D -- SSA WebService Beta Test 2006

SPECIAL NOTICE TO: Software Developers: Web Service Beta Test -- THIS IS NOT A SOLICITATION, NO CONTRACT WILL BE ISSUED--- Introduction: The Social Security Administration (SSA) is pleased to announce that, in 2006, Business Services Online (BSO) will beta test a web service for uploading wage files and viewing the status of submitted wage reports. SSA will test the services provided on BSO within a distributed, service-oriented architecture, for Electronic Wage Report (EWR). As a result, SSA is interested in having companies who provide wage reporting (Form W-2) software applications and services, participate in this EWR web service Beta test. The beta test is structured to use the "consolidator" model, where the participating company serves as a conduit to receive wage reports from their customer base and programmatically transfer the data to SSA. In a similar manner, each company will be capable of providing the vehicle for retrieving the status of submissions from SSA for their customers. TECHNICAL INFORMATION: The EWR web service is a J2EE application which uses SOAP and WSDL specifications. The secure offering adheres to Version 1.0 of the Web Services-Interoperability Organization (WS-I) Basic Profile. SOAP message integrity is ensured by following Web Services Security Version 1.0 standards. Because of this approach to standardization, Consolidator companies can program in their environment of choice (e.g., Java, Visual Studio .NET, Perl) to invoke the service and feel confident that their message payload is not compromised upon delivery to SSA. The wage file submission service will accept binary files in MMREF format as input, and these files may be optionally compressed. Files may be attached to the message using the SOAP Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism, or they may be transmitted inline as base64 encoded data. Throughout 2006, SSA will be finalizing this EWR web service offering and allowing companies to participate in planned alpha tests in May of this year. The Web Services Description Language (WSDL) required to invoke the service will be made available to the public in early March with a developer's guide to follow shortly thereafter. A draft of the WSDL is available upon request. If you want a copy of the draft WSDL, email your request to contact@example.gov. Participating companies will need to register with BSO's Integrated Registration System (IRES) to obtain a Web Service PIN and are prepared to support the beta test period, but we are not ready to do this registration at this time. Tentative key dates for the web service pilot are: Alpha Testing start date: 06/05/06 Full Validation start date: 07/05/06 Integration Testing start date: 10/02/06 Beta Testing release date: 12/16/06. SELECTION CRITERIA FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE BETA TEST OF THE WEB SERVICE: 1. Currently write your own wage reporting software. 2. Currently send Forms W-2 to SSA for processing or provide the ability for your customers to do so. 3. Ability to modify your wage reporting environment so you can start alpha testing with SSA on June 5, 2006. 4.Representative selection of small, medium and large business will be chosen. This is NOT a request for proposal and the Government does not intend to pay for information submitted. If your company is interested in discussing participation in this web service beta test, please send an email to contact@example.gov by February 7, 2006 and you will be included in a teleconference that is planned for Tuesday, February 14th, 2006 at 2 pm eastern time to discuss any questions that you may have. In addition prior to the teleconference you will be expected to sign a participation agreement. Reference SSAWeb Service Beta Test 2006 in the subject field of your email and include the following information. 1.Contact name, mailing address, phone number and email address. 2.Management name, mailing address, phone number and email address. 3.Company Website Address. 4.Number of Forms W-2 sent to SSA. 5.Number of Reports (Form W-3) sent to SSA. 6.How do you send W-2s to SSA: Paper_____, Tape/Cartridge______, Diskette______, Electronic_______