[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 36 (Friday, February 22, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12423-12425]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04114]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Notice of New Privacy Act System of Records.

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SUMMARY: The Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(e)) requires all 
agencies to publish in the Federal Register a notice of the existence 
and character of their systems of records. Notice is hereby given that 
the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is establishing a new system of 
records entitled ``Principles of Excellence Centralized Complaint 
System-VA'' 170VA22.

DATES: Comments on this new system of records must be received no later 
than March 25, 2013. If no public comment is received during the period 
allowed for comment, or unless otherwise published in the Federal 
Register by VA, the new system will become effective March 25, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Written comments concerning the proposed new system of 
records may be submitted by: mail or hand-delivery to Director, 
Regulations Management (02REG), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 
Vermont Avenue NW., Room 1068, Washington, DC 20420; fax to (202) 273-
9026; or email to http://www.Regulations.gov. All comments received 
will be available for public inspection in the Office of Regulation 
Policy and Management, Room 1063B, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 
p.m., Monday through Friday (except holidays). Please call (202) 461-
4902 for an appointment. (This is not a toll-free number.) In addition, 
during the comment period, comments may be viewed online through the 
Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) at www.Regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Thomas Erickson, Performance 
Management Team, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue 
NW., Washington, DC 20420, (202) 461-9829.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Executive Order 13607, ``Establishing 
Principles of Excellence for Institutions Serving Service Members, 
Veterans, Spouses, and Other Family Members,'' requires the creation of 
a centralized complaint system for students receiving Federal military 
and veteran educational benefits to submit complaints against 
institutions they feel have acted deceptively or fraudulently. VA 
proposes to establish this new system of records, entitled ``Principles 
of Excellence Centralized Complaint System-VA'' 170VA22. This system 
will provide a standardized method for students and others to submit a 
complaint or allegation that an entity or individual has not or may not 
have adhered to the Principles of Excellence established in the 
Executive Order. The notice of intent to publish and an advance copy of 
the system notice have been sent to the appropriate congressional 
committees and to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) as required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) (Privacy Act) and guidelines 
issued by OMB (65 FR 77677), December 12, 2000.

    Approved: February 4, 2013.
John R. Gingrich,
Chief of Staff, Department of Veterans Affairs.
170VA22

SYSTEM NAME:
    ``Principles of Excellence Centralized Complaint System-VA'' 
170VA22.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    Complaints or allegations concerning entities or individuals that 
have not or may not have adhered to the Principles of Excellence 
established in the Executive Order 13607 will be submitted by users of 
VA education benefits or veterans, service members, and their families. 
Registered complaints will be transmitted in a secure electronic format 
to VA Central Office for review. Policy issues concerning this system 
should be submitted to the Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont 
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20420.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    Individuals covered by this system are individuals who submit 
complaints to VA (on their own); individuals on whose behalf complaints 
are submitted by others (such as attorneys, members of Congress, third 
party advocates, and/or other governmental organizations); and 
employees, the Federal Trade Commission, other Federal agencies, state 
agencies, or VA. Information

[[Page 12424]]

collected is subject to the Privacy Act only to the extent that it 
concerns individuals; information pertaining to entities and 
organizations is not subject to the Privacy Act.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    Records in the system may contain: (1) Correspondence or other 
information received; (2) information from the entity or individual 
referring the complaint; (3) records created of verbal communications 
by or with complainants or other individuals; (4) information regarding 
third party advocates or others who submit complaints on another's 
behalf; (5) information identifying the entity that is subject to the 
complaint or its employees; (6) communication with or by the entity 
that is subject to the complaint or its employees; (7) unique 
identifiers, codes, and descriptors categorizing each complaint file; 
(8) information about how complaints were responded to or referred, 
including any resolution; (9) records used to respond to or refer 
complaints, including information in VA's other systems of records; and 
(10) identifiable information regarding both the individual who is 
making the complaint, and the individual on whose behalf such complaint 
is made, and employees of the entity about which the complaint was 
made, including name, Social Security number, account numbers, address, 
phone number, email address, and date of birth.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    Executive Order 13607, ``Establishing Principles of Excellence for 
Educational Institutions Serving Service Members, Veterans, Spouses, 
and Other Family Members''.

PURPOSE(S):
    The information in the system is being collected to enable VA to 
receive, respond to, and refer complaints regarding VA educational 
assistance benefits. The system serves as a record of the complaint, 
and is used for collecting complaint data; responding to or referring 
the complaint; aggregating data that will be used to inform other 
functions of VA and, as appropriate, other agencies and/or the public; 
and preparing reports as required by law. This system consists of 
complaints received by VA or other entities and information concerning 
responses to or referrals of these complaints, as appropriate.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    1. For Law Enforcement Purposes--To disclose pertinent information 
to the appropriate Federal, state, or local agency responsible for 
investigating, prosecuting, enforcing, or implementing a statute, rule, 
regulation, or order, where VA becomes aware of an indication of a 
violation or potential violation of civil or criminal law or 
regulation. This includes the Federal Trade Commission's Sentinel 
Network.
    2. For Congressional Inquiry--To provide information to a 
congressional office from the record of an individual in response to an 
inquiry from that congressional office made at the request of that 
individual.
    3. Judicial/Administrative Proceedings--To disclose information to 
another Federal agency, to a court, or a party in litigation before a 
court or in an administrative proceeding being conducted by a Federal 
agency, when the Government is a party to the judicial or 
administrative proceeding. In those cases where the Government is not a 
party to the proceeding, records may be disclosed if a subpoena has 
been signed by a judge.
    4. For National Archives and Records Administration and General 
Services Administration--To disclose to the National Archives and 
Records Administration and the General Services Administration in 
records management inspections conducted under authority of Title 44 of 
the United States Code (U.S.C.).
    5. Within VA for Statistical/Analytical Studies--By VA in the 
production of summary descriptive statistics and analytical studies in 
support of the function for which records are collected and maintained, 
or for related workforce studies. While published studies do not 
contain individual identifiers, in some instances, the selection of 
elements of data included in the study may be structured in such a way 
as to make the data individually identifiable by inference.
    6. For Litigation--To disclose information to the Department of 
Justice, or in a proceeding before a court, adjudicative body, or other 
administrative body before which VA is authorized to appear, when: (1) 
VA, or any component thereof; or (2) any employee of VA in his or her 
official capacity; or (3) any employee of VA in his or her individual 
capacity where the Department of Justice or VA has agreed to represent 
the employee; or (4) the United States, when VA determines that 
litigation is likely to affect VA 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 or VA is deemed by VA to be 
relevant and necessary to the litigation provided, however, that the 
disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which records were 
collected.
    7. For the Merit Systems Protection Board--To disclose information 
to officials of the Merit Systems Protection Board or the Office of the 
Special Counsel, when requested in connection with appeals, special 
studies of the civil service and other merit systems, review of VA 
rules and regulations, investigations of alleged or possible prohibited 
personnel practices, and such other functions, e.g., as promulgated in 
5 U.S.C. 1205 and 1206, or as may be authorized by law.
    8. For the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission--To disclose 
information to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission when 
requested in connection with an investigation into alleged or possible 
discrimination practices in the Federal sector, compliance by Federal 
agencies with the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures 
or other functions vested in the Commission, and to otherwise ensure 
compliance with the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 7201.
    9. For the Federal Labor Relations Authority--To disclose 
information to the Federal Labor Relations Authority or its General 
Counsel when requested in connection with investigations of allegations 
of unfair labor practices or matters before the Federal Service 
Impasses Panel.
    10. For Consumer Reporting Agencies--VA may disclose the name and 
address of a veteran or beneficiary, and other information as is 
reasonably necessary to identify such individual or concerning that 
individual's indebtedness to the United States by virtue of the 
person's participation in a benefits program administered by the 
Department, to a consumer reporting agency for the purpose of locating 
the individual, obtaining a consumer report to determine the ability of 
the individual to repay an indebtedness to the United States, or 
assisting in the collection of such indebtedness, provided that the 
provisions of 38 U.S.C. 5701(g)(2) and (4) have been met. The purpose 
of this information disclosure to a consumer-reporting agency is to 
assist VA in locating an individual, obtaining a consumer report to 
determine his or her ability to repay indebtedness, and to collect 
indebtedness.
    11. For OMB--VA may disclose information from this system of 
records

[[Page 12425]]

to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the performance of its 
statutory responsibilities for evaluating Federal programs. VA must be 
able to provide information to OMB to assist it in fulfilling its 
duties as required by statute and regulation.
    12. For Treasury, for Payment or Reimbursement--VA may disclose 
information to the Department of the Treasury to facilitate payments to 
physicians, clinics, and pharmacies for reimbursement of services 
rendered, and to veterans for reimbursements of authorized expenses, or 
to collect, by set off or otherwise, debts owed to the United States.
    13. For Treasury, IRS--VA may disclose the name of a veteran or 
beneficiary, other information as is reasonably necessary to identify 
such individual to the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue 
Service (IRS), for the collection of Title 38 benefit overpayments, 
overdue indebtedness, and/or costs of services provided to an 
individual not entitled to such services, by the withholding of all or 
a portion of the person's Federal income tax refund. The purpose of 
this disclosure is to collect a debt owed to VA by an individual by 
offset of his or her Federal income tax refund.
    14. For Contractors--VA may disclose information from this system 
of records to individuals, organizations, private or public agencies, 
or other entities or individuals with whom VA has a contract or 
agreement to perform such services as VA may deem practicable for the 
purposes of laws administered by VA, in order for the contractor, 
subcontractor, public or private agency, or other entity or individual 
with whom VA has a contract or agreement to perform services under the 
contract or agreement.
    15. For Data Breach Response and Remedial Efforts--VA may, on its 
own initiative, disclose information from this system to appropriate 
agencies, entities, and persons when (1) VA suspects or has confirmed 
that the integrity or confidentiality of information in the system of 
records has been compromised; (2) the Department has determined that as 
a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise there is a risk of 
embarrassment or harm to the reputations of the record subjects, harm 
to economic or property interests, identity theft or fraud, or harm to 
the security, confidentiality, or integrity of this system or other 
systems or programs (whether maintained by the Department or another 
agency or entity) that rely upon the potentially compromised 
information; and (3) the disclosure is to agencies, entities, or 
persons whom VA determines are reasonably necessary to assist or carry 
out the Department's efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed 
compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
    16. For GAO--VA may disclose information from this system of 
records to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) for the 
performance of its statutory responsibilities for evaluating Federal 
programs. VA must be able to provide information to GAO to assist it in 
fulfilling its duties as required by statute and regulation.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPENSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    Information will be collected by VA Form 22-0959, Principles of 
Excellence Complaint Intake Questionnaire, and telephone and stored in 
an electronic format.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Records are retrievable by a variety of fields including without 
limitation the individual's name, complaint case number, address, phone 
number, date of birth, or by some combination thereof.

SAFEGUARDS:
    Access to electronic records is restricted to authorized personnel 
who have been issued non-transferrable access codes and passwords. 
Other records are maintained in locked file cabinets or rooms with 
access limited to those personnel whose official duties require access.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    Disposition of records is according to the National Archives and 
Records Administration guidelines.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
    Director, Education Service, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 
Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20420.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    Individuals may submit a request on whether a system contains 
records about them to the system manager indicated. Individuals must 
furnish the following for their records to be located and identified:
    a. Full name.
    b. Address.
    c. Institution identified in complaint.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    Individuals wishing to request access to records about them should 
contact the system manager indicated. Individuals must furnish the 
following for their records to be located and identified:
    a. Full name.
    b. Address.
    c. Institution identified in complaint.
    Individuals requesting access must also follow the Office of 
Personnel Management's Privacy Act Regulations regarding verification 
of identity and amendment of records (5 CFR part 297).

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    Individuals wishing to request access amendment of records about 
them should contact the system manager indicated. Individuals must 
furnish the following for their records to be located and identified:
    a. Full name.
    b. Address.
    c. Institution identified in complaint.
    Individuals requesting access amendment of records must also follow 
the Office of Personnel Management's Privacy Act Regulations regarding 
verification of identity and amendment of records (5 CFR part 297).

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information in this system is obtained from individuals and 
entities filing complaints, about entities or individuals that have not 
or may not have adhered to the Principles of Excellence established in 
the Executive Order 13607. Furnishing the information is voluntary.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2013-04114 Filed 2-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P