[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 198 (Friday, October 12, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62226-62228]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-25174]



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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Principal Investigator/
Application File and Associated Records

AGENCY: Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended 
(Privacy Act), the Department of Education (Department) publishes this 
notice of a new system of records entitled ``Institute of Education 
Sciences Principal Investigator/Application File and Associated 
Records'' (18-13-26). The Office of the Deputy Director for Science at 
the Department's Institute of Education Sciences (Institute) will 
establish and maintain this system of records.
    The system of records will contain information on individuals who 
are principal investigators and who have requested grant support or 
received grant support, or both, from the Institute, either 
individually or through an academic institution or other organization.
    The system of records notice will cover a database and paper files 
containing personally identifying information about these principal 
investigators, including their names, addresses, telephone numbers, 
titles, institutional or organizational affiliations, employment 
histories, professional experiences, academic credentials, current and 
pending support from other grant programs, research applications 
submitted to Institute competitions, and the peer reviews (summary 
statements) and peer review scores associated with their applications.
    The Institute is building this database to assist Institute staff, 
who manage the peer review process, by systematically assembling and 
maintaining files that are necessary and appropriate to the scientific 
peer review of grant applications submitted to the Institute. The 
database will also enable applicants and principal investigators who 
have requested grant support from the Institute to electronically 
access the reviews and scores for their applications following the peer 
review of their applications for scientific merit. (An applicant may be 
an academic institution or other organization that employs a principal 
investigator and that is identified within the grant application as the 
applicant).

DATES: The Department seeks comment on the new system of records 
described in this notice, in accordance with the requirements of the 
Privacy Act. We must receive your comments on the proposed routine uses 
for the system of records referenced in this notice on or before 
November 13, 2012.
    The Department filed a report describing the new system of records 
covered by this notice with the Chair of the Senate Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Chair of the House 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Administrator of 
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) on October 09, 2012. This system of records will 
become effective at the later date of--(1) the expiration of the 40-day 
period for OMB review on November 19, 2012 unless OMB waives 10 days of 
the 40-day review period for compelling reasons shown by the 
Department, or (2) November 13, 2012, unless the system of records 
needs to be changed as a result of public comment or OMB review.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about the proposed routine uses to Dr. 
Anne Ricciuti, Deputy Director for Science, Institute of Education 
Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue NW., room 
602F, Washington, DC 20208-0001. Telephone: (202) 219-2247. If you 
prefer to send comments through the Internet, use the following 
address: [email protected].
    You must include the term ``Principal Investigator/Application File 
and Associated Records'' in the subject line of the electronic message.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all comments 
about this notice at the U.S. Department of Education in room 602Q, 555 
New Jersey Avenue NW., Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. 
and 4:30 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday of each week except 
Federal holidays.

Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking 
Record

    On request, we will provide an appropriate accommodation or 
auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who needs assistance 
to review the comments or other documents in the public rulemaking 
record for this notice. If you want to schedule an appointment for this 
type of accommodation or auxiliary aid, please contact the person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Anne Ricciuti. Telephone: (202) 
219-2247.
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-
8339.
    Individuals with disabilities can obtain this document in an 
accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, or compact 
disc) on request to the contact person listed in this section.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction

    The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires the Department to publish 
in the Federal Register this notice of a new system of records 
maintained by the Department. The Department's regulations implementing 
the Privacy Act are contained in part 5b of title 34 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR).
    The Privacy Act applies to any record about an individual that is 
maintained in a system of records from which personally identifying 
information is retrieved by a unique identifier associated with each 
individual, such as a name or Social Security Number (SSN). The 
information about each individual is called a ``record,'' and the 
system, whether manual or computer-based, is called a ``system of 
records.''
    The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish a notice of a 
system of records in the Federal Register and to prepare and send a 
report to OMB whenever the agency publishes a new system of records or 
makes a significant change to an established system of records. Each 
agency is also required to send copies of the report to the Chair of 
the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and 
the Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 
These reports are included to permit an evaluation of the probable 
effect of the proposal on the privacy rights of individuals.

Electronic Access to This Document

    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 
via the Federal Digital System at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you 
can view this document, as well as all other documents of this 
Department published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe Portable 
Document Format (PDF). To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, 
which is available free at this site.

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    You may also access documents of the Department published in the 
Federal Register by using the article search feature at: 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

    Dated: October 9, 2012.
John Q. Easton,
Director, Institute of Education Sciences.

    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Director of the 
Institute of Education Sciences (Institute), U.S. Department of 
Education (Department), publishes a notice of a new system of records 
to read as follows:
SYSTEM NUMBER:
    18-13-26

SYSTEM NAME:
    Institute of Education Sciences Principal Investigator/Application 
File and Associated Records.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    None.

SYSTEM LOCATIONS:
    (1) Office of the Deputy Director for Science, Institute of 
Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue 
NW., room 606C, Washington, DC 20208-0001.
    (2) The Institute's contractor, SRA International, Inc., through 
its Center for Peer Review and Science Management, Health and Civil 
Services Sector, 8490 Progress Drive, Suite 200, Frederick, MD 21701-
4995.
    (3) Contractor servers at Savvis--DC3, 45845 Nokes Boulevard, 
Sterling, VA 20166-6574.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system contains records about individuals who are principal 
investigators and who have requested grant support, or received grant 
support, or both, from the Institute, either individually or through an 
academic institution or other organization.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The system of records covers a database and paper files containing 
personally identifying information about these principal investigators, 
including their names, addresses, telephone numbers, titles, 
institutional or organizational affiliations, employment histories, 
professional experiences, academic credentials, current and pending 
support from other grant programs, research applications submitted to 
Institute competitions and the peer reviews (summary statements) and 
peer review scores associated with their applications.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The Institute's programs for funding research are authorized under 
the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA), 20 U.S.C. 9501 et 
seq.

PURPOSE(S):
    The purpose of this system of records is to assist Institute staff, 
who manage the peer review process, by systematically assembling and 
maintaining files that are necessary and appropriate to the scientific 
peer review of grant applications submitted to the Institute. The 
electronic database that is a part of this system of records will also 
enable applicants and principal investigators who have requested grant 
support from the Institute to electronically access the reviews and 
scores for their applications following the peer review of their 
applications for scientific merit. (An applicant may be an academic 
institution or other organization that employs a principal investigator 
and that is identified within the grant application as the applicant.) 
Access to the information in the electronic database will be strictly 
controlled and granted on the basis of proper identity authentication 
credentials to include, at a minimum, a user ID and password.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    The Department may disclose information contained in a record in 
this system of records under the routine uses listed in this system of 
records without the consent of the individual if the disclosure is 
compatible with the purposes for which the record was collected. These 
disclosures may be made on a case-by-case basis or, if the Department 
has complied with the computer matching requirements of the Privacy 
Act, under a computer matching agreement.
    1. Program Purposes.
    (a) Disclosure to Applicants that are Academic Institutions or 
Other Organizations that Employ Principal Investigators. Disclosure of 
information from the system may be provided to academic institutions or 
other organizations that employ principal investigators and that have 
applied for, or that have received grant support from, the Institute. 
Disclosure will permit them to access information about the review 
process and award decisions for the applications that they submitted.
    (b) Disclosure to Peer Reviewers. Disclosure of information from 
the system may be provided to peer reviewers for their opinions and 
evaluations of principal investigators' applications as part of the 
Institute's scientific merit peer review process.
    2. Contract Disclosure. When the Department contracts with an 
entity for the purposes of performing any function that requires 
disclosure of records in this system to employees of the contractor, 
the Department may disclose the records to those employees. Before 
entering into such a contract, the Department shall require the 
Contractor to maintain Privacy Act safeguards as required under 5 
U.S.C. 522a(m) with respect to the records in the system.
    3. Enforcement Disclosure. In the event that information in this 
system of records indicates, either on its face or in connection with 
other information, a violation or potential violation of any statute, 
regulation, or order of competent authority, the Department may 
disclose the relevant records to the appropriate agency, whether 
foreign, Federal, State, tribal, or local, charged with the 
responsibility of investigating or prosecuting that violation or 
charged with enforcing or implementing the statute, executive order, 
rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant thereto.
    4. Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Disclosures.
    (a) Introduction. In the event that one of the parties listed below 
is involved in litigation or ADR, or has an interest in litigation or 
ADR, the Department may disclose certain records to the parties 
described in paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of this routine use under the 
conditions specified in those paragraphs:
    (i) The Department, or any component of the Department; or
    (ii) Any Department employee in his or her official capacity; or
    (iii) Any Department employee in his or her individual capacity if 
the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been requested to, or has agreed 
to, provide or arrange for representation for the employee;
    (iv) Any Department employee in his or her individual capacity 
where the Department has agreed to represent the employee; or
    (v) The United States, where the Department determines that the 
litigation is likely to affect the Department or any of its components.
    (b) Disclosure to the DOJ. If the Department determines that 
disclosure of certain records to the DOJ is relevant and necessary to 
litigation or ADR, the Department may disclose those records as a 
routine use to the DOJ.
    (c) Adjudicative Disclosures. If the Department determines that 
disclosure of certain records to an adjudicative

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body before which the Department is authorized to appear, or to an 
individual or entity designated by the Department or otherwise 
empowered to resolve or mediate disputes, is relevant and necessary to 
the litigation or ADR, the Department may disclose those records as a 
routine use to the adjudicative body, individual, or entity.
    (d) Parties, Counsel, Representatives, or Witnesses. If the 
Department determines that disclosure of certain records to a party, 
counsel, representative, or witness is relevant and necessary to the 
litigation or ADR, the Department may disclose those records as a 
routine use to the party, counsel, representative, or witness.
    5. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Privacy Act Advice 
Disclosure. The Department may disclose records to the DOJ or the 
Office of Management and Budget if the Department concludes that 
disclosure is desirable or necessary in determining whether particular 
records are required to be disclosed under the FOIA or the Privacy Act.
    6. Disclosure to the DOJ. The Department may disclose records to 
the DOJ to the extent necessary for obtaining DOJ advice on any matter 
relevant to an audit, inspection, or other inquiry related to the 
programs covered by this system.
    7. Congressional Member Disclosure. The Department may disclose an 
individual's records to a member of Congress in response to an inquiry 
from the member made at the written request of that individual. The 
member's right to the information is no greater than the right of the 
individual who requested it.
    8. Disclosure in the Course of Responding to Breach of Data. The 
Department may disclose records from this system to appropriate 
agencies, entities, and persons when: (a) The Department suspects or 
has confirmed that the security or confidentiality of information in 
the system of records has been compromised; (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 interests, identity 
theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this system or 
other systems or programs that rely upon the compromised information 
(whether maintained by the Department or another agency or entity); and 
(c) the disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and persons is 
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.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    Various portions of the system are maintained electronically, in 
paper files, or both. The Department maintains records in this system 
both on paper and in compact disc, read-only-memory (CD-ROM), and the 
contractor (SRA International, Inc.) maintains data for this system on 
computers and in hard copy.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Paper and electronic records will be retrieved using principal 
investigators' names or grant application numbers.

SAFEGUARDS:
    The Department's paper and CD-ROM records are stored in locked 
metal filing cabinets or in a secured room, with access limited to 
personnel whose duties require access. All physical access to the 
Department's sites is controlled and monitored by security personnel 
who check each individual entering the building for an employee or 
visitor badge.
    The computer system employed by the contractor offers a high degree 
of resistance to tampering and circumvention. The system enforces 
assigned authorizations by controlling access based on the individual's 
role in the project. Each individual's access is determined by the 
system administrator in conjunction with the Institute and other 
administrative staff. These rights are re-assessed periodically by the 
application administrator.
    The system has share-level and file-level security utilizing New 
Technology File System (NTFS), which is built into the Windows 2008 
operating system. The system administrator grants or denies access to 
users or groups of users at the folder or file level. Several system 
groups are established within the Windows server to permit fine-grained 
control of user access to project folders. No other contractor users or 
groups of users will be given access to these folders or files.
    The system's servers are located at the Savvis DC3 data center and 
are protected by Savvis' procedures governing physical access to the 
servers. Access to sensitive areas is controlled by means of key cards, 
ID badges, security guards, biometric hand scanners, man traps equipped 
with key cards, key-locked equipment cages, and continuous video 
surveillance.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    Records are maintained and disposed of in accordance with the 
Department's Records Disposition Schedule for Discretionary Grant File 
Records and Related Records (ED 254A.1).

SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:
    Deputy Director for Science, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. 
Department of Education, 555 New Jersey Avenue NW., room 600, 
Washington, DC 20208-0001.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to determine whether a record exists regarding you in 
the system of records, contact the system manager. Your request must 
meet the requirements of regulations at 34 CFR 5b.5, including proof of 
identity.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to gain access to your record in the system of records, 
contact the system manager. Your request must meet the requirements of 
regulations at 34 CFR 5b.5, including proof of identity.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to contest the content of a record regarding you in the 
system of records, contact the system manager. Your request must meet 
the requirements of the regulations at 34 CFR 5b.7, including proof of 
identity.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information will be provided voluntarily by individuals who are 
principal investigators and who have requested and/or received grant 
support from the Institute either individually or through an academic 
institution or other organization.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.
[FR Doc. 2012-25174 Filed 10-11-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P