[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 46 (Wednesday, March 8, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12222-12223]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-5602]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; Computer Matching Program

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice; Computer matching between the Department of Education 
and the Department of Justice.

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SUMMARY: Section 5301(a)(1) of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (now 
designated as section 421(a)(1) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 
U.S.C. 862(a)(1)) includes provisions regarding the judicial denial of 
Federal benefits. Section 5301 authorizes Federal and State judges to 
deny certain Federal benefits (including student financial assistance 
under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended) to 
individuals convicted of drug trafficking or possession.
    In order to ensure that Title IV student financial assistance is 
not awarded to individuals subject to denial of benefits under court 
orders issued pursuant to section 5301, the Department of Justice and 
the Department of Education implemented a computer matching program. 
The current computer matching agreement expires on March 3, 2000. The 
Department of Education must continue to obtain from the Department of 
Justice identifying information regarding individuals who are the 
subject of section 5301 denial of benefits court orders. The purpose of 
this notice is to announce the continued operation of the computer-
matching program and to provide certain required information concerning 
the computer-matching program.
    In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as 
amended by the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 
(Pub. L. 100-503), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidelines on 
the Conduct of Matching Programs (see 54 FR 25818, June 19, 1989), and 
OMB Circular A-130, the following information is provided:

1. Names of Participating Agencies

    The Department of Education (ED) (recipient agency) and the 
Department of Justice (source agency) (DOJ).

2. Purpose of the Match

    This matching program is designed to assist ED in enforcing the 
sanctions imposed under section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 
(Pub. L. 100-690).

[[Page 12223]]

3. Authority for Conducting the Matching Program

    Under section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, as amended 
(21 U.S.C. 862), ED must deny Federal benefits to any individual upon 
whom a Federal or State court order has imposed a penalty denying 
eligibility for those benefits. Student financial assistance under 
Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) is a 
Federal benefit under section 5301 and ED must, in order to meet its 
obligations under the HEA, have access to information about individuals 
who have been declared ineligible under section 5301.
    Section 5301 and the Procedures for Implementation of section 5301 
(Pub. L. 100-690), transmitted to the Congress on August 30, 1989, 
direct DOJ to act as an information clearinghouse for Federal agencies. 
While DOJ provides information about section 5301 individuals who are 
ineligible for Federal benefits to the General Services Administration 
(GSA) for inclusion in GSA's List of Parties Excluded from Federal 
Procurements and Nonprocurement Programs, DOJ and ED have determined 
that matching against the DOJ data base is more efficient and effective 
than access to the GSA List. The DOJ data base has specific information 
about the Title IV, HEA programs for which individuals are ineligible 
and has more complete identifying information about those individuals 
than does the GSA List. Both these elements are essential for a 
successful match.

4. Categories of Records and Individuals Covered by the Match

    ED will submit for verification records from its Central Processing 
System files (Federal Student Aid Application File (18-11-01)) the 
social security number (SSN) and other identifying information for each 
applicant for Title IV student financial assistance. ED will use the 
SSN and the first two letters of an applicant's last name for the 
match.
    The DOJ Denial of Federal Benefits Clearing System (DEBAR)(OJP-
0013) contains the names, social security numbers, dates of birth, and 
other identifying information regarding individuals convicted of 
Federal or State offenses involving drug trafficking or possession of a 
controlled substance who have been denied Federal benefits by Federal 
or State courts. This system of records also contains information 
concerning the specific program or programs for which benefits have 
been denied. DOJ will make available for the matching program the 
records of only those individuals who have been denied Federal benefits 
under one or more of the Title IV, HEA programs.

5. Effective Dates of the Matching Program

    The matching program will become effective 40 days after a copy of 
the agreement, as approved by the Data Integrity Board of each agency, 
is sent to Congress and OMB (or later if OMB objects to some or all of 
the agreement), or 30 days after publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register, whichever date is later. The matching program will 
continue for 18 months after the effective date and may be extended for 
an additional 12 months thereafter, if the conditions specified in 5 
U.S.C.552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.

6. Address for Receipt of Public Comments or Inquiries

    Individuals wishing to comment on this matching program or obtain 
additional information about the program including a copy of the 
computer matching agreement between ED and DOJ should contact Ms. Edith 
Bell, Program Specialist, U.S. Department of Education, Room, 3053, 
ROB-3, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20202-5400. Telephone: 
(202) 708-8242. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf 
(TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-
800-877-8339.
    You may inspect all public comments about this matching program at 
Regional Office Building 3, 7th and D Streets, SW, Room 3045, 
Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 am and 4 pm, Eastern time, 
Monday through Friday of each week except Federal holidays.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape or computer 
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding 
paragraph.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You may view this document in text or Adobe Portable Document 
Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following sites:

http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html
http://ifap.ed.gov

    To use the PDF you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with 
Search, which is available free at the previous sites. If you have 
questions about using the PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing Office 
(GPO), toll free at 1-888-293-6498, or in the Washington, DC, area at 
(202) 512-1530.

    Note: The official version of this document is the document 
published in the Federal Register.

    Free Internet access to the official edition of the Federal 
Register and the Code of Federal Regulations is available on GPO access 
at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html

    Dated: February 28, 2000.
Greg Woods,
Chief Operating Officer, Office of Student Financial Assistance.
[FR Doc. 00-5602 Filed 3-7-00; 8:45 am]
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