Model Tribal System (MTS) Services to Tribes

TRIBAL DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

TDCL-18-02

DATE: June 7, 2018

TO: Tribal IV-D Directors

SUBJECT: Model Tribal System (MTS) Services to Tribes

Dear Colleague:

The Model Tribal System is a tribal system automation option eligible for federal financial participation (FFP) in accordance with 45 CFR 310.5. While the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) provides services to tribal child support programs that choose to implement MTS, each tribe must manage and safeguard its own data according to 45 CFR 309.80 and 310.15.

Services provided to tribal child support programs that implement MTS include:

• Maintaining a tribal Advance Planning Document (APD) template that addresses costs of salaries of tribal program and IT staff; contracts for the installation and MTS setup; travel and professional training; data conversion, testing, and help desk services; and hardware, software, and network connectivity
• Reviewing and approving the APD for MTS installation
• Providing OCSE-sponsored training for non-consortium MTS implementation held at the ACF headquarters in Washington, DC
• Providing installation support for tribes that choose the OCSE-supported MTS installation
• Providing FFP funding for operation and maintenance costs through the tribe’s annual budget
• Performing MTS system engineering activities, including MTS release management, Change Control Board facilitation, system documentation maintenance, Unit and System Testing, User Acceptance Testing coordination, MTS defect fixes and enhancements, and source code maintenance
• Maintaining the defect management tool (Bugzilla) and the document management system (Alfresco) and providing Virtual Private Network connectivity to these resources
• Publishing release notes and the latest version (application and database) of MTS in Bugzilla for tribes to download. The following releases have been published within the past year, 3.2.8, 3.2.9, 3.2.10, and 3.2.11. Release 3.2.12 is currently in User Acceptance Testing
• Reviewing annual budget costs associated with MTS operations and maintenance, including IT contracts for MTS maintenance, personnel salaries, and computer equipment purchases such as laptops and desktops
• Maintaining OCSE recommendations for personal computer and server specifications
• Demonstrating MTS software to interested tribes
• Providing technical assistance as requested

However, OCSE does not perform the following:

• MTS upgrade installation (tribes will accept the latest version and implement it)
• Tribal data maintenance or storage
• Cloud or on premise hosting services
• Tribal MTS help desk services (end-user related problems with MTS)

Please email MTSPROJECT@acf.hhs.gov if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Scott M. Lekan
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement