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Bridging the Gap: Improving SSA's Public Service through Technology
April 2009

The American public relies on the Social Security Administration (SSA) to deliver its services in a timely and effective fashion. Long-established as a community-based agency, face-to-face contact is the hallmark and the primary means of delivering service. But increasingly, SSA has turned to a variety of technologies—including telephone service, the internet, and videoconferencing—to serve its customers. This report examines the challenges confronting SSA as it moves forward with developing expanded electronic services. Included in the report is an assessment of the current state of the agency’s information technology (IT) infrastructure and systems development, a review of IT planning and governance practices, and recommendations for SSA’s technological transformation. The Board believes that SSA is at a critical junction; its ability to deliver service to the American public now and in the future is at considerable risk due to many of the factors discussed in this report. By issuing this report, the Board hopes to focus attention on the need to develop a modern IT infrastructure that can be used to deliver timely, effective service to the American public.