Notice2025-01155
Notice of Tier Subscription Expansion and Fee Decrease for Our Electronic Consent Based Social Security Number Verification Service
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 17, 2025
Effective
February 3, 2025
Issuing agencies
Social Security Administration
Abstract
The Social Security Administration (SSA) is announcing two additional subscription tiers and a decrease in the fees across all tiers for the electronic Consent Based Social Security Number (SSN) Verification (eCBSV) service. In accordance with statutory requirements, a permitted entity (PE) is required to provide payment to reimburse SSA for the development and support of the eCBSV system.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 11 (Friday, January 17, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 11 (Friday, January 17, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6043-6044]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-01155]
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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
[Docket No. SSA 2024-0045]
Notice of Tier Subscription Expansion and Fee Decrease for Our
Electronic Consent Based Social Security Number Verification Service
AGENCY: Social Security Administration.
ACTION: Notice of Tier Subscription Expansion and Fee Decrease for the
Electronic Consent Based Social Security Number Verification Service.
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SUMMARY: The Social Security Administration (SSA) is announcing two
additional subscription tiers and a decrease in the fees across all
tiers for the electronic Consent Based Social Security Number (SSN)
Verification (eCBSV) service. In accordance with statutory
requirements, a permitted entity (PE) is required to provide payment to
reimburse SSA for the development and support of the eCBSV system.
DATES: The revised subscription tier structure will go into effect for
subscription payments made on or after February 3, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Worstell, Office of Data
Exchange, Policy Publications, and International Negotiations, Social
Security Administration, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland
21235-6401, (866) 395-8801, email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a8cdebeafbfee8dbdbc986cfc7de"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="224761607174625151430c454d54">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 215 of the Economic Growth,
Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act \1\ (the Banking Bill)
directed SSA to modify or develop a database for accepting and
comparing fraud protection data \2\ provided electronically by a PE.\3\
In response to this statutory directive, we created eCBSV, a fee-based
SSN verification service. The eCBSV allows SSA to verify and disclose
to a PE, based on the number holder's consent,\4\ whether a number
holder's SSN, name, and date of birth match SSA's records. The PE's
request for SSA's verification of the fraud protection data must be in
connection with a credit transaction or a circumstance described in
section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Each PE must submit a
certification statement \5\ that the PE is compliant with the Banking
Bill as part of their application to SSA.
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\1\ Public Law 115-174, codified at 42 U.S.C. 405b.
\2\ The Banking Bill defines ``Fraud Protection Data'' to mean a
combination of an individual's name (including the first name and
any family forename or surname), SSN, and date of birth (including
month, day, and year). Public Law 115-174, title II, 215(b)(3),
codified at 42 U.S.C. 405b(b)(3).
\3\ The Banking Bill defines a PE to mean a financial
institution or service provider, subsidiary, affiliate, agent,
subcontractor, or assignee of a financial institution. Public Law
115-174, title II, 215(b)(4), codified at 42 U.S.C. 405b(b)(4). They
must possess an Employer Identification Number and a Data Universal
Number System (DUN) and Bradstreet number.
\4\ Under the eCBSV User Agreement, valid written consent must
meet the requirements of applicable Federal law, SSA's regulations,
and section IV of the eCBSV User Agreement. Valid written consent
must include a wet or electronic signature. Section IV A.1. eCBSV
User Agreement. Electronic signatures must meet the definition in
section 106 of the Electronic Signatures in Global and National
Commerce Act (15 U.S.C. 7006). 42 U.S.C. 405b(f)(2); section IV. E.
eCBSV User Agreement. The written consent must clearly specify to
whom the information may be disclosed, the information to be
disclosed (e.g., SSN verification) and, where applicable, during
which timeframe the information may be disclosed (e.g., whenever the
subject individual is receiving specific services). 20 CFR 401.100.
\5\ The PE must certify that (1) the entity is a PE; (2) the
entity is in compliance with section 215; (3) the entity is, and
will remain, in compliance with its privacy and data security
requirements in title V of 15 U.S.C. 6801, et seq., with respect to
the information the entity receives from the Commissioner of Social
Security pursuant to this section; and (4) the entity will retain
sufficient records to demonstrate its compliance with its
certification and section 215 for a period of not less than 2 years.
42 U.S.C. 405b(e)(1)-(3).
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Based on feedback from PEs received by email and during monthly
direct PE conference calls, we are adding two additional tiers for
purchase within the eCBSV program. We are adding a new smaller eCBSV
tier capped at a maximum of 75,000 transactions to better serve smaller
eCBSV customers. This addition will give smaller PEs additional and
more affordable tier options. Additionally, we are adding a new eCBSV
tier capped at 500,000 maximum transactions. These new tiers allow us
to maintain our pricing structure and provide small and medium
customers an avenue to directly use the eCBSV service instead of having
to go through a third-party service. We anticipate that this new fee
structure will incentivize higher transactional volume. In addition, we
are decreasing the annual fee for all tiers, which we explain in more
detail in the Fees section below.
Fees
The public cost burden is dependent upon the number of PEs using
the service and the annual transaction volume. We based the revised
tier fee schedule below on 20 participating PEs in fiscal year (FY)
2025. The total cost for developing and operating the service is
approximately $66.5 million through FY 2024. Of this amount, $25.7
million remains unrecovered. The subscription fees are set to ensure we
collect these remaining costs in a reasonably timely manner to ensure
that we break-even on prior year and ongoing costs for the development
and operation of the program. By breaking even, we mean that we will
have collected enough revenue to fully cover our costs of developing
and operating the eCBSV service. Assuming projected enrollment and
transactions are met,\6\ we will collect the outstanding balance of
$25.7 million through FY 2027. Upon breaking even, we will further
adjust our fee structure to ensure that ongoing costs of the program
are covered.
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\6\ Our projected enrollment is 20 PEs each year and a total
annual usage of 58 million transactions per year. These figures
align with reported usage in the last few years.
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During our evaluation for FY 2025, we noted the following:
<bullet> We collected approximately $16.1 million in FY 2024.
<bullet> Operating costs of approximately $5 million per year in FY
2023 and FY 2024 continued to be lower than historic
[[Page 6044]]
costs. (Currently, we project operating costs will continue at this
rate).
<bullet> We have fully recovered all prior year costs incurred
during FY 2020 and earlier.
<bullet> We are on track in FY 2025, assuming current usage and fee
collection continues, to fully recover costs incurred during FY 2021.
<bullet> While our break-even is scheduled for FY 2027, our current
fee structure could see significant surplus funds in that year, without
changes to the fees.
Based on this information, specifically the last bullet above, and
being mindful of our eCBSV customers, we evaluated opportunities to
reduce fees across all tiers in a manner that provides some cost
relief, maintains our current projected break-even timeline of FY 2027,
and continues the collection of prior year costs in a reasonably timely
manner.
Our long-term goal, once we break-even, is to only collect fees to
cover our ongoing operating costs. Rather than postponing cost relief
until that point, we evaluated the relevant information and determined
that we could provide a fee reduction now, while staying on target for
our cost recovery goals.
Revised eCBSV Tier Fee Schedule
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Tier Annual volume threshold Annual fee
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1.............................. Up to 10,000 (1-10,000) $6,650
2.............................. Up to 75,000 (10,001- 49,500
75,000).
3.............................. Up to 200,000 (75,001- 125,000
200,000).
4.............................. Up to 500,000 (200,001- 308,750
500,000).
5.............................. Up to 1 million 610,000
(500,001-1 million).
6.............................. Up to 2.5 million 1,210,000
(1,000,001-2.5
million).
7.............................. Up to 5 million 2,350,000
(2,500,001-5 million).
8.............................. Up to 10 million 4,275,000
(5,000,001-10 million).
9.............................. Up to 15 million 4,750,000
(10,000,001-15
million).
10............................. Up to 20 million 5,937,500
(15,000,001-20
million).
11............................. Up to 25 million 6,887,500
(20,000,001-25
million).
12............................. Up to 200 million 7,837,500
(25,000,001-200
million).
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Each enrolled PE will be required to remit the above tier-based
subscription fee for the 365-day agreement period starting on or after
February 3, 2025.
Our eCBSV fees are designed to recover prior year costs timely as
we look to break-even, while ensuring that we can cover ongoing
operating costs. Agency costs and future year cost estimates are based
on actual and forecasted systems and operational expenses, agency
oversight, overhead, and certified public accountant audit contract
costs. Section 215(h)(1)(B) of the Banking Bill (42 U.S.C. 405b(h))
requires that the Commissioner shall ``periodically adjust'' the price
paid by users to ensure that amounts collected are sufficient to fully
offset the costs of administering the eCBSV system. On at least an
annual basis, SSA will monitor costs incurred to provide eCBSV services
and will revise the tier fee schedule accordingly. We notify PEs of the
tier fee schedule in effect at the renewal of eCBSV user agreements,
when a PE begins a new 365-day agreement period, and via notice in the
Federal Register. PE renewals are governed by the tier fee schedule in
effect at the time of renewal.
Sean Brune,
Deputy Commissioner, Office of Budget, Finance, and Management, Social
Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2025-01155 Filed 1-16-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P
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