In this issue:

• On Point Technology heads to Indianapolis
• Is a corrective action plan in your agency's future?
• Arkansas is first state to deploy Barts Internet Response Module
• Presentations from 2006 UI Integrity Conference available online
• Did You Know? Software Support Program offers long-term protection
• UWC Conference merges employers and workforce community
• Washington, DC goes live with Barts

Welcome to the May 25, 2006, issue of BullsEye, the On Point Technology newsletter. Our goal is to keep you up-to-date on the latest unemployment insurance news and developments at On Point Technology.

On Point Technology heads to Indianapolis

Indianapolis, Indiana, is the next stop for the On Point Technology staff as we tour the country demonstrating our UI Integrity suite of products: Barts, Aware and Recover. Indianapolis is the site of the 18th Annual UI Technology Connection Conference, running June 4-8, 2006.

We're looking forward to speaking with the estimated 200 UI program and technology professionals expected to attend. NASWA staff and the Indiana Department of Workforce Development have assembled what promises to be an exciting agenda, covering such topics as Benefits Modernization, USDOL Hot Topics, UI Tax Modernization, Appeals Automation, Neat Technology and Knowledge Transfer. And, of course, there's the always interesting and informative "State Updates" segment. We know many BullsEye readers will be in attendance and to them we say—see you in Indy!

Is a corrective action plan in your agency's future?

At this year's National Unemployment Insurance Integrity Conference, held last month in Chicago, Andrew Spisak, Mathematician-Statistician for the Employment Training Administration branch of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), gave an insightful presentation on UI Overpayment Detection Measure. Overpayment Detection Measure is calculated based on figures from two areas, Benefit Payment Control (BPC) and Benefit Accuracy Measurement (BAM).

The BPC figure represents the amount of UI benefit overpayments a state actually establishes for collection and the BAM figure, referred to as Operational Overpayment Rate, is composed of those overpayments states can be reasonably expected to detect and establish for recovery through regular program operations. These overpayments include both fraud and non-fraud. Nationwide, in FY 2005 the Operational Overpayment Rate was 5 percent, representing approximately $1.6 billion in UI benefit overpayments. The breakdown of UI Overpayments by Cause is as follows:

Benefit Year Earnings: 52.3%
Separation Issues: 26%
Able & Available: 10.3%
Other Issues: 7.2%
Other Eligibility Issues: 4.2%

As part of his presentation, Spisak discussed the importance of state workforce agencies achieving an Acceptable Level of Performance (ALP) of overpayment collecting due to the fact that, beginning with FY 2009, the DOL will be monitoring state performance levels. Any state not meeting the 50 percent performance level will have to submit a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) as part of its State Quality Service Plan (SQSP).

Even though the program begins with FY 2009, the figures used will be based on average performance over a three-year period. This means your state's BPC performance in 2006 makes a difference. Any state reporting an overpayment detection rate below 50 percent will be required to discuss the reason for not meeting the goal in the narrative section of the SQSP. Because poor performance in an early performance year will remain in the calculation and continue to depress the ratio even as performance improves, a state whose performance in the most recent performance year meets or exceeds the ALP will not be expected to address performance of the overpayment detection measure in the SQSP for the following fiscal year.

On the other end of the spectrum, the DOL established an upper limit of 95 percent for the Overpayment Detection Measure. Any state reporting an overpayment detection ratio above 95 percent will be required to discuss the reasons for its high detection rate in the narrative section of the SQSP. If a state's high detection rate is due to its failure to properly administer BAM or BPC activities, the state will be required to submit a CAP designed to produce valid data for the Overpayment Detection Measure. Currently, half of the states in the US have Overpayment Detection rates less than 50 percent or greater than 95 percent.

Curious to see where your state ranks? State performance rankings are available online.

Anyone interested in viewing Spisak's full presentation can find it at www.naswa.org, under the National Conferences link.

Arkansas is first state to deploy Barts Internet Response Module

The Arkansas Department of Workforce Services is the first agency to utilize the Barts Internet Response Module for Employers. For years, Barts (Benefit Audit, Reporting and Tracking System) has helped state workforce agencies capture, process and control overpaid unemployment insurance claims that diminish state UI trust funds. Now, Barts is helping Arkansas employers respond to the numerous quarterly wage audit requests they receive in the mail.

"Employers routinely complain about the effort required to respond to the wage audit notices sent by state workforce agencies, yet these notices are necessary to ensure the integrity of the unemployment insurance program. The Barts Internet Response Module is designed to decrease the confusion and errors associated with the paper forms and improve the timeliness of responses," notes Mike Lorsbach, On Point Technology President. "For example, the Barts Internet Response Module will automatically convert an employer's payroll cycle and prorate the employee's wages into the unemployment industry's standard Saturday week end date cycle."

On Point Technology is also working to develop a process that will allow employers willing to write a simple extract from their payroll files to automatically respond to the quarterly notices.

States have good reason to implement Barts. It is the only package product that helps agencies prevent, detect and process both fraudulent and non-fraudulent unemployment insurance overpayments. Barts completely automates more than 50 percent of overpaid audit cases, allowing state workforce agencies to stretch their administrative tax dollars further.

With the introduction of the Barts Internet Response Module for Employers, On Point Technology strengthens its position as the nation's largest independent solution provider dedicated to state workforce agencies and extends its support to reach the employer community.

Presentations from 2006 UI Integrity Conference available online

Since our participation at the 2006 National UI Integrity Professional Development Conference, we have had several inquiries regarding access to presentations in which On Point Technology package software products were mentioned. We are happy to announce that you can now find these presentations online at NASWA's Workforce ATM.

The National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) integration with Barts was discussed in "Rain and More Rain—Washington's NDNH Program" and Aware was featured in "UI Integrity New Technology—Washington State Office of Special Investigations."

Did You Know?

Software Support Program offers long-term protection — As On Point Technology travels around the country demonstrating our package software products Barts, Aware and Recover, we are frequently asked, "Who is responsible for maintenance?" It seems many state workforce agencies are concerned their understaffed technology departments cannot assume responsibility for yet another system.

On Point Technology commonly encounters technology departments that have a backlog of development projects, have limited resources trained in new technologies or may be unfamiliar with the nuances of the unemployment insurance programs. For these reasons, On Point Technology offers a Software Support Program for each of its products that gives you access to the latest updates and knowledge bases for the products for which you have an active maintenance contract. The Support Program also provides you with phone, e-mail and online access to our quick-response Customer Support team of experts.

On Point Technology is committed to providing you with the highest quality customer support for our products. Our Software Support Program optimizes the return on your investment in On Point Technology products, improves organizational processes, and ensures that you achieve your project goals. To learn more about our Software Support Program, please contact Bob Yokavonus at 908-526-0426 or robert.yokavonus@onpointtech.com.

UWC Conference merges employers and workforce community

Earlier this month, On Point Technology representatives Ron Burkhart and Bob Yokavonus participated in UWC's 25th Annual National UI Issues Conference in Portland, Oregon, which was presented in cooperation with the Oregon Employer Council. In addition to demonstrating On Point Technology's package software products—Barts, Aware and Recover—they unveiled a new Barts module which allows employers to respond to wage audit notices over the Internet. The module was very well received by the members of the employer community in attendance.

The conference explored many major UI issues that employers face daily and presented an excellent opportunity for On Point Technology to communicate with employers and encourage them to support and participate in the UI Integrity efforts state workforce agencies are carrying out. A highlight of the conference was the closing session, which featured a dialogue among several state UI agency administrators and employer representatives. It was interesting to see the number of instances in which these two groups share a common purpose and common interests.

At the conference a UWC UI Integrity Award was presented to Kathy Moore, Chief of the Office of Special Investigations for the State of Washington's Employment Security Department (ESD), in recognition of her many achievements in propelling ESD to a national leadership role in UI Program Integrity. Moore is the first state employee to receive this honor and we congratulate her. We are also pleased to note Washington is a long-term user of On Point Technology's Barts software and has recently deployed our Aware application.

Many thanks to Eric Oxfeld and his staff at UWC for a first-class conference. We wish him well as he prepares to take leave from UWC to move on to a leadership role in the Worker's Compensation community.

Washington, DC goes live with Barts

The District of Columbia Department of Employment Security (DOES) was looking for unemployment insurance fraud detection and management software, and On Point Technology was the only vendor providing a package software product to meet their needs. On Point Technology worked with Vera Riley, Special Assistant for UI Operations, and her staff to configure Barts to comply with the District's unemployment insurance law, policy and precedent.

On March 29, 2006, DOES went live with Barts, and since then has run quarterly benefit/wage crossmatches and weekly crossmatches of UI benefits against the District's New Hire Registry. It has also streamlined the adjudication of received tips and leads. These functions are three of the many strategies available in Barts that enhance DOES's ability to meet its BAM goals for overpayment detection and recovery.