DCL-01-41, Data Reliability Audit Requirements for the Fiscal Year 2001 Reporting Period

Department of Health and Human Services
Administration for Children & Families
Office of Child Support Enforcement

DCL-01-41 Date: July 31, 2001

RE: Data Reliability Audit Requirements for the Fiscal Year 2001 Reporting Period

Dear Colleague:

Section 452(a)(4)(C)(I) of Part D of Title IV of the Social Security Act, requires the Office of Child Support Enforcement’s (OCSE) Office of Audit to conduct Data Reliability Audits (DRAs) to evaluate the completeness, reliability, security and the accuracy of the performance indicator data reported by the States. Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), States will receive incentives based on performance, if their data is deemed to be reliable, complete, and accurate. This will be the third year that the DRAs will be conducted to assess States’ Performance Indicator Data. These audits have been valuable in assisting States to improve the quality of their Performance Indicator Data. The audits for this reporting year must begin no later than January 2, 2002. Therefore, your systems personnel should contact the Office of Audits Supervisor by August 6, 2001; to plan for the submission of the data discussed in the following paragraphs.

Since payment of incentives on Performance Indicators will be dependent on the results of the DRAs, the Office of Audit must complete the DRAs expeditiously. The time spent validating the data, querying, sampling and matching sampled records will be shortened considerably if the audit trails provided supporting the performance indicator data are submitted in a standardized format designed for all States as outlined in the attached specifications. If the required data testing cannot be performed during the DRAs, we will be unable to evaluate the reliability of your data. While we encourage States to send us the child support universe and performance indicator data audit trails shortly after they submit the OCSE-157, “Child Support Enforcement Annual Data Report.” report, the audit trails must be received by the area audit office no later than January 15, 2002. If we do not receive the audit trails by this date, your State may be ineligible to receive incentives related to any performance indicator data we cannot evaluate.

Similar to Fiscal Year (FY) 2000 requirements, for the 2001 reporting period, the audit trails should consist of the data elements used to compile and report the performance indicator data line items on the OCSE 157. We are also requesting a file with the complete Child Support case universe as of September 30, 2001 that includes all open IV-D cases, closed cases, and non-IV8209D cases. However, for FY 2001, for the Child Support System universe, we are also asking for additional information about the non8209custodial parent’s (NCP’s) social security number (SSN), NCP’s name, custodial parent’s (CP’s) SSN, Case Status, Status Date, and Case Type. For the Lines 8 and 9 audit trail, we are also requiring the child’s name and SSN.

Enclosed is the required “Audit Trails Specifications” that will ensure that the data is in a usable format and contains the required data elements. The audit trails files and Child Support universe should not be in a read-only format. Please contact your Office of Audit Supervisor to discuss and plan for the submission of the data supporting your performance indicator data. The cognizant Office of Audit Supervisor will work with you to ensure that the specifications you submit are accurate.

We would like to meet with you and your State’s reporting system personnel to discuss and plan for the submission of the required data files. Please contact your cognizant Office of Audit Supervisor by August 6, 2001. Also, at this time, if not already in place, we want to finalize plans for obtaining read-only access to your State’s system.

Read-only remote access to a State’s child support system is critical to the timely completion of the DRAs. This allows the Office of Audit to do the case sample review within the data testing phase of the audit more effectively and efficiently. It also enables a better allocation of scarce resources and results in less disruption of State and local child support operations. Read-only access is a requirement detailed in the OCSE “Certification Review Guide”, issued under Action Transmittal OCSE AT-00-07, dated August 28, 2000.

Your timely cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. The DRAs must be initiated no later than January 2, 2002 to ensure timely incentive payments. We will be available to answer any questions you may have in defining and/or in submitting the required files to support your performance indicator data. Thank you for your assistance in this mutually beneficial process.

Frank Fuentes
Acting Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

Enclosure: DATA RELIABILITY AUDIT SPECIFICATIONS

cc:ACF Regional Administrators
Regional Program Managers