Beneficiaries in BOND, however, do not lose their benefits at this point. Their benefits are reduced $1 for every $2 earned above the BOND yearly amount. In 2021, the yearly amount is $15,720 for a beneficiary who is not blind or $26,280 for a blind beneficiary.

The prior yearly amounts in this chart:

To minimize the impact BOND has on agency resources, SSA contracted with Abt to design and implement BOND. Abt has a national call center. They designed the BOND Operations Data System (BODS) that sends data to SSA via the BOND stand-alone system (BSAS). They recruited and enrolled Social Security disability insurance (SSDI) beneficiaries for the project.

As the implementation contractor, Abt’s staff:

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  assist BOND participants with obtaining proof of income, impairment-related work expenses (IRWE), subsidy, un-incurred business expenses, or special conditions;

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  issue receipts to BOND participants for each work estimate received;

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  assist with notice explanation or clarification; and

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  assist with waiver, reconsideration, and hearing requests for BOND overpayments.

The Office of Research, Demonstration, and Employment Support (ORDES) established a centralized unit in the Office of Program Development (OPD) to process the work CDRs for BOND participants. ORDES established a special unit to handle the work CDRs and issue specialized notices for BOND participants because the work CDRs need special processing to protect the eligibility months of the beneficiary for the BOND offset rules. The CDR unit is also responsible to code the Disability Control File (DCF) and update the BOND computer systems for beneficiaries who are eligible to receive the $1 for $2 offset.

The BSAS maintains a list of the names and Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of all treatment group beneficiaries randomly assigned to the BOND project. These beneficiaries are eligible to receive the $1 for $2 offset. In addition, the BSAS accepts a nightly file from Abt’s processing system (BODS) that contains earnings estimates for the beneficiaries who are eligible for the $1 for $2 offset.

The BSAS processes the earnings estimate and automatically creates a MACADE action to adjust the monthly benefit and generate a notice to the beneficiary. If the BSAS cannot generate the Manual Adjustment Credit and Award Data Entry (MACADE) action, a Manual Adjustment, Credit and Award Processing (MADCAP exception, or processing limitation results, L5R or Office of Central Operations (OCO) receives and develops the edit to completion and updates the BSAS with the corrected information.

If a MADCAP exception results from the MACADE action, OCO resolves the exception and updates the BSAS with the corrected information. OCO established this centralized unit to work the processing limitations generated when BSAS cannot automate the MACADE action and works MADCAP exceptions because L5R does not have access to paperless processing. If an FO encounters an unworked case, send an MDW to L5R.

Beginning April 2011, Abt sent out initial letters informing stage 1 beneficiaries that they were selected to participate in BOND. Abt completed the stage 1 mailings in August 2011. Abt began follow up outreach in April 2013 for stage 1 beneficiaries in the treatment group that had not been in contact with the project following the initial letters.

Abt began sending letters soliciting possible stage 2 volunteers in January 2011. The solicitation process ended in September 2012, when Abt obtained 12,600 volunteers for stage 2.

Working from SSA’s list of SSDI and concurrent beneficiaries residing in the demonstration project area http://www.bondssa.org/index.php , Abt sent letters to potential BOND participants who were randomly assigned to stage 1 or stage 2 see DI 60099.010A.

The initial notices from Abt are not stored in the Online Retrieval System (ORS). We do not have copies of initial notices from Abt.

A technician in L5R generates the following notices to a BOND participant or beneficiary:

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  start and end date of participation notice provided, after random assignment, an overview of BOND to explain the participation period;

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  work CDR continuance, trial work period, expedited reinstatement (EXR), SGA due process, reopening, reconsideration, and final SGA determination notices to participants or beneficiaries assigned to a treatment group;

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  BOND offset notice explaining initial offset and revised earnings estimates;

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  benefit rate increase (BRI) adjustment notice with the corrected BRI calculation for participants or beneficiaries BOND who receive reduced payment amounts due to the BOND offset;

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  end of year reconciliation (EOYR) determination notice compares reported estimated earnings with actual earnings;

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  appeal notice - provides a reconsideration determination for participants or beneficiaries who want to appeal the EOYR determination notice;

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  end date of BOND Participation notice explains when BOND participation ends; and

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  auxiliary notice explains when we are unable to make payments, or to explain reinstatement of benefits.

NOTE: ORS stores all SSA notices, except the start and end date of participation notices.