[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 59 (Friday, March 27, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14982-14983]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-7991]


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RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD


Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 Notice of 
RRB Records Used in Computer Matching

AGENCY: Railroad Retirement Board (RRB).

ACTION: Notice of records used in computer matching programs; 
notification to individuals who are beneficiaries under the Railroad 
Retirement Act.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection 
Act of 1988, RRB is issuing public notice of its use and intent to use, 
in ongoing computer matching programs, civil service benefit and 
payment information obtained from the Office of Personnel Management 
(OPM).
    The purpose of this notice is to advise individuals applying for or 
receiving benefits under the Railroad Retirement Act of the use made by 
RRB of this information obtained from OPM by means of a computer match.

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may comment on this publication by 
writing to Ms. Beatrice Ezerski, Secretary to the Board, Railroad 
Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. LeRoy Blommaert, Privacy Act 
Officer, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, 
Illinois 60611-2092, telephone number (312) 751-4548.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Computer Matching and Privacy Protection 
Act of 1988, P.L. 100-503, requires a Federal agency participating in a 
computer matching program to publish a notice regarding the 
establishment of a matching program.

Name of Participating Agencies

    Office of Personnel Management and Railroad Retirement Board.

Purpose of the Match

    The purpose of the match is to enable the RRB to (1) identify 
affected RRB annuitants who are in receipt of a Federal public pension 
benefit but who have not reported receipt of this benefit to the RRB 
and (2) receive needed Federal public pension benefit information for 
affected RRB annuitants more timely and accurately. Previously the RRB 
relied on the affected annuitant to report adjustments in the amount of 
such public pension benefits.

Authority for Conducting the Match

    Sections 3(a)(1), 4(a)(1) and 4(f)(1) of the Railroad Retirement 
Act require that the RRB reduce the Railroad Retirement benefits or 
certain beneficiaries entitled to Railroad Retirement employee and/or 
spouse/widow benefits who are also entitled to a government pension 
based on their own noncovered earnings. This reduction is referred to 
as Public Service Pension offset. Section 224 of the Social Security 
Act provides for the reduction of disability benefits when the disabled 
worker this also entitled to a public disability benefit (PDB). This 
reduction is referred to as PDB offset. As civil service disability 
benefit is considered a PDB. Section 224(h)(1) requires any Federal 
agency is provide RRB with information in its possession that RRB may 
require for the purposes of making a timely determination of the amount 
of reduction under section 224 of the Social Security Act. Pursuant to 
5 U.S.C. Section 552a(b)(3) OPM has established routine uses to 
disclose the subject information to RRB.

Categories or Records and Individuals Covered

    The records to be used in the match and the roles of the matching 
participants are described as follows: OPM will provide RRB twice a 
year with a magnetic tape file extracted from its annuity and survivor 
master file of its Civil Service Retirement and Insurance Records. The 
Privacy Act System of Records designation is OPM/Central-1. The 
following information from this OPM Privacy Act System of Records with 
be transmitted to RRB for the approximately 2.3 million records in the 
system: name, social security number, date of birth, civil service 
claim number, first potential month and year of eligibility for civil 
service benefits, first month, day, year of entitlement to civil 
service benefits, amount of gross civil service benefits, and effective 
date (month, day, year) of civil service amount, and where applicable, 
civil service disability indicator, civil service FICA covered month 
indicator, and civil service total service months. The RRB will match 
the Social Security number, name, and date of birth contained in the 
OPM file against the same fields in its Mater Benefit Files. The 
Privacy Act

[[Page 14983]]

System of Records designations for these files are: RRB-15, ``Research 
Master Record for Survivor Beneficiaries Under the Railroad Retirement 
Act,'' and RRB-26, ``Research Master Record for Retired Railroad 
Employees and Their Dependents.'' For records that are matched, the RRB 
will extract the civil service payment information.

Inclusive Dates of the Matching Program

    The matching program will become effective 40 day after a copy of 
the agreement, as approved by the Data Integrity Board of each agency, 
is sent to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget, or 30 days 
after publication of this notice in the Federal Register, , whichever 
date is later. This matching program will continue for 18 months after 
the effective date and may be extended for an additional 12 months, if 
the conditions specified in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.
    The notice we are giving here is in addition to any individual 
notice.
    A copy of this notice has been or will be furnished to both Houses 
of Congress and the Office of Management and Budget.

    Dated: March 20, 1998.

    By authority of the Board.
Beatrice Ezerski,
Secretary to the Board.
[FR Doc. 98-7991 Filed 3-26-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7905-01-M