[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 106 (Friday, June 1, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25446-25448]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-11856]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket ID ED-2018-FSA-00151]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a new matching program.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended by the 
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 and the Computer 
Matching and Privacy Protections Amendments of 1990 (Privacy Act), and 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on the conduct of 
computer matching programs, notice is hereby given of the renewal of 
the computer matching program between the Department of Education (ED) 
(recipient agency) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) (source agency).

DATES: Submit your comments on the proposed matching program on or 
before July 2, 2018.
    The matching program will go into effect at the later of the 
following two dates: June 20, 2018 or 30 days after the publication of 
this notice, on June 1, 2018, unless comments have been received from 
interested members of the public requiring modification and 
republication of the notice.
    The matching program will continue for 18 months after the 
effective date of the computer matching agreement (CMA) and may be 
extended for an additional 12 months thereafter, if the conditions 
specified in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal 
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not 
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after 
the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies, 
please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the 
Docket ID at the top of your comments.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to 
submit your comments electronically. Information on using 
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents, 
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site 
under the ``help'' tab.
     Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you 
mail or deliver your comments about this new CMA, address them to: 
Marya Dennis, Management and Program Analyst, U.S. Department of 
Education, Federal Student Aid, Union Center Plaza, 830 First Street 
NE, Washington, DC 20202-5454. Telephone: (202)377-3385.
    Privacy Note: ED's policy is to make all comments received from 
members of the public available for public viewing in their entirety on 
the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore, 
commenters should be careful to include in their comments only 
information that they wish to make publicly available.
    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: Marya Dennis, Management and Program 
Analyst, U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, Union 
Center Plaza, 830 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20202-5454. 
Telephone: (202)377-3385.
    If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text 
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service, toll free, at 1-800-
877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 421(a)(1) of the Controlled 
Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 862(a)(1)) includes provisions regarding the 
judicial denial of Federal benefits. Section 421 of the Controlled 
Substances Act, which was originally enacted as section 5301 of the 
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, and which was amended and redesignated as 
section 421 of the Controlled Substances Act by section 1002(d) of the 
Crime Control Act of 1990, Public Law 101-647 (hereinafter referred to 
as ``section 5301''), authorizes Federal and State judges to deny 
certain Federal benefits (including student financial assistance under 
title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA)) to 
individuals convicted of drug trafficking or possession of a controlled 
substance.
    In order to ensure that HEA student financial assistance is not 
awarded to individuals subject to denial of benefits under court orders 
issued pursuant to section 5301, DOJ and ED implemented a computer 
matching program. The 18-month CMA was recertified for an additional 12 
months on June 20, 2017. The 12-month recertification of the CMA will 
automatically expire on June 19, 2018.
    For the purpose of ensuring that HEA student financial assistance 
is not awarded to individuals denied benefits by court orders issued 
under the Denial of Federal Benefits Program, ED must continue to 
obtain from DOJ identifying information regarding individuals who are 
the subject of section 5301 denial of benefits court orders. The 
purpose of this notice is to announce the continued operation of the 
computer matching program and to provide certain required information 
concerning the computer matching program.
PARTICIPATING AGENCIES
    The Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Justice 
(DOJ).

AUTHORITY FOR CONDUCTING THE MATCHING PROGRAM:
    Under section 5301, ED must deny Federal benefits to any individual 
upon whom a Federal or State court order has imposed a penalty denying 
eligibility for those benefits. Student financial assistance under the 
HEA is a Federal benefit and under section 5301, ED must, in order to 
meet its obligations under the HEA, have access to information about 
individuals who have been declared ineligible under section 5301.
    While DOJ provides information under section 5301 about individuals 
who are ineligible for Federal benefits to the General Services 
Administration (GSA) for inclusion in GSA's List of Parties Excluded 
from Federal Procurement and Nonprocurement Programs, DOJ and ED have 
determined that matching against the DOJ database is more efficient and 
effective than matching against the GSA List. The DOJ database has 
specific information about the HEA programs for which individuals are 
ineligible, as well as the expiration of the debarment period, making 
the DOJ database more complete than the GSA List. Both of these 
elements are essential for a successful match.

PURPOSE(S):
    The purpose of this matching program is to ensure that the 
requirements of section 421 of the Controlled Substances Act 
(originally enacted as section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, 
Public Law 100-690, 21 U.S.C. 853a, which was amended and redesignated 
as section 421 of the Controlled Substances Act by section 1002(d) of 
the Crime Control Act of 1990, Public Law 101-647) (hereinafter 
referred to as ``section 5301'') are met.
    DOJ is the lead contact agency for information related to section 
5301 violations and, as such, provides this data to ED. ED seeks access 
to the information contained in the Denial of Federal Benefits and 
Defense Procurement Fraud Debarment Clearinghouse program (DFB/DPFD) 
database (formerly known as DEBARS) that is authorized under section 
5301 for the purpose of ensuring that HEA student financial assistance 
is not awarded to individuals subject to denial

[[Page 25448]]

of benefits under court orders issued pursuant to the Denial of Federal 
Benefits Program.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS:
    The individuals whose records are included in this matching program 
are individuals who are the subject of section 5301 denial of benefits 
court orders, and all students who complete a Free Application for 
Federal Student Aid. ED receives data from the DOJ DFB/DPFD system that 
is used to match title IV, HEA applicant data in ED's Central 
Processing System (Federal Student Aid Application File (18-11-01)).

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS:
    ED will use the Social Security number (SSN), date of birth, and 
the first two letters of an applicant's last name for the match. These 
data elements are contained in ED's Central Processing System. The DOJ 
DFB/DPFD system contains the names, SSNs, dates of birth, and other 
identifying information regarding individuals convicted of Federal or 
State offenses involving drug trafficking or possession of a controlled 
substance that have been denied Federal benefits by Federal or State 
courts. This system of records also contains information concerning the 
specific program or programs for which benefits have been denied, as 
well as the duration of the period of ineligibility. DOJ will make 
available for the matching program the records of only those 
individuals who have been denied Federal benefits under one or more of 
the title IV, HEA programs.

SYSTEM(S) OF RECORDS:
    DOJ system of records: DFB/DPFD (The most recent full DFB/DPFD 
system of records notice was published in the Federal Register on May 
10, 1999, 64 FR 25071.) ED system of records: Federal Student Aid 
Application File (18-11-01). (The most recent ED system of records 
notice was published in the Federal Register on August 3, 2011, 76 FR 
46774.) (Note: The ED Central Processing System [CPS] is the ED 
information system that processes data from the Federal Student Aid 
Application File.)
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) by contacting the contact person listed in 
the preceding paragraph.
    Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this 
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may 
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of 
Federal Regulations 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 Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF you must have Adobe 
Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the site.
    You may also access documents of ED 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 ED.

    Authority:  5 U.S.C. 552a; 21 U.S.C. 862(a)(1).

    Dated: May 29, 2018.
James F. Manning,
Acting Chief Operating Officer Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2018-11856 Filed 5-31-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4000-01-P