[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 177 (Tuesday, September 14, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49809-49812]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-23809]


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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