A Secret Plan to Close Social Security’s Offices and Outsource Its Work
Published on Tuesday, June 24, 2014 by Campaign for America's Future
A Secret Plan to Close Social Securitys Offices and Outsource Its Work
by Richard Eskow
For months there have been rumors that the Social Security Administration has a secret plan to close all of its field offices. Is it true? A little-known report commissioned by the SSA the request of Congress seems to hold the answer. The summary document outlining the plan, which is labeled for internal use only, is unavailable from the SSA but can be found here.
Does the document, entitled Long Term Strategic Vision and Vision Elements, really propose shuttering all field offices? The answer, buried beneath a barrage of obfuscatory consultantese, clearly seems to be yes. Worse, the report also suggests that many of the SSAs critical functions could soon be outsourced to private-sector partners and contractors.
Here are five insights from this austerity-minded outline.
1. This is death by jargon.
The Social Security Administration has contracted with an entity called The National Academy of Public Administration, or NAPA, to conduct a study and submit a high-level plan proposing a long-range strategic vision. The seven-member panel conducting the study includes current and former employees of government contractors IBM, Cisco, and Grant Thornton, as well as career bureaucrats and the editor of Government Executive magazine.
The panels four-page overview lays down a nearly impenetrable barrage of consultant-speak. This is a language in which smaller workforce means layoffs and reduced physical infrastructure is a euphemism for closing field offices. It is a language in which goals, objectives, strategies and tactics are reduced to a pulpy mash of undifferentiated vision elements. The language is rich in booster-ish phrases like this one: Stress program integrity in everything we do. (As opposed to, you know, not doing that.)
For most of its four pages the documents runic language artfully dodges the question at hand, preferring instead to inform the public of such need-to-know information as the fact that we embrace change and reward managed risk. It is not until the final page that the bomb is dropped, surrounded by a cloud of verbal decoys. The key phrase: Our communication and business practices enable a dispersed workforce that is no longer working in centralized, traditional offices.
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/06/24-7
bananas
(27,509 posts)http://www.napawash.org/images/WorkInProgress/SocialSecurityAdministrationWorkInProgress.pdf
http://www.aging.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/SSA%20Hearing%20Staff%20Memo1.pdf
http://www.ssa.gov/agency/asp/materials/pdfs/plan-2014-2018.pdf
KoKo
(84,711 posts)I had to help a relative sign up and she isn't on the internet and doesn't know how to use a computer. She tried to sign up by phone and when they took her information they said she would be getting confirmationforms. She waited a month and nothing came so she called them back (having to wait a long time to get through) and they said she needed to go to her local office. (There was some complication with her deceased husbands SS that needed some clarification or something).
It took three trips and hours waiting on the third (when we finally could get a parking space) to get her signed up. They have a big TV in the waiting room with a message that scrolls through constantly telling you to "sign up online." Yet if you don't have access to a computer or know how to use one its impossible. The parking lot being filled is because the local SS Office handles, SS Benefits for minors and those on disability so if you just need to sign up for Retirement Age SS you are lumped in with everyone else who is there. There's only ONE OFFICE in my large city with not enough parking spaces to accommodate the people needing the service. The Hours were cut back during the Govt. Shutdown we were told and the Government never reinstated the full Wednesday hours so it's 9-5 only four days a week and 9-12 on Wednesdays... And if you don't camp out for an hour before it opens and come after 3:00 you are likely not to be able to get your number and called before they close.
It's a disaster and I can believe they want to Privatize it which will make it worse. And, many who waited until they are age 70 to Retire are NOT Internet Literate and need to be able to fill out forms and get personal help to get signed up. And they need a person who can drive them and wait for hours and be willing to come back again and again if they have a disability and can't drive (as my relative has because she's on a medication).
It's sad to see that this is being considered. I feel we are heading to being a Third World Country these days.