In recent decades, the numbers of people with disabilities who receive Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits have grown dramatically. As of December 1999 approximately 4.9 million workers were receiving SSDI payments, and 3.7 million individuals of working age (18 to 64) were receiving SSI, at a total expenditure of over $60 billion.

These two programs were designed to provide income and support to individuals who are not capable of self-sufficiency due to disability. Fear of losing benefits, as well as medical coverage under Medicaid or Medicare, often persuades beneficiaries to severely limit their employment participation and earnings or, more commonly, not enter the labor force at all.

SSA has instituted a number of incentives to reduce the risks of employment for beneficiaries, such as referral to state Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) services, trial work periods, continuing eligibility for Medicare, deduction of impairment-related work expenses (IRWE) from taxable earnings, and allowing beneficiaries to exclude income using a Plan for Achieving Self-Sufficiency (PASS). However, studies by SSA and the U.S. General Accounting Office show that few beneficiaries know about these incentives or how they affect eligibility and benefits, and thus these incentives have had little impact on employment.

The Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 (PL 106-170) attempts to remove many of these barriers to employment by enhancing work incentives and by making information about incentives more readily available to beneficiaries. This legislation directed SSA to establish a community-based benefits planning and assistance program designed to provide accurate information on work incentives to SSA beneficiaries. SSA has enacted a program of cooperative agreements to entities across the nation to provide benefits counseling and assistance, and conduct ongoing outreach efforts to inform beneficiaries of available work incentives. That program, the Benefits Planning, Assistance, and Outreach Program (BPAO), will increase opportunities for beneficiaries to receive information and services needed to become employed and perhaps attain self-sufficiency. A total of 117 cooperative agreements have been awarded, covering every State, territory, and the District of Columbia.

A project of national scope such as the BPAO Program will require considerable training, technical assistance, and ongoing follow-up for those who provide assistance to beneficiaries. SSA must insure that each and every beneficiary receives accurate and timely information regardless of individual circumstances, not only to safeguard the security and well-being of beneficiaries but also to insure that the effects of benefits assistance can be evaluated, effective practices replicated, and improvements made.

To that end, on September 19, 2000, SSA contracted with Cornell University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Missouri-Columbia, to provide technical assistance and training to all BPAO Benefits Specialists on SSA's disability programs and work incentives, the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and other Federal work incentives programs. Additionally, Cornell University received a separate contract to develop the Benefits Specialist training curriculum, with assistance from the other two contractors.