April 5, 2023 

TPM will ensure adherence during Service and Support reviews beginning August 1, 2023.

SSA Policy Clarifications: TPA Contact Requirements

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) program integrity service and supports reviews identified instances where some ENs are not in direct contact with their Ticketholders over extended periods of time. Previous guidance provided only required that the EN document an effort to make contact. As a result, some ENs document attempts to make contact, but have no direct communication with the Ticketholder over prolonged periods of time and are no longer providing services yet continue to have the Ticket assigned.

The intent of the Ticket to Work Program is to provide not only Initial Job Acquisition support services, but also Ongoing Support services through the life of the Ticket to assure the Ticketholder achieves self-sufficiency. Some Ticketholders are receiving CDR protection and in many cases are not making timely progress towards their employment goals. Many of these Tickets should not stay assigned. As a result, SSA is making the following policy clarifications which will be annotated in the next version of the Ticket Program Agreement (TPA).

Part III Section 9.B of the Ticket Program Agreement states that one of the criteria SSA uses for EN evaluation is: employment results for Ticketholders including job placement and retention rates, achievement of timely progress benchmarks, and achievement of financial independence (exit the rolls with earnings at or above SGA).

For Ticketholders who are not actively working towards self-sufficiency and SSA has not paid the EN for that Ticketholder in a 24 consecutive month timeframe, SSA recommends that the EN engage the Ticketholder and make one of the following determinations:

• Determine if new goals, services, and supports are appropriate and revise the IWP to reflect these changes, this includes employment, education, and or training occurring within the next three months, or
• Determine if the Ticketholder is not working towards self-sufficiency and no longer wants to work towards their established goals or revise their goals, if this is the case, the Ticket should be unassigned.

SSA is also clarifying the contact requirements for Ticketholders in both the Initial Job Acquisition Phase and the Ongoing Support Phase of a Ticketholder’s progression toward their career goals. SSA is clarifying the requirements for a successful contact with a Ticketholder as well as the maximum length of time a Ticket may remain in assignment status without successful contact.

During the Initial Job Acquisition Phase (i.e., starting with Ticket Assignment through the end of the Phase 1 Milestone Period) At a minimum, the EN shall follow-up with the Ticketholder monthly to verify Ticketholder progress and maintain records of these contacts. This is defined as two-way communication and shall be any of the following acceptable mediums in which the Ticketholder provides a response: in-person meeting, a telephone conversation, personalized email messages, voicemail message received by the Ticketholder, personalized text messages, any form of computerized or telephone app communication (e.g., Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Skype, etc.), and personalized letters to and from individuals. The EN shall document the method of communication and, where possible, retain any evidence available of the communication and provide this evidence during program integrity reviews if requested. The EN shall make a minimum of three attempts in a one-month period to make two-way contact with the Ticketholder. In the event the EN does not have a two-way conversation with the Ticketholder, or the Ticketholder requests no contact, the EN shall unassign the Ticket within 60 days from the date of initial contact attempt.

During the Ongoing Support Phase (i.e., Starting with the Phase 2 Milestone Period through Ticket Unassignment) At a minimum, the EN shall contact and communicate with the Ticketholder quarterly to determine if the Ticketholder requires any ongoing employment supports and, where possible, maintain records of these communications, including the method of communication. This two-way contact shall be in the form of any of the methods of communication described above. The EN shall make a minimum of three attempts in a three-month period to make two-way contact with the Ticketholder. In the event the EN does not have a two-way communication with the Ticketholder, or the Ticketholder requests no further contact, the EN shall unassign the Ticket within 180 days from the date of initial contact attempt.

SSA is asking ENs to review their current Ticket assignments to ensure that they are within the parameters of this guidance. ENs shall either make contact with the Ticketholder to reengage them in the Ticket Program or unassign the Ticket. SSA will begin incorporating random reviews to ensure adherence to this guidance into our current Service and Support reviews beginning August 1, 2023.

These requirements will be annotated in Part III, Section 4 of the TPA. Effective As of this date, all ENs must abide by these requirements.

Please direct any questions about this policy to ENService@ssa.gov.

June 5, 2023

Quarterly Reminder from Social Security

Quarterly, Social Security issues the following reminder to Employment Networks:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) provides routine reminders to Employment Networks (EN) regarding Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in accordance with your Ticket Program Agreement, Part III Section 8.E. SSA will enforce the following consequences against ENs that transmit PII through email to the agency or to the Ticket Program Manager (TPM):

First Violation

• The Signatory Authority or Suitability Contact must send a statement to SSA describing how your EN will mitigate the PII security issue within five days of receiving the violation notification.
• SSA will remove the EN from ePay for three months or one ePay file, whichever comes first.
• SSA requires the EN to complete a virtual classroom refresher training on Properly Safeguarding Personally Identifiable Information.

Second Violation

• The Signatory Authority or Suitability Contact must submit a PII quality control plan to ensure no further violations occur within five days of receiving the violation notification.
• SSA will require that the EN participate in a call involving EN Leadership and SSA to discuss the quality control plan and consequences of a further violation.
• SSA may remove the EN from ePay for one year.

Third Violation

• SSA may terminate the EN due to noncompliance with the requirement to protect PII.

As a reminder, SSA’s policy regarding an EN’s transmission of PII to SSA and TPM states:

• ENs are prohibited from sending PII by email to the SSA and TPM, even if it is encrypted. The only exception is when ENs submit encrypted documentation to the Center for Suitability and Personnel Security as part of the Suitability process.
• ENs are prohibited from sending any portion of a social security number by email.

If an EN needs to submit PII to SSA or TPM, the EN must use any of the methods noted below:

• Email: work case (WC) number to ENPaymentsHelp@yourtickettowork.ssa.gov
• Fax: 1-703-893-4020
• Mail: P.O. Box 1433, Alexandria, VA 22313
• Call the Payments Help Desk: 1-866-949-3687 (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. ET)
• Government-to-Government Services Online (GSO): for Services and Supports ONLY

TPM will route all faxes and mail to the correct department. Please allow extra time for processing.

Best practices for faxing or mailing PII to TPM:

• Always use a cover sheet.
• Include the EN name, Provider ID (PID) and State where you are located.
• Include the subject and area of interest, for example, “Services and Supports Review.”
• Organize documents so that all pertaining to one Social Security number are grouped together.
• If faxing, always print a confirmation sheet in case there are faxing issues.

Please contact ENservice@ssa.gov with any questions concerning the use of electronic systems for transmitting PII.

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