Government Information Exchange

The Government Information Exchange website provides Social Security Administration's (SSA) existing and future data exchange customers with online access to the general infrastructure surrounding the information exchange process. This includes policy, security, technical information, as well as general contact information.

SSA's goal is to provide our exchange customers with up-to-date online access to the latest information about information exchange.

If you are looking for the Government to Government Services Online (GSO) suite (formerly eData), visit the GSO Welcome page.

Information Exchange and Matching is the process that Federal and State agencies use to share electronic information to improve their programs, reduce administrative costs, and improve public service.  The Social Security Administration (SSA) is a government leader in Information Exchange and Matching with numerous computer matches and leading edge real-time exchanges. The Information Exchange Policy and Agreements staffs in the Office of Electronic Information Exchange (OEIE) in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) are the lead agency components responsible for these activities.

SSA engages in various types of exchanges from SSN verifications to computer matches, depending on the partner agency's business needs.

There are several factors to be considered in SSA's decision making policy on whether to engage in an information exchange activity.

1. Disclosure Policy- If there is a business need, SSA may verify SSNs, benefit amount, or fact of eligibility based on what the law will allow us to disclose. Disclosures are controlled by the Privacy Act, other Federal law, and SSA disclosure regulations. An agreement is required for all data exchanges.
2. Systems feasibility - Is there a viable systems option available to make an exchange or would this exchange require systems development? Development of a new process increases cost.
3. Systems security - FISMA guidance requires SSA to enforce security requirements on outside entities with access to federal information and/or federal systems - regardless of the method of access.  SSA meets this requirement by ensuring that outside entities comply with SSA's Information System Security Guidelines for Federal, State, and local agencies receiving electronic information from SSA.
4. Cost- SSA will look at the return on investment for any information exchange. Reimbursement may be required.

Disclaimer: This site provides information for Federal, State, and local agencies that are seeking to exchange data with the Social Security Administration (SSA). These exchanges are based on business needs related to specific health and income maintenance programs administered by those agencies and the applicable legal authority for SSA to make such disclosures. The information on these pages does not apply to non-governmental or private entities, companies, and businesses seeking data from SSA.