[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 25 (Wednesday, February 6, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6996-6999]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-2136]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management


Privacy Act of 1974; as Amended; Creation of a New System of 
Records

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed addition of a new system of records.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, as 
amended, (5 U.S.C. 552a), notice is hereby given that the Department of 
the Interior proposes to establish a new system of records, INTERIOR, 
BLM-40, to be maintained by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
    The Department of the Interior is establishing a new system of 
records to manage the consolidated database of qualifications of 
Federal, State, local, contractor, volunteer, and special group 
wildland firefighters. This system will provide a single consolidated 
database for access to determine if personnel are qualified for 
specific positions on incident response teams. The typical incident for 
which the information would be used is on wildland fire support. 
However, other types of incidents do occur in which qualified personnel 
are needed and requested by other Federal Agencies, such as the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency, and by states for emergency situations 
such as hurricanes, floods, and human-caused disasters.
    The creation and the maintenance of this system are authorized in 
accordance with provisions of 43 U.S.C. 1811e, 42 U.S.C. 1856a, 15 
U.S.C. 2201, 5 U.S.C. 4118, 5 U.S.C. 3101, 16 U.S.C. 551C, 43 U.S.C. 
1457, EO 10561, 620 DM 1.

Effective Dates:  5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(11) requires that the public be 
provided a 30 day period in which to comment on the agency's intended 
use of the information in the system of records. The Office of 
Management and Budget, in its Circular A-130, requires an additional 10 
day period (for a total of

[[Page 6997]]

40 days) in which to make these comments. Any persons interested in 
commenting on this proposed system of records may do so by submitting 
comments in writing to Laura Bell, BLM Privacy Act Administrator, 1849 
C Street, NW., 725 LS, Washington, DC 20240, or e-mail: [email protected]. 
Comments received within 40 days of the publication in the Federal 
Register will be considered. The system will be effective as proposed 
at the end of the comment period unless comments are received that 
would require a contrary determination. The Department will publish a 
revised notice if changes are made upon review of comments received.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Morgen, Business Steward, 
Bureau of Land Management, Incident Qualifications and Certification 
System, 3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, Idaho 83705-5354.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This system will integrate information from 
systems currently maintained by agencies involved with incident support 
and emergency management (Department of Agriculture, Department of the 
Interior, and state and local agency systems) that maintain 
qualification data on individuals involved in firefighting. This system 
will provide a time-efficient method for the participating agencies and 
offices for determining qualifications and status of personnel to 
insure that qualified personnel are assigned to incidents in order to 
protect lives and property. This means that when a resource order is 
sent out requesting a Division Supervisor, that only persons with 
current qualifications that have met all of the prerequisite training 
will be identified and referred to the requesting agency.

Laura F. Bell,
FOIA/PA Program Analyst, Policy and Records Group, Bureau of Land 
Management.
Interior/BLM-40

SYSTEM NAME:
    Incident Qualification and Certification System (IQCS)--Interior, 
BLM-40.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    (1) The consolidated central database is located at the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (USDA) hosting facility, National Information 
Technology Center, 8930 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Missouri 64114. 
Information from this system is accessed by cooperating agencies and 
field offices through Web secured Web links.
    (2) Records from this system (paper and electronic) are managed by 
the bureau and office sites listed below, located at the National 
Interagency Fire Center, and involved in the Federal fire program:
    (a) Bureau of Indian Affairs, 3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, 
Idaho 83705-5354.
    (b) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 3833 S. Development Avenue, 
Boise, Idaho 83705-5354.
    (c) Bureau of Land Management, 3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, 
Idaho 83705-5354.
    (d) National Park Service, 3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, Idaho 
83705-5354.
    (e) U.S. Forest Service, 3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, Idaho 
83705-5354.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    All federal, state, local, special interest group members, and 
contractor employees with wild land fire qualifications who voluntarily 
provide information to qualify for fire assignments.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    Name of employee; date of birth, Social Security Number, office 
address and phone number, physical clearance status, pertinent 
education history, pertinent work or skills experience; listing of 
special qualifications; licenses and certificates held; and training 
completed. Firefighters with certain qualifications and past a certain 
age must have a medical clearance before they can take the fitness 
test. The IQCS only stores the status of the medical test and whether 
the firefighter has ``cleared'' or ``not cleared'' the medical test. 
Training scores may be entered as ``pass'' or ``fail'' or the letter 
grade for the class--this is an optional field.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    5 U.S.C. 4118, 3101; 16 U.S.C. 551C; 43 U.S.C. 1457; EO 10561.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    (1) To support management officials for any agency responsible for 
managing an incident by insuring that only qualified personnel are 
assigned to wild and prescribed fires, natural disasters, and responses 
to terrorist acts, in positions that they are qualified to perform, 
thus reducing the potential for loss of property or life due to having 
unqualified personnel assigned to incident positions. The participating 
agencies are the USDA-Forest Service, four DOI bureaus; the Bureau of 
Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and 
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), and The Nature Conservancy. Some Tribal 
information is included in accordance with BIA agreements. No states 
participate in the application.
    (2) To support home unit (employing unit) coordinators updating the 
database with information about training course completion, task book 
completion, qualifications obtained, and positions that individuals are 
no longer qualified to perform. Each participating agency or bureau 
maintains their own portion of the information within IQCS.
    The IQCS database contains data elements that require review under 
the Privacy Act (PA) disclosure requirements at 5 U.S.C. 552a (b) and 
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, before any 
information will be released. Rules of Behavior documentation is in 
accordance with BLM policy and is available from the specific project 
files. Applicable Privacy Act warning statements are placed on all 
information printouts of data from the system. Since each cooperating 
agency has access to the records of their personnel contained in the 
system, any requests for that information is the responsibility of the 
agency to which the data in question belongs.

DISCLOSURES OUTSIDE THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR MAY BE MADE UNDER 
THE ROUTINE USES LISTED BELOW WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL IF 
THE DISCLOSURE IS COMPATIBLE WITH THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH THE RECORD WAS 
COLLECTED:
    (1)(a) To any of the following entities or individuals, when the 
circumstances set forth in paragraph (b) are met:
    (i) The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ);
    (ii) A court or an adjudicative or other administrative body;
    (iii) A party in litigation before a court or an adjudicative or 
other administrative body; or
    (iv) Any DOI employee acting in his or her individual capacity if 
DOI or DOJ has agreed to represent that employee or pay for private 
representation of the employee:
    (b) When:
    (i) One of the following is a party to the proceeding or has an 
interest in the proceeding:
    (A) DOI or any component of DOI;
    (B) Any other Federal agency appearing before the Office of 
hearings and Appeals;
    (C) Any DOI employee acting in his or her official capacity;
    (D) Any DOI employee acting in his or her individual capacity if 
DOI or DOJ has agreed to represent that employee or

[[Page 6998]]

pay for private representation of the employee;
    (E) The United States, when DOJ determines that DOI is likely to be 
affected by the proceeding; and
    (2) To a congressional office in response to a written inquiry that 
an individual covered by the system, or the heir or such individual if 
the covered individual is deceased, has made to the office.
    (3) To any criminal, civil, or regulatory law enforcement authority 
(whether federal, state, territorial, local, tribal, or foreign) when a 
record, either alone or in conjunction with other information, 
indicates a violation or potential violation of law--criminal, civil, 
or regulatory in nature, and the disclosure is compatible with the 
purpose for which the records were compiled.
    (4) To an official of another federal agency to provide information 
needed in the performance of official duties related to reconciling or 
reconstructing data files or to enable that agency to respond to an 
inquiry by the individual to whom the record pertains.
    (5) To federal, state, territorial, local, tribal, or foreign 
agencies that have requested information relevant or necessary to the 
hiring, firing or retention of an employee or contractor, or the 
issuance of a security clearance, license, contract, grant, or other 
benefit, when the disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which 
the records were compiled.
    (6) To representatives of the National Archives and Records 
Administration to conduct records management inspections under the 
authority of 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
    (7) To state and local governments and tribal organizations to 
provide information needed in response to court orders and/or discovery 
purposes related to litigation, when the disclosure is compatible with 
the purpose for which the records were compiled.
    (8) To an expert, consultant, or contractor (including employees of 
the contractor) of DOI that performs services requiring access to these 
records on DOI's behalf to carry out the purposes of the system.
    (9) To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when:
    (a) It is suspected or confirmed that the security or 
confidentiality of information in the system of records has been 
compromised; and
    (b) The Department has determined that as a result of the suspected 
or confirmed compromise there is a risk of harm to economic or property 
interest, identity theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity 
of this system or other systems or programs (whether maintained by the 
Department or another agency or entity) that rely upon the compromised 
information; and
    (c) The disclosure is made to such agencies, entities and persons 
who are reasonably necessary to assist in connection with the 
Department's efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed 
compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
    (10) To the Office of Management and Budget during the coordination 
and clearance process in connection with legislative affairs as 
mandated by OMB Circular A-19.
    (11) To the Department of Treasury to recover debts owed to the 
United States.
    (12) To the news media when the disclosure is compatible with the 
purpose for which the records were compiled.
    Disclosure to consumer reporting agencies: Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 
552a(b)(12), records can be disclosed to consumer reporting agencies as 
they are defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    Paper records are stored in file folders, in locked file cabinets 
until data input is verified. Any paper records that are not input into 
the system will be maintained in secured files. Electronic records are 
stored on disk, system hard drive, tape or other appropriate media. 
Individual data is retained for a minimum of three years in an Active 
status--during which an individual employee is being deployed in the 
position(s) for which he or she is qualified. After three years of 
inactivity (no deployments), the individual's identifying information 
is moved into an Inactive repository. Upon two additional years of 
inactivity (for a total of five years), the individual's information is 
moved into a Data Archive.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Records can be retrieved by the name or a system-generated employee 
identifier for the individual, and only by the agency responsible for 
that individual.

SAFEGUARDS:
    Access to records is limited to authorized personnel. Paper records 
are maintained in locked file cabinets. Electronic records are 
maintained with safeguards meeting minimum security requirements of 43 
CFR 2.51. A security plan was developed to prevent unauthorized access 
to the system and in transmission of the data. A Privacy Impact 
Assessment was completed and signed in April 2004, and reviewed for 
validity in October 2005. This Assessment evaluated the privacy risks 
and ensured appropriate safeguards were in place.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    BLM Manual 1220, Appendix 2, Schedule 1, Item 43, provides the 
disposition instructions for these records.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESSES:
    (1) Fire IT Business Systems Unit Leader, National Interagency Fire 
Center, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, 
3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, ID 83705-5354.
    (2) Bureau fire or personnel officers:
    (a) Director of Fire and Aviation Management, Bureau of Indian 
Affairs, 3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, ID 83705-5354.
    (b) Personnel Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, National Center, 
12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 22092.
    (c) Director of Fire Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, ID 83705-5354.
    (d) Labor Relations Officer, Bureau of Reclamation, P.O. Box 25001, 
Denver, CO 80225.
    (e) Deputy Assistant Director, Fire and Aviation, Bureau of Land 
Management, 3833 S. Development Avenue, Boise, ID 83705-5354.
    (f) Chief, Fire and Aviation Division, National Park Service, 3833 
S. Development Avenue, Boise, ID 83705-5354.
    (g) Personnel Officer, Minerals Management Service, Personnel 
Division, 1110 Herndon Parkway, Herndon, VA 22070.
    (h) Personnel Officer, Office of Surface Mining, Division of 
Personnel, 1951 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20245.
    (i) Director of Operations, U.S. Forest Service, 3833 S. 
Development Avenue, Boise, ID 83705-5354.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    An individual requesting notification of the existence of records 
on him or her, should address his/her request to the appropriate System 
Manager above. The request must be in writing, contain the requester's 
original signature, and comply with the content requirements of 43 CFR 
2.60.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    An individual requesting access to records maintained on him or 
her,

[[Page 6999]]

should address his/her request to the appropriate System Manager above. 
The request must be in writing, contain the requester's original 
signature, and comply with the requirements of 43 CFR 2.63.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    An individual requesting amendment of a record maintained on him or 
her, should address his/her request to the appropriate System Manager 
above. The request must be in writing, contain the requester's original 
signature, and comply with the content requirements of 43 CFR 2.71.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information collected and stored in this system is submitted by the 
individuals to whom the records pertain.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

[FR Doc. E8-2136 Filed 2-5-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-84-P