Social Security Should Change Its Proposed Process for Comprehensive Long-Range Planning

GAO reviewed the Social Security Administration's (SSA) process for conducting comprehensive long-range planning.

Nearly 2 years have passed since GAO reported that the SSA structural reorganization did not provide for comprehensive long-range planning. SSA has been slow in developing an agencywide planning process, and the functional planning structure which has evolved is not fully responsive to prior GAO recommendations or to recommendations made by the SSA planning consultant. GAO believes that weaknesses in the planning structure could substantially delay the development of sound SSA-wide long-range operational plans upon which key ongoing medium- and short-range planning should be based. Developing an effective long-range planning process seems to be the only way SSA will be able to avoid recurrence of its systems problems, including hardware capacity problems, archaic and undocumented software, and shortages of key systems personnel. GAO believes that implementing the functional planning process which SSA has proposed would subject it to the risks inherent in delaying the development of a sound agencywide plan, and the planning delays which would likely result would only increase the agency's operational problems.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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