DCL-02-02, Electronic Transmission of Wage-Withholding Orders to Defense Finance and Accounting Service

DCL-02-02

DATE: January 28, 2002

TO: ALL STATE IV-D DIRECTORS

RE: Electronic Transmission of Wage-Withholding Orders to Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS)

Dear Colleague:

We are pleased to announce that DFAS and the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) have worked together to improve the transmission of wage-withholding orders from states to the Department of Defense (DOD). Now, instead of mailing wage-withholding orders for military and civilian DOD personnel working in the United States and overseas to DFAS, states can transmit them electronically using the CSENet Network (OCSE Network). OCSE has expanded the network to accommodate this new DFAS application.

To accomplish this batch transmission of wage-withholding orders, state Child Support Enforcement (CSE) agencies first create wage-withholding records formatted according to DFAS specifications. Then, the OCSE Network retrieves files of these records from the states’ automated CSE systems and forwards them to DFAS for processing.

A pilot and end-to-end testing were successfully completed before the application moved into production on September 4, 2001. Testing and additional end-user support services are available to all interested states. DFAS-related resource material is in the Resource Library at:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/stsys/tab99.htm#dfas

The OCSE transmission specifications for DFAS files can be found at:

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/newhire/relmgt.htm

At present, South Dakota is using this batch process to send wage-withholdings to DOD. In anticipation of additional states beginning to program and test, we will schedule a series of conference calls over the next few months. Detailed information about these calls will follow at a later date. States interested in participating in these calls should contact Bonnie Walters, DFAS representative, at bonnie.walters@dfas.mil or Angela Woods, DFAS representative, at angela.woods@dfas.mil.

Enclosed is a table showing, by state, the number of child support wage-withholdings processed as reported by DFAS on September 4, 2001. We hope that you find the information helpful as you commit your resources to various programming priorities.

Sincerely,

Sherri Z. Heller, Ed.D.
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

Enclosure:

cc: Regional Program Managers
ACF Regional Administrators
CSENet 2000 Points of Contact and Technical Points of Contact
Bonnie Walters, DFAS Program Manager

Child Support Wage Withholdings Processed By State (09/04/01) (MicroSoft Excel Spreadsheet)