17.2 Data Reliability

State Authority:

None

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 OCSS 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 OCSS – 34A – Child Support Enforcement Quarterly Report of Collections and the federal OCSS – 396A – Child Support Enforcement Program Financial Report.

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

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

• The data meets the federal OCSS' 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 OCSS ' Guide for Auditing Reliable Data, the federal auditor will request certain documentation from the State CSP Office.  The State CSP Office will gather the requested physical case files from the District CSP Offices and provide a POSSE computer terminal for the federal auditor.

The federal auditor will provide a preliminary report to the Wyoming CSP 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 OCSS to determine if the data is reliable.  If the data is found to be reliable, the federal OCSS will use the data found in the OCSS 157 – Child Support Enforcement Annual Data Report, OCSS – 34A – Child Support Program Quarterly Report of Collections and OCSS – 396A – Child Support Program Financial Report to calculate any incentives due to the Wyoming CSP 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/