Electronic Benefit Transfer Task Force Plan

Design an integrated EBT implementation plan.

An existing interagency team, the Electronic Benefit Transfer Task
Force, chaired by OMB, is defining the roles, responsibilities, and
changes required to implement EBT nationwide. This task force should
periodically report on its progress to the GITS Working Group and the
Vice President and should complete the implementation plan by June 1994.
The most effective implementation of EBT is nationwide delivery of
multiple, integrated benefits, which leverages the existing commercial
infrastructure. Ongoing benefits delivery improvement efforts should be
accelerated. These efforts include implementing electronic delivery of
food stamps by USDA's Food and Nutrition Service and direct benefit
delivery by the Department of the Treasury's Financial Management
Service, the Social Security Administration, the Office of Personnel
Management, and the Railroad Retirement Board.

The initiative should press for (1) integrating a package of benefit
programs for electronic payment, including Food Stamps, Social Security
benefits, and AFDC; and (2) sequencing their implementation to ensure
that each new benefit program added builds on prior successes.  The
initiative should use government and local EBT experiences to pilot and
implement integrated benefits delivery nationwide.

The implementation plan should include recommendations on various
resource issues, such as cross-agency administrative cost pooling,
funding strategies, organization, and staff support; and should
establish a calendar with key milestones for progress measurement and
review.