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Release 06-01 - Manifest Minor

August 18, 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is planning a Minor State Impact Release for the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) to take effect on August 18, 2006. This Release Manifest describes the schedule for, and content of, this Release, which is numbered 06-01. Note that some of the changes will be implemented at a time different than the August 18 Release date.

The Release Schedule focuses on three main events: the posting of this Manifest on the OCSE Website, the posting of the detailed specifications on the website, and the implementation of the software changes. The Schedule also includes the state conference calls that will be held at key points during the Release planning period to assist states in preparation for the changes.

The major part of this Manifest is composed of individual charts that describe each of the changes.

There are five CSENet changes, all of which will be implemented on August 18, 2006. Two of these changes (#226 and 230) were described in a previous Release (05-02) in order to give states additional time for preparation.

There are two FCR changes. Change #2056 will be implemented prior to August 18. An EFlash will be issued to advise states when it is implemented. Change #219 was included in Release 05-02, and it is being included here because its actual implementation date is dependent on when the FCR interface to the National Security Agency (NSA) is completed. When that occurs, an EFlash will be sent to states.

There are two Federal Offset changes. The decrease in the Passport Denial Threshold will be implemented in October 2006 in accordance with the Federal legislation. The implementation date of the new Exclusion Indicator for Insurance Match will be announced when it becomes available.

There is one change to the National Directory of New Hires, which is being included in this Release for informational purposes even though it has already been implemented.


Table of Contents

RELEASE SCHEDULE

Dates Activities
April 18, 2006 (Tuesday) Post the Manifest to the OCSE Website.
CSENet, NDNH and Federal Case Registry Release Manifest Teleconferences:
May 2, 2006 10:00 AM (Tuesday)
May 4, 2006 3:00 PM (Thursday)

Federal Offset Release Manifest Teleconferences:
April 25, 2006 2:00 PM (Tuesday)
April 26, 2006 10:00 AM (Wednesday)
April 27, 2006 10:00 AM (Thursday)
Multistate conference call with states' technical support regarding the Release Manifest. Please plan to attend one of the sessions.

The objective of the call is to address the following:
  1. What are your questions, comments and/or concerns?
  2. Will you need to make changes to your system?
  3. Do you have any issues concerning the Release implementation date?
May 18, 2006 (Thursday) Post the Release Specifications to the OCSE Website.
CSENet, NDNH and Federal Case Registry State Specifications Teleconferences:
June 6, 2006 10:00 AM (Tuesday)
June 8, 2006 3:00 PM (Thursday)

Federal Offset State Specifications Teleconferences:
May 23, 2006 2:00 PM (Tuesday)
May 24, 2006 10:00 AM (Wednesday)
May 25, 2006 10:00 AM (Thursday)
Multistate conference call with states' technical support regarding the Release Specifications. Please plan to attend one of the sessions.

The objective of the call is to review the specifications and Q&A.
TBD (to be established during conference calls) Test with states.
August 18, 2006 (Friday) OCSE implementation of FPLS Release 06-01.

Table of Contents

System CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT NETWORK
Title Order Arrears Frequency Amount Correction (OCSE Ref #158)
Proposed Changes Modify the TMA code to validate transactions when the Order Arrears Frequency Amount equals zeros and the Order Arrears Frequency is not blank for ENF Requests, ENF Updates, PAT Responses, EST Responses or ENF Responses.
Impact
  • States will no longer receive the error code and message: E436, “Mandatory Order Arrears Frequency Amount Missing”, because the Order-Arrears-Freq-Amount field equaled zeros and the Order-Arrears-Freq was present for ENF Request transactions.
  • States will receive ENF requests with the Order-Arrears-Freq-Amount field equal to zero.
Business Requirements or Benefit Support the current requirements as stated in CSENet 2000 Interface Guidance Document; Appendix C, “Data Block Record Layout”.
Reason Improve the quality of data being shared between states by conveying expected order information.
Point of Contact Kishore Raheja 703.367.5449 kishore.raheja@lmco.com
CSENet 2000 Service Desk 800.258.2736 CSENet.2000@lmco.com
Targeted Implementation Date August 18, 2006

Table of Contents

System CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT NETWORK
Title Race Field Value Correction (OCSE Ref #187)
Proposed Changes Modify the TMA to ensure that only valid values for NCP Race are validated for routing to other states. The valid values are: ‘W’, ‘B’, ‘I’, ‘A’, ‘S’, ‘X’ and space.
Impact
  • States that enter a value other than those listed above will receive an existing error code: E830, “Invalid Race in NCP ID block”.
  • Only transactions with valid values for race will be forwarded to states.
Business Requirements or Benefit Support the current requirements as stated in CSENet 2000 Interface Guidance Document; Appendix C, “Data Block Record Layout”.
Reason Improve the quality of data being shared between states by conveying correct values for race.
Point of Contact Kishore Raheja 703.367.5449 kishore.raheja@lmco.com
CSENet 2000 Service Desk 800.258.2736 CSENet.2000@lmco.com
Targeted Implementation Date August 18, 2006

Table of Contents

System CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT NETWORK
Title Validate New-Case-ID Field Format and Require the New-Case-ID Field for the Managing State Cases - Provision/Response, Change Local Case ID Transaction (OCSE Ref #226)
Proposed Changes Apply the same validation criteria for the New-Case-ID field as those applied to the Case-ID and Other-Case-ID fields.

Require that the Information data block and the New-Case-ID field be present in the MSC P GSCAS transaction.
Impact
  • A new error code and message: E941, “Invalid New Case ID Value”, will be created and generated regarding improper New-Case-ID field formatting.
  • States will receive a new error code and message: E942, “Mandatory New Case ID Missing” related to the absence of data in the New-Case-ID field. If the Information data block is not included, states will receive the existing error code and message: E939, “Mandatory Information Data Block is Missing”.
Business Requirements or Benefit
  • Support ongoing case ID synchronization and standardization.
  • Streamline electronic interstate communications.
Reason Support states’ agreement to expand the business usage of the MSC P GSCAS transaction to use this transaction to inform another state of any change in a case ID.
Point of Contact Kishore Raheja 703.367.5449 kishore.raheja@lmco.com
CSENet 2000 Service Desk 800.258.2736 CSENet.2000@lmco.com
Targeted Implementation Date August 18, 2006

Table of Contents

System CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT NETWORK
Title Delete Obsolete Case-Closure Transactions (OCSE Ref #230)
Proposed Changes Delete the following obsolete case closure transactions:
  • Managing State Cases - Provision/Response
  • Case Closure Reason Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 303.11(b)(1) (MSC P GSC01) and Managing State Cases - Provision/Response
  • Case Closure Reason CFR 303.11(b)(4) (MSC P GSC04).
These transactions no longer match the criteria outlined in 45 CFR 303.11(b).
Impact If these transactions are used, originating states will receive the existing error code and message: E831, “Invalid Combination of FunctType Code, Act Code, and Act Reason”.
Business Requirements or Benefit Support the current reasons for case closure that are outlined by the CFR.
Reason Improve the quality of data being shared between states by conveying the correct reason for closure.
Point of Contact Kishore Raheja 703.367.5449 kishore.raheja@lmco.com
CSENet 2000 Service Desk 800.258.2736 CSENet.2000@lmco.com
Targeted Implementation Date August 18, 2006

Table of Contents

System CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT NETWORK
Title Date Field Corrections (OCSE Ref #257)
Proposed Changes Modify TMA edits to ensure that the Order-End-Date, Residential-Address-End-Date, Order-Cancel-Date, Arrears-TANF-Thru-Date, Arrears-Non-TANF-Thru-Date, Foster-Care-Thru-Date, and Medical-Thru-Date fields are validated according to CSENet 2000 Interface Guidance Document; Appendix C, “Data Block Record Layout”, as each field has a dependency on another field or date.
Impact
  • States that enter invalid dates will receive existing error codes and messages:
       E919 – Order Cancel Date <= Order Effective Date
       E441 – Arrears TANF Thru Date < TANF From Date
       E445 – Arrears non TANF Thru Date < non TANF From Date
       E450 – Foster Care Thru Date < Foster Care From Date
       E455 – Medical Thru Date < Medical From Date
       E428 – Order End Date < Order Eff Date
  • A new error code and message:
       E940 – Res Address End Date <= Res Address Eff Date
    will be created and generated regarding improper dates in the Residential Address End Date Field.
  • States will receive only valid dates.
Business Requirements or Benefit Support the current requirements as stated in CSENet 2000 Interface Guidance Document; Appendix C, “Data Block Record Layout”
Reason Improve the quality of data being shared between states by conveying expected date information.
Point of Contact Kishore Raheja 703.367.5449 kishore.raheja@lmco.com
CSENet 2000 Service Desk 800.258.2736 CSENet.2000@lmco.com
Targeted Implementation Date August 18, 2006

Table of Contents

System FEDERAL CASE REGISTRY
Title Establish Interface with National Security Agency (OCSE Ref #219)
Proposed Changes The Federal Case Registry (FCR) is being enhanced to include the National Security Agency (NSA) as an additional Locate source. This source will provide states with employment data for those NSA employees for whom information release is authorized.
Impact This data match with NSA is being finalized. OCSE expects implementation in 2006. States interested in receiving Locate information from NSA are encouraged to begin programming to request and receive data. Data submissions from NSA will be returned to states in a format that is similar to the format used to return Locate information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The record layout was included in the Specifications for Release 05-02.
Business Requirements or Benefit Provide employment information via FCR individual Locate Requests for NSA employees. The NSA is not required to report to the NDNH. However, it has agreed to accept Locate Requests and to match employees for whom information release is authorized.
Reason States have expressed an interest in receiving employment data for employees of NSA.
Point of Contact Ken Nesbit 703.345.8102 kenny.nesbit@ngc.com
Targeted Implementation Date To Be Announced

Table of Contents

System FEDERAL CASE REGISTRY
Title Add Additional SSN 1 and 2 Verification Codes to FCR Reconciliation File (OCSE Ref #2056)
Proposed Changes The FCR will be modified to store and return the verification status of additional Social Security numbers (SSNs) on the FCR Reconciliation File.

The state-submitted additional SSN is processed through the SSN/Name verification routines. The submitter is notified in the FCR Person/Locate Request Acknowledgement Record of the primary SSN verification status and the SSN stored as the FCR primary SSN, as well as the SSN verification status of additional SSNs. This change will implement notification to the submitter of the SSN verification status of additional SSNs on the Reconciliation File.
Impact States must be able to accept the additional codes.
Business Requirements or Benefit The FCR provides states with up to two additional SSNs which are stored on the FCR if a state requests an FCR Reconciliation file. The verification status of the additional SSNs is not known to the states, but the Additional SSN 1 and 2 Verification Codes will provide them with this information. This is a critical element for the states because if the Additional SSNs are verified, the state will receive proactive matches on these participants so they will need to store the SSNs as valid in order to accept the information and make sure that it gets applied to the correct participant.
Reason States have requested that the FCR return a verification code for any additional SSN that is added to the FCR.
Point of Contact Ken Nesbit 703.345.8102 kenny.nesbit@ngc.com
Targeted Implementation Date To Be Announced

Table of Contents

System FEDERAL OFFSET
Title Decrease Passport Denial Threshold from $5,000 to $2,500 (OCSE Ref #2143)
Proposed Changes The monetary threshold used to determine when to send obligors to Department of State for Passport Denial will be reduced from $5,000 to $2,500.
Impact The threshold change will be implemented in the Federal Offset Program (FOP) effective October 1, 2006.

There is no impact to states that do not use the Federally-mandated threshold in determining whether to set or remove the PAS (Passport Denial) exclusion indicator.

Any state that evaluates an obligor’s arrearage amounts and sets or removes the PAS exclusion indicator based on the current Federally-mandated threshold of $5,000 must implement a change effective October 1, 2006 to reduce the threshold to $2,500.
Business Requirements or Benefit Approximately 450,000 additional obligors will be submitted to the Passport Denial program at Department of State, with an estimated increase of $1.72 million in collections.
Reason S.1932, Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Sec. 7303, Decrease in Amount of Child Support Arrearage Triggering Passport Denial.
Point of Contact Scott Hale 202.401.5745 shale@acf.hhs.gov

Brian Peeler 202.690.5377 bpeeler@acf.hhs.gov
Targeted Implementation Date October 1, 2006

Table of Contents

System FEDERAL OFFSET
Title Create a New Exclusion Indicator, ‘INS’ To Exclude Cases Certified on the Federal Offset File from an Insurance Match (OCSE Ref #2149)
Proposed Changes States will use the ‘INS’ exclusion indicator to identify cases excluded from insurance match (once implemented).
Impact The insurance match will allow states to have FPLS conduct matches with insurers concerning claims, settlements, awards, and payments and furnish information resulting from the matches to IV-D agencies. The ‘INS’ exclusion indicator will permit states to exclude cases from such a match when the program becomes fully operational in the future.

There is no immediate impact to states because OCSE has not yet implemented returning insurance match records using the FPLS. The match will be phased in over the course of the next 6-12 months and at that time, states must use the ‘INS’ exclusion indicator if they do not want the cases subject to the insurance match.
Business Requirements or Benefit This match will provide states an additional enforcement mechanism to collect past-due child support.
Reason S.1932, Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, Soc Sec Act 452(l), Comparisons with Insurance Information.
Point of Contact Sherri Grigsby 202.401.6114 sgrigsby@acf.hhs.gov

Scott Hale 202.401.5745 shale@acf.hhs.gov
Targeted Implementation Date To Be Announced

Table of Contents

System NATIONAL DIRECTORY OF NEW HIRES
Title Post QW Records to the Non-Verifiable File if the Record Fails EVS and the Last Name is Shorter Than the Minimum Required by EVS (OCSE Ref #2132)
Proposed Changes The NDNH has been modified to change the process that determines which file the QW NDNH records are written to. If the record passes certain requirements and is unverified, write the record to the unverified file. If the record does not pass the edit and is unverified, write the record to the non-verifiable file.
Impact States will have access to more reliable data for SSN/Name combinations.
Business Requirements or Benefit Allow more records to be posted to the non-verifiable file, and thereby be made available for data matching.
Reason Improve the quality of SSN/Name verification data.
Point of Contact Rose Hodel 703.345.8091 rose.hodel@ngc.com
Targeted Implementation Date February 21, 2006

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Last modified: April 18, 2006