DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

DCL-05-03

DATE:  January 19, 2005

TO:  ALL STATE IV-D DIRECTORS

RE:  FPLS Release 05-01

Dear Colleague:

In January 2005, the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) will implement Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) Release 05-01. This release includes enhancements to the Federal Case Registry (FCR) and the Federal Offset system. These enhancements were developed to streamline locate response data and to improve services to families. The enhancements are in line with continuing efforts to promote automated use of FPLS data and to improve data quality. Similar to previous FPLS Releases, the January 2005 changes are deemed minor because implementation of the enhancements can be delayed until state planning and resources can accommodate the changes. 

There is one enhancement to the FCR, which is as follows:

• Modify the FCR to eliminate the bundling option for FCR Locates. States will no longer be allowed to request that the responses from the FPLS External Locates Sources be held until the results from all Federal agencies are received by the FPLS

Four enhancements to the Federal Offset system are described below. As indicated, two of these enhancements were released in December.

• Add an Injured Spouse Indicator, which provides states with the status of an injured spouse claim on joint return tax refund offsets. The new indicator will be placed in position 225 of the Collection and Adjustment Record for non-TANF cases. This enhancement will provide improved customer service and quicker distribution of child support collections to families.

• Provide an exclusion indicator to allow individual cases to be bypassed from FMS’ Debt Check program. This is a new enforcement remedy to collect child support and this enhancement allows participating states the option of excluding individual cases from the FMS Debt Check program. (Released mid-December 2004)

• Present states with an enhanced and newly arranged Multi-Year Query Screen for prior years’ case information. This enhancement will improve access to case information held at the Federal level by expanding the detail history for better case management and tracking of state data. (Released end of December 2004)

• Provide states whose Pre-Offset Notices are generated by OCSE with an enhancement to switch a case type without creating a Pre-Offset Notice. The benefits of this change are to enable states to reduce unnecessary Pre-Offset Notice costs, to ensure that due process is provided to an obligor, and to prevent erroneous case type switches.

For a copy of the Release Manifest for the January 2005 release, or for the detailed specifications regarding these modifications to the FCR and Federal Offset systems, refer to the following OCSE website: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/newhire/library/relmgnt/relmgnt.htm.

States may contact their State Technical Support (TS) liaisons with any questions regarding the January 2005 enhancements, or to discuss programming enhancements that would enable state systems to effectively process the data and maximize data usage. For a listing of the State TS liaisons refer to http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/newhire/contacts/fcrtscontacts.htm. For questions regarding the enhancements to the Federal Offset System, please contact Scott Hale at (202) 401-5745 or shale@acf.hhs.gov.

Sincerely,

David H. Siegel
Acting Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

cc: Regional Program Managers
   ACF Regional Administrators