 – 2000.

Social Security Administration, 2013 Annual Report of the Supplemental Security Income 

Program, Baltimore, MD. June 20, 2013

Strengthen Social Security Coalition, Transition Report for the New Commissioner of Social 

Security: How to Ensure the World-Class Service the American People Deserve. 

Washington, D.C.: March 2013. 

Social Security Administration, Diversity & Inclusion Council Charter. Baltimore, MD.:

Social Security Administration, Diversity & Inclusion Strategic Plan. Baltimore, MD.:

Social Security Administration, Information Resources Management (IRM) Strategic Plan 

FY 2012-2016. Baltimore, MD.: May 2012.

Social Security Administration, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Project Save: Design 

Guide. Baltimore, MD.: November 22, 2010.

Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, FY2014 Audit Work Plan, 

Baltimore, MD. October 2013. 

Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, The Social Security 

Administration’s Implementation of the Future Systems Technology Advisory Panel’s 

Recommendations Evaluation Report (A-14-12-11222; August 2012). 

Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, Fiscal Year 2013 

Inspector General Statement on the Social Security Administration’s Major 

Management and Performance Challenges (A-02-14-14056; December 2013).

Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, Congressional response 

Report: The Social Security Administration’s Facilities Management (A-13-11 

21110; November 2010).

Social Security Administration, Customer Service Plan, Baltimore, MD.: October 24, 2011.

Social Security Administration, Customer Service Delivery Plan, Baltimore, MD.: February 

20, 2013.
83

Congressional Documents

U.S. Senate, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Permanent 

Subcommittee on Investigations, Social Security Disability Programs:

Improving the Quality of Benefit Award Decisions, 102th Cong. 2nd sess., September 

13, 2012.

Congressional Research Service, Changes to the Government Performance and Results Act 

(GPRA): Overview of the New Framework of Products and Processes, (R42379; 

February 29, 2012), by Clinton T. Brass.

Congressional Research Service, Social Security Primer (R42035; June 17, 2013), by Dawn 

Nuschler.

Congressional Research Service, Social Security Reform: Current Issues and Legislation

(RL33544; November 28, 2012) by Dawn Nuschler. 

Congressional Research Service, The Changing Demographic Profile of the United States

(RL32701, March 31, 2011) by Laura B. Shrestha and Elayne J. Heisler.

"How Much is Too Much? Examining Duplicative IT Investments at DOD and DOE", House 

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Subcommittee on Technology, 

Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform. 112 

Cong. (2012)(Testimony of Department of Homeland Security Chief Information 

Officer Richard Spires). https://www.dhs.gov/news/2012/02/16/chiefinformation-officer- richard-spires-written-testimony-house-committee

Executive Orders

Obama, Barack, Establishing a Coordinated Government-Wide Initiative to Promote Diversity 

and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce. Executive Order 13583. August 18, 2011 

Futures Research

Atkinson, Robert, Competitiveness, Innovation and Productivity: clearing up the Confusion.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. August, 2013.

Bezold, Clem, Aspirational Futures: Understanding Threats, Opportunities and visionary 

Possibilities. Institute for Alternative Futures. Journal of Futures Studies, May 2009

Bishop, Peter, et al., The current state of scenario development:

an overview of techniques, Foresight, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, VOL. 9 NO. 

1 2007, pp. 5-25

Brynjolfsson, Erik and McAfee, Andrew, Race Against the Machine: a presentation. MIT 

Initiative on the Digital Economy, 
84

Center for Strategic & International Studies, Seven Revolutions & Diamond 6

Leadership Workshop, a presentation.

Digital Economy and Information Technology Forecasts by TechCast LLC.

Federal Emergency Management Agency, Crisis Response and Disaster Resilience 2030:

Forging Strategic Action in an Age of Uncertainty Progress. Report Highlighting the 

2010-2011 Insights of the Strategic Foresight Initiative, January 2012.

Foresee, American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) E-Government Satisfaction 

Stagnates. July 30, 2013, 

http://www.foreseeresults.com/news-events/press-releases/egov-q2-2013-

foresee.shtml

Frey, Thomas, “2 Billion Jobs to Disappear by 2030.” The Futurist. February 2012.

Fuerth , Leon and Faber, Evan, Anticipatory Governance Practical Upgrades: Equipping the 

Executive Branch to Cope with Increasing Speed and Complexity of Major Challenges, 

The Project on Forward Engagement, October 2012.

Fuerth, Leon, “Foresight and anticipatory governance,” Foresight, Vol. 11 No. 4 2009, pp. 

14-32.

Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Demographic Shifts: Long-term Trends and 

Drivers and Their Implications for Emergency Management. Strategic Foresight 

Initiative: Getting Urgent About the Future. May 2011.

Institute for Alternative Futures. Health and Health Care in 2032: Report from the RWJF 

Futures Symposium, June 20-21, 2012. Alexandria, VA. October 2012. 

Institute for Alternative Futures. Primary Care 2025: A Scenario Exploration. Alexandria, 

VA. January 2012.

Institute for Alternative Futures. Vulnerability 2030: Scenarios on Vulnerability in the 

United States. Alexandria, VA. 2011

Institute for Alternative Futures, Wiser Futures: Using Futures Tools to Better Understand 

and Create the Future. Wiser Futures Workshop Compendium. June 2013.

Lee, James H. “Hard at Work in the Jobless Future.” The Futurist, Vol. 46, No. 2, March-April 

2012. 

Mikel, Russell, A Brief Introduction to Scenario Planning. Handout

Millard, Jeremy, Smarter Cities Smarter Services 2020 Vision: Eight mega trends in egovernment for the next eight years, Danish Technological Institute, a presentation.
85 

National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, December 2012.

Project Horizon, Progress Report 2006. Washington. D.C. (Project Horizon has brought 

together senior executives from global affairs and National Security Council Staff to 

conduct long-term, interagency scenario-based planning)

Randall, Doug et al., Understanding Emerging Issues: A methodology for anticipating 

emerging issues that matter. Monitor 360, Adapted from report released by Monitor 

360 in 2010.

Snyder, David Pierce, CyberTunity’s Knocking!: Information Technology and Human Capital 

in the New Normal. Presented at “A Strategic Exploration of the HR Future” at the 

U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Washington D.C., June 4, 2013. 

Millard, Jeremy, Smarter Cities Smarter Services 2020 Vision: Eight mega trends in egovernment for the next eight years, Danish Technological Institute, a presentation.

Schwartz, Peter and Randal, Doug, Ahead of the Curve: Anticipating Strategic Surprises.

Monitor360. 2007.

The Millennium Project, 2012 State of the Future. Executive Summary. 2012

The Rockefeller Foundation and Global Business Network. Scenarios for the Future of 

Technology and International Development May 2010

U.S. Census Bureau, The Next Four Decades: The Older Population in the United States 2010 

to 2050 Population Estimates and Projections. May 2010. 

U.S. Agency for International Development, et. al. The Future Can’t Wait: Over-the-Horizon 

Views on Development, Edited by Steven Gale and Sarah Jackson, based on 

Symposium on Future Development Challenges. Washington D.C., Nov. 4, 2011. 

Wagner, Cynthia G., 70 Jobs for 2030: Emerging Careers and How to Create Them, The 

Futurist, The World Future Society

Other Research

Zickuhr, Kathryn, Who’s not online and why: 15% of American adults do not use the internet 

at all, and another 9% of adults use the internet but not at home. Pew Research 

Center, Pew Internet Project, September 25, 2013.

Kaplan, Jeffrey, Strategic IT Portfolio Management: Governing Enterprise Transformation. 

Pittigio Rabin Todd and McGrath (PRTM): 2005.
86

Spires, Richard, The fundamentals of IT program management. FCW: The Business of 

Federal Technology. March 20, 2014. http://fcw.com/articles/2014/03/20/spirescio-perspective.aspx.

Spires, Richard, Program management: The people factor. FCW: The Business of 

Federal Technology. April 8, 2014. http://fcw.com/articles/2014/04/08/spiresprogram-management-and-the-people-factor.aspx

Internal Revenue Service, Advancing E-file Study Phase 1 Report: Achieving the 80% E-file 

Goal Requires Partnering with Stakeholders on New Approaches to Motivate Paper 

Filers. September 30, 2008. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/irs_advancing_e-

 file_study_phase_1_report_v1.3.pdf

Internal Revenue Service, Advancing E-file Study Phase 2 Report: An Examination of 

Options to Increase Electronic Filing of Individual Returns. December 15, 2010. 

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/irs_advancing_e-file_study_phase_2_report.pdf
87

APPENDIX C: PARTICIPATING INDIVIDUALS AND ORGANIZATIONS

(Titles and positions listed are accurate as of the time of the Academy’s initial contact) 

The Panel and study team met with nearly 110 stakeholders through formal interviews, 

and meetings. The Academy would like to thank these individuals for their contributions.

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

Andrews, Diana— Associate Commissioner, OS

Berryhill, Nancy—Deputy Commissioner, Office of Operations

Bertrand, Michael—Regional Commissioner, Boston Region 

Bice, Deborah—Chief Administrative Law Judge, ODAR 

Biro, Frank— Associate Commissioner, Office of Budget, Facilities and Security, ODAR

Black, David—General Counsel, OGC

Bogle, Darlynda—Deputy Chief Strategic Officer, OCSO

Borland, Jim—Assistant Deputy Commissioner, ODAR

Brune, Sean—Regional Commissioner, Denver Region 

Burrell, Ruby—Chief Strategic Officer, OCSO

Davies, Paul— Assistant Associate Commissioner for the Office of Research, Evaluation and 

Statistics

De la Puente, Manuel— Associate Commissioner, ORDP

Dean-Huff, Kathy—Division Director, Project Management Office, Office of Medical and 

Vocational Expertise 

Disman, Bea—Regional Commissioner, New York Region 

Donker, Eli—Deputy Chief Actuary, Office of the Chief Actuary

Doyle, Bonnie—Associate Commissioner, Office of Personnel, Office of Human Resources 

Evangelista, Stephen—Associate Commissioner, Office of Data Exchange and Policy 

Publications, ORDP
88

Everett, Sheila—Regional Commissioner, Dallas Region 

Foster, David—Senior Innovation Officer, OCSO

Frank, Alan—Associate Commissioner, Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, Office 

of Human Resources

Frey, Scott—Deputy Commissioner, Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs

Friendship, Stanley—Regional Commissioner, Seattle Region 

Funciello, Thomas—Associate Commissioner, Office of Labor-Management and Employee 

Relations, Office of Human Resources 

Gambino, Phillip—Deputy Commissioner, Office of Communications

Goss, Stephen—Chief Actuary

Grochowski, Michael—Regional Commissioner, Atlanta Region 

Gruber, Theresa—Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Office of Operations

Grzymski, Thomas—Associate Commissioner, Office of Telecommunications and System 

Operations 

Haldiman, Sylvaine—Associate Commissioner, Office of Electronic Services and Technology

Horan, Theodore—Associate Commissioner, Office of Research, Evaluation and Statistics

Kressman, Eric—Deputy Regional Commissioner, Philadelphia Region 

Jonas, Patricia—Executive Director, Office of Appellate Operations, ODAR

Jones, Erik—Associate Commissioner, Office of Public Service and Operations Support, 

Office of Operations

Julian, Jim—Associate Commissioner, Office of Executive Operations and Human Resources, 

ODAR

Kilgore, Karie—Executive Secretary to the Acting Commissioner

Kind, Bonnie—Associate Commissioner, Office of Budget, Office of Budget, Finance, Quality, 

and Management (OBFQM)

Kissko, James—Chief of Staff
89

LaCanfora, Marianna—Acting Deputy Commissioner, ORDP

Lambie, Martha—Assistant Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Operations

Lane, Alan— Executive Director, Office of Open Government, OCSO 

Marshall, Lydia—Associate Commissioner, Office of Learning, Office of Human Resources

Medley-Proctor, Kristin—Executive Director, Office of Strategic Human Capital 

Management, Office of Human Resources

Min, Royce—Associate Commissioner, Office of Legislative Development and Operations, 

OLCA 

Molander, Christopher—Associate Commissioner, Office of Facilities and Supply 

Management, OBFQM

Monteleone, Timothy—Deputy Associate Commissioner, OBFQM

Mosley, Marcia—Regional Commissioner, Chicago Region 

Nguyen, Van—Associate Commissioner, Office of Central Operations, Office of Operations

O’Carroll, Patrick—Inspector General

Pace, Greg—Senior Advisor to the Acting Commissioner

Parrott, Thomas—Assistant Deputy Commissioner, OLCA

Powell, Ken—Regional Commissioner, Kansas City Region 

Ray, Gerald—Deputy Executive Director, Office of Appellate Operations

Reich, Elizabeth—Assistant Deputy Commissioner, OBFQM 

Rivers, Kenneth—Associate Commissioner, Office of Telephone Services, Office of 

Operations

Roberts, Ann—Acting Associate Commissioner, Office of Disability Determinations, Office of 

Operations

Rodgers, Stacy—Senior Advisor to the Acting Commissioner 

Rosa-Stallworth, Jackie—Director for National and Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of 

External Affairs, Office of Communications
90

Simermeyer, John—Associate Commissioner, Office of Retirement and Survivors Insurance 

Systems, OS

Sklar, Glenn—Deputy Commissioner, Office of Disability Adjudication and Review 

Smallwood, Dorothy—Assistant Deputy Commissioner, Office of Human Resources 

Smith, Regina—Director, Office of Strategic Planning and Innovation, OCSO

Spencer, Peter—Deputy Commissioner, OBFQM 

Stanton, Shirleeta—Associate Commissioner, Office of Medical and Vocational Expertise, 

ORDP

Stradtman, Terry—Regional Commissioner, Philadelphia Region 

Strauss, Herb— Assistant Deputy Commissioner & Deputy CIO, OS 

Teel, Vance—Associate Commissioner, Office of International Programs, ORDP

Thompson, Amy—Associate Commissioner, Office of Quality Review, OBFQM

Thornton, Kate— Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Commissioner

Tomak, Karl— Project Manager, OCSO 

Wade, Alice—Deputy Chief Actuary, Office of the Chief Actuary

Walker, Douglas—Deputy Commissioner, Office of Communications

Webb, Nancy—Associate Commissioner, Office of Electronic Services and Strategic 

Information, ODAR

Wells, Reginald*—Chief Human Capital Officer, Office of Human Resources

Winter, Kitt—Director, Office of Health IT Program, OS 

Wise, Daryl—Associate Commissioner, Office of Quality Improvement, OBFQM 

Zielinski, William—Deputy Commissioner & Chief Information Officer (CIO), Office of 

Systems

Zuber, Sandra— Assistant Project Manager, OCSO
91

FORMER SSA MANAGEMENT 

Baitman, Frank—former Chief Information Officer

Hardy, Dorcas*—former Commissioner; current member, Social Security Advisory Board

Roecker, Sue—formerly of the Office of Strategic Management, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer

OTHER FEDERAL STAKEHOLDERS

Blockwood, James—Manager, Diversity Training, Department of Veterans Affairs

Boyens, Chantel— Program Examiner, Income Maintenance Branch, OMB

Deters, Allison— Staff Assistant, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, 

Education and Related Agencies, House Appropriations Committee

Castagna, Jennifer— Professional Staff Member, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and 

Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, Senate Appropriations Committee 

(Minority)

DiBattista, Patrick—GAO Fellow, Senate Special Committee on Aging

Easterly, Brook—Management Analyst, Department of Veterans Affairs

Eskovitz, Joel—Chief Counsel, Senate Special Committee on Aging

Fatherree, Kira—Program Examiner, OMB

Gentile, Michael—Professional Staff Member, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human 

Services, Education and Related Agencies, Senate Appropriations Committee (Majority) 

Grant, Jeremy—Senior Executive Advisor for Identity Management, National Institute of 

Standards and Technology 

Hart, Nick—Program Examiner, OMB

Hurban, James—Program Examiner, Income Maintenance Branch, OMB

Hildred, Kim—Staff Director, Subcommittee on Social Security, House Ways and Means 

Committee (Majority)

Hostetler, Margret—Staff-person, House Ways and Means Committee (Majority)
92

Kaufman, David—Associate Administrator for Policy, Program Analysis, and International 

Affairs, Federal Emergency Management Agency 

Klouda, Tom—Senior Domestic Policy Advisor, Senate Finance Committee

Leduc, Mark—Chief Counsel, Senate Special Committee on Aging

McClure, David—Associate Administrator, Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, 

General Services Administration 

Omar, Elizabeth—Department of Veterans Affairs

Potok, Nancy—Deputy Director & Chief Operating Officer, United States Census Bureau

Smalligan, Jack— Deputy Associate Director, Education, Income Maintenance and Labor 

Division, OMB

Shuart, Amy— Staff-person, House Ways and Means Committee (Majority)

Sullivan, Susan—Deputy Assistant Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs

Vinkenes, Pat—Program Examiner, OMB

Wrase, Jeffrey—Chief Economist, Senate Finance Committee

OTHER EXPERTS/STAKEHOLDERS 

Atkinson, Robert—President, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation

Aughenbaugh, Scott—Fellow, International Security Program, Center for Strategic & 

International Studies 

Bezold, Clement—Founder & Board Chair, Eric Meade Institute for Alternative Futures

Chenok, Daniel—Executive Director, IBM Center for the Business of Government

Cook, James—Vice President and Director, Center for Enterprise Modernization, MITRE 

Corporation

Fuerth, Leon—Founder and Director, Project on Forward Engagement, George Washington 

University 

Glenn, Jerome—Executive Director, The Millennium Project

Grandjean, Maguerite—Futurist and Demographer, Eric Meade Institute for Alternative 

Futures
93

Halal, William—Professor of Science, Technology and Innovation, George Washington 

University; President of TechCast Global

Hunter, Kenneth—Senior Fellow, Maryland China Initiative, University of Maryland; Board 

Member, World Future Society

Lempert, Robert—Director, Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and 

the Future Human Condition; Professor, Pardee RAND Graduate School, The Rand 

Corporation

Lohmeyer, Rudolph—Director, Global Business Policy Council, A.T. Kearney

Lucas, Hank—Professor of Information Systems, University of Maryland

Mack, Timothy—President; Board Member, World Future Society

Mahaffee, Dan—Director of Policy and Board Relations, Center for the Study of the 

Presidency and Congress

McCalla, Joan—Distinguished Fellow, Internet Business Solutions Group, Cisco Systems

Mikel, Russell—Advisory Board Member, Commons Lab, Wilson Center’s Science and 

Technology Innovation Program (STIP); Strategic Planning Advisor & Facilitator, 

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Murphy, Jonathan—Director of External Affairs, Center for the Study of the Presidency and 

Congress 

Rejeski, David—Director, Science and Technology Innovation Program, Woodrow Wilson 

International Center for Scholars

Snyder, David—former IRS Executive; Futurist

Taylor, Paul—Editor-at-Large, GOVERNING Magazine

Warshawsky, Mark—former Member, Social Security Advisory Board

* Academy Fellow
94

OTHER SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION STAKEHOLDER GROUPS

AFGE 

National Council of Disability Determination Directors 

National Council of Social Security Management Associations 

Office of Disability Adjudication and Review Union Forum

VIRTUAL TOWN HALL WEBINAR ADVOCACY GROUPS

AARP

Alliance for Retired Americans

American Payroll Association

American Savings Education Council 

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities

National Association of Insurance and Financial Aid

The Voice of Midlife and Older Women

The ARC of the United States
95

APPENDIX D: SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION ORGANIZATIONAL CHART

Source: http://www.ssa.gov/org/ssachart.pdf

The Inspector General operates independently under the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended.
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97

APPENDIX E: SCENARIO DEVELOPMENT METHODOLOGY

Appendix E is organized into four sections.

1. Section 1 provides an overview of the approach used for developing scenarios to 

inform the development of a long-range vision for SSA. 

2. Section 2 discusses (1) “predetermined scenario elements”—relatively certain 

factors, such as demographic trends, considered to have a significant impact on the 

future operating environment of SSA; and (2) the organizational imperatives these 

factors create for SSA.

3. Section 3 discusses “drivers”—factors considered to have a potentially important 

impact on SSA’s operating environment, but that are relatively uncertain.

4. Section 4 identifies those drivers considered to be most important—“critical 

uncertainties”—and discusses the logic used to develop the scenarios. The scenarios 

are presented graphically and in narrative form. 

SECTION 1: OVERVIEW OF SCENARIO DEVELOPMENT APPROACH

Scenarios are a tool for enabling planning under uncertainty, particularly long-term 

planning (where uncertainty is greater) and “foresight” initiatives. Foresight initiatives 

may be contrasted with prediction or forecasting the future. Rather than predict what the 

future state will be, foresight efforts aim to identify and understand possible futures to 

enable the development of a robust strategy and guide adaptive planning efforts. 

As part of its research, the Panel drew on expert resources in the areas of forecasting and 

foresight and subject matter experts in areas such as information technology/electronic 

service delivery and demography, and officials involved in ongoing foresight initiatives at 

the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Veterans Affairs. It also 

reviewed SSA vision documents developed in the recent past by the Social Security 

Advisory Board (2011) and the Federal Systems Technology Advisory Panel (2010).

This research was complemented by interviews with SSA’s leadership and key component 

managers. In addition to understanding the current state of the agency, these interviews 

were intended to obtain agency perspective on factors affecting SSA’s future operating 

environment. 

There are multiple approaches to foresight. The Panel adapted the methodology pioneered 

by Pierre Wack in his work with Royal Dutch Shell in the 1970s and popularized by Peter 
98

Schwartz of the Global Business Network (GBN).89 This is the most widely used approach 

in government and business.90 

Steps in Scenario Development

Scenarios were developed in three steps reviewed below.

Step One: Determined key questions to be addressed with scenarios

o A general question was developed: How might a changing operational 

environment affect SSA’s ability to deliver services effectively and efficiently 

in the future? More specifically:

 How can SSA continue to meet customer expectations (e.g., quality, 

timeliness, desired mode of delivery—online, in-person, by phone, 

service channel integration)? 

 How can SSA deliver services in a cost-effective manner? 

 How can SSA maintain the public trust (e.g., limit waste, fraud and 

abuse, including improper payments; provide information security 

and protect personally identifiable information)?

o Then, it was determined that the scenarios would explore possible future 

operating conditions as they relate to SSA’s ability to address four key 

challenges in an era of fiscal constraint and changing models of service 

delivery. These include:

 Increasing electronic service delivery and automation;

 Realigning the organization; 

 Developing a workforce with a different mix of skills; and

 Reducing or re-aligning physical infrastructure.

Step Two: Identified drivers 

o Drivers are factors expected to have a significant effect on the future 

operating conditions of the organization for which the scenarios are 

developed. 

o Drivers were identified within four broad categories: social, technological, 

economic, and political.91

o These drivers were assessed with respect to two dimensions:

 

89 See Peter Schwartz, Art of the Long View, 1991. 90 Peter Bishop, Andy Hines and Terry Collins, The Current State of Scenario Development: An Overview of 

Techniques, 2007.

91 We sought to identify drivers in five categories—Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and 

Political—commonly used in foresight projects employing the GBN approach. We did not identify any drivers 

in the Environmental category, which in our view, is not directly relevant to the future operating environment 

of SSA.
99

 Significance of its impact on the future operating environment; and

 Certainty of its impact on the future operating environment.

o Drivers whose impact is determined to be highly important and relatively 

certain are referred to as “predetermined scenario elements.” Predetermined 

elements “do not depend on any particular chain of events.” 92 Demographic 

trends (e.g., how many people will be reaching retirement age in 2025) are 

one commonly recognized type of predetermined scenario element. The nine 

such elements identified are discussed in Section 2. 

o Also, nine drivers whose impact was determined to be both important and 

uncertain were identified. Those drivers were used to develop alternative 

scenarios. In the literature, those drivers considered to be most important 

are referred to as “critical uncertainties.” It is these critical uncertainties that 

provide the organizing logic of scenarios. The nine drivers identified and 

reviewed in Section 3.

Step Three: Developed initial scenarios

o Four scenarios were developed to explore critical uncertainties. They employ 

different assumptions about key drivers to shed light on SSA’s vulnerabilities 

or opportunities.

o While assumptions about individual drivers in different scenarios may be 

understood as pessimistic or optimistic, the scenarios are not intended to 

represent “best case,” ”worst case,” or “more likely” futures per se. 

o The four scenarios are summarized in Section 4.

SECTION 2: PREDETERMINED SCENARIO ELEMENTS

The nine predetermined scenario elements are reviewed below. They are then discussed 

with respect to how they come together to create a set of organizational imperatives for 

SSA.

Demographic trends related to volume of work. The aging of the population has 

predictable implications for the volume of programmatic work that will face SSA over the 

next 10 to 15 years. A GAO analysis of SSA beneficiary data indicates a 37 percent increase 

in the number of SSA program beneficiaries between 2012 and 2025. Baby Boomers have 

entered their disability-prone years prior to retirement age leading to an increase in claims 

for disability and SSI benefits together with follow-on work of conducting continuing 

disability reviews.93 This disability-related work will diminish significantly as individuals 

reach retirement age. As Baby Boomers reach retirement age, retirement claims will 

increase. Baby Boomer retirement claims are projected to continue increasing beyond 

2025.

 

92 The Art of the Long View, P. 110 93 The term Baby Boomers refers to people born during the demographic Post–World War II baby boom 

between the years 1946 and 1964. People become more likely to experience disabling conditions beginning at 

age 55. The number of Americans age 55 and older will increase by more than 10 million between 2015 and 

2020. See Social Security Agency Strategic Plan 2014-2018. 
100

Another important demographic trend related to the workload of the agency is the growing 

proportion of the population whose native language is not English. This is expected to 

translate into a growing demand for language-related services. 

Continuing fiscal constraint and a shrinking SSA workforce. Flat or declining budgets 

have become a standard assumption among most domestic agencies. In this fiscal 

environment, many retiring federal employees will likely not be replaced. A GAO analysis of 

SSA beneficiary data indicates that over a third of SSA employees will retire between FY 

2011 and FY 2020, with still more eligible.94 

Increasing demand for online services and mobile access. Demand for online services 

may be expected to increase over time as the Baby Boom generation ages. This generation, 

is more comfortable accessing services online than the current generation of retirees.95 The 

rapid spread of mobile devices, ease of use, and growth in service provision via these 

devices will fuel expectations for mobile access to government services. Also, smart phones 

and other mobile devices may provide an opportunity for delivering services online to SSA 

customers who lack traditional internet access in their homes. 

Continued need to provide direct assistance options. Still, some citizens, including 

people with disabilities or no access to the internet, will need direct service, and SSA must 

make provisions for them. 

Increasing demand for data access and sharing. The past 25 years have witnessed 

growing emphasis on making government documents and data available to the public in 

the name of transparency and reducing unnecessary duplication of effort. The increasing 

availability of data and “apps” has fueled public demand for data. Also, in the evolving 

“sharing economy,” business has increasingly come to value stores of data that can be 

leveraged for commercial purposes. Finally, recognition is growing that “big data” can be 

leveraged to improve services across the government. SSA, like other data-centric agencies, 

will be under growing pressure to make its data available and to leverage this data to 

provide services outside of its traditional mission areas. 

Increasing cyber threat. It is generally accepted that cyber-attacks will increase in volume 

and sophistication. In a recent report, GAO noted the dramatic increase in reports of security 

 

94 GAO-13-459, Social Security Administration: Long-Term Strategy Needed to Address Key Management 

Challenges. 

95 “Three out of four adults aged 40 years and older use the internet, whether via a computer, laptop, 

smartphone, tablet, or some other device. Nearly Six in ten report using the internet one or more times a day.” 

Further, “Use of the internet ... declined with age. Adults aged 65 and older, in contrast, were the least likely 

to report using the internet.” See AARP, Use of Internet, Social Networking Sites, and Mobile technology for 

Volunteerism: Implications for Volunteer Recruitment and Engagement. April 2014.

http://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/research/surveys_statistics/general/2014/Use-of-Internet-SocialNetworking-Sites-and-Mobile-Technology-for-Volunteerism-Implications-for-Volunteer-Recruitment-andEngagement-AARP-res-gen.pdf
101

incidents, the ease of obtaining and using hacking tools, and steady advances in the 

sophistication and effectiveness of attack technology.96

Changing mix of workforce skills supporting service delivery. While the precise mix of 

skills needed to support the new electronic service delivery model is not yet clearly 

defined, certain skills and abilities are commonly identified as increasingly important. 

These include: cognitive skills97 (e.g., problem solving, analysis); capacity to learn and 

adapt new skills quickly; ability to communicate effectively (both in-person and virtually) 

on difficult issues; data-analytic skills; general skills and knowledge needed to manage 

transactions to completion;98 and specialized technical knowledge and skills, in areas such 

as cybersecurity. 

Workforce preference for greater job mobility. Generation X and the Millennial 

Generation99 show a markedly different attitude toward their careers than prior 

generations. Younger generations are inclined toward greater mobility across 

organizations and sectors100 and are less likely to stay in a single organization for most or 

all of a career. These changing attitudes suggest greater staff turnover for many 

organizations. While the exercise of these preferences may vary depending on overall 

economic conditions, job tenure is likely to be significantly shorter on average.

Government unions. It is expected that government unions will continue to have a strong 

voice on issues related to the organizational realignment needed to take advantage of 

opportunities created by electronic service delivery, automation, and other information 

technology applications enabling new ways organizing work. Efforts to redefine roles and 

responsibilities and reengineer work processes will have to address union concerns, such 

as employment opportunities, pay grades, and work rules.

 

96 GAO-13-187, National Strategy, Roles, and Responsibilities Need to Be Defined and More Effectively 

Implemented, February 2013. The number of cyber incidents reported by federal agencies to the U.S. 

Computer Emergency Team increased by 782 percent from 2006 to 2012. 97 Institute for the Future. Future Work Skills 2020. http://www.iftf.org/uploads/media/SR1382A_UPRI_future_work_skills_sm.pdf 98 Social Security Advisory Board. A Vision of the Future for the Social Security Administration. March 2011. 

Social Security Administration. Service Delivery Plan. February 2013. 99 Generation X is the generation born from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. The Millennial generation 

covers people born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

100 KPMG Government Institute. Whether You’re Ready or Not, We’re Millennial-Bound: Recruiting and 

Motivating Today’s Millennial Generation. April 2009. http://www.kpmginstitutes.com/governmentinstitute/insights/2009/millennial-recruiting.aspx

Jeanne Meister. Job Hopping is the ‘New Normal’ for Millennials: Three Ways to Prevent a Human Resource 

Nightmare. Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2012/08/14/job-hopping-is-the-newnormal-for-millennials-three-ways-to-prevent-a-human-resource-nightmare/
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Organizational Imperatives

The factors discussed above come together to create a set of imperatives for service 

delivery organizations like SSA. These include:

Increasing electronic service delivery and automation. Tight budgets, fewer personnel, 

increasing workload, and changing customer expectations of service delivery are driving 

agencies to move services online and to automate processes. Also, advances in IT have 

enabled agencies to implement virtual approaches to organizing work, such as telework, as 

a means of reducing infrastructure costs as well as providing a more flexible work 

environment.

Realigning the organization and workforce. Electronic service delivery, automation, and 

IT-enabled opportunities for reorganizing work, together with fewer agency personnel to 

do existing work, are pushing agencies to realign their organizations. Examples include 

changes in the roles and responsibilities among components; position descriptions and pay 

grades, and work processes. Realigning the organization also entails changes in the 

distribution of employees geographically and across the organization.

Developing a workforce with a different mix of skills. The new electronic service 

delivery model will require a different mix of skills. These skills may be obtained through a 

combination of hiring new employees, retraining existing employees, and contracting, as 

appropriate.

Reducing and reconfiguring its service delivery infrastructure. The shift toward online 

service delivery, increased automation, and IT-enabled approaches to organizing work (e.g., 

telework and virtual centralization of functions) make the reduction or re-alignment of 

physical infrastructure an important opportunity to reduce costs in a tight budget 

environment.

Increasing agility. The rapid pace of technical change, evolving service delivery models, 

and increasing cyber threats place a premium on the agency’s ability to respond rapidly to 

change. This will depend on a number of factors, including a more robust process for 

planning and managing information resources, organizational and workforce realignment, 

and the greater use data analytics.

SECTION 3: DRIVERS 

The nine drivers are reviewed and discussed in terms of their potential direct and indirect 

effects on SSA’s future operating environment.

1. Economy and jobs

a. The rate of economic growth may impact the future SSA service delivery 

environment in at least two ways. Most evidently, it will affect the level of tax 

revenues available to allocate to agency budgets. It may also affect the ability 

of the government to attract and retain employees. For example, in good 
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economic times private sector competition for talent in certain fields may be 

greater.

b. Rates of unemployment may have their own effects. For example, disability 

claims may increase in times of higher unemployment, thus increasing 

agency workload. Higher rates of growth are generally associated with lower 

rates of unemployment and lower rates of growth with higher rates 

unemployment. However, it is important to note that higher rates of 

unemployment may accompany a given rate of economic growth due to such 

factors as automation and offshoring.101 

2. Political environment

a. Policy making and budgeting generally require compromise among political 

actors with different interests and views of the public good. Increased 

political polarization in recent years has made compromise difficult and has 

translated into significant budget uncertainty and inaction on many 

important policy issues. However, political polarization does not necessarily 

prevent major policy changes from being enacted. 

b. Initiatives related to improving and rationalizing service delivery often do 

not require major policy changes and are generally not the focus of political 

battles, but their progress may be impeded by the indirect effects of political 

polarization, such as budget uncertainty. The success of individual and, 

especially interagency, initiatives depends on sustained leadership attention 

over time. In an environment defined by uncertain budgets and government 

shutdowns, the limited attention of agency leadership and management 

typically focuses on sustaining operations and immediate priorities, leaving 

less time and energy for longer-term strategic efforts.

c. While the current political polarization may continue or become worse, it is 

also possible that future elections or other factors may lead to an alternative 

dynamic defined by greater willingness to compromise. A more stable 

environment would facilitate the planning and implementation of initiatives 

to rationalize and improve service delivery. Also, a changed political dynamic 

that includes greater agreement on basic government functions could lead to 

more attention and possibly additional resources being devoted to efforts 

focused on improved government performance. 

 

101 The term, offshoring refers to the practice of moving employees or certain business activities to foreign 

countries as a way to lower costs, avoid taxes, etc. See: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/offshoring
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3. Pace of public shift to online services

a. While it may be inevitable that the public will increasingly choose to conduct 

transactions online, the pace of this transition is not certain. For instance, it is 

possible that the movement online could be slowed by major cyber incidents, 

such as cases of massive identity theft. All things being equal, this possibility 

becomes more likely with the increasing volume and sophistication of cyberattacks.

b. If the pace of movement by the public online slows significantly, government 

agencies may be denied substantial cost savings from the reduction of inperson service infrastructure.

4. Cybersecurity and identity management 

a. The expansion of electronic service delivery and information sharing relies 

heavily on the public trusting that measures are in place to protect the 

security and privacy of personal information. Another factor identified as 

important to the expanded use of online services is the ease with which 

customers can manage secure access to accounts. For example, the prospect 

of setting up and maintaining multiple accounts to access services is a 

documented impediment to broader use of online services.

b. Currently, there are efforts to implement government-wide approaches to 

cybersecurity and identity (ID) management. Cross-government initiatives 

not only facilitate individual agency efforts but also promote an environment 

more conducive to the success of electronic service delivery. For example, a 

more secure and user-friendly ID management regime implemented across 

the government would encourage the public to conduct more transactions 

online.

5. Deployment of broadband internet

a. Limited deployment of broadband internet is generally recognized as a 

constraint on fully realizing the potential of electronic service delivery. The 

multimedia dimension of electronic service delivery (e.g., video) requires 

substantial bandwidth. 

b. Depending on the extent of broadband deployment and its implementation, 

disadvantaged groups and remote communities may lack adequate internet 

connections needed to access services fully online.

6. Government approach to consolidating/reconfiguring physical 

infrastructure of service delivery

a. SSA and other agencies across the government have built extensive field 

structures over time when in-person service was the norm. As electronic 

service delivery and related IT capabilities have expanded and program 

needs have evolved, some of this infrastructure has become unnecessary and 

costly to maintain in the context of fiscal constraints. 

b. The shift toward online services, greater automation of service delivery 

processes, and virtual approaches to organizing work, such as telework, have 

created opportunities to significantly reduce costly infrastructure. 
105

c. More broadly, these developments create opportunities for the integration of 

service delivery across agencies with similar or related missions and 

overlapping customer bases as in the case of disability programs 

administered by SSA and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Such 

integration creates opportunities not only for reducing costs by sharing 

infrastructure and support services, but also for improving customer service 

by providing “one-stop” government service.

d. The ability of agencies to realize these cost-saving and customer service 

opportunities depends on the willingness of political actors to allow agencies 

to reduce and reconfigure physical infrastructure as well as support for 

shared services initiatives.

7. Immigration policy 

a. Immigration reform, such as proposals for a “pathway to citizenship,” suggest 

the possibility of large numbers of legalized immigrants. This could translate 

into significant new workload for SSA, such as demand for social security 

cards and the need to sort out the earnings history of the newly legal 

immigrants. The service delivery processes for both are currently highly 

labor intensive.

b. The prospect of this additional workload adds additional impetus for the 

agency to automate work processes. 

8. Expansion of health IT 

a. Health IT refers to the management of electronic health records and their 

secure exchange between consumers, providers, government and quality 

entities, and insurers.

b. Broader adoption of healthcare IT by healthcare providers promises the 

opportunity for dramatic improvements in SSA’s delivery of disability 

services, which account for a disproportionate share of administrative costs 

and are subject to chronic hearing backlogs. The direct exchange of electronic 

health records with healthcare providers will enable much faster, more 

objective, and more consistent medical assessments. Also, it will strengthen 

efforts to reduce improper payments.102 Currently, less than two percent of 

all disability claims assessed are supported by direct exchange electronic 

health records with providers, so great opportunity remains for continued 

improvement over time as more providers move to electronic health records.

c. The adoption of healthcare IT depends on a number of factors. However, it is 

plausible to expect that the adoption of healthcare IT will be positively 

influenced by the general movement toward conducting business 

electronically. The shift of customers to online service delivery is an indicator 

 

102 Electronic health records may refer to simply to health records in electronic format (e.g., pdf) or records 

captured electronically in the form of structured data. It is the latter that provides the greatest opportunity 

for efficiency gains and analytics that can greatly strengthen efforts to detect and prevent fraud, waste and 

abuse.
106

of this broader movement. Other factors affecting the adoption of healthcare 

IT might include agreement among federal agencies on a common standard 

and potential privacy issues raised by the transition to electronic medical 

records. 

9. Access to needed skills

a. Access to needed skills may be obtained through a combination of hiring, 

training, and contracting. The appropriate mix depends partly on the 

determination of what skills must be held in-house. This in turn affects 

access. For instance, it may be harder to hire employees with certain skills 

than to contract for those skills. Moreover, in fast changing fields, such as 

cybersecurity, it may make more sense to contract for services with private 

companies better able to keep abreast of developments. 

b. Economic conditions can affect access to skills. For instance, in a strong 

economy the government may be less able to obtain needed talent due to 

stronger demand by private companies competing for that talent. However, 

access to skills may be less problematic where contracting is an option; it is 

likely that contracting for skills will be easier than hiring employees.

c. For those skills needed in-house, government agencies’ access to skills may 

also be affected by not only by economic conditions, but by the perception of 

government as a good place to work. Budget uncertainty and other 

consequences of political polarization could negatively affect perception of 

government as a desirable place to work, making recruitment and retention 

more difficult. 

SECTION 4: SCENARIOS

Based on its review of these drivers and their interconnections, the Panel identified two 

drivers as critical uncertainties: drivers considered to have the greatest potential impact on 

SSA’s operating environment through its linkage to other drivers. The first is political 

environment. The second is the pace of customer shift to online services. 

The choice of political environment as a critical uncertainty reflects its potential impact on 

cross-agency efforts required for improvements in areas such as integrated service 

delivery and cybersecurity protections, including the possibility of greater budget 

resources coming available to support major initiatives. The pace of customer movement 

toward online service delivery relates to opportunities for significant cost reduction and 

relates to the risk of cyber-attacks. 

Each of the two critical uncertainties may be understood along a continuum. As discussed 

in the prior section, the political environment may be understood broadly as more or less 

hospitable to initiatives related to rationalizing and improving government service 

delivery. In Figure 1, which provides a matrix-based summary of each scenario, this 

continuum is represented on the X axis. The pace of customers’ shift to online services is 

represented on the Y axis. The polar extremes of each of the two critical uncertainties are 

combined to create four alternative scenarios, one in each quadrant. 
107

• Scenario 1: negative political environment combined with faster movement of 

customers to online services. 

• Scenario 2: positive political environment combined with faster movement of 

customers to online services. 

• Scenario 3: negative political environment combined with slower movement of 

customers to online services. 

• Scenario 4: positive political environment combined with slower movement of 

customers to online services.

Scenario assumptions

As already discussed, the GBN approach entails a decision about which drivers are the 

critical uncertainties that should be the axes used to generate alternative scenarios. This 

approach provides a clear and consistent logic for examining how drivers might come 

together to affect the operating environment of an organization. However, it is important to 

understand that the scenarios generated cannot be expected to establish specific causal 

links between the critical uncertainties and all the drivers. Not all drivers will clearly link to 

the critical uncertainties organizing a set of scenarios. The aim is to find the best fit among 

factors and to offer insight to decision-makers about possible links and implications that 

may not have been considered otherwise. 

The linkage among factors is often complex and the correspondence between individual 

drivers and critical uncertainties may not always be clearly established. In that 

circumstance, a judgment must be made about the most plausible link to provide a 

consistent logic for applying the driver across scenarios. To inform the review of the 

scenarios presented, a few important assumptions made about the linkages between 

drivers and critical uncertainties are discussed.

• Immigration reform: the enactment of immigration reform is linked to a positive 

political environment. While a major policy change could be enacted even in a 

polarized political environment, such as the Affordable Care Act. Still, it is assumed 

that major policy actions are more likely to occur in a more positive political 

environment.

• Healthcare IT: The adoption rate of healthcare IT is linked to the rate of customer 

movement online. While the adoption of healthcare IT depends on a number of 

factors, it is plausible to expect that the adoption of healthcare IT will be positively 

influenced by the general movement toward conducting business electronically. The 

shift of customers to online service delivery is an indicator of this broader 

movement. 

• Access to needed skills: Access to skills is linked to political environment, which 

corresponds with public perceptions of the attractiveness of federal service. 

However, other factors such as economic conditions are considered.
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• Economy and jobs: There are many factors that contribute to economic growth and 

unemployment rates. Of the two critical uncertainties, the political environment was 

determined to be the most plausible link to economic conditions, although certainly 

not the only or even the most important one. This choice of linkage was made to 

ensure a consistent logic for applying the driver across scenarios.

Figure 1 is followed by brief narrative descriptions of each scenario, which provide more 

detailed discussions of linkages. 
109
110

SUMMARY DESCRIPTIONS OF SCENARIOS 

Scenario 1: Behind the Curve

The 2025 political environment is characterized as polarized, with attendant conditions 

such as budget uncertainty that distract leadership’s attention from long-term efforts at 

interagency coordination needed to address key issues, e.g., cybersecurity and 

reconfiguring physical service delivery infrastructure. Important policy reforms, such as 

immigration, fail to be enacted.

While there are still pockets of the country where broadband access is limited, the 

movement of citizens to online services is rapid. Given a faster shift of citizens to online 

services in 2025, there is an opportunity for agencies to consolidate their in-person service 

delivery infrastructure. However, the ability of agencies to fully realize these cost 

reductions is limited by political resistance and limited progress on the integration of 

service delivery. 

The adoption of healthcare IT proceeds faster than expected due in part to rapid movement 

to electronic service delivery across the economy. This enables SSA to significantly reduce 

the administrative cost and improve the performance of the disability program more 

generally. 

The uncertain and fractious environment created by political polarization fuels a negative 

perception of government and limits the attractiveness of work at government agencies. 

As a result, federal agencies face a challenge in recruiting skilled workers. This is 

counterbalanced to some extent by a relatively weak economy and relatively high 

unemployment. These poor economic conditions generally help federal agencies 

successfully to recruit and retain a skilled workforce because private sector job 

opportunities are more limited. 

Scenario 2: Riding the Wave

In 2025, a more positive political environment develops, defined by less conflict over basic 

government functions and more focus on improved government performance. There is 

greater budget and operational certainty allowing for agency leaders to focus on pushing 

forward on cross-agency initiatives to rationalize and improve service delivery. While 

budgets remain tight overall, additional funding becomes available for advancing service 

delivery initiatives. 

Substantial progress is made not only on consolidating physical infrastructure by 

individual agencies, but on sharing infrastructure among agencies as part of broader 

initiatives to integrate service delivery across related agency programs with overlapping 

customers. Rapid movement of citizens to online services together with support for 

infrastructure consolidation and integration of service delivery enables substantial agency 

cost savings as well as improved customer service.
111

By 2025, robust government-wide cybersecurity regimes are established. This reduces the 

risk103 of cyber-attacks even as the movement of citizens to online service delivery 

increases rapidly.

The passage of immigration reform adds significant new service demands in areas that 

remain relatively labor intensive, such as issuing social security cards and sorting out 

earnings histories to calculate benefits for newly legalized immigrants. The impact of this 

additional workload is mitigated by the rapid movement of customers to online services 

and efficiencies enabled by the streamlining and automation of processes. Also, faster than 

expected adoption of healthcare IT enables reduced administrative costs of disability 

programs.

A stronger economy and lower unemployment create hinder access to talent at the same 

time that the need for new skills increased with the more rapid progress toward electronic 

service delivery. This challenge is tempered somewhat by the improved perception of 

government as a place to work that follows from the development of a more positive 

political environment.

Scenario 3: Swimming Against the Current 

The service delivery environment in 2025 is characterized by a slow shift by citizens to 

online services. The slower shift to online services hinders the ability of agencies to reduce 

costs by consolidating physical infrastructure. Political resistance to field office closures 

further moderate what potential cost savings can be achieved. Planning and 

implementation of initiatives is hindered by budget uncertainty and the limited attention of 

leadership that is distracted by near-term crises. Adoption of healthcare IT is slow, 

constraining the potential for cost-savings and performance benefits. 

A negative political environment characterized by political polarization also hinders 

progress toward government-wide cybersecurity protections. However, slow movement to 

online services lessens the risk from cyber-attacks. 

There is little progress on other major policy issues; immigration reform is stalled. 

A weaker economy and higher rates of unemployment make it easier for agencies to hire 

skilled workers. This is tempered somewhat by a negative impression of government as a 

place to work. 

Scenario 4: Laying the Foundation

A more positive political environment develops in 2025, defined by less conflict over the 

role of government and greater focus on improved government performance. There is 

greater budget and operational certainty allowing for agency leaders to focus on pushing 

 

103 We use risk to mean probability times consequences. 
112

forward on cross-agency initiatives to rationalize and improve service delivery. While 

budgets remain tight overall, additional funding becomes available for advancing service 

delivery initiatives. 

Despite a supportive environment for rationalizing and improving service delivery, cost 

savings are limited by the slow movement of citizens to online services. Also, the adoption 

of healthcare IT remains slow, but investments continue to be made in the capacity needed 

to move forward as technology adoption by healthcare providers increases. 

By 2025, robust cybersecurity and identity management regimes are put in place, which 

reduce the risk of cyber-attacks in advance of the expected shift of more citizens to online 

services.

Immigration reform is passed. This adds significant new service demands in service 

delivery that remain relatively labor intensive. The impact of this additional workload is 

amplified by the slow movement of citizens to online service, which limits efficiencies and, 

therefore, resources available to respond to this increased demand.

 

Government access to a skilled labor is hindered by a stronger economy in 2025. This 

challenge is mitigated somewhat by an improved public perception of federal service as a 

career. 
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APPENDIX F: METHODOLOGY USED IN PHASE 2—VISION BUILDING 

HIGH-LEVEL SUMMARY OF STUDY TEAM’S APPROACH

The SSA Vision presented in Chapter 4 of this Report was extensively consulted with SSA 

executives during over 120 hours of discussions over the course of the Project’s Phase 1 

and 2. The agency offered the study team broad access to more than 70 leaders across all 

SSA components, including time with Acting Commissioner Colvin. Individual interviews 

with SSA executives were completed during the Project’s Phase 1 – Discovering the “As-is” 

State, during which interviewees were asked to share their views about the current state, 

as well as a long-term future vision. 

Furthermore, the study team convened 13 Vision Building Meetings (VBMs) with SSA 

component groups. Most VBMs were convened with the leadership team of one SSA 

component (e.g., Systems, Human Resources, Budget, ODAR, and the like), but a few smaller 

components were combined into one VBM in a few instances. During VBMs, the study 

team presented its futures research, which included the following points: high-level agency 

imperatives; predetermined variables impacting SSA’s long-term future; critical 

uncertainties with respect to the agency’s future; and an outline of four future scenarios 

intended to enhance a vision discussion. 

The majority of VBM time with each component was spent facilitating a discussion with 

SSA executives about vision. We invited participants to be creative in positing what the 

agency should look like and how it should deliver services in 2025-2030. Most of the VBMs 

were followed up with a second conference call meeting during which the study team 

reviewed a summary of what vision statements were made, asked for further input into the 

vision, and ensured a clear understanding of SSA’s vision ideas. 

Taking into account SSA’s input from both individual interviews and VBMs, and 

contributing its own vision insights, the study team and Panel, finalized a proposed Vision 

to SSA. The vision had three tiers. It consisted of a Vision Statement, seven Vision 

Components, and 29 Vision Elements divided into five categories. 

Focusing strictly on the 29 vision elements, the study team convened a day-long Vision 

Building Workshop at SSA’s headquarters on March 10, 2014, attended by 59 SSA 

executives. The workshop was used to systematically talk through and gain SSA feedback 

on the 29 originally proposed Vision Elements (neither the Vision Statement nor the seven 

Components were part of the workshop agenda). The workshop employed small 

discussion groups to consider all 29 Elements. The working group discussions resulted in 

SSA-proposed re-wording of some of the Panel- proposed Vision Elements, and deletion of 

two Elements. With intent to drive convergence around the Vision Elements, all 

participants were asked to vote (favorable, partially favorable, partially unfavorable or 

unfavorable) on the revised 27 Vision Elements. It was agreed with SSA that a favorable or 

partially favorable vote of at least 80 percent would be deemed to be an acceptable margin 

to signal agency concurrence. The workshop concluded with a greater than 80 percent 

positive vote for all 27 vision elements.
114

Given the fact that SSA executives converged on all 27 Vision Elements during the 

workshop, the study team and SSA determined that a meeting limited to Deputy 

Commissioners would convene to consider the Panel-proposed seven Vision Components 

and the Vision Statement. At this meeting on March 25, 2014, Deputy Commissioners 

accepted many of the Panel’s proposals, but did propose changes to a few of the Panelproposed Components. 

Concurrently to these meetings, the study team also convened meetings with several SSA 

employee associations, employee unions, the Social Security Advisory Board, and advocacy 

groups (by means of a Virtual Town Hall webinar)104 to review the proposed Vision 

Elements. These meetings were constructive in providing further feedback as the Vision 

was constructed.

After collecting all of the various comments and suggested revisions, the Panel reconvened 

in April to consider making changes to its original Vision Statement, Components, and 

Elements. In this regard, it is notable that the Panel and SSA’s executives were in 

fundamental agreement on virtually all vision points, with modest differences arising in a 

few points. The final Vision is found in Chapter 4. 

 

104 Advocacy groups that attended the webinar include: American Savings Education Council (ASEC), OWL:

The Voice of Midlife and Older Women, National Association of Insurance and Financial Aid, Consortium for 

People with Disabilities, AARP, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Arc of the United States, and 

American Payroll Association. 
115

APPENDIX G: METHODOLOGY USED IN PHASE 3 

BUILDING A HIGH-LEVEL STRATEGIC PLAN

SUMMARY OF STUDY TEAM’S APPROACH

With convergence achieved on a long-range vision, the project moved into Phase 3 - 

building the initial high-level strategies that to help SSA realize its long-range vision. In so 

doing, the study team honed in on five key operating challenges for focus during this phase 

of work: business process redesign; policy simplification/rationalization/clarification; 

legacy IT environment; shared services; and workforce. In order to systematically cover 

each of these focus areas, five focus group meetings – each called a Strategic Planning 

Session (SPS) - were convened with SSA executives and the Academy study team. 

Each SPS participant was charged to identify key strategic activities necessary for SSA to 

meet its mission in that particular focus area as articulated in the 2025-2030 vision. 

Participants were further urged to be guided by the biggest challenges and opportunities 

SSA faces with regard to three objectives and the tradeoffs they entail:

1. Meeting customer expectations (e.g., quality, timeliness, desired mode of delivery--

online, in-person, by phone, service channel integration); 

2. Delivering services in a cost-effective manner; and 

3. Maintaining the public trust (e.g., limiting waste, fraud and abuse; providing 

information security and protection of customers’ private information).

SPSs were structured with the following guidelines:

1. While each of the five SPS focus groups should have members from various 

components, it was not required that all components be represented in every focus 

group. Group diversity contributed to an integrated discussion with a wide variety 

of perspectives taken into account. 

2. Focus group members were selected with the understanding that they would have 

authority and knowledge requisite to represent their component effectively.

3. A focus group optimally should not exceed 14 members in order to enhance group 

discussion and productivity. 

4. Each SPS had read ahead documents that included guiding questions for meeting, 

summary of meeting objectives, and “as-is” state observations from Phase 1 of the 

project. 

5. A second convened for two focus areas.

6. The Academy recommended that SSA consider naming individuals to participate in 

each focus group who might need to continue working together for a longer period 

on the topic. This recommendation reflects that Panel’s general view that the work 

of a coordinated strategic plan, with the granularity that will be required, is not 

likely to be finished as quickly as a few months that remain in the Academy project’s 

timeline.
116

7. The Academy recommended that SSA designate at least one person to participate in 

each SPS so that there is some degree of agency understanding about how all of the 

SPS work progressed.

The study team met with five groups of SSA executives to cover the following operational 

challenges. 

1. Business Process Redesign, Automation, and IT

This focus area includes strategies for business process redesign, automation and other IT 

applications related to electronic service delivery; work processes; and the virtual 

organization of work (through “portability” and telework). 

2. Policy Simplification, Rationalization, and Clarification

This focus presumes a number of possibilities, including not only the simplification of SSA 

policies, but also the harmonization of SSA and other government agency policies. It also 

allows for the possibility that existing policies, properly understood, may serve adequately.

3. Legacy IT Environment

This focus includes strategies related to developing new systems/migrating from legacy 

systems, (e.g., data management/access and core processing systems), as well as strategies 

to improve other fundamental capabilities, such as data security and electronic data 

exchange.

4. Shared Services 

This focus area includes identifying the most optimal uses of shared services, recognizing 

here are opportunities for utilizing a shared services model within the regional structures 

(sharing support functions), at the agency level (looking across components) and at a 

government-wide model (an agency provides support services across government.) Key 

elements to this discussion will focus on considering where it is appropriate and most 

beneficial to apply a shared services model to support functions. 

5. Workforce

This focus area includes such things as flexibilities in hiring, job definition, and skill sets 

needed to support service delivery improvement initiatives. Discussion will include the 

most effective strategies to ensure that SSA has the employees it needs with the necessary 

skill sets for achieving the agency’s long-range vision.

The following questions were put to SPS participants in advance to guide and enhance 

individual meeting preparation:

1. What are the strategies needed to achieve the vision with respect to this focus 

area?

2. What is realistic to get done in 5 years? 10 years? How do these ideas add to, or 

change, the Agency Strategic Plan for 2014-2018? 
117

3. Are these strategies dependent on internal or external actions (perhaps beyond 

2025)? What can be done in the meantime to lay the foundations for more fully 

implementing the strategy later?

4. What parts of the organization are critical for success of implementing the 

strategy? 

5. What external stakeholders need to be engaged?

6. What are the workforce needs (e.g., recruitment and retention, training, skillsets, 

labor relations) to accomplish this?

7. Are organizational changes needed to accomplish this (working relationships, 

business processes, policy simplification)?

8. What are the physical infrastructure implications of these strategies?

9. What are the anticipated obstacles and proposed solutions or strategies to deal 

with these issues? 

Each meeting concluded with a summary of key points that were made by the group, and, 

in a few cases, an additional meeting or written correspondence followed to facilitate 

clarity and facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of SSA’s views. In total, more 

than 45 different SSA executives participated in SPS meetings.
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APPENDIX H: SUMMARY OF HIGH-LEVEL STRATEGIC PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS AND 

ACTIONS 

The high-level strategic plan is divided into four categories and contains 29 

recommendations. Many recommendations are accompanied by suggested actions.

SERVICES 

Focus Area 1: Develop a more cost-effective service delivery system that is primarily 

virtual, but includes personal service delivery options as necessary and appropriate. 

Recommendation 1: Extend and improve virtual service delivery. 

Actions:

• Improve online services through the use of rules-engine driven applications and 

automatic verification of customer data. 

• Integrate online services with virtual options for direct assistance. 

Recommendation 2: Rationalize in-person service delivery in the field. 

Actions:

• Extend self-service and videoconference delivery options to mitigate in-person 

workload in the field (near-term action). 

• Improve technology support to make in-person service more efficient. 

• Explore options for partnering in the provision of in-person service delivery. 

Recommendation 3: Develop a plan to accelerate the movement of customers to 

virtual service delivery channels. 

Action:

• Undertake a study to identify options for moving customers to virtual service 

options.

Focus Area 2: Strengthen capacities needed to guide process improvement and 

automation. 

Recommendation 4: Undertake a comprehensive policy review. 

Actions:

• Identify an initial set of policy changes offering the greatest potential to advance 

strategic objectives. 
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• Determine what changes would require statutory or other legislative action and 

what changes are within the agency’s discretion. 

• Identify technical challenges and opportunities presented by proposed policy 

changes. 

• Group policy changes with respect to their potential to advance strategic 

objectives and the relative likelihood and timeframe of achieving changes. 

• Engage groups of internal and external stakeholders to lay the ground work for 

priority policy changes.

Recommendation 5: Develop a business intelligence strategy. 

Actions:

• Develop an inventory of data. 

• Identify those data elements needed to support key decision making and service 

delivery requirements. 

• Connect business intelligence efforts to investment management process. 

• Establish a data governance process. 

• Establish a data hub within the agency to help channel and integrate agency data 

quality and business intelligence efforts. 

• Identify and target data analytic skills needed in the workforce.

(INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY) INFRASTRUCTURE

Focus Area 3: Improve access to data to enable enhanced online service delivery, 

electronic data exchange, and data analytics. 

Recommendation 6: Identify a portfolio of investments to improve data access 

guided by the agency’s business intelligence strategy.

Action:

• Investments should be planned and readied for execution as funding becomes 

available and as other windows of opportunity open, such as the need to replace 

at-risk legacy systems. 

Focus Area 4: Strengthen investment management process. 

Recommendation 7: Institutionalize the enterprise portfolio management process. 

Actions:

• Initiate a regular process for educating executives serving on SSA’s Strategic 

Investment and Review board (which manages across portfolios) to ensure that 
121

they understand the principles of portfolio management and understand their 

role and responsibilities. 

• Professionalize the management of individual portfolios by providing more indepth training to executives serving in this role.

Recommendation 8: Strengthen the capacity of business customers to develop 

projects. 

Action:

• Continue to build the capacity within Operations to translate new service 

delivery ideas into clear business requirements needed to guide investment 

planning process.

Recommendation 9: Ensure that IT program management teams include strong 

representatives from business customer components. 

Recommendation 10: Strategically use contractors to support program management 

teams and to build program management capacity over time.

Recommendation 11: Incorporate enterprise-level requirements in software 

development life cycle framework. 

PEOPLE 

Focus Area 5: Attract and retain high-quality employees for 2025. 

Recommendation 12: Continue to attract talent that believes in SSA’s mission and 

public service. 

Action: 

• Develop effective recruitment strategies by highlighting SSA’s special mission, its 

broad impacts on the country, and the value of public service. 

Recommendation 13: Build sustainable talent pipelines to support SSA service 

delivery. 

Actions:

• Continue the agency’s efforts of attracting high-quality entry-level employees by 

developing robust internship programs and partnerships with 

colleges/universities.

• Engage and retain highly-skilled older workers to address projected labor 

shortages and maintain institutional knowledge.
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• Recruit for innovative thinking at all levels and incorporate managerial 

competencies as quality ranking factors in selection for mid-level and seniorlevel positions. 

• Open mid-level and senior-level positions to external candidates, once the 

agency has exhausted all opportunities to promote qualified internal candidates. 

Recommendation 14: Create learning and development opportunities to support 

employee retention. 

Actions: 

• Establish a formal mentoring program to enhance organizational and individual 

development.

• Take an analytics approach to better assess the training needs at the agency 

level as well as the individual level.

• Develop individual development plans to support employee growth.

• Expand the agency’s virtual training and career development initiatives to meet 

the changing needs of its employees in 2025.

Recommendation 15: Use flexible work arrangements (FWA) as a strategic 

recruitment and retention tool. 

Actions:

• Foster a culture that not only accepts, but also encourages, employees to 

participate in FWA programs.

• Build new leadership skillsets to keep employees motivated and engaged in a 

virtual environment.

• Conduct a thorough review of the current IT security weaknesses and develop 

solutions, and invest in the technologies/equipment needed for telework.

• Provide training to help employees understand FWA policies and performance 

expectations, and develop skillsets required to work remotely. 

• Include unions in the designing and implementing process of FWAs. 

Focus Area 6: Develop an agile workforce to support the agency’s integrated service 

delivery model. 

Recommendation 16: Develop a more flexible position and grade structure that 

better reflects the work of SSA today and in the future. 

Actions: 

• Continue to review position descriptions to identify the positions that should be 

combined or eliminated.
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• Adopt a consistent GS grade structure for frontline positions across the agency. 

• Work with the OPM to ensure relevant classification standards are up-to-date 

and better match the new service delivery model.

• Consult unions and other key stakeholders when making changes to the position 

and grade structure. 

Recommendation 17: Embrace a “Career Lattice” concept to offer employees 

multiple career development paths. 

Action: 

• Develop more flexible policies and structures that enable employees to move 

across components more easily.

Recommendation 18: Recruit and develop employees with strong problem solving 

and analytical skills. 

Actions: 

• Develop competency models for future service delivery methods to support 

refined qualification standards as needed.

• Implement cross-training programs to broaden employee skillsets. 

• Provide more cross-component or HQ/field offices rotation assignments.

Recommendation 19: Use analytics to anticipate changing workforce needs. 

Actions: 

• Continue to develop the Retirement Wave Reports to better predict employee 

attrition.

• Use predictive workforce analytics to anticipate the agency’s changing needs and 

make workforce decisions accordingly.

Focus Area 7: Expand a results-oriented performance measurement system. 

Recommendation 20: Build on agency best practices to identify and measure 

outcomes. 

Actions: 

• Link individual performance goals to the agency’s overall mission. 

• Review and revise performance appraisal elements and standards to emphasize 

achieving results. 

• Engage labor unions early in the process to build employee buy-in for the 

results-oriented performance measurement system.
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Recommendation 21: Use performance data to support management decisions. 

Action: 

• Strengthen the agency’s capacity to effectively capture and analyze performance 

information to support decision making.

Focus Area 8: Reduce cost and increase flexibility via shared support services. 

Recommendation 22: Identify the need and opportunity for streamlining and 

consolidating support functions.

Action:

• Conduct a comprehensive review of the current field structure, the anticipated 

vacancies, and the most crucial vulnerabilities that these vacancies will create. 

Recommendation 23 Build a common understanding of shared support services. 

Action:

• Establish communication and knowledge management strategies for formal 

expansion of shared support services within the agency.

Recommendation 24: Develop standard process steps to establish formal shared 

support service agreements. 

Action:

• Develop a business case to provide context and clarity about why an initiative 

should be pursued and include background and supporting data; cost benefit 

analysis; clear recommendations for development of agreements; and next steps 

and timelines. 

Recommendation 25: Focus on accountability of shared support services initiatives. 

Action:

• Develop a tracking tool to monitor current and future shared service initiatives 

in order to provide continuous feedback and course correction as necessary.

Recommendation 26: Identify and embrace key flexibilities needed to enable the 

strategic expansion of shared support services model.

Action:

• Begin with straightforward flexibilities such extended business hours to 

accommodate all relevant time zones and increased physical presence of 

employees where needed. 
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PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Focus Area 9: Capitalize on existing facilities planning resources. 

Recommendation 27: Continue to conduct needs assessment and expand planning 

activities.

Actions:

• Utilize updated space allocation standards to guide decision making in order to 

ensure efficient use of space.

• Build on the Real Property Plan to expand efforts to streamline facilities while 

improving service.

Focus Area 10: Strategically engage all stakeholder groups in facilities planning.

Recommendation 28: Coordinate with service delivery plan development. 

Action:

• Include representation from the HQ Office of Facilities and Supply Management; 

Operations - Office of Public Service and Operations Support; Disability 

Adjudication and Review – Facilities; and Security within the Office of Disability 

Adjudication and Review functions to integrate development of service delivery 

plan initiatives with strategic planning of physical infrastructure activities. 

Recommendation 29: Coordinate and expand outreach strategy. 

Actions:

• Develop a continuous and routine engagement strategy with Congress and other 

key stakeholders in order to anticipate and mitigate challenges or opposition to 

office closures. 
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APPENDIX I:ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE READINESS FRAMEWORK

The Organizational Change Readiness Framework reflects the amalgamation of areas for critical focus according to multiple change experts. This chart 

illustrates the common areas of importance found in all three change readiness best practice lists and the colors in the grid all represent the Key Success 

Indicators developed as overarching themes with details relevant to SSA listed in the charts on page 117-119. 

References

GAO Report to Congressional Subcommittees, Results Oriented Cultures: Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers & Organizational Transformations, GAO-03-669, July 2003

Cohen, Dan and Kotter, John. “The Heart of Change.” Boston, Harvard Business School Press, 2002.

Transforming Organizations. Edited by Marc A. Abrahamson and Paul R. Lawrence, Lanham, MD. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2001. 

Transforming Organizations* 

(Abramson/Lawrence)

Heart of Change*

(Kotter/Cohen)

Implementation Steps to Assist Mergers

and Organizational Transformations*

(GAO July 2003)

Key Success Indicators

Select the right person Create a sense of urgency so that people start telling 

each other “Let’s go, we need to change things!”

Ensure top leadership drives the transformation.

Clarify the mission Pull together a guiding team powerful enough to 

guide a big change.

Establish a coherent mission and integrated 

strategic goals to guide the transformation.

Get the structure right Create clear, simple, uplifting visions and sets of 

strategies.

Focus on a key set of principles and priorities at 

the outset of the transformation.

Seize the moment (urgency / right time) Communicate the vision through simple, heartfelt 

messages sent through multiple channels so that 

people begin to buy into the change.

Set implementation goals and a timeline to build 

momentum and show progress from day one.

Communicate, communicate, communicate Empower people by removing obstacles to the 

vision.

Dedicate an implementation team to manage the 

transformation process.

Involve key players Create short-term wins that provide momentum. Use the performance management system to 

define responsibility and assure accountability for 

change.

Engage employees Maintain momentum so that wave after wave of 

change is possible.

Establish a communication strategy to create 

shared expectations and report related progress.

Persevere Make change stick by nurturing a new culture. Involve employees to obtain their ideas and gain 

their ownership for the transformation.
128

Organization Transformation* 

Key Success Indicators 

SSA 

What’s going well? What are current challenges? 

Ensure top leadership drives the 

transformation

• Current Acting Commissioner is committed 

to transformation process. 

• SSA re-established Office of the Chief 

Strategic Officer (OCSO).

• Commissioner is not confirmed – not always able

to fully execute transformation due to the 

limitations of acting status. 

Establish a clear vision and integrated

strategic transformation goals 

• SSA established the OCSO to infuse strategic 

thinking into the culture, promote 

innovation, and achieve program 

performance improvements. 

• SSA has established the Executive Vision 

Council. 

• Many decisions are still being made based on 

attrition and management is done in response to 

crisis.

• There is still some lack of clarity about how the 

Chief Strategy Office is integrating this 

information and interacting across DCs interacting 

with interacting with RCs on these issues.

• The links between IT decisions, business needs 

and long-term strategy development are unclear. 

Design the organizational structure that 

will enable the vision

• SSA recently added DC-level Strategy 

function to develop long-range vision and 

high-level strategic plan. 

• SSA engaged the Academy to assist in the 

development of a long-range vision and highlevel strategy. 

• Recent shifts in reporting relationships in 

Systems, HR, Finance have been done with 

the goal of improving efficiencies 

• Vision is not currently identified or articulated. 

• Occasional disconnects between HQ and Regional 

Support functions have occurred due to reporting 

relationships (e.g., HR functions at field level 

report to DC Operations, not DC for HR). 

• Duplicative support functions exist in field 

structure and HQ. 

• There is lack of action-oriented coordination and 

communication across DCs. 

• SSA did not develop a management plan that 

describes the challenges associated with the 

IT/Systems DC realignment or how to resolve 

them. 

• Structure currently supports stovepiped 

components and segregated, geographically 

defined regional structure.

1

2

3
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Organization Transformation* 

Key Success Indicators 

SSA 

What’s going well? What are current challenges? 

Create a sense of urgency, implement a 

timeline, and show progress from day 

one

• There is an increased level of attention being 

paid to strategic planning and performance 

measurement. 

• The DC level strategic planning function 

shows illustrates the urgency for 

transformation. 

• Strategic Planning has been limited to 5 year 

increments, yet planning for 2025 requires 

advanced planning that needs to start now. 

• SITAR process makes it very difficult to act 

quickly and respond to evolving customer needs. 

Communicate frequently through 

multiple channels to multiple 

stakeholders

• Engagement takes place in weekly DC 

meetings. 

• Engagement takes place in weekly RC 

meetings. 

• SSA conducts quarterly In-person meetings. 

• Strong informal communications occur 

across DCs and Regions. 

• Internal Communication initiatives (Ideascale 

and Twitter chats) have garnered important 

feedback from stakeholders. 

• DC meetings need to be more action oriented; they 

are very tactical and don’t always encourage DCs 

to be thinking strategically 

• One component often is unaware of what is 

happening in another component due to siloed 

activities and communication. 

Dedicate a powerful implementation 

guidance team to manage the 

transformation process

• OCSO recognized the need for 

transformation and has dedicated resources 

to the initiative. 

• Strategic planning at DC levels is driving

process change. 

• There is still a lack of clarity around the role of the 

Strategy office and how it will integrate across DCs 

and throughout the organization.

• There is no implementation guidance team as of 

yet.

Engage employees to seek their 

improvement ideas, build momentum, 

and gain their ownership for the 

transformation

• SSA analyzes results of Federal Employee 

Viewpoint Survey. 

• SSA holds Quarterly Operations Executive 

Meetings with Agenda items submitted, 

providing opportunity for regional leadership 

to provide improvement ideas. 

• SSA conducts Ideascale initiatives to solicit 

feedback from employees. 

• The formal process for ideas from front line staff

is not clear. 

• Systems has expressed that they look to 

Operations to for direction to move forward on 

improving service delivery and Operations 

similarly discusses the need for input from Systems 

before moving forward, creating impasses on 

activity.

4

5

6

7
130

Organization Transformation* 

Key Success Indicators 

SSA 

What’s going well? What are current challenges? 

Sustain the effort by nurturing a new 

culture, rewarding risk, and measuring 

progress

• Training details offer employees 

opportunities to step outside their comfort 

zone and to take risks as they learn. 

• Constrained resource environment is 

challenging employees to think in new ways. 

• Organizational culture is extremely risk averse, wed 

to doing things as they have always been done, 

relying on transactional success to validate 

managed risk taking.

• Efforts of strategic planning have been incremental 

and take place in “fits and starts” with little 

sustained activity. 

* Transforming to a more agile and responsive organization that can meet achieve the long-range vision for 2025 - 2030.

8
131

APPENDIX J: ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

ASP Agency Strategic Plan 2014-2018

CDR Continuing Disability Review

CIO Chief Information Officer

DC Deputy Commissioner

DCPS Disability Case Processing System

DDS Disability Determination Services

DI Disability Insurance

FEVS Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey

FO Field Office

FWA Flexible Work Arrangement

GAO Government Accountability Office

GPRA Government Performance and Results Act 

GS General Schedule 

HHS Department of Health and Human Services

HIT Health Information Technology

IDP Individual Development Plan

IRM Information Resource Management 

KSI Key Success Indicators

MI Management Information

MADAM Master Data Access Method 

NACE National Association of Colleges and Employers

NCSL National Conference of State Legislatures

OASDI Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance 

OBFQM Office of Budget, Finance, Quality, and Management

OCSO Office of the Chief Strategic Officer

ODAR Office of Disability and Adjudication Review 

OEST Office of Electronic Services and Technology

OLCA Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs

OPM Office of Personnel Management 

OS Office of Systems

ORDP Office of Retirement and Disability Policy 

OSHCM Office of Strategic Human Capital Management 

PIN Personal Identification Number

PMO Project Management Office

PSC Program Service Center

POMS Program Operations Manual System

RC Regional Commissioner

RRB Railroad Retirement Board 

SITAR Strategic Investment and Review 

SPS Strategic Planning Session

SSAB Social Security Advisory Board

SSI Supplemental Security Income

SSN Social Security Number
132

SSNVS Social Security Number Verification Service

TSC Teleservice Center

VA Department of Veterans Affairs

VBM Vision Building Meeting