Submittal of OCSE-157 for FY 2019

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

DCL-19-11

DATE: September 12, 2019

TO: State IV-D Directors

SUBJECT: Submittal of OCSE-157 for FY 2019

Dear Colleague:

This is a reminder to state agencies administering child support programs under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act of the importance of the timely submission of Child Support Enforcement Annual Data Reports (OCSE-157) to OCSE. Initial reports are due by October 30, 2019, and revised reports are due no later than December 31, 2019. We also remind states of the importance of correcting and resubmitting any incomplete or unreliable child support data reported for FY 2018 and previous years, and of other circumstances under which states can resubmit data. States may resubmit previously reported data only if they fall into one of the following three categories:

• A state’s data for any lines were found to be incomplete or unreliable and are needed to show improvement in performance for any measure.

• A state’s data were found to be incomplete or unreliable for lines needed to compute a state’s Paternity Establishment Percentage (PEP), lines 5 and 6 (IV-D PEP) or 8 and 9 (Statewide PEP) for FY 2018, or lines 5 (IV-D PEP) or 8 (Statewide PEP) for FY 2017.

• A state is changing its PEP option from the Statewide (lines 8, 8a, and 9) to IV-D PEP (lines 5, 5a, and 6) or from IV-D to Statewide PEP for FY 2019. Data must be submitted on the FY 2019 OCSE-157 report for lines 5, 5a, 6, 8, 8a, and 9. In addition, if the state performance for FY 2019 is under 90 percent, the state must also submit a FY 2018 OCSE‑157 report showing lines 5a and 6 (IV-D) or lines 8a and 9 (Statewide), if these data were not submitted previously or if the state wishes to revise data previously submitted.

States may revise previous reports by submitting new ones if they meet the above criteria; however, all final revised reports must be in the Online Data Collection system (OLDC) no later than December 31, 2019.

Remember to place the state name in the appropriate field, mark the report new or revised, and indicate which PEP the state has chosen.

The Administration for Children and Families developed the OLDC to allow states to submit OCSE-157 reports through the HHS Website. The web address for accessing the online system is https://www.grantsolutions.gov .

For GrantSolutions access, complete the Grantee User Account form found on the GrantSolutions website.

State officials should review reports for accuracy and make sure all fields are completed. Again, initial reports are due by October 30, 2019, and all final revised reports must be in the OLDC no later than December 31, 2019.

Sincerely,

Scott M. Lekan
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement