[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 84 (Wednesday, April 30, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23414-23416]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-9421]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Office of the Secretary

[Docket No. APHIS 2008-0026]


Privacy Act Systems of Records; APHIS Automated Trust Funds (ATF) 
Database

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of a proposed new system of records; request for 
comment.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposes to add a system of 
records to its inventory of records systems subject to the Privacy Act 
of 1974, as amended. The system of records being proposed is the APHIS 
Automated Trust Funds (ATF) database. This notice is necessary to meet 
the requirements of the Privacy Act to publish in the Federal Register 
notice of the existence and character of record systems maintained by 
the agency.
    Although the Privacy Act requires only that the portion of the 
system that describes the ``routine uses'' of the system be published 
for comment, we invite comment on all portions of this notice.

DATES: Effective date: This system will be adopted without further 
notice on June 9, 2008 unless modified to respond to comments received 
from the public and published in a subsequent notice.
    Comment date: Comments must be received in writing, on or before 
May 30, 2008.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to: http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2008-0026 and follow the instructions for 
submitting comments.
     Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Docket No. APHIS-2008-
0026, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 
4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-1238.
    Docket: You may view any comments we receive at the Federal 
eRulemaking Portal (Web address above) or in our reading room. The 
reading room is located in room 1141 of the USDA South Building, 14th 
Street and Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC. Normal reading room 
hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. 
To be sure someone is there to help you, please call (202) 690-2817 
before coming.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Vikki Soukup, Program Manager/
Supervisory Accountant, Accounting and Payment Team, Financial 
Management Division, Marketing and Regulatory Programs Business 
Services, APHIS, 100 North Sixth Street, Butler Square West, 5th Floor, 
Minneapolis, MN 55403; (612) 336-3237.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 
U.S.C. 552a), requires agencies to publish in the Federal Register a 
notice of new or revised systems of records maintained by the agency. A 
system of

[[Page 23415]]

records is a group of any records under the control of any agency, from 
which information is retrieved by the name of an individual or by some 
identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to 
an individual.
    The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing to add a new system of 
records, titled Automated Trust Funds (ATF) database. It will be used 
to maintain a record of activities conducted by the agency pursuant to 
its responsibilities authorized by the Federal Information Security 
Management Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3541 et seq.), the Chief Financial 
Officers Act of 1990 (31 U.S.C. 101 et seq.), the Clinger-Cohen Act of 
1996 (40 U.S.C. 1401(3)), and the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity 
Act of 1982, Public Law 97-255.
    In order to ensure that animals and plants and their products do 
not introduce pests or diseases when imported into the United States, 
APHIS may perform inspections and provide other services to cooperators 
who have signed trust fund agreements with APHIS. Cooperators may be 
foreign associations and shippers and U.S. companies. APHIS incurs 
costs associated with such inspections and services, such as the costs 
of inspectors' salaries, supplies, overtime, travel, and other 
miscellaneous expenses. Cooperators are required to pay for these 
expenses from a trust fund established in their name that holds monies 
collected in advance of services.
    The ATF database is an accounting system that uses financial data 
extracted directly from the USDA Financial Data Warehouse (FDW) to 
generate monthly cooperator account statements. Data in the FDW is 
derived solely from USDA sources. APHIS reviews each statement for 
accuracy of expenditures and collections transactions in order to 
ensure that APHIS has collected the correct amount of money for the 
services performed. These statements are distributed to APHIS field 
offices for the purpose of addressing cooperator queries and providing 
status of trust fund accounts. An individual statement is also mailed 
to each cooperator. Information in the ATF is used to update the 
Foundation Financial Information System, the official APHIS financial 
system. Data in the ATF database is not shared with or derived from 
international, Federal, State, local, or other agencies.
    The ATF database contains personally identifiable information about 
cooperators. It contains cooperator company name; company address, 
including country; account number; and account balance, including 
collections, expenses, deposits, and refunds. It may also contain 
company contact information, including name, telephone number, and 
mailing address. The records also include inspection information such 
as name of inspector, overtime paid, and travel dates with the 
corresponding charges.

Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories 
of Users and the Purposes of Such Uses

    Routine uses of information in the ATF database include releases 
related to investigations pertaining to violations of law or related to 
litigation. A complete listing of the routine uses for this system is 
included in the accompanying description of the system of records that 
is published along with this notice.
    There are no information collection requests associated with the 
ATF system. Data contained in the system is extracted directly from the 
FDW.

Report on New System

    A report on the new system of records, required by 5 U.S.C. 
552a(r), as implemented by Office of Management and Budget Circular A-
130, was sent to the Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs, United States Senate; the Chairman, Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives; and the 
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 
Management and Budget.

    Dated: April 17, 2008.
Edward T. Schafer,
Secretary.


System name:
    APHIS Automated Trust Funds (ATF) Database, USDA-APHIS-12

Security classification:
    None.

System location:
    The ATF server is physically located in a secured room in APHIS 
offices in Riverdale, MD.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    Individuals covered by the system include cooperators with signed 
agreements with APHIS regarding trust fund activities and inspectors 
who provide services.

Categories of records in the system:
    The system extracts information such as cooperator company name; 
company address, including country; account number; and account 
balance, including collections, expenses, deposits, and refunds. The 
system may also contain company contact information, including name, 
telephone number, and mailing address. The records also include 
inspection information such as name of inspector, overtime paid, and 
travel dates with the corresponding charges.

Purpose(s) of the system:
    The ATF database is an accounting system that uses financial data 
extracted directly from the USDA Financial Data Warehouse (FDW) to 
generate monthly cooperator account statements. These statements 
contain the status of expenditures and collections transactions, to 
ensure that APHIS has collected the correct amount of money for the 
services performed. These statements are distributed to APHIS field 
offices to address cooperator queries and provide status of trust fund 
accounts. An individual statement is also mailed to each cooperator. 
Information in the ATF is used to update the Foundation Financial 
Information System (FFIS), the official APHIS financial system.

Authority for maintenance of the system:
    The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 
3541 et seq.), the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (31 U.S.C. 101 
et seq.), the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996 (40 U.S.C. 1401(3)), and the 
Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act of 1982, Pub. L. 97-255. 
Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purposes of such uses:
    In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, records maintained in the system may be 
disclosed outside USDA as follows:
    (1) To the appropriate agency, whether Federal, State, local, or 
foreign, charged with responsibility of investigating or prosecuting a 
violation of law or of enforcing, implementing, or complying with a 
statute, rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant thereto, of any 
record within this system when information available indicates a 
violation or potential violation of law, whether civil, criminal, or 
regulatory in nature, and either arising by general statute or 
particular program statute, or by rule, regulation, or court order 
issued pursuant thereto;
    (2) To the Department of Justice when the agency, or any component 
thereof, or any employee of the agency in his or her official capacity, 
or any employee of the agency in his or her individual capacity where 
the Department of

[[Page 23416]]

Justice has agreed to represent the employee or the United States, in 
litigation, where the agency determines that litigation is likely to 
affect the agency or any of its components, is a party to litigation or 
has an interest in such litigation, and the use of such records by the 
Department of Justice is deemed by the agency to be relevant and 
necessary to the litigation; provided, however, that in each case, the 
agency determines that disclosure of the records to the Department of 
Justice is a use of the information contained in the records that is 
compatible with the purpose for which the records were collected;
    (3) For use in a proceeding before a court or adjudicative body 
before which the agency is authorized to appear, when the agency, or 
any component thereof, or any employee of the agency in his or her 
official capacity, or any employee of the agency in his or her 
individual capacity where the agency has agreed to represent the 
employee or the United States, where the agency determines that 
litigation is likely to affect the agency or any of its components, is 
a party to litigation or has an interest in such litigation, and the 
agency determines that use of such records is relevant and necessary to 
the litigation; provided, however, that in each case, the agency 
determines that disclosure of the records to the court is a use of the 
information contained in the records that is compatible with the 
purpose for which the records were collected;
    (4) To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when the agency 
suspects or has confirmed that the security or confidentiality of 
information in the system of records has been compromised; the agency 
has determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed 
compromise there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, a 
risk of identity theft or fraud, or a risk of harm to the security or 
integrity of this system or other systems or programs (whether 
maintained by the agency or another agency or entity) that rely upon 
the compromised information; and the disclosure made to such agencies, 
entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to assist in connection 
with the agency's efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed 
compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm;
    (5) To USDA contractors, partner agency employees or contractors, 
or private industry employed to identify patterns, trends, or anomalies 
indicative of fraud, waste, or abuse; and
    (6) To the National Archives and Records Administration or to the 
General Services Administration for records management inspections 
conducted under 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.

Disclosure to consumer reporting agencies:
    None.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, 
and disposing of records in the system:
    The APHIS Records Management Handbook contains the mandatory policy 
and official guidelines for establishing, maintaining, using, 
retaining, and disposing of records.

Storage:
    Downloaded files are stored in portable document format (PDF) and 
stored on a network file server.

Retrievability:
    Data will be retrieved by making a query for a batch of statements 
for a given month. Retrieval is performed once a month. Queries can be 
made based on trust fund identification numbers or trust fund names. 
Some queries can be performed on fields such as address, city, state, 
zip code, or country. Fields such as the address section may be 
personally identifiable to an individual.

Safeguards:
    Numerous inherent safeguards exist to protect the data in the ATF 
database. These safeguards include required login and authentication 
for network access, domain access enforced at login by the Microsoft 
Windows 2003 Server, and by role-based access given on a need-to-know 
basis. System access is limited to four general users within the APHIS 
MRPBS Financial Management Division, including the system manager and 
system administrators. Only one user can access the system at any given 
time. Financial Management Division positions have been identified as 
public trust positions and require an extensive background 
investigation.

Retention and disposal:
    Online data is indefinitely maintained in the database and on the 
file server. This is in accordance with the National Archives and 
Record Administration (NARA) guidelines.

System managers(s) and address:
    Program Manager/Supervisory Accountant, Accounting and Payment 
Team, Financial Management Division, Marketing and Regulatory Programs 
Business Services, APHIS, 100 North Sixth Street, Butler Square West, 
5th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55403.

Notification procedure:
    Any individual may request general information regarding this 
system of records or information as to whether the system contains 
records pertaining to him/her from the system manager at the address 
above. All inquiries pertaining to this system should be in writing, 
must name the system of records as set forth in the system notice, and 
must contain the individual's name, telephone number, address, and e-
mail address.

Record access procedures:
    Any individual may obtain information from a record in the system 
that pertains to him or her. Requests for hard copies of records should 
be in writing, and the request must contain the requesting individual's 
name, address, name of the system of records, timeframe for the records 
in question, any other pertinent information to help identify the file, 
and a copy of his/her photo identification containing a current address 
for verification of identification. All inquiries should be addressed 
to the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Staff, Legislative and 
Public Affairs, APHIS, 4700 River Road Unit 50, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1232.

Contesting record procedures:
    Any individual may contest information contained within a record in 
the system that pertains to him/her by submitting a written request to 
the system manager at the address above. Include the reason for 
contesting the record and the proposed amendment to the information 
with supporting documentation to show how the record is inaccurate.

Record source categories:
    Data is collected only from USDA sources. Information in the ATF 
database is extracted directly from the USDA Financial Data Warehouse 
(FDW).

Exemptions claimed for the system:
    None.

 [FR Doc. E8-9421 Filed 4-29-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P