B-305349, Social Security Administration--Use of the Gallup

B-305349 Dec 20, 2005 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights The Social Security Administration did not violate 5 U.S.C. 3107 by hiring the Gallup Organization to survey the general public on its familiarity with the Social Security program and how that program is currently financed, and on its familiarity with various proposals to reform the program. For this purpose, Gallup is not a "publicity expert" within the meaning of section 3107. SSA's authority to survey the general public on its knowledge of the Social Security program and program financing derives from the agency's authority to administer that program. View Decision B-305349, Social Security Administration--Use of the Gallup Organization to Poll the Public on Social Security, December 20, 2005 B-305349 December 20, 2005 The Honorable Frank R. Lautenberg United States Senate Subject: Social Security Administration—Use of the Gallup Organization to Poll the Public on Social Security Dear Senator Lautenberg: This responds to your request for our legal opinion regarding the Social Security Administration's (SSA) use of the Gallup Organization to poll the public on Social Security. Among questions included in recent Public Understanding Measurement Systems (PUMS) polls conducted by Gallup on behalf of SSA, Gallup surveyed the general public on its familiarity with how the Social Security program is financed and on elements of various proposals to reform Social Security. You requested our legal opinion on whether the agency may have violated 5 U.S.C. sect. 3107 by using appropriated funds to pay for the polling. Section 3107 provides that –appropriated funds may not be used to pay a publicity expert unless specifically appropriated for that purpose.— As we explain below, SSA did not violate section 3107 by hiring the Gallup Organization to survey the general public, because Gallup is not a –publicity expert— within the meaning of section 3107. SSA's authority to survey the general public on its knowledge of the Social Security program and program financing stems from the agency's authority to administer that program. 42 U.S.C. sect. 901(b). Consistent with our customary practice when rendering opinions, upon receipt of your request, we wrote a letter to SSA's General Counsel to establish a record on the matter you put before us. Letter from Susan A. Poling, Associate General Counsel, GAO, to Lisa de Soto, General Counsel, SSA, July 12, 2005. We requested factual information and official copies of recently conducted PUMS polls and posed a series of questions to the General Counsel designed to permit us to assess SSA's legal authority to conduct the polling in question. We received responses from SSA on August 11, 2005, including copies of all PUMS surveys conducted to date and subsequent reports prepared by the Gallup Organization, SSA's Performance and Accountability Reports (PAR) for fiscal years 1998 through 2004, and three Strategic Plans covering the years 1997 through 2008. Letter from Thomas W. Crawley, Deputy General Counsel, SSA, to Susan A. Poling, GAO, Aug. 11, 2005 (Crawley Letter). We also received copies of a –Library Bookmark Project— survey and an –Electronic Wage Reporting— survey, which were both conducted in fiscal years 2004 and 2005, and a –Medicare Part D Subsidy Outreach Survey— then underway. Id. BACKGROUND According to SSA, it first conducted Public Understanding Measurement Systems (PUMS) surveys in 1998 to meet strategic goals and objectives that the agency had developed under the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993. Crawley Letter. GPRA requires federal agencies to develop and submit to the Congress a strategic plan covering a period of at least 5 years.[1] 5 U.S.C. sect. 306. Among GPRA goals established in SSA's first strategic plan, the agency undertook –[t]o strengthen public understanding of the social security programs.— Social Security: Keeping the Promise, Strategic Plan 1997–2002, at 31–32 (September 1997). As SSA explained in that strategic plan, one of the agency's –basic responsibilities to the public is to ensure that they understand the benefits available under the Social Security programs to them individually and to the population as a whole. . .