[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 114 (Wednesday, June 14, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34361-34362]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-9314]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Request for Information: Development and Implementation of 
Electronic Benefits Transfer System for Victims of Disaster To Receive 
Federal and State Benefits

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: HHS invites all comments, suggestions, recommendations and 
creative ideas on the feasibility of establishing a system of 
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) as a simple, comprehensive, and 
efficient means to deliver to disaster victims the Federal, State and 
local human services for which they qualify. This Request for 
Information (RFI) is intended to provide ideas for consideration, and 
may or may not result in a future procurement.

DATES: Responses should be submitted to the Department of Health and 
Human Services (HHS) on or before 5 p.m., EDT, August 14, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Electronic responses are preferred and should submitted at: 
http://www.hhs.gov/emergency/rfi/. Please click on ``E-mail comments 
now.'' Written comments will also be accepted. Please send to: 
Department of Health and Human Services, Room 404E, 200 Independence 
Ave, SW., Washington, DC 20201, Attention: DES RFI Response.
    Public Access: This RFI and all responses will be made available to 
the public in the HHS Public Reading Room, 200 Independence Avenue, 
SW., Washington, DC. Please call 202-690-7453 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 
EDT, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays, to arrange access 
to the Public Reading Room. The RFI and all responses will also be made 
available on the World Wide Web at http://www.hhs.gov/emergency/rfi. 
Any information you submit, including addresses, phone numbers, e-mail 
addresses, and personally identifiable information, will be made 
public. Do not send proprietary, commercial, financial, business 
confidential, trade secret or personal information that should not be 
made public.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: During the summer months of 2005, Hurricanes 
Katrina and Rita dramatically impacted the lives of over four million 
people across nearly 93,000 square miles of the Gulf Coast region. The 
hurricanes and subsequent flooding resulted in the evacuation of New 
Orleans, marking the first time a major American city has been 
completely evacuated. Beginning with landfall on August 29, hundreds of 
thousands of individuals had immediate needs for food, housing, medical 
care, and other critical health and human services. Due to the 
conditions immediately following the hurricanes, however, many of these 
individuals lacked the ability or resources necessary to access in a 
timely and efficient manner much needed local, State and Federal 
benefit programs and services that were available to them.
    To rectify this, the White House detailed recommendations in The 
Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned to refine the 
disaster readiness and response capabilities of nearly all Federal 
agencies. For one task in particular, the Department of Health and 
Human Services was assigned to improve the delivery of assistance to 
disaster victims by developing a simple, comprehensive and efficient 
system designed to maximize the ease of health and human services 
benefit delivery. The system would also have safeguards against fraud 
and it could be used to help track movements of displaced victims.
    To do so, HHS is soliciting information regarding approaches for 
establishing a system by which victims of disasters can access multiple 
benefits and services in a secure and confidential way through magnetic 
stripe cards, smart cards, biometrics, or other innovative methods. HHS 
is interested in the views and recommendations of individuals and 
organizations on the best way to develop this capability, with 
particular regard to receiving information on the creation of systems 
that incorporate magnetic stripe cards, smart cards, biometrics, and 
other innovative tools or software to streamline benefits delivery. HHS 
encourages all potentially interested parties--individuals, consumer 
groups, associations, governments, non-governmental organizations, and 
commercial entities--to respond. To facilitate review of the responses 
we ask respondents to reference the question number with their 
response.
    The purpose of this request for information is to elicit comments 
and ideas on how to deliver to victims of disaster streamlined access 
to Federal, State and local health and human services benefits and 
services for which they qualify.

Questions for Response

1. Current Programs

    a. What are the key features of Federal-, State-, and locally-
implemented variations of EBT systems already in place?
    i. What types of EBT tools are being used (e.g., magnetic stripe 
cards, smart cards, electronic funds transfers, biometrics, or other 
innovative methods)?
    ii. What types of benefits are being provided through these systems 
(e.g., income support, medical care, food and nutrition, social 
insurance, education, child care, loans, unemployment compensation, and 
housing assistance)?
    iii What information about individuals accessing services could be 
obtained through the EBT tool (e.g. name, address)?
    b. How are these systems managed?
    i. How could an emergency EBT system interface with existing state 
systems?
    ii. What governance structure is appropriate for this system?
    iii. Who are the interested parties?
    iv. How should interested parties interact? What are their roles 
and responsibilities?
    v. What internal controls should be in place to monitor program 
abuses and minimize program fraud?
    c. What previous efforts have been made at the Federal, State or 
local government levels to consolidate the delivery of multiple 
benefits and services, and what was learned from those experiences?

2. Feasibility of Emergency EBT System

    a. How would it be possible for individuals who are victims of 
disasters to receive benefits from multiple programs at a single relief 
facility?
    b. What benefits--Federal, State and local--could be included? How 
could a person get access to services that are not direct cash benefits 
(e.g., education, medical care, mental health services or child care)?
    c. How could the system be used for short-term benefits immediately 
following a disaster?
    d. What are the training and staffing requirements for 
implementation of a multiple program EBT delivery system for victims of 
disasters?
    e. What regional differences or state-specific differences in EBT 
systems are there that need to be factored in? How would questions of 
system interoperability or differences in state benefit systems be 
addressed?

[[Page 34362]]

    f. How should an EBT system for the delivery of multiple program 
benefits and services be developed and financed?
    i. What resources--financial and infrastructure related--would be 
required? What would be the most expensive elements of such an EBT 
system?
    ii. What would be the estimated cost of developing and implementing 
an EBT system for cross-cutting human services programs?
    iii. How should such a service delivery system be sustained in 
future years in terms of cost sharing?
    g. What should be available, that is currently not available, to 
provide an efficient delivery system?
    h. What ownership issues, if any, arise from the model system you 
propose? How should these be resolved?

3. Design Requirements

    a. What technical standards should be used? What are appropriate 
technical performance standards? What industry standards are currently 
in place?
    b. What transaction interfaces should be assumed?
    c. What platforms now exist? How could these existing platforms be 
made compatible with existing point of service systems?
    d. How could this benefit system be created from existing benefit 
structures, e.g., an aggregation of existing Federal, State, and 
locally-administered benefit and services programs? What are the 
advantages and disadvantages of such an approach?
    e. What is the potential for interoperability with existing 
Federal, State and local electronic benefit and service delivery 
systems where these exist?
    f. What types of information are relevant, necessary, or useful to 
ensuring benefits are delivered quickly to eligible victims?
    g. What approaches would you recommend for monitoring the 
utilization of benefits by displaced victims to ensure they continue to 
receive benefits to which they are entitled?
    h. What back-up or contingency plans can be implemented if there is 
no electricity or if the system fails? What contingency plans are in 
place with existing systems?
    i. Across multiple programs, particular benefits and services may 
run out (i.e. an individual's eligibility for particular benefits may 
be time limited). How would this be handled?
    j. What is the universe of benefits that could be included in such 
a system?

4. Security and Enforcement

    a. What administrative, technical, and physical security approaches 
should used?
    b. What enforcement mechanisms would be appropriate to ensure 
against fraud?
    c. How would an EBT operator ensure that benefits and services were 
actually provided to the right individuals without incurring costly and 
labor intensive verification procedures?
    i. What safeguards could be incorporated to prevent fraud?
    ii. How could the delivery mechanism be invalidated if stolen, 
lost, or otherwise compromised?
    iii. What measures could be put in place to avoid duplicate 
participation or overpayment?
    d. How can HHS ensure that it does not pay for services rendered to 
an unauthorized person or for services that are not authorized?
    e. Who should be responsible for enforcing the rules associated 
with use of the EBT system?
    f. What legal requirements for privacy or confidentiality would 
apply to the information to be collected for benefit programs, and how 
should they be addressed in the system?
    g. What other privacy considerations should be incorporated into 
system design and implementation?

5. EBT Delivery Requirements

    a. How can benefits be made available to those they are intended to 
help as quickly as they would be needed?
    i. How could benefits be made available that do not depend on 
whether victims move to other states after being displaced from their 
homes? If that is not possible, how could displaced victims access 
their benefits if they have moved to other states?
    ii. Who do the benefit programs, or other law, authorize to act on 
behalf of other individuals (beneficiaries), e.g., legal guardians, 
etc? Are there other persons who should be so authorized? How may such 
authority be established?
    iii. Can organizations (e.g., HHS grantee sites) receive EBT 
benefits on behalf of eligible individuals?
    b. What rights and responsibilities should individuals have with 
respect to getting and using benefits and services?
    c. Are there legal impediments that a provider of services must 
comply with or overcome before implementing a benefits delivery system?
    d. What should be the role of the Federal government in 
facilitating the development of this system?
    e. Can benefits be provided at HHS grantee sites where individuals 
may initially receive services? What would be needed to equip HHS 
grantees with such capabilities?
    f. If devices that beneficiaries need to carry (such as magnetic 
stripe cards or smart cards) are used, what are the options for the 
distribution of such EBT tools?
    g. What type of case management--related to use of and problems 
with the EBT system--would be needed for individuals receiving benefits 
through such a system? What consumer education is needed for 
beneficiaries?
    g. What rights and responsibilities should be assigned to those 
responsible for distributing and monitoring the use of the benefits?
    h. What kind of training and public information program would be 
needed?
    i. What technical support needs to be provided?
    j. What provisions should there be for a help desk for providers 
and recipients and the replacement of lost or stolen cards/
documentation or other help that might be needed?

6. EBT Pilot Testing

    a. Who should be responsible for managing any pilot of the system?
    b. Could an EBT system be installed and tested in medical, 
financial, and retail environments without disrupting current systems 
and operations?
    c. What requirements are appropriate for a pilot program?
    i. How long would it take to set up the pilot; how long should it 
run?
    ii. What should be the scale of such a test?
    iii What resources would be required? How much would it cost?
    iv. What technical support would be required?
    v. How should the pilot be evaluated?
    Please feel free to add any other comments, suggestions or creative 
ideas to your response.

    Issued on June 9, 2006.
Charles Havekost,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Information Technology and Chief 
Information Officer.
 [FR Doc. E6-9314 Filed 6-13-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-05-P