Privacy Act of 1974; Amended System of Records

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families

Privacy Act of 1974; Amended System of Records

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 notice of its amendment of its systems of records entitled

``The Federal Parent Locator and Federal Tax Refund/Administrative

Offset System'', DHHS/OCSE No. 09-90-0074.

DATES: HHS invites interested parties to submit comments on the

proposed notice within April 7, 1999. As required by the Privacy Act (5

U.S.C. 552a(r)), on March 2, 1999 HHS sent a report of an Amended

System to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of the House

of Representatives, the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the

Senate, and the Office of Management and Budget. The amendments

described in this notice are effective upon publication unless HHS

receives comments that would result in a contrary determination.

ADDRESSES: Please address comments to 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) 401-9271.

Comments received will be available for inspection at the address

specified above from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

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) 401-9271.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that the Office of

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

Records, ``The Federal Parent Locator and Federal Tax Refund/

Administrative Offset System'', DHHS/OCSE No. 09-90-0074, last

published at 61 FR 51663 on October 2, 1997.

OCSE wishes to advise the public that OCSE is changing the name of

this system to ``Location and Collection System'' (LCS). In addition,

OCSE will no longer refer to subsystems of the LCS

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as the ``Parent Locator Service'' and ``Tax Refund/Administrative

Offset'' subsystems. OCSE also wishes to advise the public that the LCS

is being further expanded. First, consistent with sections 452(l) and

466(a)(17)(A)(i) of the Social Security Act (the Act) as amended by

Pub. L. 105-200, it will be used to aid State Child Support Enforcement

Agencies in obtaining information from multistate financial

institutions. Second, in accordance with section 453A(b)(1)(B) of the

Act, multistate employer information will be included in the portion of

the LCS which constitutes the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH).

In addition, several aspects of the retention and disposal procedures

for records in the LCS are being modified. Pursuant to section

453(i)(2)(B) of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 653(i)(2)(B), quarterly wage and

unemployment compensation in the NDNH will generally be used for child

support enforcement purposes for only 12 months after the date the

information has been provided in circumstances where no match has

resulted as a result of any information comparisons. Moreover, any new

hire, quarterly wage and unemployment compensation data will generally

be retained for only 24 months after the date of entry, after which

time NDNH data will be deleted. However, the 12- or 24-month limits

will not apply to NDNH data samples whose retention and use the

Secretary finds necessary to assist in the carrying out of research

authorized under section 453(j)(5) of the Act. Finally, we have

clarified our description of the categories of individuals included in

the system to indicate that records are maintained for uses pertinent

to individuals who have or may have parental rights with respect to a

child and to indicate that the records maintained may pertain to assets

of or debts owed to or by individuals. We have also made other

adjustments to this Notice for clarification purposes.

The complete system notice is republished below.

Dated: February 19, 1999.

Paul Legler,

Acting Commissioner, Office of Child Support Enforcement.

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 facilitating

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:

The LCS record system will consist of records that contain the name

of a 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 addresses, 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 employees

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

offset amounts, 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 a death, record

identifier, an employee date of hire, employee State of hire, Federal

EIN, State EIN, employer name, employer address, employer foreign

address, employer optional address, and employer optional foreign

address; multistate employer, name, address and EIN; employee SSN,

employee name, employee wage amount, reporting period, claimant SSN,

claimant name, claimant address, SSA/VA benefit amount, reporting

period, 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, 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.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:

Sections 452 and 453 of the Social Security Act require the

Secretary of HHS to establish and conduct the Federal Parent Locator

Service, a computerized national location network which provides

address and SSN information to authorized persons, primarily for the

purposes of establishing and collecting child support obligations.

PURPOSE(s):

The primary purpose of the system is to improve States' 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

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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 Security 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 in the NDNH portion

of this system for the purpose of verifying reported SSNs and other

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

the NDNH portion of this system for purposes of administering advance

payment 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 workers' compensation programs new hire information to

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

information to the Treasury Department in order to collect past due

child support obligations 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:

LCS records are maintained on disc and computer tape, and hard

copy.

RETRIEVABILITY:

System records can be accessed by either a State assigned case

identification number or Social Security Number.

SAFEGUARDS:

1. Authorized Users: All requests from the State IV-D Agency must

certify that: (1) They are being made to locate noncustodial and

custodial parents for the purpose of establishing paternity or securing

child support, or in cases involving parental kidnapping or child

custody and visitation determinations and for no other purpose; (2) the

State IV-D agency has in effect protective measures to safeguard the

personal information being transferred and received from the Federal

Parent Locator Service; and (3) the State IV-D Agency will use or

disclose this information for the purposes prescribed in 45 CFR 302.70.

2. Physical Safeguards: For computerized records electronically

transmitted between Central Office and field office locations

(including organizations administering HHS programs under contractual

agreements), safeguards include a lock/unlock password system. All

input documents will be inventoried and accounted for. All inputs and

outputs will be stored in a locked receptacle in a locked room. All

outputs will be labeled ``For Official Use Only'' and treated

accordingly.

3. Procedural and Technical Safeguards: All Federal and State

personnel and contractors, are required to take a nondisclosure oath. A

password is required to access the terminal. All microfilm and paper

files are accessible only by authorized personnel who have a need for

the information in the performance of their official duties.

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:

Quarterly wage data and unemployment data supplied to the LCS

which, within 12 months, has not produced a match as a result of any

information comparison will not thereafter be used for child support

enforcement purposes. Such quarterly wages and unemployment data and

new hire information will ordinarily be retained for 24 months after

the date of entry and then destroyed. Quarterly wage data and

unemployment data which has produced a match as a result of an

information comparison will be retained for 24 months. Sample data will

be retained only long enough to complete research authorized under

section 453(j)(5) of the Act.

Tax refund and administrative offset information will be maintained

for six years in an active master file for purposes of collection and

adjustment. After this time, records of cases for which there was no

collection will be destroyed. Records of cases with a collection will

be stored on-line in an inactive master file.

Records pertaining to passport denial will be updated and/or

deleted as obligors meet satisfactory restitution or other State

approved arrangements.

Records of information provided to authorized users will be

maintained only long enough to communicate the information to the

appropriate State or Federal agent. Thereafter, the information

provided will be destroyed. However, records pertaining to the

disclosures, which include information

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provided by States, Federal agencies contacted, and an indication of

the type(s) of information returned, will be stored on a history tape

and in hard copy for five years and then destroyed.

Records of information provided by financial institutions for the

purpose of facilitating matches will be maintained only long enough to

communicate the information to the appropriate State agent. Thereafter,

the information provided will be destroyed. However, records pertaining

to the disclosures, which include information provided by States,

Federal agencies contacted, and an indication of the type(s) of

information returned, will be stored on a history tape and in hard copy

for five years and then destroyed.

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.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:

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

address listed above. The request must indicate whether the information

concerns the requestor or someone else. It must also be notarized and

contain the individual's full name and address. Additional information,

such as Social Security Number, date of birth or mother's maiden name,

may be requested by the system manager in order to distinguish between

individuals having the same or similar names.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:

Write to the System 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 multistate

financial institutions.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:

None.

[FR Doc. 99-5584 Filed 3-5-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4184-01-P