District Office Final Authorization (DOFA) refers to the action taken by the adjudicator
at the Field Office (FO) level to make an adjudicative determination on a claimant’s
title II application for benefits. DOFA exclusions are claims initiated at the FO
via Modernized claims system (MCS), Automated 101 (A101) or Electronic Form 101 (EF101)
that the FO employee cannot approve (i.e. adjudicated) because they are the processing
centers (PC)s’ responsibility. In essence, claims requiring PC authorization are non-DOFA,
or DOFA exclusion claims.
NOTE: The DOFA issue is all about the adjudicative signature in a particular set of circumstances.
That is, whether the FO technician has the authority to approve (i.e., sign off) the
specific initial determination. The system used to initiate and develop the claim
(i.e., MCS, A101, or EF101) is immaterial. You can clear a non-DOFA claim to the PC
without adjudicating the claim in any of these processing systems.