[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 232 (Friday, December 3, 1999)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 67693-67695]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-30923]



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 Rules and Regulations
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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 232 / Friday, December 3, 1999 / 
Rules and Regulations  

[[Page 67693]]


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FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD

5 CFR Part 1630


Privacy Act Regulations; Implementation

AGENCY: Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.

ACTION: Final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Executive Director of the Federal Retirement Thrift 
Investment Board (Board) is adopting as final the Board's proposed rule 
adding procedures to access records of spouses, former spouses, and 
beneficiaries of Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) participants.

DATES: Effective January 3, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas L. Gray, (202) 942-1662. FAX 
(202) 942-1676.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Board was established by the Federal 
Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986 (FERSA), Public Law 99-335, 
100 Stat. 514, which has been codified, as amended, largely at 5 U.S.C. 
8351 and 8401-8479 (1994), to administer the TSP. The TSP is a tax-
deferred retirement savings plan for Federal employees which is similar 
to cash or deferred arrangements established under section 401(k) of 
the Internal Revenue Code.
    On May 7, 1990, initial Board regulations implementing the Privacy 
Act were published in the Federal Register (55 FR 18851). An amendment 
to these regulations was published in the May 20, 1994, Federal 
Register (59 FR 26409), to allow the disclosure of participant records 
in response to a copy of an authorization signed by the subject of the 
records, instead of an original signed statement. Subsequently, on 
September 15, 1999, the Board published a proposed rule in the Federal 
Register (64 FR 50012) to add procedures to cover records that will be 
maintained for spouses, former spouses, and beneficiaries of Thrift 
Savings Plan (TSP) participants.
    This change is necessary because the Board is updating its 
computerized data base for the TSP record keeping system. The Board 
maintains FRTIB-1, Thrift Savings Plan Records, which is a 
Governmentwide system of records. Under the new TSP record keeping 
system, in addition to records of participants, FRTIB-1 will include 
records of spouses, former spouses, and beneficiaries of participants. 
This change adds procedures for granting access to those records. The 
Board received no comments on the proposed rule; therefore, it is 
adopting the proposed rule without change.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    I certify that this amendment will not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities. It will affect only 
spouses, former spouses, and beneficiaries of TSP participants.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    I certify that this amendment does not require additional reporting 
under the criteria of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980.

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

    Pursuant to the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, section 201, 
Public Law 104-4, 109 Stat. 48, 64, the effect of this regulation on 
state, local, and tribal governments and on the private sector has been 
assessed. This regulation will not compel the expenditure in any one 
year of $100 million or more by any state, local, and tribal 
governments in the aggregate, or by the private sector. Therefore, a 
statement under section 202, 109 Stat. 48, 64-65, is not required.

Submission to Congress and the General Accounting Office

    Under 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A), the Board submitted a report 
containing this rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate, 
the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the 
United States before publishing this rule in today's Federal Register. 
This is not a major rule as defined at 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 1630

    Privacy.
Roger W. Mehle,
Executive Director, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, part 1630 of chapter VI 
of title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:

PART 1630--PRIVACY ACT REGULATIONS

    1. The authority citation for part 1630 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a.

    2. Section 1630.2 is amended as follows:
    a. In paragraph (e) by adding the words ``or the record keeper'' 
after the word ``Board''; and
    b. By redesignating paragraphs (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), (l), 
(m), and (n) as paragraphs (g), (h), (i), (j), (k), (l), (n), (o), and 
(p), respectively, and by adding paragraphs (f) and (m) to read as 
follows:


Sec. 1630.2  Definitions.

* * * * *
    (f) Record keeper means the entity that is engaged by the Board to 
perform record keeping services for the TSP;
* * * * *
    (m) TSP participant means any individual for whom a TSP account has 
been established. This includes former participants, i.e., participants 
whose accounts have been closed;
* * * * *
    3. Section 1630.4 is amended by revising paragraph (a)(1) and the 
chart which follows that paragraph, by redesignating paragraphs (a)(2), 
(a)(3), and (a)(4) as paragraphs (a)(3), (a)(4) and (a)(5), and by 
adding a new paragraph (a)(2) to read as follows:


Sec. 1630.4  Request for notification and access.

    (a) TSP records. (1) Records on TSP participants and the spouses, 
former spouses, and beneficiaries of TSP participants are maintained in 
the Governmentwide system of records, FRTIB-1, Thrift Savings Plan 
Records. A participant or a spouse, former spouse, or beneficiary of a 
participant must make his or her inquiry in accordance with the chart 
set forth in this paragraph. The mailing address of the Thrift Savings 
Plan Service Office is:

[[Page 67694]]

National Finance Center, PO Box 61500, New Orleans, LA, 70161-1500. 
Telephone inquiries are subject to the verification procedures set 
forth in Sec. 1630.7. A written inquiry must include the name and 
Social Security number of the participant or of the spouse, former 
spouse, or beneficiary of the participant, as appropriate.

 
 
 
 
                                           To obtain information about or gain access to TSP records about you
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want:                                                If you are a participant who is   If you are a participant who has separated from Federal
   To make inquiry as to whether you are a subject of this   a current Federal employee:       employment or a spouse, former spouse, or beneficiary:
    system of records.                                         Call or write to your             Call or write to TSP record keeper.
                                                                employing agency in
                                                                accordance with agency
                                                                procedures for personnel or
                                                                payroll records.
    To gain access to a record about you..................     Call or write to your             Call or write to TSP record keeper.
                                                                employing agency to request
                                                                access to personnel and
                                                                payroll records regarding
                                                                the agency's and the
                                                                participant's contributions,
                                                                and adjustments to
                                                                contributions. Call or write
                                                                to the TSP record keeper to
                                                                gain access to loan status
                                                                and repayments, earnings,
                                                                contributions allocation
                                                                elections, interfund
                                                                transfers, and withdrawal
                                                                records.
    To learn the history of disclosures of records about       Write to TSP record keeper...     Write to TSP record keeper.
     you to entities other than the participant's
     employing agency or the Board or auditors see Sec.
     1630.4 (a)(4).
 

    (2) Participants may also inquire whether this system contains 
records about them and access certain records through the account 
access section of the TSP Web site and the ThriftLine (the TSP's 
automated telephone system). The TSP Web site is located at 
www.tsp.gov. To use the TSP ThriftLine, the participant must have a 
touch-tone telephone and call the following number (504) 255-8777. The 
following information is available on the TSP Web site and the 
ThriftLine: account balance; available loan amount; the status of a 
monthly withdrawal payment; the current status of a loan or withdrawal 
application; and an interfund transfer request. To access these 
features the participant will need to provide his or her SSN and PIN.
* * * * *


Sec. 1630.5  [Amended]

    4. Section 1630.5 is amended in paragraphs (a) and (b) by adding 
the words ``or the TSP record keeper'' after the word ``Board'.


Sec. 1630.6  [Amended]

    5. Section 1630.6 is amended in paragraph (a) by removing at the 
end of the first sentence the phrase ``by the Board'.
    6. Section 1630.7 is amended as follows:
    a. In paragraph (a), by adding the words ``or record keeper 
designee,'' after the words ``Privacy Act Officer'' in the third 
sentence; b. In paragraph
    (b), by adding the words ``or record keeper designee,'' after the 
words ``Privacy Act Officer'' in the second sentence; and c. By 
revising paragraph
    (c) to read as follows:


Sec. 1630.7  Identification requirements.

* * * * *
    (c) By telephone. (1) Telephone identification procedures apply 
only to requests from participants and spouses, former spouses, or 
beneficiaries of participants for information in FRTIB-1, Thrift 
Savings Plan Records, which is retrieved by their respective Social 
Security numbers.
    (2) A participant or a spouse, former spouse, or beneficiary of a 
participant must identify himself or herself by providing to the record 
keeper designee his or her name, Social Security number, and any other 
information requested. If the record keeper designee determines that 
any of the information provided by telephone is incorrect, the 
requester will be required to submit a request in writing.
    (3) A participant may also access the TSP Web site or call the TSP 
ThriftLine to obtain account information. These systems require the 
participant's Social Security number and PIN. Because a PIN is required 
to use these features, they are not available to former participants, 
whose PINs are canceled when their accounts are closed.


Sec. 1630.8  [Amended]

    7. Section 1630.8 is amended as follows:
    a. In paragraph (a), by removing the second sentence;
    b. In paragraph (b)(1), by adding the words ``or the record 
keeper'' after the word ``Board'; and
    c. In paragraph (b)(5), by adding the words ``or the record 
keeper'' after the word ``Board'' in the first sentence, and by adding 
the words ``or record keeper designee'' after the words ``Privacy Act 
Officer'' in the second sentence.


Sec. 1630.11  [Amended]

    8. Section 1630.11 is amended as follows:
    a. In paragraph (a)(1), by adding the following sentence at the 
beginning of the paragraph:
    (a) * * * (1) A spouse, former spouse or beneficiary of a TSP 
participant who wants to correct or amend his or her record must write 
to the TSP record keeper. * * *
    b. In paragraph (a)(1) by revising the chart to read as follows:

[[Page 67695]]



 
 
 
 
                    To correct or amend a TSP record
------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the type of record is:     If you are a          If you are a
   Personnel or personal       participant who is    participant who has
    records (e.g., age,        a current Federal     separated from
    address, Social Security   employee write to:    Federal employment
    number, date of birth).      Write to your       write to:
                                  employing agency.    Write to TSP
                                                        record keeper.
    The agency's and the         Write to your         Write to your
     participant's                employing agency.     former employing
     contributions, and                                 agency.
     adjustments to
     contributions.
    Earnings, investment         Write to TSP          Write to TSP
     allocation, interfund        record keeper.        record keeper.
     transfers, loans, loan
     repayments, and
     withdrawals.
 

    c. In paragraph (a)(3), by removing the following language from the 
first sentence, ``the procedures set forth for agencies and the Board 
(including the TSP Service Office which is the Board's recordkeeper) 
in'; and
    d. In paragraph (a)(5), by revising the last two sentences to read 
as follows:
    (a) * * *
    (5) * * * The employing agency also has custody of the election 
form (which is maintained in the Official Personnel Folder). Requests 
for amendment or correction of records described in this paragraph 
should be made to the employing agency.
* * * * *


Sec. 1630.14  [Amended]

    9. Section 1630.14 is amended in paragraph (c) by adding the words 
``or the record keeper'' after the word ``Board'' in the first 
sentence.


Sec. 1630.16  [Amended]

    10. Section 1630.16 is amended in paragraph (d)(1) by adding the 
words ``to be'' after the word ``amount'.


Sec. 1630.2, 1630.4, 1630.6, 1630.11, 1630.12 and 1630.16  [Amended]

    11. The words ``Thrift Savings Plan Service Office'', ``TSP Service 
Office'' and ``Head, TSP Service Office'' are revised to read ``record 
keeper'' in the following sections:

1630.2(n);
1630.4(a)(3) in all three sentences;
1630.6(a) in sentence two;
1630.11(a)(2);
1630.12(a) in sentences one and two; and 1630.16(c).


Sec. 1630.6 and 1630.10  [Amended]

    12. The words ``Head, TSP Service Office, or designee'' are revised 
to read ``record keeper designee'' in the following sections:

01630.6(a) in sentence one;
1630.10(a); and
1630.10(a)(1).
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 99-30923 Filed 12-2-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6760-01-P