Attempts will be made to contact the SVB recipient (or his or her representative payee)
when the recipient's whereabouts are questionable, e.g., mail returned as undeliverable;
notification of returned check for address reasons, etc. The first indication of a
need to develop an SVB recipient's whereabouts may be received by the CPS (e.g., systems-generated
returned check alert), or by an SSA office servicing the SVB recipient's foreign address
(e.g., undeliverable mail to a Philippine address is forwarded to the Federal Benefits
Unit (FBU) in Manila).
The following sections provide procedures for developing an individual's whereabouts
by the servicing office. The guidelines in VB 00210.001C apply for determining the servicing office for SVB development purposes. Generally,
the CPS will be the servicing office if development outside the United States is undertaken
via direct mail. When the CPS requests assistance from another SSA office in developing
an individual's whereabouts, the assisting office is the servicing office. For example,
when the CPS requests the FBU to develop whereabouts in the Philippines, the servicing
office is the FBU.