Chairman Johnson and Chairman Denham Announce a Joint Oversight Hearing on Managing Costs and Mitigating Delays in the Building of Social Security's New National Computer Center

Press Release

U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (R-TX), Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, and U.S. Congressman Jeff Denham (R-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, announced today that the Subcommittees will hold a joint oversight hearing on managing costs and mitigating delays in the building of the Social Security Administration's (SSA's) new National Computer Center (NCC). The hearing will take place on Friday, February 11, 2011 in 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Committee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing. A list of invited witnesses will follow.

BACKGROUND:

Information technology (IT) is the foundation of the SSA's ability to serve the public. Over the past decade, the SSA has migrated 95 percent of its workloads from a paper-based system to an electronic processing system. This year the IT infrastructure supports the payment of over $700 billion in benefits to 56 million people, completing an average of over 75 million business transactions per day. Along with maintaining earnings, benefit, and demographic information for most Americans, the SSA's computers also house the electronic medical records of millions who have filed disability claims. In addition, over 1 billion data files are exchanged annually between the SSA, Federal, State, and local government agencies and businesses in order to administer Social Security benefits and other programs.

Until January 2009, the SSA ran its nationwide computer operations from its Baltimore-based 30-year old NCC. Since then, a second state-of-the-art support center now runs approximately 35 percent of all workloads and is able to recover all critical systems and restore services within 4 days should a catastrophic failure of the NCC occur.

As time passes, the risk of a failure at the NCC is increasing due to its aging electrical and mechanical infrastructure. Should an NCC failure occur, lengthy service disruptions would severely affect service to the American public and cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

In February 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided $500 million for the SSA to replace the NCC, the single largest building project funded under the Act. The General Services Administration (GSA) and the SSA are managing the development and construction of the new project, including the development of requirements for the new center and site selection. The project remains on budget but the projected date for complete commissioning of the new facility has been delayed one year to January 2015.

In announcing the hearing, Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX) stated, "Information technology is the most important element in driving Social Security to deliver 21st century customer service. Taxpayers are investing in a $500 million upgrade and they will not tolerate cost overruns or further delays in another failed stimulus project. Neither will I."

"We need to hold the General Services Administration accountable for this half billion dollar project," Chairman Jeff Denham (R-CA) stated. "The agency needs to use the resources they were provided, stay on budget and get this project back on schedule."

FOCUS OF THE HEARING:

The hearing will focus on the progress made by the SSA and the GSA to replace the NCC, including progress to date and reasons for project delays. The Subcommittees will also assess how the SSA and the GSA plan to avoid further delays and stay within budget. Finally, the Subcommittees will examine the SSA's preparedness should an NCC failure occur.

DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:

Please Note: Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit for the hearing record must follow the appropriate link on the hearing page of the Committee website and complete the informational forms. From the Committee homepage, http://waysandmeans.house.gov, select "Hearings." Select the hearing for which you would like to submit, and click on the link entitled, "Click here to provide a submission for the record." Once you have followed the online instructions, submit all requested information. ATTACH your submission as a Word document, in compliance with the formatting requirements listed below, by the close of business on Friday, March 4, 2011. Finally, please note that due to the change in House mail policy, the U.S. Capitol Police will refuse sealed-package deliveries to all House Office Buildings. For questions, or if you encounter technical problems, please call (202) 225-1721 or (202) 225-3625.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:

The Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record. As always, submissions will be included in the record according to the discretion of the Committee. The Committee will not alter the content of your submission, but we reserve the right to format it according to our guidelines. Any submission provided to the Committee by a witness, any supplementary materials submitted for the printed record, and any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any submission or supplementary item not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

1. All submissions and supplementary materials must be provided in Word format and MUST NOT exceed a total of 10 pages, including attachments. Witnesses and submitters are advised that the Committee relies on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.

2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.

3. All submissions must include a list of all clients, persons and/or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears. A supplemental sheet must accompany each submission listing the name, company, address, telephone, and fax numbers of each witness.

The Committee seeks to make its facilities accessible to persons with disabilities. If you are in need of special accommodations, please call 202-225-1721 or 202-226-3411 TTD/TTY in advance of the event (four business days notice is requested). Questions with regard to special accommodation needs in general (including availability of Committee materials in alternative formats) may be directed to the Committee as noted above.

Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at http://www.waysandmeans.house.gov/.

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