Privacy Act of 1974; Computer Matching Program Between the Office of Personnel Management and the Social Security Administration

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

Privacy Act of 1974; Computer Matching Program Between the Office

of Personnel Management and the Social Security Administration

AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

ACTION: Notice of a computer matching program between OPM and the

Social Security Administration (SSA) for comment.

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SUMMARY: OPM is publishing notice of its computer matching program with

SSA to meet the reporting and publication requirements of Public Law

100-503, the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988. The

purpose of this match is to identify beneficiaries who have remarried

and not reported the remarriages to OPM. Generally, remarriage

terminates benefits for survivor annuitants 55 years of age or younger.

A recent amendment creates an exception based on a marriage that lasted

30 years or more. In this match, OPM will provide SSA with surnames,

dates of birth, and Social Security Numbers to identify survivor

beneficiaries who have not reported remarriages to OPM and are

improperly receiving benefits under the Civil Service Retirement and

Federal Employees' Retirement Systems (CSRS and FERS). The match will

be conducted with SSA's Numident file, a source of beneficiaries'

current surnames.

DATES: This proposed action will become effective 40 days after the

agreements by the parties participating in the match have been

submitted to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB),

unless either the Congress or OMB objects thereto. Any public comment

on this matching program must be submitted within the 30-day public

notice period, which begins on the publication date of this notice.

ADDRESSES: Any interested party may submit written comments to Kathleen

M. McGettigan, Assistant Director for Systems, Finance, and

Administration, Retirement and Insurance Service, Office of Personnel

Management, Room 4316, 1900 E Street, NW., Washington, D.C. 20415.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marc Flaster, (202) 606-2115.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OPM and SSA have concluded an agreement to

conduct a computer matching program between the two agencies. The

purpose of this agreement is to establish the conditions under which

SSA agrees to the disclosure of information from the Numident file to

OPM. The legal authority for this matching program can be found in 5

U.S.C. sections 8341, 8347, 8442 and 8461.

Office of Personnel Management.

Janice R. Lachance

Director.

Report of Computer Matching Agreement Between the Office of

Personnel Management (OPM) and the Social Security Administration

(SSA)

A. Participating Agencies

OPM and SSA.

B. Purpose of the Matching Program

Chapters 83 and 84 of title 5, United States Code (U.S.C.) provide

the basis for paying a survivor annuity to widows, widowers, former

spouses, or children. The purpose of this match is to identify

beneficiaries who have remarried and not reported the remarriage to

OPM. A surviving widow, widower, or former spouse loses entitlement to

a survivor annuity upon remarrying before becoming 55 years of age. OPM

has been required to terminate the survivor annuity. A recent amendment

creates an exception to the termination requirement, under certain

conditions, for marriages that have lasted 30 or more years. This

allows eligibility for a survivor annuity based on a 30-or-more-year

marriage to continue, and terminate only upon the death of the survivor

annuitant (or in the case of a former spouse, as specified by the terms

of the court order).

In this match, OPM will provide SSA with surnames, dates of birth,

and Social Security Numbers for a sample of beneficiaries to identify

survivor beneficiaries who have not reported remarriages to OPM and are

improperly receiving benefits under the Civil Service Retirement and

Federal Employees Retirement Systems (CSRS and FERS). The match will be

conducted with SSA's Numident file, a source of beneficiaries' current

surnames.

C. Authority for Conducting the Matching Program

5 U.S.C., Sections 8341, 8347, 8442, 8461 and 552a (Privacy Act).

D. Categories of Records and Individuals Covered by the Match

The SSA file used in the match is contained in SSA System of

Records 09-60-0058, Master Files of Social Security Number holders,

last published at 60 FR 2144, January 6, 1995. OPM's records consist of

annuity data from its system of records entitled OPM.Central-1-Civil

Service Retirement and Insurance Records, last published in the Federal

Register at 60 FR 63075, December 8, 1995.

E. Description of Matching Program

OPM will disclose to SSA the Social Security Numbers, dates of

birth, sex codes, and names of beneficiaries under CSRS and FERS whose

benefits could be affected by remarriage. SSA will identify and provide

OPM with an extract of the Numident record for each record that SSA

matches. OPM will only use those data elements pertinent to the purpose

of the match.

F. Inclusive Dates of the Matching Program

This computer matching program is subject to review by the Congress

and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OPM's report to these

parties must be at least 40 days prior to the initiation of any

matching activity. If no objections are raised by either Congress or

OMB, and the mandatory 30-day public notice period for comment for this

Federal Register notice expires, with no significant receipt of adverse

public comments resulting in a contrary determination, then this

computer matching program becomes effective. By agreement between OPM

and SSA, the matching program will be in effect and continue for 18

months with an option to renew for 12 additional months under the terms

set forth in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o)(2)(D).

[FR Doc. 98-16933 Filed 6-24-98; 8:45 am]

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