SSA also maintains birth and death records and issues  Social Security Numbers. Challenges to Managing SSA’s Disability Workloads and Ensuring Program Integrity

Complex eligibility rules and multiple handoffs and potential layers of  review make SSA’s disability programs complicated and costly to  administer. Program complexity arguably has made it challenging for  SSA to make significant advances in efficiently managing high disability  workloads, ensuring timely and consistent disability decisions, preventing  benefit overpayments, and mitigating fraud risks. SSA has reduced the number of pending claims each fiscal  year since 2010—from about 842,000 in fiscal year 2010 to about  523,000 in fiscal year 2017. However, SSA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that many of the  initiatives in SSA’s plan duplicated past efforts that had met with limited  success. SSA also noted that some efforts, such as additional hiring, will  depend on resource availability. We also reported that SSA is still  developing plans to implement its broad vision for service delivery, Vision  2025, which addresses SSA’s capacity to provide timely initial claims and  appeals decisions. To address its appeals backlog and position itself to  effectively provide timely disability decisions at all levels, SSA leadership  will need to continue to operationalize Vision 2025, plan and implement  systems support for initial claims, and implement and monitor the success  of its appeals initiatives. While SSA has addressed all our recommendations in this area, other  opportunities exist for updating aspects of SSA’s disability decision  process. Strategic Approach to Managing Fraud Risks

Although the extent of fraud in SSA’s benefit programs is unknown, high- profile cases—such as one case reported by SSA’s OIG involving 70  individuals and $14 million in fraudulent benefits—underscore the  importance of continued vigilance on the part of SSA leadership in  managing fraud risks to prevent fraud. SSA has already  taken action on one of our recommendations by producing a fraud risk  assessment, which we will evaluate, and has stated its intent to take  action on our other recommendations. However, as we reported in 2013, rightsizing  SSA’s physical infrastructure can be complex, politically charged, and  costly; expanding service delivery options is also challenging due to the  complexity of SSA’s disability programs and the varying needs of SSA’s  customers. We recommended that SSA develop a long-term facility plan  that explicitly links to its strategic goals for service delivery, and includes  a strategy for consolidating or downsizing field offices in light of  increasing use of and geographic variation in remote service delivery. Expanding Remote Service Delivery

Our recent work also found that while the complexity of SSA’s programs  can make it challenging for customers to use online services, the agency  lacked data to identify and address challenges with online applications. SSA would also benefit from establishing performance goals to help it  determine whether new service delivery options are succeeding. While SSA collects some  data on usage, it has not developed performance targets or goals that  could help it assess these initiatives’ success or identify problems. SSA agreed with our recommendations, and  has since reported taking steps to implement them. Challenges to Modernizing Information Technology

In 2016, we reported that SSA faces challenges with IT planning and  management, based on over a decade of prior work that identified  weaknesses in system development practices, IT governance,  requirements management, strategic planning, and other aspects of IT. We identified SSA’s  investment in IT infrastructure operations and maintenance as being  among the 10 largest expenditures of federal agencies in fiscal year  2015. For example, SSA reported re- hiring retired employees to maintain its systems that include many  programs written in Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL). We recommended that the agency  identify and plan to modernize or replace legacy systems, in accordance  with forthcoming OMB guidance. SSA agreed, and reported that it is  finalizing its Information Technology Modernization Plan.
Why GAO Did This Study

SSA provides vital benefits and services that affect the lives of many Americans. In fiscal year 2017, it paid out nearly $1 trillion in retirement and disability benefits to 67 million beneficiaries, and an average of 420,000 people call or visit one of its 1,200 field offices each day.
However, SSA has struggled to manage its disability workloads, maintain program integrity, and modernize its service delivery and information technology systems. GAO has issued a number of reports on these challenges, and placed SSA's disability programs on GAO's High Risk List, in part due to challenges with workloads and claims processing.
GAO was asked to testify on challenges facing SSA. This statement summarizes ongoing SSA challenges described in SSA's strategic plan and past GAO work in three areas: 1) managing disability workloads and ensuring program integrity; 2) modernizing physical infrastructure and service delivery methods; and 3) modernizing information technology.
Although GAO is not making recommendations in this statement, our prior work included recommendations to help SSA address these challenges, many of which SSA has agreed with and initiated actions on. SSA provided technical comments on a draft of this statement, which we incorporated, as appropriate.

What GAO Found

GAO's prior work and Social Security Administration's (SSA) strategic plan for fiscal years 2018-2022 highlight significant demographic and technological challenges facing the agency. For example, SSA's workloads are increasing due to 80 million baby boomers entering their disability-prone and retirement years, and institutional knowledge and leadership at SSA will be depleted due to an expected 21,000 employees retiring by the end of fiscal year 2022. GAO's prior work has identified related management challenges and opportunities for SSA to further modernize and improve its disability programs, service delivery, and information technology (IT) systems.
Managing disability workloads and program integrity. SSA has long struggled to process disability claims and, more recently, appeals of denied claims, in a timely manner. Consistent with our 2013 recommendation, SSA produced a broad vision for improving service delivery, including ensuring prompt and accurate disability decisions. However, SSA is still developing concrete plans to implement its vision. Although SSA has initiatives underway to improve appeals backlogs, GAO reported that some of SSA's appeals initiatives are either contingent on additional funding or have met with limited success when tried in the past. GAO's prior work also identified other challenges related to SSA's disability programs, and actions SSA could take, for example, to modernize disability criteria, prevent and recover overpayments, and manage fraud risks.
Modernizing physical infrastructure and service delivery. Advances in technology have the potential to change how and where SSA delivers its services. For example, individuals can now apply for some disability benefits online rather than in person. However, GAO found that SSA did not have readily available data on problems customers had with online applications or why staff support was needed. Additionally, the agency had not established performance goals to determine whether new service delivery options, such as off-site kiosks, are succeeding. In addition, we found that SSA has not developed a long-term plan for its building space that, among other things, includes a strategy for downsizing offices to better reflect changes in service delivery. We recommended SSA improve building plans and do more to assess and monitor service delivery, with which SSA agreed.
Modernizing information technology. SSA's legacy IT systems are increasingly difficult and expensive to maintain and GAO identified SSA's needed investment in infrastructure operations and maintenance as among the 10 largest expenditures at federal agencies in fiscal year 2015. GAO recommended SSA identify and plan to modernize or replace legacy systems, in accordance with forthcoming Office of Management and Budget guidance. SSA agreed, and reported that it is finalizing its Information Technology Modernization Plan.
Continuing focus by SSA leadership is critical to addressing these broad and long-term challenges and effectively delivering benefits and services to the many Americans who depend on SSA programs.