When an external entity wishes to send and receive data from the Social Security Administration (SSA), that entity is required to have the capability to interface with SSA’s File Transfer Management System (FTMS). The FTMS application utilizes the agency-standard software to perform the secure data transmissions and receipts.

The Office of Hardware Engineering, Division of Internet/Intranet Application Services (DIIAS), Data Exchange Infrastructure Support Branch (DEISB), is the Agency’s lead on developing, selecting, evaluating, implementing and maintaining software and hardware systems in support of data exchange. DEISB determines if the contract with the software vendor allows the external entity to receive a Data Exchange Software License Grant. If DEISB grants the external entity a license, they will issue two licenses (one for a test environment and one for a production environment) for the sole purpose of communication with SSA.

Generally, SSA only issues one production Data Exchange Software License Grant to an external entity, when required. When SSA allows any external entity to outsource, it is the responsibility of that external entity to adhere to the requirements in the Information Exchange Agreement/contract and all Federal government regulations as they pertain to data that transfers between that entity and SSA.

If SSA grants a software license to a State entity, and the State entity decides to outsource their data center to a contractor, the Office of Information Security must first assess and approve the data center’s security environment.