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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 11 (Friday, January 17, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6043-6044]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01155]

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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

[Docket No. SSA 2024-0045]

Notice of Tier Subscription Expansion and Fee Decrease for Our 
Electronic Consent Based Social Security Number Verification Service

AGENCY: Social Security Administration.

ACTION: Notice of Tier Subscription Expansion and Fee Decrease for the 
Electronic Consent Based Social Security Number Verification Service.

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SUMMARY: The Social Security Administration (SSA) is announcing two 
additional subscription tiers and a decrease in the fees across all 
tiers for the electronic Consent Based Social Security Number (SSN) 
Verification (eCBSV) service. In accordance with statutory 
requirements, a permitted entity (PE) is required to provide payment to 
reimburse SSA for the development and support of the eCBSV system.

DATES: The revised subscription tier structure will go into effect for 
subscription payments made on or after February 3, 2025.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Worstell, Office of Data 
Exchange, Policy Publications, and International Negotiations, Social 
Security Administration, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 
21235-6401, (866) 395-8801, email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 215 of the Economic Growth, 
Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act \1\ (the Banking Bill) 
directed SSA to modify or develop a database for accepting and 
comparing fraud protection data \2\ provided electronically by a PE.\3\ 
In response to this statutory directive, we created eCBSV, a fee-based 
SSN verification service. The eCBSV allows SSA to verify and disclose 
to a PE, based on the number holder's consent,\4\ whether a number 
holder's SSN, name, and date of birth match SSA's records. The PE's 
request for SSA's verification of the fraud protection data must be in 
connection with a credit transaction or a circumstance described in 
section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Each PE must submit a 
certification statement \5\ that the PE is compliant with the Banking 
Bill as part of their application to SSA.
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    \1\ Public Law 115-174, codified at 42 U.S.C. 405b.
    \2\ The Banking Bill defines ``Fraud Protection Data'' to mean a 
combination of an individual's name (including the first name and 
any family forename or surname), SSN, and date of birth (including 
month, day, and year). Public Law 115-174, title II, 215(b)(3), 
codified at 42 U.S.C. 405b(b)(3).
    \3\ The Banking Bill defines a PE to mean a financial 
institution or service provider, subsidiary, affiliate, agent, 
subcontractor, or assignee of a financial institution. Public Law 
115-174, title II, 215(b)(4), codified at 42 U.S.C. 405b(b)(4). They 
must possess an Employer Identification Number and a Data Universal 
Number System (DUN) and Bradstreet number.
    \4\ Under the eCBSV User Agreement, valid written consent must 
meet the requirements of applicable Federal law, SSA's regulations, 
and section IV of the eCBSV User Agreement. Valid written consent 
must include a wet or electronic signature. Section IV A.1. eCBSV 
User Agreement. Electronic signatures must meet the definition in 
section 106 of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National 
Commerce Act (15 U.S.C. 7006). 42 U.S.C. 405b(f)(2); section IV. E. 
eCBSV User Agreement. The written consent must clearly specify to 
whom the information may be disclosed, the information to be 
disclosed (e.g., SSN verification) and, where applicable, during 
which timeframe the information may be disclosed (e.g., whenever the 
subject individual is receiving specific services). 20 CFR 401.100.
    \5\ The PE must certify that (1) the entity is a PE; (2) the 
entity is in compliance with section 215; (3) the entity is, and 
will remain, in compliance with its privacy and data security 
requirements in title V of 15 U.S.C. 6801, et seq., with respect to 
the information the entity receives from the Commissioner of Social 
Security pursuant to this section; and (4) the entity will retain 
sufficient records to demonstrate its compliance with its 
certification and section 215 for a period of not less than 2 years. 
42 U.S.C. 405b(e)(1)-(3).
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    Based on feedback from PEs received by email and during monthly 
direct PE conference calls, we are adding two additional tiers for 
purchase within the eCBSV program. We are adding a new smaller eCBSV 
tier capped at a maximum of 75,000 transactions to better serve smaller 
eCBSV customers. This addition will give smaller PEs additional and 
more affordable tier options. Additionally, we are adding a new eCBSV 
tier capped at 500,000 maximum transactions. These new tiers allow us 
to maintain our pricing structure and provide small and medium 
customers an avenue to directly use the eCBSV service instead of having 
to go through a third-party service. We anticipate that this new fee 
structure will incentivize higher transactional volume. In addition, we 
are decreasing the annual fee for all tiers, which we explain in more 
detail in the Fees section below.

Fees

    The public cost burden is dependent upon the number of PEs using 
the service and the annual transaction volume. We based the revised 
tier fee schedule below on 20 participating PEs in fiscal year (FY) 
2025. The total cost for developing and operating the service is 
approximately $66.5 million through FY 2024. Of this amount, $25.7 
million remains unrecovered. The subscription fees are set to ensure we 
collect these remaining costs in a reasonably timely manner to ensure 
that we break-even on prior year and ongoing costs for the development 
and operation of the program. By breaking even, we mean that we will 
have collected enough revenue to fully cover our costs of developing 
and operating the eCBSV service. Assuming projected enrollment and 
transactions are met,\6\ we will collect the outstanding balance of 
$25.7 million through FY 2027. Upon breaking even, we will further 
adjust our fee structure to ensure that ongoing costs of the program 
are covered.
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    \6\ Our projected enrollment is 20 PEs each year and a total 
annual usage of 58 million transactions per year. These figures 
align with reported usage in the last few years.
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    During our evaluation for FY 2025, we noted the following:
     We collected approximately $16.1 million in FY 2024.
     Operating costs of approximately $5 million per year in FY 
2023 and FY 2024 continued to be lower than historic

[[Page 6044]]

costs. (Currently, we project operating costs will continue at this 
rate).
     We have fully recovered all prior year costs incurred 
during FY 2020 and earlier.
     We are on track in FY 2025, assuming current usage and fee 
collection continues, to fully recover costs incurred during FY 2021.
     While our break-even is scheduled for FY 2027, our current 
fee structure could see significant surplus funds in that year, without 
changes to the fees.
    Based on this information, specifically the last bullet above, and 
being mindful of our eCBSV customers, we evaluated opportunities to 
reduce fees across all tiers in a manner that provides some cost 
relief, maintains our current projected break-even timeline of FY 2027, 
and continues the collection of prior year costs in a reasonably timely 
manner.
    Our long-term goal, once we break-even, is to only collect fees to 
cover our ongoing operating costs. Rather than postponing cost relief 
until that point, we evaluated the relevant information and determined 
that we could provide a fee reduction now, while staying on target for 
our cost recovery goals.

                     Revised eCBSV Tier Fee Schedule
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              Tier               Annual volume threshold    Annual fee
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1..............................  Up to 10,000 (1-10,000)          $6,650
2..............................  Up to 75,000 (10,001-            49,500
                                  75,000).
3..............................  Up to 200,000 (75,001-          125,000
                                  200,000).
4..............................  Up to 500,000 (200,001-         308,750
                                  500,000).
5..............................  Up to 1 million                 610,000
                                  (500,001-1 million).
6..............................  Up to 2.5 million             1,210,000
                                  (1,000,001-2.5
                                  million).
7..............................  Up to 5 million               2,350,000
                                  (2,500,001-5 million).
8..............................  Up to 10 million              4,275,000
                                  (5,000,001-10 million).
9..............................  Up to 15 million              4,750,000
                                  (10,000,001-15
                                  million).
10.............................  Up to 20 million              5,937,500
                                  (15,000,001-20
                                  million).
11.............................  Up to 25 million              6,887,500
                                  (20,000,001-25
                                  million).
12.............................  Up to 200 million             7,837,500
                                  (25,000,001-200
                                  million).
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    Each enrolled PE will be required to remit the above tier-based 
subscription fee for the 365-day agreement period starting on or after 
February 3, 2025.
    Our eCBSV fees are designed to recover prior year costs timely as 
we look to break-even, while ensuring that we can cover ongoing 
operating costs. Agency costs and future year cost estimates are based 
on actual and forecasted systems and operational expenses, agency 
oversight, overhead, and certified public accountant audit contract 
costs. Section 215(h)(1)(B) of the Banking Bill (42 U.S.C. 405b(h)) 
requires that the Commissioner shall ``periodically adjust'' the price 
paid by users to ensure that amounts collected are sufficient to fully 
offset the costs of administering the eCBSV system. On at least an 
annual basis, SSA will monitor costs incurred to provide eCBSV services 
and will revise the tier fee schedule accordingly. We notify PEs of the 
tier fee schedule in effect at the renewal of eCBSV user agreements, 
when a PE begins a new 365-day agreement period, and via notice in the 
Federal Register. PE renewals are governed by the tier fee schedule in 
effect at the time of renewal.

Sean Brune,
Deputy Commissioner, Office of Budget, Finance, and Management, Social 
Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2025-01155 Filed 1-16-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P
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