[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 81 (Thursday, April 26, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18396-18397]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-08747]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS


Privacy Act of 1974: Matching Program

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Notice of a new computer matching program.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Department of Veterans Affairs 
(VA) intends to conduct a recurring computer matching program. This 
will match personnel records of the Department of Defense (DoD) with VA 
records of benefit recipients under the Montgomery GI Bill--Active 
Duty, Montgomery GI Bill--Selected Reserve, Post-9/11 GI Bill, and 
Reserve Educational Assistance Program. The goal of these matches is to 
identify the eligibility status of veterans, servicemembers, and 
reservists who have applied for or who are receiving education benefit 
payments under the Montgomery GI Bill--Active Duty, Montgomery GI 
Bill--Selected Reserve, Post-9/11 GI Bill, and Reserve Educational 
Assistance Program. The purpose of the match is to enable VA to verify 
that individuals meet the conditions of military service and 
eligibility criteria for payment of benefits determined by VA under the 
Montgomery GI Bill--Active Duty, Montgomery GI Bill--Selected Reserve, 
Post-9/11 GI Bill, and Reserve Educational Assistance Program.

DATES: Comments on this match must be received no later than 30 days 
after date of publication in the Federal Register. If no public comment 
is received during the period allowed for comment or unless otherwise 
published in the Federal Register by VA, the match will become 
effective 30 days after date of publication in the Federal Register. If 
VA receives public comments, VA shall review the comments to determine 
whether any changes to the notice are necessary. This matching program 
will continue to be in effect for 18 months. At the expiration of 18 
months after the commencing date, the Departments may renew the 
agreement for another 12 months.

ADDRESSES: Written comments may be submitted through 
www.Regulations.gov; by mail or hand-delivery to Director, Regulation 
Policy and Management (00REG), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 
Vermont Ave. NW, Room 1064, Washington, DC 20420; or by fax to (202) 
273-9026 (not a toll-free number). Comments should indicate that they 
are submitted in response to CMA VBA/DoD MGIB. All comments received 
will be available for public inspection in the Office of Regulation 
Policy and Management, Room 1063B, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 
4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday (except holidays). Please call (202) 
461-4902 (this is not a toll-free number) for an appointment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Patterson, Strategy, Legislative 
Development and Implementation Chief, Education Service, Veterans 
Benefits Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20420, (202) 461-9830.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information is required by paragraph 6c 
of the ``Guidelines on the Conduct of Matching Programs'' issued by OMB 
(54 FR 25818), as amended by OMB Circular A-130, 65 FR 77677 (2000). 
The current matching agreement with the Department of Defense (DoD) 
expires March 27, 2018. The legal authority to conduct this match is 38 
U.S.C. 5106, which requires any Federal department or agency to provide 
VA such information as VA requests for the purposes of determining 
eligibility for benefits, or verifying other information with respect 
to payment of benefits. A copy of the notice has been provided to both 
Houses of Congress and OMB. The matching program is subject to their 
review.
    Participating Agencies: This computer match is between the 
Department of

[[Page 18397]]

Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DoD).
    Authority for Conducting the Matching Program: The authority to 
conduct this match is the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a and 38 U.S.C. 
3684A(a)(1).
    Purpose(s): This agreement establishes the conditions under which 
the Department of Defense (DoD) agrees to disclose information 
regarding eligibility to education benefits under the Montgomery GI 
Bill, Reserve Educational Assistance Program, and the Post-9/11 GI Bill 
to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The purpose of this 
computer matching program between VA and DoD is to verify that 
individuals meet the conditions of military service and eligibility 
criteria for payment of benefits determined by VA under four enacted 
programs.
    Categories of Individuals: Veterans, Servicemembers, Reservists and 
Dependents.
    Categories of Records: Department of Defense (DoD), as the source 
agency, will provide to VA the eligibility records on DoD individuals 
consisting of data elements which contains specific data relating to 
the requirements for eligibility including data on member contribution 
amounts, service periods, and transfer of entitlement. VA will match on 
attributes, including Social Security Number (SSN), DoD Electronic Data 
Interchange Personal Identifier (EDIPI--or VA_ID), Date-of-Birth, Last 
Name, and File Identification Number.
    System(s) of Records: The records covered include eligibility 
records extracted from DoD personnel files and benefit records that VA 
establishes for all individuals who have applied for and/or are 
receiving, or have received education benefit payments under the 
Montgomery GI Bill--Active Duty, Montgomery GI Bill--Selected Reserve, 
Post-9/11 GI Bill, and Reserve Educational Assistance Program. These 
benefit records are contained in a VA system of records identified as 
58VA21/22/28 entitled: Compensation, Pension, Education, and Vocational 
Rehabilitation and Employment Records--VA, first published in the 
Federal Register at 74 FR 9294 (March 3, 1976), and last amended at 77 
F42593 (July 19, 2012), and DoD updated their Defense Enrollment 
Eligibility Reporting Systems (DEERS) 81 FR 49210 (July 27, 2016) with 
other amendments as cited therein.

Signing Authority

    The Senior Agency Official for Privacy, or designee, approved this 
document and authorized the undersigned to sign and submit the document 
to the Office of the Federal Register for publication electronically as 
an official document of the Department of Veterans Affairs. John 
Oswalt, Executive Director for Privacy, Department of Veterans Affairs 
approved this document on March 19, 2018 for publication.

    Dated: April 23, 2018.
Kathleen M. Manwell,
Program Analyst, VA Privacy Service, Office of Privacy Information and 
Identity Protection, Office of Quality, Privacy and Risk, Office of 
Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2018-08747 Filed 4-25-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8320-01-P