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NENA Welcomes New Board Members

NENA is thrilled to announce the names of our newest members elected to the Board of Directors. Please join us in welcoming Claudia Barrios, Lisa Purdy, and Jonathon Belmont. We congratulate these individuals and thank them for their willingness to share their time and expertise.

August 7, 2024

Social Security would like to provide all Employer Employment Networks (EN) with an update to the payment submission process. 

Currently, Part III – Section 5.E.1.e of the TPA states that Employer ENs and Employer EN agents must submit primary evidence of earnings (i.e., paystubs with FICA withholdings, employer prepared statements or the Work Number) for all payments.

Moving forward, Employer ENs or Employer agents do not need to submit primary evidence of earnings for all payments. Social Security will remove this language from the TPA in the next release.

Please direct any questions about this policy update to ENPaymentsHelpdesk@yourtickettowork.ssa.gov.

August 12, 2024

To make the Employment Network (EN) suitability process more efficient, the Social Security Contractor Suitability Team has assigned each EN a Point of Contact (POC). For specific inquiries, ENs should contact their assigned POC by phone or email in lieu of contacting the National Background Investigation Services (NBIS) Help Desk.  Points of Contact are determined by the middle digits in the EN’s award number as shown below.

Process

ENs should reach out to their assigned Contractor Suitability POC for assistance with the following:

1. Status Checks
   • Request a status check if it's been more than five days since application submission and you haven't received an initiation email or the applicant hasn’t received emails to log into the system.
   • ENs should confirm with the applicants that they have completed the application and fingerprints beforehand, departures, rollovers, etc.
2. Corrections
   • Correct any errors identified on the application (i.e., SSNs, name spellings, birthdates.)
3. Departure Notices
   • Send timely staff departure notices to ensure inactive and active staff lists are kept up to date.
4. EN Suitability POC changes:
   • Use the established process:
     • Send a TPA Change Form to EN Service (ENService@SSA.gov). EN Service will notify the suitability office. (Note: Please follow the process in this GovDelivery message as this step differs from earlier direction provided on the June 18, 2024, All EN Call.)
     • Do not submit changes on the applicant listing – the applicant listing is not used to update EN Suitability POCs.
     • For Suitability POC changes, you can continue to send those through the mailbox (dchr.ope.suitability@ssa.gov) or you can funnel those through your POC.

Points of Contact

Award numbers are set up: SS00-XX-EXXXX

The POC is assigned based on the two middle digits.

• For ENs with the middle digits from 04-13 (ex: SS00-04-E1165, SS00-13-E0647), the POC is Jeanette Price  jeanette.j.price@ssa.gov.
• For ENs with the middle digits from 14-15 (ex: SS00-14-E1052, SS00-15-E2928), the POC is Angela G. Davis angela.g.davis@ssa.gov.
• For ENs with the middle digits from 16-24 (ex: SS00-16-E3207, SS00-24-E3339), the POC is Courtney Jackson courtney.jackson@ssa.gov.

ENs should begin to reach out to their assigned Contractor Suitability POC immediately for the assistance listed above and make sure that all communication ensures protection of Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

Please contact ENService@SSA.gov if you have questions about this process. 

August 12, 2024

The Social Security Administration (SSA) provides routine reminders to Employment Networks (EN) concerning transmitting Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in accordance with Part III Section 8.E. of your Ticket Program Agreement.

SSA’s policy regarding transmitting PII to SSA and the Ticket Program Manager (TPM) states:

• ENs are prohibited from sending PII by email to 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.
• ENs are prohibited from sending PII to an unintended recipient. 
• ENs are required to self-report any PII violations. Repeated failures to self-report PII violations will affect SSA's decision to sanction the EN. 

SSA will take the following actions against ENs that transmit PII through email to the agency, TPM, or any unintended recipient. 

First PII Violation

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

Second PII Violation

• Within five days of receiving the violation notification, The Signatory Authority or Suitability Contact must submit a PII quality control plan to ensure no further violations occur.
• 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 PII Violation

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

If an EN has questions about a payment request, the EN must use any of the methods noted below:

• Email: Send an email message using the Work Case (WC) number, which does not require sending PII, to ENPaymentsHelp@yourtickettowork.ssa.gov
• Fax: Send a fax message to 1-703-893-4020
• Mail: Direct a memorandum to 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)

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 the state in which you are located.
• Include the subject and area of interest, for example, “Service and Supports Review.”
• Organize documents so that all documents pertaining to one Ticketholder 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.

August 28, 2024

Overpayment Recovery Rate Reduced

Social Security announced it will decrease the default overpayment withholding rate for Social Security beneficiaries, significantly reducing the financial hardship on people with overpayments.

As of March 25, 2024, the agency will collect 10 percent (or $10, whichever is greater) of the total monthly Social Security benefit to recover an overpayment, rather than collecting 100 percent as was the previous procedure. There will be limited exceptions to this change, such as when an overpayment resulted from fraud.

There will be a short transition period where people will continue to experience the older policy as the change applies to new overpayments incurred.

People placed in 100 percent withholding during this transition period should call Social Security’s National 800 Number at 1-800-772-1213 to lower their withholding rate.

If beneficiaries already have an overpayment with a withholding rate greater than 10 percent and would like a lower recovery rate, they too should call Social Security at 1-800-772-1213, or their local Social Security office to speak with a representative. If a beneficiary requests a rate lower than 10 percent, a representative will approve the request if it allows recovery of the overpayment within 60 months.

Additionally, people have the right to appeal the overpayment decision or the amount. They can ask Social Security to waive collection of the overpayment, if they believe it was not their fault and can’t afford to pay it back. Social Security has flexible repayment options, including repayment of as low as $10 per month. Each person’s situation is unique, and the agency handles overpayments on a case-by-case basis.

The Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) seeks innovative, high-quality proposals for twelve (12) to eighteen (18) concurrent sessions during our Fall 2024 conference.

Our in-person meeting is October 21 – 23, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency Seattle in Seattle, Washington and the theme is Promoting the Value Proposition of Vocational Rehabilitation. Proposals are due by midnight EST, Friday, September 6, 2024. All session content must be a maximum of 75 minutes and presenters must be IN-PERSON.

Click here for additional information on how to submit your RFP

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