[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 236 (Monday, December 9, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73923-73926]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-29345]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Bureau of the Fiscal Service


Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended; System of Records

AGENCY: Bureau of the Fiscal Service, Department of the Treasury.

ACTION: Notice of new Privacy Act system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 5 
U.S.C. 552a, the Department of the Treasury proposes to establish a new 
system of records entitled, ``Department of the Treasury/Bureau of the 
Fiscal Service .023--Do Not Pay Payment Verification Records.'' This 
system of records allows the Department of the Treasury/Bureau of the 
Fiscal Service to collect, maintain, analyze, and disclose records that 
will assist Federal agencies in identifying, preventing, and recovering 
payment error, waste, fraud and abuse within Federal spending as 
required by the Improper Payment Elimination and Recovery Improvement 
Act of 2012 (IPERIA), 31 U.S.C. 3321 note, Public Law 112-248. 
Information regarding the operation of this system of records and 
additional privacy protections (e.g., additional disclosure 
restrictions, active computer matching agreements, additional 
safeguards, etc.) can be found at www.donotpay.treas.gov.

DATES: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and (11), the public is 
given a 30-day period in which to comment. Therefore, comments must be 
received no later than January 8, 2014. If no comments are received, 
the system will become effective on January 21, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent by mail or electronic mail (email). 
Mail address: Disclosure Officer, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, 401 
14th Street SW., Washington, DC 20227. Email Address: 
[email protected]. Comments received will be available for 
inspection by appointment at the address listed above between the hours 
of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
    For general questions please contact: Kevin R. Jones, Executive 
Director, Do Not Pay Business Center, 401 14th Street SW., Washington, 
DC 20227, Phone: (202) 504-3516, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, Email: 
[email protected].
    For privacy issues please contact: David Ambrose, Acting Chief 
Privacy Officer, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, 3700 East-West Highway, 
Room 803-A, Hyattsville, MD 20782, Phone: (202) 874-6488, Email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Federal agencies make more than $2 trillion in payments for 
contracts, grants, loans, benefits, and other congressionally-
authorized purposes to individuals and a variety of other entities each 
year. Most of these payments are proper. However, improper payments 
occur when (a) funds go to the wrong recipient; (b) the recipient 
receives the incorrect amount of funds; (c) documentation is not 
available to support a payment; or (d) the recipient receives the funds 
in an improper or fraudulent manner.
    In accordance with the Improper Payment Elimination and Recovery 
Improvement Act of 2012 (IPERIA), the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) designated the Department of the Treasury to host the Do Not Pay 
Working System, also known as the Treasury Working System, which will 
help Federal agencies verify that their payments are proper before a 
payment is made. The Do Not Pay Working System will provide authorized 
Federal agencies with centralized access to various data sources, as 
well as access to analytical services designed to detect fraud and 
systemic improper payments. Treasury's Do Not Pay Working System also 
can help agencies identify why improper payments are made, so that 
agencies can take action to avoid future improper payments. By 
strengthening and enhancing financial management controls, Federal 
agencies can better detect and prevent improper payments and bolster 
taxpayer confidence in the Federal Government's management of taxpayer 
dollars.
    Under current practices, Federal agencies use information from 
multiple data sources to verify eligibility of a benefit recipient, 
loan applicant, contractor, grantee, or other recipient of Federal 
payments at various times during the payment cycle, most significantly 
pre-award and pre-payment. Examples of data sources include the 
Department of Health and Human Services' List of Excluded Individuals/
Entities, which contains information about individuals excluded from 
participation in Federal healthcare programs, such as Medicare, and the 
General Services Administration's System for Award Management (formerly 
the Excluded Parties List System), which contains information about 
contractors who are barred from doing business with the Federal 
Government. Typically, agencies do not solely rely on information 
contained in a single data source to make eligibility determinations, 
but use the data to confirm or supplement information received from the 
payment recipient and through other means. By centralizing access to 
multiple relevant data sources, Treasury is able to provide agencies 
with information to help them make better and timelier eligibility 
decisions.
    The Do Not Pay Working System provides authorized agencies with 
information about intended and actual payees of Federal funds in two 
ways. First, the Do Not Pay Working System enables authorized Federal 
agencies to access information from multiple databases through a 
central web portal maintained by Treasury. Second, Treasury compares 
information about payees from payment files submitted by Federal paying 
agencies to information contained in multiple data sources. For both 
methods, the paying agency reviews any data provided by the Do Not Pay 
Working System to determine whether the data are correct and how the 
data impacts payment eligibility in

[[Page 73924]]

accordance with program-specific eligibility rules and procedures. In 
addition, Treasury provides data analysis that helps agencies detect 
fraud and improve internal controls to systemically prevent, identify, 
and recover improper payments. Only authorized Federal agency personnel 
with appropriate security credentials may access the data available 
through the Do Not Pay Working System.
    Some of the data made available through the Do Not Pay Working 
System is subject to the Privacy Act of 1974. OMB Memorandum M-13-20 
(Protecting Privacy while Reducing Improper Payments with the Do Not 
Pay Initiative), which implemented section 5 of IPERIA, made it clear 
that Treasury is authorized to establish a system of records to carry 
out activities described in the statute.
    As required by 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) of the Privacy Act, the report of a 
new system of records has been provided to the House of Representatives 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Senate Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and OMB.
    The proposed new system of records, entitled ``Bureau of the Fiscal 
Service .023 Do Not Pay Payment Verification Records'' is published in 
its entirety below.

II. Public Disclosure

    Before including your address, phone number, email address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment including your personal identifying 
information may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.

    Dated: December 4, 2013.
Helen Goff Foster,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Privacy, Transparency, and Records.
TREASURY/Fiscal Service .023

System name:
    Do Not Pay Payment Verification Records--Department of the 
Treasury/Bureau of the Fiscal Service.

System location:
    Records are maintained at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, United 
States Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC 20227. Records are 
also located throughout the United States at Fiscal Service operations 
centers, Federal Records Centers, Federal Reserve Banks acting as 
Treasury's fiscal agents, and financial institutions acting as 
Treasury's financial agents. The specific address for each of the 
aforementioned locations may be obtained upon request.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    (a) Individuals who have applied for or are receiving payments 
(including contract, grant, benefit or loan payments) disbursed by any 
Federal agency, its agents or contractors;
    (b) Individuals declared ineligible to participate in Federal 
procurement programs or to receive certain Federal loans, assistance, 
and/or benefits as a result of an exclusion or disqualification action;
    (c) Individuals declared ineligible to participate in Federal 
health care programs or to receive Federal assistance and/or benefits 
as a result of an exclusion action;
    (d) Individuals who are barred from entering the United States;
    (e) Individuals in bankruptcy proceedings or individuals who have 
declared bankruptcy;
    (f) Individuals who are, or have been, incarcerated and/or 
imprisoned;
    (g) Individuals who are in default or delinquent status on loans, 
judgment debt, or rural development and farm services programs provided 
through Federal agencies responsible for administering Federally-funded 
programs;
    (h) Individuals who owe non-tax debts to the United States;
    (i) Individuals who owe debts to states, where the state has 
submitted the debt to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service for offset; and
    (j) Individuals conducting, or attempting to conduct, transactions 
at or through a financial institution where the financial institution 
has identified, knows, suspects, or has reason to suspect that: (1) The 
transaction involves funds originating from illegal activities; (2) the 
purpose of the transaction is to hide or disguise funds or assets, or 
attempt to hide or disguise funds or assets, originating from illegal 
activities as part of a plan to violate or evade any law or regulation 
or to avoid any transaction reporting requirement under Federal law; or 
(3) the transaction is illegal in nature or is not the type of 
transaction in which the particular individual would normally be 
expected to engage, and the financial institution knows of no 
reasonable explanation for the transaction after examining the 
available facts, including the background and possible purpose of the 
transaction.

Categories of records in the system:
    The records in this system contain information that will assist 
Federal agencies to identify and prevent payment error, waste, fraud, 
and abuse within Federal spending. The records contain information 
about intended or actual payees or recipients of Federal payments, 
including information about financial assets, including income, wages, 
and bank accounts into which payments are made, and other information 
to assist Federal agencies in making eligibility determinations 
regarding applicants for and recipients of payments from the Federal 
Government.
    The records may contain the following information:
    (a) Name(s), including aliases and surnames;
    (b) State and Federal Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), Social 
Security Number (SSN), Employer Identification Number (EIN), Individual 
Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN), Taxpayer Identification Number 
for Pending U.S. Adoptions (ATIN), and Preparer Taxpayer Identification 
Number (PTIN));
    (c) Date of birth;
    (d) Home and work address;
    (e) Driver's license information and other information about 
licenses issued to an individual by a governmental entity;
    (f) Home, work, and mobile telephone numbers;
    (g) Personal and Work email addresses;
    (h) Income;
    (i) Employer information;
    (j) Assets and bank account information, including account number 
and financial institution routing and transit number;
    (k) Other types of accounts to which payments are made, including 
account numbers and identifiers (e.g., financial institution routing 
number, account number, credit card number, and information related to 
pre-paid debit cards);
    (l) Tracking numbers used to locate payment information;
    (m) Loan information, such as borrower identification (ID) number 
and ID type, case number, agency code, and type code;
    (n) Incarceration information, such as inmate status code, date of 
conviction, date of confinement, and release date;
    (o) Information about legal judgments;
    (p) Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) numbers;
    (q) Information about non-tax debts owed to the United States; and
    (r) Information about debts owed to state agencies.

[[Page 73925]]

Authority for maintenance of the system:
    Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012, 
31 U.S.C. 3321 note, Public Law 112-248; The Improper Payments 
Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010, Public Law 111-204; E.O. 13520 
(Reducing Improper Payments and Eliminating Waste in Federal Programs), 
74 FR 62201; OMB Memorandum M-13-20 (Protecting Privacy while Reducing 
Improper Payments with the Do Not Pay Initiative); Presidential 
Memorandum on Enhancing Payment Accuracy through a ``Do Not Pay List'' 
(June 18, 2010).

Purpose(s):
    This system of records will assist Federal agencies in verifying 
that individuals are eligible to receive Federal payments by allowing 
the Department of the Treasury/Bureau of the Fiscal Service to collect, 
maintain, analyze, and disclose records that will assist Federal 
agencies in identifying, preventing, and recovering payment error, 
waste, fraud, and abuse within Federal spending, as required by IPERIA.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and the purposes of such uses:
    This system contains records that are collected by the Bureau of 
the Fiscal Service and other Federal agencies. The routine uses for 
this system of records are listed below. Federal law may further limit 
how records may be used, and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service may agree 
to additional limits on disclosure for some data through a written 
agreement with the entity that supplied the information. As such, the 
routine uses detailed below may not apply to every data set in the 
system. To identify which routine uses apply to specific data sets, 
visit www.donotpay.treas.gov.
    (a) Disclosure to (1) a Federal agency, its employees, agents 
(including contractors of its agents) or contractors; or (2) a fiscal 
or financial agent designated by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, its 
predecessors, or other Department of the Treasury bureau or office, 
including employees, agents or contractors of such agent; or (3) a 
Bureau of the Fiscal Service contractor, for the purpose of 
identifying, preventing, or recouping improper payments to an applicant 
for, or recipient of, Federal funds;
    (b) Disclosure to a congressional office in response to an inquiry 
from the individual to whom the record or information pertains;
    (c) Disclosure to (1) a Federal agency, its employees, agents 
(including contractors of its agents) or contractors; or (2) a fiscal 
or financial agent designated by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, its 
predecessors, or other Department of the Treasury bureau or office, 
including employees, agents or contractors of such agent; or (3) a 
Bureau of the Fiscal Service contractor, to initiate an investigation, 
or during the course of an investigation, and to the extent necessary, 
obtain information supporting an investigation pertinent to the 
elimination of systemic fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal 
programs;
    (d) Disclosure to (1) a Federal agency, its employees, agents 
(including contractors of its agents) or contractors; or (2) a fiscal 
or financial agent designated by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, its 
predecessors, or other Department of the Treasury bureau or office, 
including employees, agents or contractors of such agent; or (3) a 
Bureau of the Fiscal Service contractor for the purpose of validating 
eligibility for an award through a Federal program;
    (e) Disclosure to (1) a Federal agency, its employees, agents 
(including contractors of its agents) or contractors; or (2) a fiscal 
or financial agent designated by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, its 
predecessors, or other Department of the Treasury bureau or office, 
including employees, agents or contractors of such agent; or (3) a 
Bureau of the Fiscal Service contractor to check or improve the quality 
and accuracy of system records;
    (f) Disclosure to financial institutions and their servicers in 
order (1) to verify the proper routing and delivery of any Federal 
payment; (2) to verify the identity of any recipient or intended 
recipient of a Federal payment; or (3) to investigate or pursue 
recovery of any improper payment;
    (g) Disclosure to appropriate Federal agencies responsible for 
investigating or prosecuting violations of, or for enforcing or 
implementing, a statute, rule, regulation, order, or license, where the 
disclosing agency becomes aware of a possible violation of civil or 
criminal law or regulation;
    (h) Disclosure to a Federal agency maintaining civil, criminal, or 
other relevant enforcement information or other pertinent information, 
which has requested information relevant or necessary to the requesting 
agency's hiring or retention of an individual or issuance of a security 
clearance, license, contract, grant, or other benefit;
    (i) Disclosure to a court, magistrate, mediator, or administrative 
tribunal in the course of presenting evidence to counsel, experts, or 
witnesses in the course of civil discovery, litigation, or settlement 
negotiations, in response to a subpoena, or in connection with criminal 
law proceedings;
    (j) Disclosure to appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when 
(1) the Department of the Treasury suspects or has confirmed that the 
security 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 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 
(whether maintained by the Department or another agency or entity) that 
rely upon the compromised information; and (3) 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:
    Records in this system are stored electronically or on paper in 
secure facilities in a locked drawer behind a locked door. The 
electronic records are stored on magnetic disc, tape, and electronic 
media.

Retrievability:
    Records may be retrieved by identifiers, including, but not limited 
to, exact name, partial name, SSN, TIN, EIN, DUNS numbers, or a 
combination of these elements.

Safeguards:
    System records are safeguarded in accordance with the requirements 
of the Privacy Act. Access to the Treasury's working system is 
available only by authorized individuals on a need-to-know basis. 
External access logs to Treasury's working system are reviewed to 
ensure compliance with rules of behavior agreed to by credentialed 
users. Internal access log control measures are reviewed to ensure 
compliance with security guidelines governing access to Privacy Act 
data. Audit logs allow system managers to monitor external and internal 
user actions and address any misuse or violation of access privileges. 
Access to computerized records is limited through the use of internal 
mechanisms available to only those whose official duties require 
access. Facilities where records are physically located are

[[Page 73926]]

secured by various means, such as security guards, locked doors with 
key entry, and equipment requiring a physical token to gain access. The 
Bureau of the Fiscal Service may agree to additional safeguards for 
some data through a written agreement with the entity supplying the 
data. Information on additional safeguards can be found at 
www.donotpay.treas.gov.

Retention and disposal:
    Records in this system created or collected by the Bureau of the 
Fiscal Service are governed by a NARA records schedule, and are 
generally retained for a maximum of seven years after the end of the 
fiscal year in which the record was created. Pursuant to Section 7(b) 
of OMB Memorandum 13-20, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service will retain 
and dispose of records supplied by other Federal agencies in accordance 
with our written agreements with those agencies. Information on 
additional retention and disposal requirements can be found at 
www.donotpay.treas.gov.

System manager(s) and address:
    Executive Director, Do Not Pay Business Center, Bureau of the 
Fiscal Service, 401 14th Street SW., Washington, DC 20227.

Notification procedure:
    Inquiries under the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, should be 
addressed to the Disclosure Officer, Bureau of the Fiscal Service, 401 
14th Street SW., Washington, DC 20227. Individuals should describe the 
information they seek as specifically as possible. If an individual 
requests that information in a record be corrected, the system manager 
will advise the requestor where to send the request. Ordinarily, data 
errors must be corrected by the entity that supplied the data to 
Treasury's working system. Treasury will follow procedures for the 
accuracy and correction of information in the system that are described 
in OMB Memorandum M-13-20, available at http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2013/m-13-20.pdf. Information 
concerning Privacy Act requests are published at 31 CFR Part 1, Subpart 
C, and Appendix G. The Bureau of the Fiscal Service may agree to 
additional notification procedures for some data through a written 
agreement with the supplying entity. Information on additional 
notification procedures can be found at www.donotpay.treas.gov.

Record access procedures:
    See ``Notification procedure'' above.

Contesting record procedures:
    See ``Notification procedure'' above.

Record source categories:
    Information in this system is provided by the individual (or an 
authorized representative) to whom the record pertains, Federal 
agencies that authorize payments or issue payments with Federal funds, 
Treasury fiscal and financial agents who work with data in this system, 
and commercial database vendors. The system may contain information 
about an individual from more than one source, and this information may 
vary, depending on the source that provided it.

Exemptions claimed for the system:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2013-29345 Filed 12-6-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-35-P