Unlike the Internal Revenue Service or the U.S. Postal Service, whichhas struggled to keep up with customer demands, SSA has a long history ofproviding services that are right on target for an aging population. Andbecause of its special status, SSA has defied budget cuts, controversiesand efforts to privatize it. William Halter, the deputy SSA commissioner for electronic services. Since he took office last December, Halter has been pushing the technologyenvelope as far as it can go. More than 500,000 people have used it to helpcalculate benefits before they retire.
Individuals can download and installa software program to customize their estimates.
Online Medicare card replacement, which has been available since July. It offersinformation on everything from training programs for people with disabilitiesto tax incentives for employers who hire them. For example, SSA is consideringa pilot project for seat management at its national computer center in Woodlawn,Md., which manages 80,000 seats nationwide. If SSA decides to go ahead withthe project, it would join just a handful of agencies testing the relativelynew idea of outsourcing the ownership and management of desktop computers. SSA hopes to launch the pilot project within the next year, but theagency is not certain that seat management is the way to go.