[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 167 (Monday, August 30, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53004-53005]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-21506]


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RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD


Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended; Notice of Computer-Matching 
Program (Railroad Retirement Board--Office of Personnel Management)

AGENCY: Railroad Retirement Board (RRB).

ACTION: Notice of a renewal of an existing computer-matching program 
that expired on August 13, 2010.

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SUMMARY: As required by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the RRB is 
issuing public notice of its renewal of an ongoing computer-matching 
program with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The purpose of 
this notice is to advise individuals applying for or receiving benefits 
under the Railroad Retirement Act of the use made by RRB of this 
information obtained from OPM by means of a computer match.

DATES: This matching program becomes effective as proposed without 
further notice on October 12, 2010. We will file a report of this 
computer-matching program with the Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform of the House of Representatives; and the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB).

ADDRESSES: Interested parties may comment on this publication by 
writing to Ms. Beatrice Ezerski, Secretary to the Board, Railroad 
Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Timothy Grant, Chief Privacy 
Officer, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, 
Illinois 60611-2092, telephone 312-751-4869 or e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. General

    The Computer-Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, (Pub. L. 
100-503), amended by the Privacy Act of 1974, (5 U.S.C. 552a) as 
amended, requires a Federal agency participating in a computer-matching 
program to publish a notice in the Federal Register for all matching 
programs.
    The Privacy Act, as amended, regulates the use of computer-matching 
by Federal agencies when records contained in a Privacy Act System of 
Records are matched with other Federal, State, or local government 
records. It requires Federal agencies involved in computer-matching 
programs to:
    (1) Negotiate written agreements with the other agency or agencies 
participating in the matching programs;
    (2) Obtain the approval of the matching agreement by the Data 
Integrity Boards (DIB) of the participating Federal agencies;
    (3) Publish notice of the computer matching program in the Federal 
Register;
    (4) Furnish detailed reports about matching programs to Congress 
and OMB;
    (5) Notify applicants and beneficiaries that their records are 
subject to matching; and
    (6) Verify match findings before reducing, suspending, terminating, 
or denying a person's benefits or payments. The last notice for this 
matching program was published at 73 FR 2287-2288 (January 14, 2008).

B. RRB Computer Matches Subject to the Privacy Act

    We have taken appropriate action to ensure that all of our 
computer-matching programs comply with the requirements of the Privacy 
Act, as amended.

Notice of Computer-Matching Program, RRB With the Office of Personnel 
Management (OMB)

A. Name of Participating Agencies

    OPM and RRB.

B. Purpose of the Matching Program

    The purpose of the match is to enable the RRB to (1) identify 
affected RRB annuitants who are in receipt of a Federal public pension 
benefit but who have not reported receipt of this benefit to the RRB, 
and (2) receive needed Federal public pension benefit information for 
affected RRB annuitants more timely and accurately.

C. Authority for Conducting the Match

    Sections 3(a)(1), 4(a)(1) and 4(f)(1) of the Railroad Retirement 
Act, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 231b(a)(1), 231c(a)(1) and 231c(f)(1) 
require that the RRB reduce the Railroad Retirement benefits of certain 
beneficiaries entitled to Railroad Retirement employee and/or spouse/
widow benefits who are also entitled to a government pension based on 
their own non-covered earnings. We call this reduction a Public Service 
Pension (PSP) offset.
    Section 224 of the Social Security Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 424a, 
provides for the reduction of disability benefits when the disabled 
worker is also entitled to a public disability benefit (PDB). We call 
this a PDB offset. A civil service disability benefit is considered a 
PDB. Section 224(h)(1) requires any

[[Page 53005]]

Federal agency to provide RRB with information in its possession that 
RRB may require for the purposes of making a timely determination of 
the amount of reduction under section 224 of the Social Security Act. 
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. Section 552a(b)(3) OPM has established routine 
uses to disclose the subject information to RRB.

D. Categories of Records and Individuals Covered

    The records to be used in the match and the roles of the matching 
participants are described as follows: OPM will provide the RRB once a 
year via secure encrypted electronic transfer, data extracted from its 
annuity and survivor master file of its Civil Service Retirement and 
Insurance Records. The Privacy Act System of Records designation is 
OPM/Central-1, (Civil Service Retirement and Insurance Records), 
Published in the Federal Register on October 8, 1999 (64 FR 54930) and 
amended on May 3, 2000 (65 FR 25775). The RRB Privacy Act System of 
Records is RRB-22, Railroad Retirement, Survivor, and Pensioner Benefit 
System, published in the Federal Register on July 26, 2010 (75 FR 
43727).
    Normally in December of each year, OPM transmits to us 
approximately 2.5 million electronic records for matching. The records 
contain these data elements: Name, social security number, date of 
birth, civil service claim number, first potential month and year of 
eligibility for civil service benefits, first month, day, year of 
entitlement to civil service benefits, amount of current gross civil 
service benefits, and effective date (month, day, year) of civil 
service amount, and where applicable, civil service disability 
indicator, civil service FICA covered month indicator, and civil 
service total service months. The RRB will match the Social Security 
number, name, and date of birth contained in the OPM file against 
approximately the 1.2 million records in our files. For records that 
match, the RRB will extract the civil service payment information.

E. Inclusive Dates of the Matching Program

    This 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 the Office of Management and Budget, 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, if 
the conditions specified in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.

    Dated: August 24, 2010.

    By authority of the Board.
Beatrice Ezerski,
Secretary to the Board.
[FR Doc. 2010-21506 Filed 8-27-10; 8:45 am]
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