Privacy Act of 1974; Amended Systems of Records Notice

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

Privacy Act of 1974; Amended Systems of Records Notice

AGENCY: Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), ACF, DHHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974

(5 U.S.C. 552a), the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is

publishing an advisement concerning its system of records entitled

``The Location and Collection System'', DHHS/OCSE No. 09-90-0074.

The purpose of this notice is to advise the public about a pilot

that OCSE and the Social Security Administration (SSA) will be

conducting to determine the benefits and risks of allowing SSA to use a

real time read only query to read limited information in the National

Directory of New Hires (NDNH) for the purposes of verifying eligibility

and/or payment amounts under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

program. The query gives SSA read only ability to look at limited wage,

new hire and unemployment information ONLY to those social security

numbers that have a payment or entitlement issue under the SSI program.

No decision on whether to implement the proposed pilot on a permanent

basis will be made until completion of the pilot and data analysis.

The goals of the pilot are to enable SSA to access which factors

are most important for determining a SSI applicant's eligibility and

payment amount on a pre-allowance (decisional) basis. Current means of

verification are done on a post-entitlement basis, after individuals

are in pay status. Pre-decisional information about entitlement and

eligibility is expected to improve payment accuracy for SSA, reducing

both overpayments and underpayments to beneficiaries and reduce the

number of overpayment recovery activities SSA must take. The pilot will

demonstrate the extent to which these expectations are realized, and

provide a basis for deciding which data is most useful for improving

payment accuracy.

DATES: The amendments described in this notice are effective September

14, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donna Bonar, Director, Division of

Program Operations, Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration

for Children and Families, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW, 4th Floor East,

Washington, DC 20447, (202) 401-4963.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Office of

Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is amending one of its System of

Records, ``The Location and Collection System,'' DHHS/OCSE No. 09-90-

0074, last published at 64 FR 11015 on March 8, 1999. This amendment

will allow the Social Security Administration (SSA) to use its Real-

time Query Access (RQA) process to obtain information contained in the

National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) for the purposes of verifying

eligibility and/or payment amounts under the Supplemental Security

Income (SSI) program. Section 453(j)(4) of the Social Security Act (the

Act) authorized OCSE to provide SSA with information in the NDNH. The

NDNH contains new hire, quarterly wage, and unemployment insurance

information provided pursuant to sections 453(n), 453A(b) and

453A(g)(2) by the 50 States, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories

and possessions, the Commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Northern

Mariana Islands, and Federal agencies and instrumentalities. This

amendment will allow SSA to have limited RQA to information in the NDNH

database for the purpose of establishing or verifying eligibility and/

or payment amounts under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

Program. Specifically, data elements to be used from the Quarterly Wage

portions of the NDNH database are: For employees--SSN, SSN verification

indicator and any corrected SSN, first name, middle name, last name,

wage amount, quarter paid, and reporting period; for employers--name of

employer, Federal (or optional State if no Federal) Employer

Identification Number or Federal Information Processing System Code,

address(es), State or Federal agency reporting the data; date the

report was processed. Data elements to be used from the New Hire

portions of the NDNH database are: For employees--employees' SSN, SSN

verification indicator and any corrected SSN; employees' first name,

middle name, last name, address(es), date of birth (optional), date of

hire (optional), State of hire (optional); for employers--name of

employer, Federal (or optional State if no Federal) Employer

Identification Number or Federal Information Processing System Code,

address of employer. Data elements to be used from the Unemployment

Insurance portions of the NDNH database are: Unemployment insurance

record identifier, SSN, SSN verification indicator and any corrected

SSN; employee's first name, middle name, last name, address,

unemployment insurance benefit amount, reporting period, quarter paid,

payer State, date report processed. SSA anticipates that RQA access to

the NDNH will facilitate earlier overpayment detection, reduce the

number of incorrect entitlements, and reduce the number of overpayment

recovery actions. Fifty field offices within the SSA will participate

in a pilot program during which they will utilize RQA data retrieval.

If the pilot is determined to be successful, a national rollout will

follow.

[[Page 49810]]

Privacy Safeguards:

OCSE and SSA have taken steps to ensure that the read only query

will sustain the protections provided in all statues relating to agency

use, collection and disclosure of personal information. These include:

(1) Notice to applicants and beneficiaries. SSA routinely advises SSI

applicants and beneficiaries that SSA verifies eligibility. This is

done via the application process, publications and letters to

beneficiaries; (2) Query Is Informational Only. SSA will not take any

action to reduce, suspend, or terminate an individual's SSI payment

based on data read from the query; (3) Independent Verification. SSA

will independently verify information read from the query, as required

by Federal statue; (4) Limited Information. The pilot gives SSA the

ability to read limited information on a restricted basis. The query

can only read records that have a payment or entitlement issue under

the SSI program; (5) Read Only. The information the query can read in

the NDNH is the same information SSA currently obtains on a post-

entitlement, paper based process; (6) Authorized Users. The pilot is

limited in the number of field offices participating and the number of

employees with read only query ability which is restricted to certain

recognizable job classifications within SSA; (7) Anti-browsing

Technology. SSA can only read information for those social security

numbers that have a payment or entitlement issue under the SSI program;

(8) Anomaly Detection and Audit Trails. SSA will monitor use of the

query; and (9) Training and Sanctions for Misuse. SSA employees have

been trained to work with sensitive information and routinely do so.

Sanctions for misuse are found in 5 U.S.C. 552a(i) and Part 401 CFR,

Privacy and Disclosure of Official Records and Information, and

appendix A to part 401, Employee Standards of Conduct.

Dated: September 7, 1999.

David Gray Ross,

Commissioner, Office of Child Support Enforcement.

OCSE's Location and Collection System is hereby amended to read as

follows:

09-90-0074

SYSTEM NAME:

Location and Collection System (LCS), HHS, OCSE.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:

None.

SYSTEM LOCATION:

Office of Child Support Enforcement, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW,

4th Floor East, Washington, DC 20447;

Social Security Administration, 6200 Security Boulevard, Baltimore,

Maryland 21235.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:

Records will be maintained to locate individuals for the purpose of

establishing parentage, establishing, setting the amount of, modifying,

or enforcing child support obligations, or enforcing child custody or

visitation orders and may include (1) information on, or facilitate the

discovery of, or the location of any individuals: (a) Who are under an

obligation to pay child support or provide child custody or visitation

rights; (b) against whom such an obligation is sought; (c) to whom such

an obligation is owed including the individual's social security number

(or numbers), most recent address, and the name, address, and employer

identification number of the individual's employer; and (d) who have or

may have parental rights with respect to a child; (2) information on

the individual's wages (or other income) from, and benefits of,

employment (including rights to enrollment in group health care

coverage); (3) information on the type, status, and amount of any

assets or debts owed to or by such an individual; and (4) information

on certain Federal disbursements payable to a delinquent obligor which

may be offset for the purpose of collecting past-due child support.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:

Specific records retained in the LCS system are: the name of

noncustodial or custodial parent or child, Social Security number (when

available), date of birth, place of birth, sex code, State case

identification number, local identification number (State use only),

State or locality originating request, date of origination, type of

case (TANF, non-TANF full-service, non-TANF locate only, parental

kidnapping); home address, mailing address, type of employment, work

location, annual salary, pay rate, quarterly wages, medical coverage,

benefit amounts, type of military service (Army, Navy, Marines, Air

Force, not in service), retired military (yes or no), Federal employee

(yes or no), recent employer's address, known alias (last name only),

date requests sent to Federal agencies or departments (SSA, Treasury,

DoD/OPM, VA, USPS, FBI, and SESAs), dates of Federal agencies' or

departments' responses, date of death, record identifier; employee's

SSN, SSN verification indicator and any corrected SSN, employee first

name, middle name, last name, employee address(es), date of birth

(optional), employee date of hire (optional), employee State of hire,

wage amount, quarter paid, reporting period; employer name, Federal

Employer Identification Number or Federal Information Processing System

Code, State Employee Identification Number of Federal Information

Processing System Code, employer address, employer foreign address,

employer optional address, and employer optional foreign address;

multistate employer name, address and Federal Identification Number;

employee SSN, employee first name, middle name, last name, employee

address(es), date of birth (optional), data of hire (optional), State

of hire (optional), employee wage amount, quarter paid, reporting

period; unemployment insurance record identifier, claimant SSN, SSN

verification indicator and any corrected SSN; claimant first name,

middle name, claimant address, SSA/VA benefit amount, unemployment

insurance benefits amount, reporting period, quarter paid, payer State,

date report processed; State code, local code, case number, arrearage

amount, collection amount, adjustment amount, return indicator,

transfer State, street address, city and State, zip code, zip code 4,

total debt, number of adjustments, number of collections, net amount,

adjustment year, tax period for offset, type of offset, offset amount,

submitting State FIPS, locate code, case ID number, case type, and

court/administrative order indicator. Records used to aid State Child

Support Enforcement Agencies in obtaining information from multistate

financial institutions may include institution name(s), name control,

Taxpayer Identification Number(s), year, month, service bureau

indicator, transfer agent indicator, foreign corporation indicator,

reporting agent/transmitter, address(es), file indicator, record type,

payee last name control, SSN(s), payee account number, account full

legal title (optional), payee foreign country indicator (optional),

payee names, addresses, account balances (optional), trust fund

indicator, account balance indicator (optional), account update

indicator, account type, date of birth.

Individuals will be fully informed of the uses and disclosures of

their records.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:

Legal authority for maintenance of the system is contained in

sections 452 and

[[Page 49811]]

453 of the Social Security Act that requires the Secretary of the

Department of Health and Human Services to establish and conduct the

Federal Parent Locator Service, a computerized national location

network which provides address and social security number information

to authorized persons, primarily for the purposes of establishing and

collecting child support obligation.

PURPOSE(S):

The primary purpose of the Location and Collection System is to

improve State's abilities to locate parents and collect child support.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES

OF USERS AND THE PURPOSE OF SUCH USES:

The routine uses of records maintained in the LCS are as follows:

(1) Request the most recent home and employment addresses and SSN of

the noncustodial or custodial parents from any State or Federal

government department, agency or instrumentality which might have such

information in its records; (2) provide the most recent home and

employment addresses and SSN to State Child Support Enforcement (CSE)

agencies under agreements covered by section 463 of the Social Act (42

U.S.C. 663) for the purpose of locating noncustodial parents or

children in connection with activities by State courts and Federal

attorneys and agents charged with making or enforcing child custody

determinations or conducting investigations, enforcement proceedings or

prosecutions concerning the unlawful taking or restraint of children;

(3) provide the most recent home and employment addresses and SSN to

agents and attorneys of the United States, involved in activities in

States which do not have agreements under section 463 of the Act for

purposes of locating noncustodial parents or children in connection

with Federal investigations, enforcement proceedings or prosecutions

involving the unlawful taking or restraint of children; (4) provide to

the State Department the name and SSN of noncustodial parents in

international child support cases, and in cases involving the Hague

Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction; (5)

provide to State agencies data in the NDNH portion of this system for

the purpose of administering the Child Support Enforcement Program and

the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; (6) provide

to the Commissioner of Social Security information for the purposes of

verifying reported SSNs, verifying eligibility and/or payment amounts

under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, and for other

purposes; (7) provide to the Secretary of the Treasury information in

the NDNH portion of this system for purposes of administering advance

payments of the earned income tax credit and verifying a claim with

respect to employment in a tax return; (8) provide to researchers new

hire data for research efforts that would contribute to the TANF and

CSE programs. Information disclosed may not contain personal

identifiers; (9) provide to State CSE agencies, or any agent of an

agency that is under contract with the State CSE agency, information

which will assist in locating individuals for the purposes of

establishing paternity and for establishing, modifying, and enforcing

child support obligations; (10) disclose to authorized persons as

defined in section 453(c) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 653(c)) records for the

purpose of locating individuals and enforcing child custody and

visitation orders; (11) disclose to the State agency administering the

Medicaid, Unemployment Compensation, Food Stamp, SSI and territorial

cash assistance programs new hire information for income eligibility

verification; (12) disclose to State agencies administering

unemployment and worker's compensation programs new hire information to

assist in determining the allowability of claims; (13) disclose

information to the Treasury Department in order to collection past due

child support obligation via offset of tax refunds and certain Federal

payments such as: Federal salary, wage and retirement payments; vendor

payments; expense reimbursement payments, and travel payments; (14)

disclose to the Secretary of State information necessary to revoke,

restrict, or deny a passport to any person certified by State CSE

agencies as owing a child support arrearage greater than $5,000; and

(15) disclose to States information pertaining to multistate financial

institutions which has been provided by such institutions in order to

aid State Child Support Enforcement Agencies.

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES: None.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING,

AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:

STORAGE:

The Location and Collection System records are maintained on disc

and computer tape, and hard copy.

RETRIEVABILITY:

SSA will access and use the information obtained by the real time

query access only for the period of time required for any processing

related to the access program.

SAFEGUARDS:

1. Authorized users: Access to the records accessed and to any

records created by the Real Time Query Access (RQA) will be restricted

to only those authorized employees who need it to perform their

official duties in connection with the use of the information. All

personnel who have access to the NDNH records accessed or the records

created by the RQA will be: (1) Advised of the confidential nature of

the information, (2) advised of the safeguards required to protect the

information; and (3) advised of the civil and criminal sanctions for

noncompliance contained in the applicable Federal laws.

2. Physical safeguards: The records accessed and any records

created by the RQA will be handled and stored in an area that is

physically safe from access by unauthorized persons at all times. The

records accessed will be transported under appropriate safeguards.

3. Procedural and technical safeguards: The records accessed and

the data created by the RQA will be processed under the immediate

supervision and control of authorized personnel in a manner that will

protect the confidentiality of the records. System security measures

will be implemented that will protect records in such a way that

unauthorized persons cannot retrieve any such records by means of

computer, remote terminal, or any other means.

These practices are in compliance with the standards of Chapter 45-

13 of the HHS General Administration Manual, `` Safeguarding Records

Contained in Systems of Records,'' and the Department's Automated

Information System Security Program Handbook.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:

SSA will retain identifiable records received from the NDNH

database only for the period of time required for any processing

related to the RQA and will destroy the records. Electronic files will

be erased.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:

Director, Division of Program Operations, Office of Child Support

Enforcement, Administration for Children and Families, 370 L'Enfant

Promenade, SW., 4th Floor East, Washington, DC 20447.

[[Page 49812]]

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:

To determine if a record exists, write to the Systems Manager at

the address listed above. The Privacy Act provides that, except under

certain conditions specified in the law, only the subject of the

records may have access to them. All requests must be submitted in the

following manner: identify the system of records you wish to have

searched, have your request notarized to verify your identify, indicate

that you are aware that the knowing and willful request for or

acquisition of a Privacy Act record under false pretenses is a criminal

offense subject to a $5,000 fine. Your letter must also provide

sufficient particulars to enable OCSE to distinguish between records on

subject individuals with the same name.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:

Write to the Systems Manager specified above to attain access to

records. Requesters should provide a detailed description of the

records contents they are seeking.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURE:

Contact the official at the address specified under System Manager

above, and identify the record and specify the information to be

contested and corrective action sought with supporting justification to

show how the record is inaccurate, incomplete, untimely, or irrelevant.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:

Information is obtained from departments, agencies, or

instrumentalities of the United States or any State and from multi-

state financial institutions.

SYSTEM EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE ACT:

None.

[FR Doc. 99-23809 Filed 9-13-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4184-01-P