DCL-06-36, Submittal of the OCSE-157 Report for FY 2006 and the Resubmission of FY 2005 Data Found to be Incomplete or Unreliable

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

DCL-06-36

Date: November 3, 2006

TO: ALL STATE IV-D DIRECTORS

RE: Submittal of the OCSE-157 Report for FY 2006 and the Resubmission of FY 2005 Data Found to be Incomplete or Unreliable

This letter is being issued as a reminder to States of the importance of submitting current and revised OCSE-157 reports to the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE). State agencies administering Child Support Enforcement Programs under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act are required to submit an OCSE-157 report as revised in AT-05-09 by October 30, 2006. The new line items that must be reported by October 30th include:

Line 2e - Arrears-Only IV-D Cases With Orders Established Open at the End of the Fiscal Year;
Line 5a - Children in IV-D Cases Open at the End of the Prior Federal Fiscal Year Who Were Born Out-of-Wedlock;
Line 8a - Children in the State Born Out-of-Wedlock During the Prior Year;
Line 21 - Cases Open at the End of the Fiscal Year in Which Medical Support is Ordered (revised to exclude arrears-only cases); and
Line 21a - Cases Open at the End of the Fiscal Year in Which Medical Support is Ordered and Provided.

When submitting the report, please be sure that an original is submitted to OCSE in Washington, DC and a copy is submitted to the appropriate regional office. Officials are also reminded to place the State name in the appropriate field, mark the report new or revised, and indicate which Paternity Establishment Percentage (PEP) a State has choosen.

The Online Data Collection (OLDC) system is the most convenient and efficient way to submit the required report, so we encourage all States to use this electronic system. For information on this system or to be issued log-on IDs and passwords, please contact Delores Johnson at 202-401-5537 or at djohnson@acf.hhs.gov. If a State chooses to submit the 157 report through the OLDC system, they must submit the hard copy to the regional office in addition to its submission through OLDC.

We are also reminding State's of the importance of correcting and resubmitting any incomplete or unreliable child support data reported for FY 2005. States should resubmit data, if it falls into one of the three following categories:

A State's data 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 paternity lines 6 (IV-D) or 9 (Statewide) for FY 2005, or lines 5 (IV-D) or 8 (Statewide) for FY 2004.
A State is changing its PEP option from Statewide (lines 8 and 9) to IV-D (lines 5 and 6) or from IV-D to Statewide PEP data must be submitted for FY 2005 (lines 5+6 and 8+9) and for FY 2004 (lines 5 or 8), as well.

All final revised reports must be in OCSE no later than December 31, 2006, or post- marked by December 31, 2006, to be accepted by OCSE. State officials should review reports for accuracy and make sure all fields are completed. The reports should be sent to:

Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children and Families
Office of Child Support Enforcement
DPRE, 4th Floor
370 L'Enfant Promenade, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20447
Attention: Joyce Pitts

An audit trail as described in DCL-06-29 (September 8, 2006) must be submitted to the appropriate audit office. If you have any questions concerning the audit trail, please contact your local audit office.

If you have any questions regarding this notice, please feel free to contact Joyce Pitts at (202) 401-5368 or e-mail her at jpitts@acf.hhs.gov.

Sincerely,

Margot Bean
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement