[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 173 (Thursday, September 8, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-22106]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: September 8, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Social Security Administration

 

Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA), Department of Health and 
Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: New Routine Use, Altered System of Records, and Minor 
Revisions.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and 
(11)), we are issuing public notice of our intent to:
    (1) Establish a new routine use applicable to the majority of SSA's 
systems of records. The proposed routine use would provide for 
disclosure from the systems to student volunteers and participants in 
certain programs (non-Federal workers) when SSA is authorized by 
Federal law to use their services and they need the information to 
perform functions for SSA.
    (2) Alter the system of records entitled Personal Identification 
Number File (PINFile) HHS/SSA/OPIR, 09-60-0214. The proposed alteration 
will expand the categories of individuals covered by the system to 
include non-Federal workers who perform functions for SSA.
    (3) Make minor revisions to the notice of the PINFile system of 
records to make it accurate and up to date.
    We invite public comment on this publication.

DATES: We filed a report of an altered system of records with the 
Chairman, Committee on Government Operations of the House of 
Representatives, and the Chairman, Committee on Governmental Affairs of 
the Senate, and the Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget on September 1, 1994. The 
alteration and routine use will become effective as proposed, without 
further notice October 18, 1994, unless we receive comments on or 
before that date that would result in a contrary determination.

ADDRESSES: Interested individuals may comment on this publication by 
writing to the SSA Privacy Officer, Social Security Administration, 
Room 3-D-1 Operations Building, 6401 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, 
Maryland 21235. All comments received will be available for public 
inspection at that address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mrs. Alicia Matthews, Social Insurance 
Specialist, Confidentiality and Disclosure Branch, Division of 
Technical Documents and Privacy, Office of Regulations, Office of 
Policy, Social Security Administration, 3-D-1 Operations Building, 6401 
Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235, telephone 410-965-1723.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Discussion of Proposed Routine Use

A. Background

    Under certain Federal statutes, SSA is authorized to use the 
services of volunteers and participants in certain educational, 
training, employment and community service programs. Examples of such 
statutes and programs are: 5 U.S.C. 3111 regarding student volunteers; 
42 U.S.C. 2753 regarding the College Work Study Program; 42 U.S.C. 
682(f) regarding the Community Work Experience Program. These 
individuals are not compensated as Federal employees for their work, 
but some receive compensation from other organizations under government 
grant and assistance programs.
    In the course of their training and work experience at the SSA 
worksite under the supervision of SSA staff, these non-Federal workers 
may perform many of the same duties performed by current SSA employees. 
Some of these duties cannot be performed unless the workers have access 
to, and can retrieve, personally identifiable information from SSA 
systems of records. These non-Federal workers are required to comply 
with the same confidentiality requirements and disclosure restrictions 
as SSA employees.

B. Disclosures to Non-Federal Workers

    The non-Federal workers described in paragraph I.A. above function 
as Agency staff under Agency supervision, and we believe that they may 
be deemed to have the same status under the Privacy Act as HHS 
employees for purposes of disclosing to them, pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 
552a(b)(1), information which they need to know in order to discharge 
their assigned duties. However, since their status under that statutory 
provision is not entirely clear, we propose to establish the new 
routine use to ensure that these non-Federal workers have sufficient 
access to information in appropriate systems of records to perform 
their assigned functions. The proposed routine use will permit 
disclosure:

    To student volunteers and other workers, who technically do not 
have the status of Federal employees, when they are performing work 
for SSA as authorized by law, and they need access to personally 
identifiable information in SSA records in order to perform their 
assigned Agency functions.

    We are not republishing in their entirety the notices of the 
systems of records to which we are adding the new routine use statement 
because of the large number of those systems of records and the costs 
of republishing the individual notices of each one. Instead, we are 
republishing only the identification number and the name of each such 
system, and the volume, page number, and date of the Federal Register 
issue in which the system notice was last published, either in a 
composite listing of systems of records or as an individual system's 
notice.
    The following systems were last published at 52 FR 12084, April 14, 
1987, in a composite listing which added a routine use:

09-60-0001--Commissioner's Correspondence File, HHS/SSA/OC;
09-60-0002--Automated Document Control and Retrieval System, HHS/
SSA/OGA;
09-60-0003--Attorney Fee File, HHS/SSA/OHA;
09-60-0004--Working File of the Appeals Council, HHS/SSA/OHA;
09-60-0005--Administrative Law Judge Working File on Claimant Cases, 
HHS/SSA/OHA;
09-60-0006--Storage of Hearings Records: Tape Cassettes and 
Audiograph Discs, HHS/SSA/OHA;
09-60-0008--Administrative Law Judge Docket of Claimant Cases, HHS/
SSA/OHA;
09-60-0009--Hearings and Appeals Case Control System, HHS/SSA/OHA;
09-60-0012--Listing of Alphabetical Name File (Folder) of Vocational 
Experts and Medical Advisors, HHS/SSA/OHA;
09-60-0013--Records of Usage of Medical Advisors and Vocational 
Experts, HHS/SSA/OHA;
09-60-0014--Curriculum Vitae and Professional Qualifications of 
Medical Advisors and Resumes of Vocational Experts, HHS/SSA/OHA;
09-60-0017--Personnel Research and Merit Promotion Test Records, 
HHS/SSA/OM;
09-60-0031--Employee Production and Accuracy Records, HHS/SSA/OM;
09-60-0032--Employee Indebtedness Counseling System, HHS/SSA/OM;
09-60-0037--General Criminal Investigations Files, HHS/SSA/OM;
09-60-0038--Employee Building Pass Files, HHS/SSA/OM;
09-60-0040--Quality Review System, HHS/SSA/OPIR;
09-60-0042--Quality Review Case Files, HHS/SSA/OPIR;
09-60-0044--Disability Determination Service Processing File, HHS/
SSA/OD;
09-60-0050--Completed Determination Record--Continuing Disability 
Determinations, HHS/SSA/OP;
09-60-0063--Resource Accounting System, HHS/SSA/OSR:
09-60-0066--Claims Development Record, HHS/SSA/RO;
09-60-0077--Congressional Inquiry File, HHS/SSA/RO;
09-60-0078--Public Inquiry Correspondence File, HHS/SSA/RO;
09-60-0094--Recovery of Overpayments, Accounting and Reporting, HHS/
SSA/OSR;
09-60-0095--Health Insurance Overpayment Ledger Cards, HHS/SSA/OSR;
09-60-0110--Supplemental Security Income File of Refunds, HHS/SSA/
OSR;
09-60-0111--Double Check Negotiation (DCN) File (SSI), HHS/SSA/OSR;
09-60-0118--Non-Contributory Military Service Reimbursement System, 
HHS/SSA/OACT;
09-60-0184--Hearing Office Master Docket of Claimant Cases, HHS/SSA/
OHA;
09-60-0186--SSA Litigation Tracking System, HHS/SSA/ODCP;
09-60-0210--Record of Individuals Authorized Entry to Secured 
Automated Data Processing Areas, HHS/SSA/OS;
09-60-0212--Supplemental Security Income Quality Initial Claims 
Review Process System, HHS/SSA/OPIR;
09-60-0213--Quality Review of Hearings/Appellate Process, HHS/SSA/
OHA; and
09-60-0220--Kentucky Birth Records System, HHS/SSA/DO(KY).

    The following systems were published as an individual notice:

09-60-0045--Black Lung Payment System, HHS/SSA/OSR (53 FR 18166, May 
20, 1988);
09-60-0046--Disability Determination Service Consultant's File, HHS/
SSA/OD (57 FR 27855, July 24, 1987);
09-60-0057--Quality Evaluation Data Records, HHS/SSA/OPIR (54 FR 
25690, June 19, 1989);
09-60-0058--Master Files of Social Security Number (SSN) Holders and 
SSN Applications, HHS/SSA/OSR (59 FR 37252, July 21, 1994);
09-60-0059--Earnings Recording and Self-Employment Income System, 
HHS/SSA/OSR (58 FR 48525, September 16, 1993);
09-60-0089--Claims Folders System, HHS/SSA/OP (58 FR 35025, June 30, 
1993);
09-60-0090--Master Beneficiary Record, HHS/SSA/OSR (58 FR 35025, 
June 30, 1993);
09-60-0103--Supplemental Security Income Record, HHS/SSA/OSR (58 FR 
35025, June 30, 1993);
09-60-0218--Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income 
Demonstration Projects and Experiments System, HHS/SSA/OP (57 FR 
60531, December 21, 1992);
09-60-0221--Vocational Rehabilitation Reimbursement Case Processing 
System, HHS/SSA/OD (58 FR 52782, October 12, 1993);
09-60-0222--Master Representative Payee File, HHS/SSA/ORSI (57 FR 
41147, September 9, 1992); and
09-60-0223--Telephone Call Receipt System, HHS/SSA/DCO (57 FR 29879, 
July 7, 1992).

C. Compatibility of Proposed Routine Use

    We are proposing the changes discussed above in accordance with the 
Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a (a)(7), (b)(3), and (e)(11)) and our 
disclosure regulation (20 CFR part 401).
    The Privacy Act permits us to disclose information about 
individuals without their consent for a routine use, i.e., where the 
information will be used for a purpose that is compatible with the 
purpose for which we collected the information. By regulation, we have 
determined that disclosures that are necessary to administer SSA 
programs are compatible with the purposes for which we collect 
information (20 CFR 401.310(c)). In order to perform their assigned 
duties which assist SSA in the administration of the Social Security 
Act, non-Federal workers may need to have access to information on 
individuals maintained in the systems of records listed above. The 
purposes of their use of such information are identical to the purposes 
for which SSA collects the information and, thus, meet the criteria for 
the establishment of a routine use under the Privacy Act and the 
regulation.

D. Effect of the Proposal on Individual Rights

    As discussed above, the proposed new routine use will permit SSA to 
disclose information, as necessary, to non-Federal workers whose 
services SSA is authorized by Federal law to use in performing its 
functions. Access to this information will be given to these workers 
only to perform their assigned duties. Also, as a part of their 
orientation, these individuals will be told of their responsibility to 
maintain the confidentiality of SSA records and of the criminal 
penalties for unauthorized access to, use of, and disclosure of SSA 
records. Thus, we do not anticipate that the disclosures to these non-
Federal workers will have any unwarranted effect on the privacy or 
other rights of individuals.

II. Alteration to the PINFile System

A. Proposed Expansion of the Categories of Individuals Covered by the 
PINFile System of Records

    Before an individual is granted direct terminal access to SSA data 
bases, as a security safeguard, SSA assigns the individual a personal 
identification number (PIN). Identifying information about each 
individual who is assigned a PIN, including the PIN itself, is 
maintained in the PINFile system of records. The system currently 
covers SSA employees, some employees of the State Disability 
Determination Services, some Health Care Financing Administration 
employees, carriers and intermediaries, certain employees of HHS and 
employees of other Federal government agencies who have been granted 
direct terminal access to SSA's data bases.
    SSA proposes to alter the categories of individuals covered by the 
PINFile system of records to include student volunteers and other non-
Federal workers, described in I.A. above, to whom SSA decides to grant 
direct terminal access to its data bases. This alteration will allow 
SSA to issue PINS to those non-Federal workers and to maintain 
information about them in the PINFile system of records.

B. Effect of the Proposed Alteration on the Rights of Individuals

    Information in the PINFile system of records will be used only for 
the purpose of determining which individuals are authorized to have 
direct terminal access to SSA data bases.
    Only SSA security officers (regional, local, component and systems) 
and managers with security responsibilities will have access to data in 
the PINFile. Any other individual will have access only to such 
information in the PINFile that is retrieved by his or her personal 
identifier. SSA will assign command codes, numbers, and profiles to 
each security officer and manager with security responsibilities. Since 
the PINFile complies with the requirements of the Privacy Act, we 
anticipate no unwarranted effect on the privacy or other personal or 
property rights of individuals.

III. Minor Revisions to the PINFile System of Records

    We have made a number of editorial and general housekeeping changes 
to the notice of the PINFile system to make it accurate and up to date. 
These changes are reflected in the notice following this preamble.

    Dated: August 22, 1994.
Shirley S. Chater,
Commissioner of Social Security.
09-60-0214
    Personal Identification Number File (PINFile) HHS/SSA/OPIR.
    None.
    Social Security Administration, Office of System Operations, 6401 
Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235.
    Social Security Administration (SSA) employees, student volunteers 
and other non-Federal workers, some employees of the State Disability 
Determination Services, some employees of the Health Care Financing 
Administration and its carriers and intermediaries, certain employees 
of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); and employees of 
other Federal government agencies who have been granted direct terminal 
access to SSA's data bases.
    Timekeeper number, name of employee, job title, Social Security 
number (SSN), personal identification numbers (PIN) and passwords for 
validation purposes, office code, branch code, division, department, 
facilities available and access profile information.
    Section 205(a) of the Social Security Act and 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(10).
    The PINFile is used to limit access to computer-based SSA 
information resources to specific individuals and to specific 
transactions. Its purpose is to minimize the risk of unauthorized 
access to SSA's files of personal data.
    Disclosure may be made for routine uses as indicated below:
    1. Information may be disclosed to a congressional office in 
response to an inquiry from that office made at the request of the 
subject of a record.
    2. Information may be disclosed to the Department of Justice, a 
court or other tribunal, or another party before such tribunal when:
    (a) SSA, any component thereof, or
    (b) Any SSA employee in his/her official capacity; or
    (c) Any SSA employee in his/her individual capacity where DOJ (or 
SSA where it is authorized to do so) has agreed to represent the 
employee; or
    (d) The United States or any agency thereof where SSA determines 
that the litigation is likely to affect the operations of SSA or any of 
its components,

is a party to litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and SSA 
determines that the use of such records by DOJ, the court or other 
tribunal, or other party before such court or tribunal is relevant and 
necessary to the litigation, provided, however, that in each case, SSA 
determines that such disclosure is compatible with the purpose for 
which the records were collected.
    3. Information may be disclosed to contractors and other Federal 
agencies, as necessary, for the purpose of assisting SSA in the 
efficient administration of its programs. We contemplate disclosing 
information under this routine use only in situations in which SSA may 
enter a contractual or similar agreement with a third party to assist 
in accomplishing an agency function relating to this system of records.
    Wage and other information which are subject to the disclosure 
provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) (26 U.S.C. 6103) will not 
be disclosed under these routine uses unless disclosure is permitted by 
the IRC.
    SSA maintains records in the PINFile on magnetic disk as part of 
the data communications system. The disk file is written to tape daily 
for backup purposes.
    SSA retrieves records individually from the PINFile by name, SSN, 
PIN, and, as members of a group, by office code, branch code, division, 
department, facilities and access profile.
    Steps to minimize the unauthorized use of the PINFile include: (1) 
Limiting access to data on file to SSA regional, local, component and 
systems security officers, and managers with security responsibilities 
and (2) monitoring additions, deletions, and changes to the PINFile 
through daily reports.
    Disk files are permanent; the magnetic tape backup file is 
maintained for 7 operational days and then erased.
    SSA Systems Security Officer, Social Security Administration, 6401 
Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21235.
    An individual can determine if this system contains a record 
pertaining to him or her by contacting the system manager at the 
address shown above. An individual requesting notification must furnish 
a minimum of his/her name, SSN, date of birth and address in order to 
establish identity, plus any additional verification of identity 
requested. (Furnishing the SSN is voluntary, but it will make searching 
for an individual's record easier and avoid delay.) An individual 
requesting notification of records in person need furnish only a 
document he/she would normally carry on his/her person (e.g., a credit 
card, driver's license, or voter registration card). These procedures 
are in accordance with HHS Regulations 45 CFR part 5b.
    Same as notification procedures. Requesters should also reasonably 
specify the record contents being sought. These access procedures are 
in accordance with HHS Regulations 45 CFR part 5b.
    Same as notification procedures. Requesters should also reasonably 
identify the record, specify the information they are contesting and 
state the corrective action sought and the reasons for the correction 
with supporting justification showing how the record is incomplete, 
untimely, inaccurate or irrelevant. These procedures are in accordance 
with HHS Regulations 45 CFR part 5b.
    SSA obtains information in the PINFile from the individuals, their 
supervisors, and from SSA time and attendance files.
    None.

[FR Doc. 94-22106 Filed 9-7-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4190-29-M