17.2 Data Reliability

Overview

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 and the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act (CSPIA) of 1998 provide the incentive and penalty system for state’s child support enforcement programs based upon performance in the following five areas:

• Paternity Establishment;

• Support Order Establishment;

• Current Collections;

• Arrears Collections; and

• Cost-Effectiveness.

Policy

At the end of the federal fiscal year (October 1 – September 30), the Wyoming CSE Program will submit a completed federal OCSE 157 – Child Support Enforcement Annual Data Report . See Appendix 17.A – OCSE 157 Incentive and Penalty Data Elements¹ for an explanation of each line audited for the first four performance standards – paternity establishment, support order establishment, current collections, and arrears collections. The fifth performance measure, cost-effectiveness, is calculated using the federal OCSE – 34A – Child Support Enforcement Quarterly Report of Collections and the federal OCSE – 396A – Child Support Enforcement Program Financial Report.

Once the federal OCSE receives the OCSE forms, a federal auditor will schedule an on-site audit to determine whether:

• The data reported in the OCSE forms is reliable, accurate, complete, and secure.

• The data meets the federal OCSE’s reporting requirements.

• The reported data represents the reported performance indicator data as required by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Based upon the GAO’s Government Auditing Standards and the federal OCSE’s Guide for Auditing Reliable Data, the federal auditor will request certain documentation from the State CSE Office. The State CSE Office will gather the requested physical case files from the District CSE Offices and provide a POSSE computer terminal for the federal auditor.

The federal auditor will provide a preliminary report to the Wyoming CSE Program for response and will provide a final report to the Director of the Wyoming Department of Family Services (DFS). The final report will be used by the federal OCSE to determine if the data is reliable. If the data is found to be reliable, the federal OCSE will use the data found in the OCSE 157 – Child Support Enforcement Annual Data Report, OCSE – 34A – Child Support Enforcement Quarterly Report of Collections and OCSE – 396A – Child Support Enforcement Program Financial Report to calculate any incentives due to the Wyoming CSE Program or assess any penalties as discussed in 17.1 Introduction.

Cross Reference

Appendix 17.A – OCSE 157 Incentive and Penalty Data Elements

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¹For the most recent Form OCSE-157 Report and Instructions, see OCSE Forms at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/forms/