DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

DCL-04-41

DATE: September 24, 2004

TO:  ALL STATE IV-D DIRECTORS

RE:  National Interstate Case Reconciliation

Dear Colleague:

Congratulations on the strides you and your staff made toward correcting and standardizing IV-D case identifiers (case IDs) through participation in the first national Interstate Case Reconciliation (ICR-1). Fifty (50) states and territories participated in the initial ICR effort undertaken last spring. To date, over 300,000 case IDs have been corrected nationwide in our state systems. This is a significant accomplishment. 

A second nationwide Interstate Case Reconciliation (ICR-2) begins this month.  During the initial ICR effort, many states discovered variances in how cases were stored, or identified, in their state systems. Through state staff efforts, these variances have been corrected, and states anticipate sending more and better-defined interstate cases for ICR-2 matching. 

Fifty-one (51) states and territories, which now include Guam, are participating in ICR-2. The schedule for ICR-2 was released through ICR E-Flash # 04-08, on July 29, 2004. During the biweekly ICR conference call held on July 22, 2004, states reached consensus on the following schedule: 

August 14-21                        States submit test files containing their entire interstate caseload.
August 21-28                        OCSE processes test files and return results (including volume checks).
September 18-25                 States submit complete ICR production files.
September 26-October 3      OCSE processes states’ ICR production files.
October 4-15                       OCSE performs data quality checks.
October 15                           States receive ICR response files.

Testing for the ICR-2 is complete. States made corrections, as necessary, in preparation for submittal of their production files. The necessary data quality checks must occur between September 26 and October 3. This will allow us to begin returning response files to states on October 15. Many states have scheduled resources around this date for processing their ICR results, and are depending on each other for the schedule to be met. 

Thank you for your ongoing participation in this important endeavor. If you have any questions regarding this schedule, please contact Christine Jennings at 703-345-8099 or cajennings@acf.hhs.gov.

Sincerely,

Sherri Z. Heller, Ed.D.
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

cc: Regional Program Managers
   ACF Regional Administrators