Social Security Administration Field Offices: Reduced Workforce Faces Challenges as Baby Boomers Retire
Published: 2008-05-08T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: Millions of people rely on the services of Social Security Administration (SSA) field offices. In fiscal year 2007, SSA's approximately 1,300 field offices provided service to about 42 million customers. People use these offices to apply for Social Security cards, apply for retirement and disability benefits, establish direct deposit, and a host of other services. While customers may conduct their business using SSA's online, telephone, or other service options, many prefer the personalized contact provided in field offices. Over the last several years, staffing reductions have challenged field offices' ability to manage work, while continuing to deliver quality customer service. To assess how field offices are managing these challenges, GAO was asked to determine (1) the effect that reduced staffing levels may be having on field office operations and (2) the challenges that SSA faces in meeting future service delivery needs. This statement is drawn from GAO's ongoing study on field offices for the committee, which is expected to be issued later this year. To conduct this work, GAO interviewed SSA officials in headquarters, and other components, and analyzed various data on SSA's workloads and other data. In commenting on a draft of this testimony, SSA said that GAO understated the connection between staffing stresses from increased work demands and the agency's funding shortfalls.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: SSA field offices largely met work demands between fiscal years 2005 and 2007 despite operating with fewer staff and an increased demand for services, but staffing reductions may have had some adverse effects. Field offices were able to minimize the impact of staffing reductions on work because staff productivity increased by 4.9 percent. SSA and its field offices used various strategies to manage its work with fewer staff. Field offices shared work among offices and redirected staff to meet critical needs. SSA also encouraged customers to make greater use of Internet and other electronic services. Additionally, SSA deferred work that it deemed a relatively low priority, such as conducting reviews of beneficiaries' continuing eligibility. Deferring these reviews, means that beneficiaries who no longer qualify for benefits may still receive payments--which may decrease SSA's chances of recovering the erroneous payments. Despite SSA efforts to manage the staffing reductions, customers experienced longer waiting times and more unanswered calls to field offices, according to SSA data. Also, staff reported experiencing high stress levels and insufficient time for training. Growth in claims from the nation's baby boomers and a retirement wave of its most experienced staff may pose serious challenges for SSA if the agency does not have a clear plan. The first wave of approximately 80 million baby boomers is reaching the age of retirement eligibility, and SSA estimates that retirement and disability filings will increase the agency's work by approximately 1 million annual claims by 2017. To further compound this challenge, SSA projects that 44 percent of its workforce will retire by 2016. Because retirements will occur among the agency's most experienced staff, this will have a serious impact on field offices' institutional knowledge. SSA is planning on hiring an additional 2,350 new employees this fiscal year for regional and field office operations, almost all of whom will go to the field offices. Agency officials stated, however, that it typically takes 2 to 3 years for staff to gain the experience they need to function independently. SSA is using various strategies to recruit new employees to fill knowledge gaps. SSA is finalizing its Annual Strategic Plan which will describe the agency's strategies for addressing these issues.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: I am pleased to be here today to discuss the state of Social Security  Administration (SSA) field office services. SSA’s approximately 1,300 field  offices are a vital component of SSA’s operations, serving approximately  42 million customers in fiscal year 2007. Employing slightly less than half  of the agency’s 64,000 employees, field offices serve as SSA’s primary  points for face-to-face contact with the public. People visit their local field  offices to apply for Social Security cards and for Social Security benefits,  to request replacement benefit checks, and for a host of other services.  SSA has served the public for over 70 years. Recent staffing reductions are  increasingly challenging field offices’ ability to meet the demand for  services. My remarks today will address (1) the effect that staffing  reductions may be having on field office operations and (2) the challenges  SSA faces in meeting field service delivery needs in the future.
My written statement is based on our ongoing work for this committee,  and we will provide you a full report later this year. To conduct our work,  we interviewed SSA headquarters officials responsible for operations,  budget, and strategic and human capital planning and obtained relevant  documentation. We interviewed managers and staff in 21 field offices and  two Social Security Card Centers to gain their perspectives on the effect of  staffing reductions. We selected a wide variety of the field offices based on  the size of the populations they served, their geographic location, the  number of staff, and customer wait times. Table 7 lists the field offices we  visited and their beneficiary populations. To gain further perspectives on  the effect of field office staffing reductions, we interviewed officials in two  SSA regional offices and three area offices. To assess field office waiting  times, SSA provided us summary data. As we are currently in the process  of completing our work, we have not yet validated SSA’s waiting time data.  Our work is being conducted in accordance with generally accepted  government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and  perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a  reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit  objectives.
In summary, SSA field offices largely met work demands despite operating  with fewer staff and an increased demand for services, but the lower  staffing levels may have contributed to adverse effects. Field offices were  able to minimize the impact of staffing reductions on work because staff  productivity increased by 4.9 percent. SSA and its field offices used  various strategies to manage its work with fewer staff. Field offices shared  work among offices and redirected staff from their usual responsibilities  to meet critical needs. SSA also encouraged customers to make greater  use of Internet and other electronic services to conduct their business.  Additionally, SSA deferred work that it deemed a relatively low priority,  such as conducting reviews of beneficiaries’ continuing eligibility.  Deferring these reviews, however, means that beneficiaries who no longer  qualify for benefits may still receive payments—which may decrease SSA’s  chances of recovering the erroneous payments. Despite SSA efforts to  manage the staffing reductions, customers are experiencing longer waiting  times and poor telephone service, according to SSA data. Between fiscal  years 2002 and 2006, SSA reported that the average waiting time for field  office service increased by 40 percent from about 15 minutes to 21  minutes, and in fiscal year 2007, more than 3 million customers waited for  over 1 hour to be served. Further, SSA’s 2007 Field Office Caller Survey  found that 51 percent of customer calls to field offices went unanswered.  These factors may have contributed to a 4 percent drop in SSA’s overall  customer satisfaction rating from fiscal year 2005 to 2007. In addition, staff  reported high levels of stress and a lack of time for training.
As the oldest of the nation’s approximately 80 million baby boomers are  now reaching the age of retirement eligibility, increases in retirement and  disability filings and a significant retirement wave of SSA’s most  experienced staff may pose difficult challenges for SSA to meet future  service delivery needs without a clear plan for addressing them. SSA  estimates that retirement and disability filings will increase the agency’s  work by about 1 million annual claims by 2017. Further, SSA will  experience an agencywide retirement wave in the coming years, and  projects that 44 percent of its staff will retire by 2016. The retiring  employees will be among the agency’s most experienced who account for  decades of institutional knowledge. However, with an increase in its fiscal  year 2008 funding, SSA is planning to hire an additional 2,350 staff in its  regional and field offices this fiscal year, almost all of whom will go to  field offices. Agency officials stated, however, that it typically takes 2 to 3  years for staff to gain the experience they need to function independently.  SSA is using various strategies to recruit new staff, including programs to  hire and retain older workers to fill knowledge gaps. SSA is currently  working to finalize its Annual Strategic Plan that is expected to describe  the strategies for addressing these challenges.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: Almost all Americans have sought the services of SSA at some point in  their lives, and for many, their first experience is applying for a Social  Security number (SSN). SSA offers a range of services, which includes  providing financial assistance to eligible individuals through the following  three major benefit programs:    Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) provides benefits to retired  workers and their families and to survivors of deceased workers;   Disability Insurance (DI) provides benefits to eligible workers who have  qualifying disabilities, and their eligible family members; and    Supplemental Security Income (SSI) provides income for aged, blind, or  disabled individuals with limited income and resources.
In fiscal year 2007, these three benefit programs provided a combined total  of approximately $613 billion to about 54 million beneficiaries. SSA  projects that the benefit payments and number of beneficiaries for the  three programs will increase in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 (see tables 1 and  2).
Besides paying benefits through these three programs, SSA issues Social  Security cards, maintains earnings records, and performs various other  functions through a network of field office and headquarters operations  using an administrative budget of over $10 billion. SSA’s field operations  consist of  field offices, which serve as the agency’s primary points for face-to-face  contact, perform a full range of services, including making eligibility  determinations for Social Security benefits;   Social Security Card Centers, which issue SSNs;    Teleservice Centers, which offer national toll-free telephone service; and    Program Service Centers, which make entitlement decisions for benefits,  as well as assist in answering toll-free calls.
Table 3 shows the type of work that is performed by various SSA field  components.
Field offices, which served approximately 42 million customers in fiscal  year 2007, are a vital component for delivering SSA services to the public.  Field offices are located in communities across the United States, the  Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and deliver services through face- to-face contact, over the phone, and through the mail. Field offices range  in size from large urban offices with 50 or more employees to very small  offices in remote areas called resident stations. In August 2007, there were  approximately 1,271 field offices and 37 resident stations. Resident  stations have more limited services and are staffed by one or two  individuals in their homes or in a separate office (other than an SSA field  office). Field offices also offer services to the public through about 1,200  contact stations. These stations provide very limited functions and are  staffed with one SSA field office employee who travels to certain  locations, such as a hospital, once a month. Additionally, SSA has begun  using video conferencing to take claims and provide other services to  customers in remote locations in North Dakota, Wyoming, and South  Dakota. SSA is planning to expand the video network to provide additional  sites and services.
While SSA field offices take applications and determine if claimants meet  basic, nonmedical eligibility requirements for DI and SSI disability claims,  state Disability Determination Services (DDS) that are under contract with  SSA make medical eligibility determinations for these claims. SSA’s  Hearing Offices and Appeals Council make decisions on appeals of these  determinations. Appendix II describes the functions of each of these  entities in the medical disability determination process for DI and SSI  claims. DDSs also conduct continuing disability reviews for DI and SSI  beneficiaries to ensure that they are still medically eligible for payments.
In addition to field offices, SSA offers customers a variety of other options  for conducting their business. Individuals may call SSA’s toll-free helpline  to file for benefits or to obtain general information. They may also use the  Internet to file for benefits or visit a Social Security Card Center to request  a Social Security card. Figure 1 shows the various options by which  customers may conduct their business with SSA.
section_title: Field Offices Largely Met Work Demands with Fewer Staff, but Staffing Reductions May Have Contributed to Some Adverse Effects
paragraphs: Despite operating with fewer staff from fiscal year 2005 to 2007 and an  increased demand for services, field offices largely met work demands;  however, staffing reductions may have contributed to some adverse  effects. SSA and its field offices used various strategies to manage work  demands, such as sharing work among offices, redirecting staff to serve  critical needs outside of their usual responsibilities, encouraging customer  use of the internet and telephone services, and deferring certain work.  Despite these efforts, many field office managers and staff stated that they  cannot keep up with their work. Reduced field office staffing may have  contributed to customers waiting longer to be served, and customer calls  to field offices are not always being answered. These factors may have  contributed to a 4 percent drop in SSA’s customer satisfaction rating  between fiscal years 2005 and 2007. In addition, staff are experiencing high  stress levels, lacking sufficient time for training, and facing other adverse  effects according to field office managers and staff.
subsections: section_title: Increased Staff Productivity Helped Minimize Potential Impact of Staffing Decline
paragraphs: Despite a 7.1 percent staffing decline during fiscal years 2005 to 2007, the  amount of work that field offices produced decreased by only 2.5 percent.  As a result, the average amount of work produced by field office staff  increased by 4.9 percent between fiscal years 2005 and 2007 (see table 4).  The field office staffing reduction comprised nearly 60 percent of SSA’s  overall reduction (from 65,112 to 61,594 between fiscal years 2005 and  2007).
SSA officials attribute the staffing reductions to inadequate appropriations  and are concerned about growth in work required for other federal  agencies. Table 5 shows the Commissioner’s and the President’s budget  requests and SSA’s final appropriations for fiscal years 2002 to 2008. The  table also shows the recent staffing decline. The table does note that SSA  received a $500 million budget increase in 2005 to manage the  implementation of the Medicare Prescription Drug program and hire  associated staff. In addition, other work that SSA conducts on behalf of  other federal agencies has grown. For example, new state laws requiring  federal government verification of work authorization are resulting in  additional work and field office visits associated with the Department of  Homeland Security’s E-Verify program.
Despite the staffing reductions, field offices served are serving a growing  volume of visitors. Comparing the first 3 months of calendar years 2006 to  2008, visitor volume increased by almost 450,000 (about 4 percent). SSA  field managers and staff told us that they also expect visitor volume to  increase with the retirement of the baby boomers. As figure 2 shows, from  fiscal years 2005 to 2007, SSA processed more OASI claims; post- entitlement actions (other than for continuing eligibility reviews);  enumerations; and Medicare actions.  During the same time period, SSA  processed fewer DI and SSI claims (nonmedical determinations only);  continuing disability reviews; and SSI redeterminations. SSA attributes the  high volume of post-entitlement actions to the growth in beneficiary  populations.
section_title: SSA Used Various Strategies to Manage Staffing Declines
paragraphs: SSA is shifting work among field offices based on their workloads in an  effort to increase overall efficiency. If a field office has work demands that  it cannot immediately cover, that office can request that some work be  transferred to another office. Offices that have a particular expertise in a  certain type of work make themselves available, as they can process it  more quickly. Field managers told us, however, that sometimes they are  reluctant to share work because the office that receives and processes the  work receives numerical credit, which helps an office justify a greater staff  level for the future.
Managers are also using claims processing personnel to fill in as necessary  to perform the duties typically done by lower-graded employees, and in  some cases, even office managers take on the duties of their employees.  Such duties include answering the telephone, providing initial services to  arriving customers, processing requests for new or replacement Social  Security cards, and conducting some administrative duties. While all field  office personnel recognize the need to serve visitors, many also told us  that such work is taking away from time spent processing claims and  managing the office.
SSA is encouraging customers to use automated services to help field  offices accomplish their work. However, many field staff said that real  gains in the use of automated services will only likely be achieved by  future generations of customers. SSA’s vision for its “eService” program is  that the public, businesses, and government agencies will be able to  conduct all business through secure, electronic channels—thereby  increasing the efficiency with which the agency can serve the public. SSA  reported that in 2007 the public performed 2.9 million electronic  transactions, such as applying for disability benefits or requesting a  change of address. SSA’s electronic services are available to the public  over the Internet and by telephone, using the voice recognition capabilities  of SSA’s toll-free number. While field office staff and managers welcome  automated tools that the public can use, some added that relatively few  customers use them, and that due to erroneous or missing information in  online forms, field staff can lose time having to contact the customers for  clarification or more information. While they believe that automated tools  should continue to be developed, many managers and staff told us that  these tools are not a sufficient to compensate for reduced staffing levels.
Finally, with fewer staff available, SSA focused on field office work it  considered essential to its “core workloads,” such as processing new  claims for Social Security benefits and issuing Social Security cards, but  deferred other types of work. Field office managers and staff told us that  certain post entitlement actions are typically delayed or deferred, when an  office is under stress, including changes of address, changes to direct  deposit information, and reviews to determine beneficiaries’ continuing  eligibility for DI and SSI benefits. Reviews of continuing eligibility,  however, are key activities in ensuring payment accuracy. SSA estimates  that continuing disability reviews yield a lifetime program savings of $10  for every dollar invested, and SSI redeterminations yield a lifetime  program savings of $7 for every dollar invested.
In recent years, SSA has not been able to conduct as many reviews as it  had planned, citing budget limitations and an increase in core work (see  fig. 3). When reviews of benefits are delayed, some beneficiaries may  continue to receive benefits when they no longer qualify. While delays in  these reviews relieve work pressure, some field managers and staff told us  that such delays cause future challenges when staff attempt to obtain  necessary documentation over multiple years, and overpayments accrue to  the point that beneficiaries have difficulty repaying benefits for which they  were not eligible.
Despite SSA’s efforts to manage work with reduced staff, managers  responding to a survey conducted in February and March 2007 by the  National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA)  stated that many of them are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up  with the work. On average, the managers responding to the survey  estimated that they would need a staffing increase of 16.7 percent to  provide adequate public service. In the offices we visited, most of the  managers also told us that they did not have an adequate number of staff.
section_title: Staffing Reductions May Have Contributed to a Buildup of Certain Work, Longer Customer Waiting Times, More Unanswered Customer Calls, and Other Adverse Effects
paragraphs: According to SSA officials, staffing imbalances resulted in a buildup of  1,000 workyears, for work that SSA was not able to complete by the end  of fiscal year 2007. SSA projects that the buildup will grow to 4,800  workyears by the end of fiscal year 2009; however, officials said that they  are re-evaluating this figure in light of increases in productivity and  overtime. Staff reductions may have also led to longer customer waiting  times. Between fiscal years 2002 and 2006, the average waiting time to first  contact for all customers increased by 40 percent from 15 to 21 minutes  (see fig. 4). Nationally, 8 percent of customers—about 3 million people— waited more than 1 hour, which included 420,000 customers who waited  more than 2 hours for service in fiscal year 2007 (see table 6). We also  found significant variation in waiting times among field offices for  customers without appointments. For example, for customers without  appointments, more than 300 offices had average waiting times of less  than 10 minutes, while 23 offices had average waiting times that exceeded  1 hour in fiscal year 2007. Further, customers without appointments  during that period waited more than 1 hour on average at four of the  offices we visited. In contrast, customers at the office in Devils Lake,  North Dakota, waited on average for less than 1 minute (see table 9). We  found that customers with appointments waited significantly less time  than those without appointments. For example, SSA reported that 1,214  offices had waiting times of less than 10 minutes for customers with  appointments, while only two had waiting times of more than 1 hour.
Insufficient staffing may have also been a factor in poor office phone  coverage and other adverse effects on customer service. SSA’s 2006 Field  Office Caller Survey found that 51 percent of customer calls to 48  randomly selected field offices went unanswered. Because SSA based its  results only on customers who were ultimately able to get through to the  field offices, the actual percentage of calls that went unanswered may  have been higher. In addition, staff at 13 of the 21 offices we visited  characterized their phone service as inadequate, while 2 of these offices  did not answer their offices’ phones at all. Employees we interviewed also  cited inadequate telephone service as a common customer complaint at 15  offices. In 2007, officials told us they initiated a pilot program called  “Forward on Busy” in 25 field offices to address these deficiencies. Under  the pilot, calls receiving a busy signal at field offices are automatically  forwarded to a Teleservice Center. SSA plans to expand the pilot to a total  of 100 field offices. In addition to poor phone service, staff at some of the  offices we visited indicated that they now have less time to spend with  customers. This limited time potentially could lead to mistakes and limit  the ability of staff to ensure that customers fully understand their options  and benefits. These factors may have contributed to a 4 percent drop in  SSA’s customer satisfaction rating between fiscal years 2005 and 2007.
SSA has not established performance standards for customer waiting  times and field office telephone service, nor does the agency measure  customer service at individual field offices. Without such standards and  measures, SSA has no systematic way of evaluating field office  performance, or identifying offices that need improvement. While SSA  provides field offices with customer comment cards, at 10 of the 21 offices  we visited, officials told us they did not use them, and where the cards  were available, the results were not always systematically tabulated.
Work demands and staffing reductions have increased the pressure placed  on the field office staff, resulting in higher stress and lower morale,  according to field office staff. We asked 153 SSA employees at the 21  offices we visited to rate the stress that they experienced in attempting to  complete their work in a timely manner, and 65 percent of those surveyed  reported feeling stress to a “great” or “very great” extent on a daily basis.  The stress of expanding workloads and staffing constraints was felt most  acutely by the office managers, 74 percent of whom described high levels  of stress. At many offices, staff indicated that mounting workload  pressures have led to cutbacks in the amount of time allocated for training  and mentoring new staff. In addition, managers and staff told us that they  often do not have time to take their breaks, including lunch. Some staff  told us they feel they are letting down their colleagues and feel guilty  about taking time off, regardless of whether they use credit hours or  annual leave. While these responses may not be indicative of the opinions  of the overall field office workforce, they do suggest that increasing  demands placed on SSA staff may be diminishing their job satisfaction,  potentially with long-term implications for employee retention. SSA  officials acknowledged that growing workloads have seriously  compromised agency morale and that they have tried to ease the stress on  staff by authorizing the use of overtime.
section_title: Growth in Work Demands and an Employee Retirement Wave May Pose Serious Challenges for Service Delivery in the Future without a Clear Plan
paragraphs: Retirement and disability filings by the nation’s approximately 80 million  baby boomers are projected to significantly increase SSA’s workload,  providing additional stress on the field office workforce. SSA estimates a  13 percent rise in claims filed among its three major claims types over the  next 10 years, rising from 9.4 million in fiscal year 2008 to 10.7 million in  fiscal year 2017 (see fig. 5).
A growth of 22 percent in the number of beneficiaries, from about 49.6  million in calendar year 2007 to about 60.5 million in calendar year 2015, is  also projected. By 2050, there will be an estimated total of 95.6 million  OASI and DI beneficiaries (see fig. 6).
SSA’s ability to meet its growing workload challenges will be more  difficult with the anticipated retirements of many of the agency’s most  experienced field office workers. Today, 25 percent of all SSA employees  are eligible to retire, and that figure will grow to 39 percent in the next 5  years. Based on the agency’s projections, 44 percent of today’s SSA  workforce will retire by 2016. The peak of these retirements began in 2007  and is expected continue into 2009, before starting to decline gradually  (see fig. 7). SSA’s projections suggest that the ranks of SSA’s supervisors  will be most affected, with 71 percent eligible to retire in the next 10 years.  These will be the agency’s most experienced staff, which will mean a loss  of decades of institutional knowledge. For 2008 in particular, SSA  estimates that it will lose about 2,000 staff to full or early-out retirements.  Field office managers and staff at many of the locations we visited stated  that it typically takes 2 to 3 years for new employees to become fully  proficient. Therefore, staff hired now may not reach full proficiency before  the peak of the retirement wave. Also, new hires would benefit from being  mentored by veteran employees before the latter retire. As a result of the  approximately $150 million that SSA was appropriated above its request in  the President’s budget for fiscal year 2008, SSA will hire an additional  3,900 staff for operations. This will include 2,350 new hires for regional  and field office operations, almost all of whom will go to field offices. SSA  officials stated that the increase in staffing will put the agency back at its  fiscal year 2005 staffing level.
SSA has used a variety of strategies to maintain adequate staffing. SSA  offers recruitment, relocation, and retention bonuses to individuals with  needed skills and considers employees’ private sector experience when  computing annual leave. SSA also offers workplace flexibilities to assist  workers in balancing work and family. Additionally, SSA uses dual  compensation (salary offset) waivers from the Office of Personnel  Management (OPM) to respond to emergency conditions and to hire for  certain hard-to-fill positions. For example, SSA was granted a waiver to re- employ federal annuitants who retired under an early-out authority to  provide relief in areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Further,  SSA has developed recruiting efforts that reach out to a broader pool of  candidates. For example, SSA began recruiting retired military and  disabled veterans in 2002 because of its commitment to helping veterans.
SSA currently lacks a plan to address the mounting service delivery  challenges that it faces, though officials told us that they are currently  working to finalize the agency’s Annual Strategic Plan, which is expected  to address these issues. We recommended, as early as 1993 and most  recently in 2000, that the agency develop a plan to meet its  responsibilities in the context of resource constraints and other  challenges. At that time, we suggested that the plan take into account  changing customer needs and expectations; the views of oversight bodies  and interest groups; and other future challenges, such as growing  workloads. We also specified that the plan should spell out, for the future,  who will be providing what type of services and where these services will  be made available. In the absence of this kind of overarching strategy, SSA  may be unable to effectively marshal its key resources to meet the  challenges described above.
section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: Recent staffing declines may have been a factor in reducing field offices’  ability to complete all of their work while providing quality customer  service. In managing staffing reductions, customers are waiting longer to  be served, their calls to field offices frequently go unanswered, certain  stewardship activities are being deferred, and staff are stressed. Projected  increases in claims for benefits from the nation’s approximately 80 million  baby boomers and a large retirement wave among SSA’s most experienced  staff will place additional pressure on field offices, and SSA may find it  increasingly difficult to manage without a clear plan for addressing these  challenges. SSA is currently working to finalize its Fiscal Year 2008 Annual  Strategic Plan. Strategic planning for service delivery and staffing before  SSA’s workload grows beyond available resources is essential. In a time of  budgetary constraints, thinking creatively about service delivery and how  best to operate efficiently and effectively will be important aspects of  SSA’s planning effort. The time for SSA to prepare itself for the future is  running out and without a clear direction SSA will not be prepared to meet  its service delivery challenges.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes my prepared statement. I would be happy to  respond to any questions you or other members of the committee may  have at this time.
For further information regarding this testimony, please contact   Barbara D. Bovbjerg at (202) 512-7215 or bovbjergb@gao.gov. Contact  points for our Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may  be found on the last page of this statement. Individuals making key  contributions to this testimony include Blake Ainsworth (Assistant  Director), Mary A. Crenshaw, Paul Wright, Matthew Lee, and Charlie  Willson.
section_title: Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
paragraphs: We provided SSA with a draft of our testimony for their comment. In their  response, SSA said that the testimony understated the connection between  the stress that field offices are under from increased work demands and  the agency’s funding shortfalls. SSA stated that its current business model  is non-sustainable and that past underfunding has forced the agency to  shift resources from less visible—though vital—areas to process the most  critical workloads. SSA also said that it is using its current strategic plan  and operational plan to meet its many challenges. In order for its plans to  succeed, SSA stated that it must be properly and timely funded on a  sustained basis.
In response, we acknowledge the service delivery challenges that SSA  faces, and believe that we have fairly characterized field office staffing  declines as a significant factor in meeting work demands and the resulting  adverse effects. Ensuring that SSA has the resources to meet future  service deliver challenges is essential. However, we continue to believe  that SSA must employ a more strategic and creative approach to meet  these challenges.
section_title: Related GAO Products
paragraphs: Social Security Disability: Better Planning, Management, and  Evaluation Could Help Address Backlogs (GAO-08-40, Dec. 7, 2007).
Social Security Administration: Additional Actions Needed in Ongoing  Efforts to Improve 800-Number Service (GAO-05-735, Aug. 8, 2005).
SSA Customer Service: Broad Service Delivery Plan Needed to Address  Future Challenges (GAO/T-HEHS/AIMD-00-75, Feb. 10, 2000).
SSA’s Management Challenges: Strong Leadership Needed to Turn Plans  Into Timely, Meaningful Action (GAO/T-HEHS-98-113, Mar. 12, 1998).
Social Security Administration: Significant Challenges Await New  Commissioner (GAO/HEHS-97-53, Feb. 20, 1997).
Social Security Administration: Effective Leadership Needed to Meet  Daunting Challenges (GAO/HEHS-96-196, Sept. 12, 1996).
Social Security: Sustained Effort Needed to Improve Management and  Prepare for the Future (GAO/HRD-94-22, Oct. 27, 1993).
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