[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 242 (Tuesday, December 17, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77315-77316]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-31587]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Financial Management Service


Privacy Act of 1974; Computer Matching Programs

AGENCY: Financial Management Service, Treasury.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Privacy Act of 1974, as 
amended, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidelines on 
the Conduct of Matching Programs, notice is hereby given of the conduct 
by Financial Management Service (FMS) of matching programs.

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 16, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Comments or inquiries may be submitted to the Debt 
Management Services, Financial Management Service, 401 14th Street, 
SW., Room 448B, Washington, DC 20227.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerry Isenberg, Financial Program 
Specialist, Debt Management Services, (202) 874-6660.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FMS is the lead agency in the Federal 
government for administrative debt collection, and collects delinquent 
non-tax debts owed to the Federal government and delinquent debts owed 
to States, including past-due child support

[[Page 77316]]

obligations being enforced by States. One of the key debt collection 
tools used by FMS is administrative offset. As amended by the Debt 
Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA), Pub. L. 104-134 (April 26, 
1996), 31 U.S.C. 3716 requires Federal disbursing officials to offset 
payments to collect delinquent debts submitted to FMS by Federal 
agencies for collection by offset. This process is known as 
``centralized administrative offset'' or ``centralized offset.'' In 
addition, 31 U.S.C. 3716 authorizes the use of centralized offset to 
collect delinquent debts owed to states. Federal and State agencies 
submit delinquent debtor information to FMS, and FMS maintains 
information about individuals in a ``system of records'' for debt 
collection entitled ``Debt Collection Operations System,'' identified 
as Treasury/FMS .014.
    To implement the centralized offset provisions of the DCIA, FMS 
matches records concerning Federal payments with its debt collection 
records. To date, FMS has concentrated its efforts on offsetting 
Treasury-disbursed payments made by FMS. For this purpose, a 
comprehensive notice of computer matches was published in the Federal 
Register on August 28, 1997, Volume 62 at page 45699 concerning records 
contained in FMS' payment systems of records (Payment Issue Records for 
Regular Recurring Benefit Payments (Treasury/FMS .002) and Payment 
Records for Other than Regular Recurring Benefit Payments (Treasury/FMS 
.016)) with records contained in the FMS' Debt Collection Operations 
System.
    FMS is working with other Federal agencies authorized to disburse 
Federal payments, known as Non-Treasury Disbursing Officials (NTDOs), 
to implement centralized offset of payments disbursed by Federal 
agencies other than FMS. See, for example, the notice published in the 
Federal Register on September 23, 2002, Volume 67 at page 59596 
concerning payments disbursed by the United States Postal Service. This 
notice concerns the computer matching programs used to facilitate 
administrative offset involving records from FMS' ``Debt Collection 
Operations System'' and records from the following system maintained by 
an NTDO: United States Department of Defense: DFAS Payroll Locator File 
System (PLFS) (T7330).
    The DCIA provides authority for Treasury to waive subsections (o) 
and (p) of 5 U.S.C. 552a (relating to computer matching agreements and 
post-offset notification and verification) upon written certification 
by the head of a state or an executive, judicial, or legislative agency 
seeking to collect the claim that the requirements of subsection (a) of 
31 U.S.C. 3716 have been met. Treasury has exercised its authority to 
waive the aforementioned requirements, and the waiver will be in effect 
prior to the commencement of the computer matching program(s) 
identified in this notice. Interested parties may obtain documentation 
concerning the waiver from the contact listed above.

Name of Source Agency:
    United States Department of Defense

Name of Recipient Agency:
    Financial Management Service

Beginning and Completion Dates:
    These programs of computer matches will commence not earlier than 
the thirtieth day after this notice appears in the Federal Register. 
The matching will continue indefinitely, or until the waiver from the 
requirements of 5 U.S.C. 552a(o) and (p) is revoked.

Purpose:
    The purpose of these programs of computer matches is to identify 
payments made to individuals who owe delinquent debts to the Federal 
government or to state governments, as well as individuals who owe 
past-due support being collected by state governments, which will be 
collected by offset pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3716, and to offset such 
payments where appropriate to satisfy those debts.

Authority:
    Authority for these programs of computer matches is granted under 
31 U.S.C. 3716.

Categories of Individuals Covered:
    Individuals receiving payments from the Federal government which 
are disbursed by the United States Department of Defense; and 
individuals who owe debts to the United States and/or a state 
government, or who owe past-due support being enforced by a state 
government, and whose debts may be collected by offset in accordance 
with 31 U.S.C. 3716.

Categories of Records Covered:
    Included in these programs of computer matches is information 
concerning the debtor contained in the Debt Collection Operations 
System (Treasury/FMS .014) including name, taxpayer identification 
number, the amount of the indebtedness, the name and address of the 
state or Federal agency who is principally responsible for collecting 
the debt, and the name, phone number and address of a state or agency 
contact. Information contained in the following system: United States 
Department of Defense: DFAS Payroll Locator File System (PLFS) (T7330), 
which shall be included in these programs of computer matches shall 
include name, taxpayer identification number, mailing address, and the 
amount and type of payment.

    Dated: December 9, 2002.
W. Earl Wright, Jr.,
Chief Management and Administrative Programs Officer.
[FR Doc. 02-31587 Filed 12-16-02; 8:45 am]
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