[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 207 (Monday, October 26, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67814-67815]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-23665]


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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, and the Post-9/11 GI Bill. 
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, and the Post-9/11 GI 
Bill. 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, and Post-9/
11 GI Bill.

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 new agreement will become 
effective a minimum of 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 be valid for 18 months from the effective date of 
this notice.

[[Page 67815]]


ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted through www.Regulations.gov or 
mailed to VA Privacy Service, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, (005R1A), 
Washington, DC 20420. Comments should indicate that they are submitted 
in response to CMA VBA/DoD MGIB and Post 9/11 and SORN 58VA21/22/28. 
Comments received will be available at regulations.gov for public 
viewing, inspection or copies.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Patterson, Legislative Strategy, 
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: The authority to conduct this match is found 
in 38 U.S.C. 3684A(a)(1). 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, 
and the Post-9/11 GI Bill. 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 41 FR 9294 
(March 3, 1976), and last amended at 84 FR 4138 (Feb. 14, 2019), with 
other amendments as cited therein.
    This information is required by paragraph 6c of the ``Guidelines on 
the Conduct of Matching Programs'' issued by OMB (54 FR 25818), 
interpreting the provisions of the Privacy Act pertaining to computer 
matching, as well as those computer matching portions of a revision of 
OMB Circular No. A-108, Federal Responsibilities for Review, Reporting, 
and Publication under the Privacy Act (December 23, 2016). The current 
matching agreement with the Department of Defense (DoD) expires 
November 25, 2020. 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 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, 38 U.S.C. 5106, 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, 
Montgomery GI Bill--Selected Reserve 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 three 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

    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 41 FR 9294 (March 3, 1976), and 
last amended at 84 FR 4138 (Feb. 14, 2019) and DoD updated their 
Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting Systems (DEERS) in the Federal 
Register at 84 FR 55293 on October 16, 2019 and corrected at 84 FR 
65975 on December 2, 2019) 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. Joseph S. 
Stenaka, Executive Director for Information Security Operations and 
Chief Privacy Officer, approved this document on October 2, 2020 for 
publication.

     Dated: October 21, 2020.
Amy L. Rose,
Program Analyst, VA Privacy Service, Office of Information Security, 
Office of Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2020-23665 Filed 10-23-20; 8:45 am]
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