[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 13 (Thursday, January 20, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3202-3204]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-1352]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Docket No. 000105006-0006-01]


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY:  Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce.

ACTION:  Notice of new Privacy Act System of Records; Commerce/Census 
System 8.

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

SUMMARY:  This notice announces the Department's proposal for a new 
system of records under the Privacy Act. The system is entitled, 
``COMMERCE/CENSUS-8, Statistical Administrative Records System.'' This 
notice is submitted in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy 
Act of 1974 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, 
Appendix I, ``Federal Agency Responsibilities for Maintaining Records 
About Individuals.''

DATES:  Effective Date: The proposed system shall be effective without 
further notice on or before February 22, 2000, unless comments dictate 
otherwise.
    Comment Date: To be considered, written comments on the proposed 
new system must be submitted on or before February 22, 2000.

ADDRESSES:  Please address comments to: Gerald W. Gates, Privacy Act 
Officer, Policy Office, Room 2430 FB 3, Bureau of the Census, 
Washington, DC 20233-3700. Comments received will be available for 
public inspection at this same address from 8:30 am to 4 pm, Monday 
through Friday.
    For further information contact: Wendy Alvey, Administrative 
Records Program Officer, Policy Office, Room 2430 FB 3, Bureau of the 
Census, Washington, DC 20233-3700, telephone: (301) 457-2485.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  The establishment of this system of records

[[Page 3203]]

will be effective February 22, 2000, unless the Commerce Department 
receives comments that would result in a contrary determination. As 
required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(o) of the Privacy Act, the Commerce 
Department submitted reports on this new system to both Houses of 
Congress. This notice meets the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 
regarding the publication of an agency's notice of system of records. 
It documents the establishment of a new Census Bureau system of 
records, national in scope, which is composed of selected 
administrative records from other Federal government agencies and 
selected data from Census Bureau decennial censuses and surveys.
    This notice is to announce the establishment of a statistical 
administrative records system and to request public comment. The 
administrative records system will contain personally identifiable 
information from six national administrative record programs; only a 
very small number of sworn Census Bureau employees will have access to 
this system. The administrative record files will be used separately to 
develop aggregated data for evaluation and statistical improvements. In 
addition, some of the data will be combined, by individual, with 
selected Census Bureau decennial census and survey data, to yield 
unduplicated person records for census and survey planning and 
evaluation research.
    All administrative record data with personally identifying 
information (name, address, and social security number) will be 
maintained within a secured, restricted environment, with access 
limited to a very small number of sworn Census Bureau staff. No public 
disclosure of these data will be made. An in-house Project Review Board 
will oversee all Census Bureau statistical uses of these data, to 
ensure that the data are used only for authorized purposes. All uses of 
the data will be for statistical purposes only, which, by definition, 
means that the uses will not directly affect any individual. No 
information will be released that would allow any individual to be 
identified.
Commerce/Census--8

System name:
    Statistical Administrative Records System--Commerce/Census--8.

System location:
    Bowie Computer Center, Bureau of the Census, 17101 Melford Blvd., 
Bowie, Maryland 20715.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    The population of the United States. In order to approximate 
coverage of the entire U.S. population, the Census Bureau will combine 
and delete redundant administrative record files from the Internal 
Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, Health Care Financing 
Administration, Selective Service System, Department of Housing and 
Urban Development, and the Indian Health Service. Comparable data may 
also be sought from selected state agencies, if available.

Categories of records in the system:
    Personal identifiers --including but not limited to name and social 
security number--needed for matching purposes only; once matched, 
personal identifiers will be eliminated and replaced by Census Bureau-
generated unique identifiers, which will be provided on output 
statistical data files; Demographic information--including but not 
limited to sex, race, ethnicity, education, marital status, tribal 
affiliation, veteran's status; Geographic information--including but 
not limited to address; Economic information--including but not limited 
to income, job information, total assets; and Processing information--
including but not limited to processing codes and quality indicators.

Authorities for maintenance of the system:
    Title 13, U.S.C. 6.

Purpose(s):
    The purpose of the statistical administrative records system of 
records is to evaluate the 2000 decennial census; plan for the 2010 
decennial census; evaluate and enhance selected survey data; and 
produce estimates of social and economic characteristics of the 
population. By using administrative records data from other agencies, 
the Census Bureau will be able to improve the quality and usefulness of 
its data, while reducing costs and respondent burden.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purposes of such uses:
    None.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, 
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
    Records will be stored in a secure computerized system and on 
magnetic tape; output data will be either electronic or paper copy. All 
identifiable data will be maintained in a secure environment and access 
to identifiable information will be restricted to only a small number 
of people with a need to know.

Retrievability:
    Records can be retrieved by name, address, or Social Security 
Number by only a limited number of sworn Census Bureau personnel within 
a secure, restricted access environment. It should be noted that the 
purpose of these identifiers is not to retrieve information for 
specific individuals, but only to develop matched data sets for 
subsequent statistical extracts. Names and Social Security Numbers will 
be deleted from all output files and replaced by unique serial 
identification numbers internal to the Bureau of the Census.

Safeguards:
    Only a limited number of sworn Census Bureau employees will have 
access to these data in identifiable form, in order to construct the 
linked data sets and produce statistical extracts; the data will not be 
used to identify specific individuals, but will be used to create 
extracts with information from one or more of the source files. Extract 
files will only be released to designated sworn Census Bureau staff 
with a need-to-know; all data going outside the restricted access 
environment will be stripped of personally identifying information; the 
crosswalk for the recoded identifiers will be maintained within the 
secure, restricted access environment and may only be accessed only by 
authorized personnel. The microdata will not be made publicly 
available. Any publications resulting from these data will be cleared 
for release under the direction of the Census Bureau's Disclosure 
Review Board, which will confirm that the data do not directly or 
indirectly disclose information which would identify any individual. 
All employees are subject to the restrictions, penalties, and 
prohibitions of Title 13 U.S.C. 9 and 214; Privacy Act of 1974 (5 
U.S.C. 552a(b)(4)); Title 18 U.S.C. 1905; Title 26 U.S.C. 7213; and 
Title 42, U.S.C., Section 1306. When confidentiality or penalty 
provisions differ, the most stringent provisions apply to protect the 
data. Employees are regularly advised of the regulations issued 
pursuant to Titles 13 U.S.C. and other relevant statutes governing 
confidentiality of the data. The restricted access environment has been 
established to limit the number of Census Bureau employees with direct 
access to identifiable microdata from this system, so as to protect the 
confidentiality of the data and to prevent unauthorized use or access 
to it.

[[Page 3204]]

These safeguards provide a level and scope of security that is not less 
than the level and scope of security established by the Office of 
Management and Budget in OMB Circular No. A-130, Appendix III, Security 
of Federal Automated Information Systems. Furthermore, the use of 
unsecured telecommunications to transmit individually identifiable or 
deducible information derived from the administrative record files is 
prohibited.

Retention and disposal:
    Records to be retained in accordance with the unit's Records 
Control Schedule, which is based on separate agreements with each 
source agency. Retention is not to exceed 10 years, unless, by 
agreement with the source agency, it is determined that a longer period 
is necessary for statistical purposes. At the end of the retention 
period or upon demand, all original files, extracts and paper copies 
from each agency will be returned to the source agency or destroyed, as 
stated in the interagency agreement.

System manager and address:
    Associate Director for Methodology and Standards, Bureau of the 
Census, FB 3, Washington, DC 20233.

Notification procedure:
    For Census records, information may be obtained from: Assistant 
Division Chief for Administrative Records Research, Planning, Research, 
and Evaluation Division, Methodology and Standards Directorate, Bureau 
of the Census, Suitland Federal Center Building 2, Washington, D.C. 
20233.

Record source categories:
    Individuals covered by selected Federal administrative record 
systems and Census Bureau censuses and surveys.

Exemptions claimed for this system:
    Pursuant to Title 5 U.S.C., Section 552a(k)(4), this system of 
records is exempted from the notification, access, and contest 
requirements of the agency procedures (under Title 5 U.S.C., Section 
552a(c)(3), (d), (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H), and (I), and (f)). This 
exemption is applicable as the data are maintained by the Bureau of the 
Census solely as statistical records, as required under Title 13 
U.S.C., and are not used in whole or in part in making any 
determination about an identifiable individual. This exemption is made 
in accordance with agency rules published in the rules section of this 
Federal Register.

    Dated: January 7, 2000.
Brenda Dolan,
Department of Commerce,
Freedom of Information/Privacy Act Officer.
[FR Doc. 00-1352 Filed 1-19-00; 8:45 am]
BILLIING CODE 3510-07-P