ASR.pdf

Social Security Administration Office of Hearings Operations Agency Special Requirements

Hearing Offices Updated 7/27/18

The Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) is charged with conducting independent hearings and deciding appealed determinations involving the benefit provisions of the Social Security Administration (SSA) programs.

OHO hearing offices, located nationwide, are staffed with a cadre of Administrative Law Judges (ALJs), each directly supported by Decision Writers (staff attorneys or paralegal specialists) and Legal Assistants (Lead Case Technicians, Senior Case Technicians and Case Intake specialists).

In addition, hearing offices are staffed with a full Management Team consisting of a Hearing Office Chief Administrative Law Judge (HOCALJ), Hearing Office Director (HOD) and one or more Group Supervisors. An administrative staff including one or more Contract Representatives, one or more Hearing Office Systems Administrators (HOSAs) and one or more Administrative Assistants (AAs) round out the staffing in hearing office.

A hearing, conducted by an ALJ, is a full due process hearing in which witnesses, including vocational and/or medical experts, may be called. The claimant usually is represented and may also provide witnesses on his/her behalf. The number of individuals (including the ALJ, hearing monitor, and or other OHO personnel) in attendance at a hearing averages 6 to 8 people.

I. Location in the Community

A. The space shall not be located within ¼ mile of active railroad tracks or heavily congested freeways that may compromise the sound quality of digital recordings.

B. The space shall not be located within ¼ mile of electrical sub-stations to avoid interference with electronic equipment.

C. The space shall not be located in areas zoned for industrial or warehouse use.

D. Sites which are located directly on a highway or six-lane thoroughfare shall not be considered in the following instances:

1. the two directions of traffic are separated by a physical barrier or traffic indicator which does not permit access from either direction within a block;

2. the location access is directly from a highway, unless there is a traffic control device within two blocks or equivalent from the proposed office space.

E. If the building being proposed is not directly visible from a primary or secondary traffic route in the community, the lessor shall provide acceptable signage from the primary or secondary street at no separate cost. This may include working with the local municipality to erect adequate signage. The route from the primary or secondary street shall be direct. Locations which have obscure, difficult access or which require multiple turns from a primary or secondary street shall not be considered.

II. Location in the Building

A. Offered space must be on the second floor or above. However, in areas where above street level space is not available, OHO may waive this requirement after exhausting efforts to locate suitable space.

B. A minimum of two accessible elevators must service the space; one of which may be a freight elevator.

C. All space must be contiguous on one floor, with the exception of the storage/mail room and/or training/multipurpose room which may be separated from the primary space by a public corridor but must be on the same floor.

III. General Space Requirements

A. The space should be no more than twice as long as it is wide, and it should have open areas where columns and other obstructions do not hinder the development of efficient space layouts and office workflow.

B. Any columns in the space must be at least 20 feet from any interior wall and from each other (clear distance) and be no more than two feet square.

C. Space requiring ramps/steps inside the office will not be acceptable.

D. In multi-tenant buildings, electrical panels serving only the tenant agency space shall be located inside the tenant agency space.

E. Large electrical current feeders installed in the ceiling space or below the floor of the tenant agency office space shall be enclosed in rigid galvanized steel conduit (RGC) or electrical metallic tubing (EMI) to lessen possible electromagnetic interference with office equipment.

F. The tenant agency space must be clearly identified for easy location by the visiting public. Signage should clearly identify the location of the tenant agency office space within the building.

G. Public restrooms, meeting handicapped accessibility requirements, are to be provided in or adjacent to the reception area when this agency is the sole tenant of a facility. In multi-tenant space, handicapped accessible public restrooms in the building common area are acceptable in lieu of public restrooms within the tenant agency space. Flooring should be non-slip commercial grade ceramic tile or Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT).

H. Accessible male and female restrooms for employees of the office will be provided in an area accessible from the main office area only. If not part of the actual office space, for security purposes, the employee/building standard restrooms shall be equipped with card readers with electric strikes or pushbutton locks capable of being opened with one hand. Flooring should be non-slip commercial grade ceramic tile or Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT).

I. The public and employee entrance(s) must be handicapped accessible. Push-button automatic door openers shall be provided at the main public and employee entrance doors as well as all restrooms within the tenant agency space.

J. The offered space shall allow enough space off the common corridor to provide for a separate employee entrance not immediately adjacent to the public entrance.

K. All doors, exterior and interior, will have lever-type standard commercial duty door handles. Additionally, all exterior doors to the government space must have the following features:

Dead bolt locks with minimum 1-inch throws. The locks must also be thumb-turn latches, not double key-way lock cylinders.

All main entrance and exit doors shall be equipped with panic hardware with key override.

All exterior doors except the main public entry door shall have some type of vision device such as a small wire glass or standard wide-angle peepholes.

Large side glass shall not be used on these doors.

L. Facilities shall be cleaned during normal business hours. Vacuuming will be done either before the first or after the last hearing of the day. Daytime cleaning is considered standard and shall be covered as part of the lease. The lessor should coordinate the cleaning schedule with local management at occupancy.

M. The tenant agency reserves the right to conduct independent inspections of the work space. Such inspections could include but are not limited to indoor air quality testing and water testing through the SSA Office of Environmental Health and Occupational Safety. Such tests will be coordinated ahead of time through the GSA Building Manager and lessor.

N. If water/moisture intrusion or mold growth existed in building, lessor to provide complete remediation history and evidence of eradication, including correction of the problem’s source.

O. The purchase, installation arrangements and cost of the equipment for a VOIP telephone systems will be the responsibility of SSA/OHO. The lessor will be responsible for related interior cabling and for extending the DMARC from the building’s telephone closet to OHO’s DCR (is necessary). The lessor shall also be fully responsible for the installation and maintenance of a phone line for the fire alarm system.

P. Portable fire extinguishers shall be supplied in all facilities even if the property may be equipped with automatic sprinklers, stand-pipe and hose, or other fixed protection equipment. Travel distance to an extinguisher must not exceed 75 feet.

Q. A vestibule of approximately 50 square feet (not calculated in net usable square footage) is required if the public entrance to the space is directly to the outside.

The size and shape of the vestibule must conform to handicapped accessibility requirements. This requirement may be waived when the design intent plans are provided.

R. 200 - 250 ABOA SF (for the Data Communications Room) of the Premises shall receive cooling at all times (24 hours a day, 365 days a year) for purposes of cooling the designated server room. The peak BTU output of this room is established as 9,000 to 14,500 BTU per hour. The temperature of this room shall be maintained between 72 and 75 degrees F, and include humidity control system to maintain 50% relative humidity, with a range of 35% to 60% ambient humidity, regardless of outside temperature or seasonal changes. A ceiling mounted Precision Cooling Unit is Recommended. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Lessor shall provide this service at no additional cost to the Government if the Lessor provides this service to other tenants in the Building at no additional charge.

S. Emergency lighting shall be installed in every windowless room (restrooms, storage rooms, hearing rooms, DCR rooms, etc.) The lighting must provide at least 0.5 foot candles of illumination.

IV. Parking and Accessibility to Public Transportation

Tenant agency policy is that free or subsidized parking for the general public or employees will not be furnished at additional expense to the agency due to budgetary costs. XXX1 public parking spaces at reasonable market rates, as determined by the Lease Contracting Officer, must be available within 800 walkable feet of the employee entrance of the offered building. The term “walkable” means that wheelchair-accessible pedestrian access, along code-compliant sidewalks and crosswalks, exists along the entire route. Restricted or metered parking of two hours or less within the 800 foot radius of the space does not meet tenant agency parking requirements. This is because many of the tenant agency contacts with the public cannot be completed within two hours.

At least one public transportation stop, if available in the delineated area, must be within a walkable ¼ mile of the employee entrance of the offered building. The term “walkable” means that wheelchair-accessible pedestrian access, along code-compliant sidewalks and crosswalks, exists along the entire route.

1 The number of parking spaces to be inserted into this paragraph should be the number of expected OHO employees plus 8X the number of hearing rooms to be built. This allows for 4 cars per hearing with another 4 available for the next hearing on a rotational basis throughout the day.