[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 97 (Friday, May 21, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27553-27556]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-10707]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

[Docket No. APHIS-2015-0023]


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 
U.S.C. 552a), and Office of Management and Budget Circular No. A-108, 
notice is given that the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service 
(APHIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing to 
add a new system of records, entitled USDA/APHIS-23, Integrated Plant 
Health Information System (IPHIS). This system maintains records of 
activities conducted pursuant to APHIS' mission and responsibilities 
authorized by the Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); the 
Honey Bee Act (7 U.S.C. 281 et seq.); and the Food Conservation and 
Energy Act 2008 (7 U.S.C. 8791 et seq.).

DATES: This notice is effective upon publication, subject to a 30-day 
notice and comment period in which to comment on the routine uses 
described below. Comments, if any, must be submitted by June 21, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by either of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Enter APHIS-2015-0023 in the Search filed. Select 
the Documents tab, then select the comment button in the list of 
documents.
     Postal Mail/Commercial Delivery: Send your comment to 
Docket No. APHIS-2015-0023, Regulatory Analysis and Development, PPD, 
APHIS, Station 3A-03.8, 4700 River Road Unit 118, Riverdale, MD 20737-
1238.
    Supporting documents and any comments we receive on this docket may 
be viewed at http://www.regulations.gov or in our reading room, which 
is located in room 1620 of the USDA South Building, 14th Street and 
Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC. Normal reading room hours are 8 
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. To be sure 
someone is there to help you, please call (202) 799-7039 before coming.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions, please contact 
Mr. Steven King, Information Technology Project Manager, Project 
Management Office, PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road, Riverdale, MD 20737; 
(301) 851-2118; [email protected]. For Privacy Act questions 
concerning this system of records notice, please contact Ms. Tonya 
Woods, Director, Freedom of Information and Privacy Act Staff, 4700 
River Road Unit 50, Riverdale, MD 20737; (301) 851-4076; 
[email protected]. For USDA Privacy Act questions, please contact 
the USDA Chief Privacy Officer, Information Security Center, Office of 
Chief Information Officer, USDA, Jamie L. Whitten Building, 1400 
Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC 20250; email: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's 
(USDA's), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is adding 
a new system of records, the Integrated Plant Health Information System 
(IPHIS), USDA/APHIS-23.
    IPHIS is an information management system that APHIS uses to 
access, enter, and view data on plant health events that occur 
nationwide. IPHIS provides survey data, including locations, target 
pests, survey sample identification, and diagnostic test results; 
survey supply orders and inventory management; domestic emergency 
action notifications; and compliance agreements and inspection records 
to APHIS plant health personnel as well as cooperators outside the 
agency. Among other things, this information helps APHIS to prepare for 
plant pest and disease outbreaks and to monitor such outbreaks and 
devise effective responses to them; facilitate the export and 
interstate movement of agricultural products, including regulated 
articles; and communicate survey results to APHIS and APHIS contractors 
on a timely basis.
    APHIS will share information from the system in accordance with the 
requirements of the Privacy Act. A full list of routine uses is 
included in the routine uses section of the document published with 
this notice.
    A report on the new system of records, required by 5 U.S.C. 
552a(r), as implemented by Office of Management and Budget Circular A-
108, was sent to the Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and 
Governmental Affairs, United States Senate; the Chairwoman, Committee 
on Oversight and Reform, House of Representatives; and the 
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of 
Management and Budget.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 17th day of May 2021.
Mark Davidson,
Administrator, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.


SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
    USDA/APHIS-23, Integrated Plant Health Information System (IPHIS).

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    Sensitive but unclassified.

[[Page 27554]]

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Plant 
Protection and Quarantine (PPQ) program maintains the system of records 
for IPHIS. The IPHIS master data system resides within the Microsoft 
Azure Government data centers located in Boydton, VA, as the primary 
site, and in San Antonio, TX, as a secondary site for redundant or any 
disaster recovery plans. The Microsoft Azure environment is managed by 
Marketing and Regulatory Program Information Technology. Azure Backup 
Center provides native integrations to existing Azure services that 
enable management of system and data backup. The Backup Center uses the 
Azure Policy experience to help govern backups. It also leverages Azure 
Workbooks and Azure Monitor Logs to help view detailed reports on 
backups to insure viability and consistency. Azure Backup stores 
backed-up data in vaults--Recovery Services vaults and Backup vaults. A 
vault is an online-storage entity in Azure that's used to hold data, 
such as backup copies, recovery points, and backup policies. Paper 
records generated from IPHIS are secured within the work units.

SYSTEM MANAGER:
    Information Technology Project Manager, Project Management Office, 
PPQ, APHIS, 4700 River Road, Riverdale, MD 20737.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    The Plant Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 7701 et seq.); the Honey Bee Act 
(7 U.S.C. 281 et seq.); and the Food Conservation and Energy Act 2008 
(7 U.S.C. 8791 et seq.).

PURPOSES OF THE SYSTEM:
    IPHIS is a web-based data management system for use by APHIS plant 
health personnel as well as cooperators outside the agency (e.g., 
diagnostic laboratories, State, Tribal, and local governments, and 
academia). PPQ uses IPHIS to access, enter, and view data for plant 
health events nationwide. The following data are contained and provided 
to IPHIS users: Survey data, including the name of the plant pest, 
noxious weed, or biological control organism, source of data, specific 
crop/host, location, and environment; survey method; survey location 
and GPS coordinates; pest absence/presence; diagnostic results, 
including sample identification and confirmation method; survey supply 
orders; inventory management; emergency action notifications; tracking 
and control documentation; and compliance agreements and inspection 
records. The information, as listed under categories of records, is 
collected, used, disseminated, or maintained to support the agency's 
mission to protect and promote food, agriculture, natural resources, 
and related issues.
    The principle use of the information is for preparation, 
monitoring, and response to plant health-related issues. Specifically, 
the information will be used as an information tool to provide pest 
status and location and help cooperators from State, Tribal, and local 
governments, plant health officials, cooperators from academic 
institutions, and diagnostic laboratories to determine what effective 
action must be taken when a plant pest or noxious weed is found. 
Additional uses of the information will be to facilitate the export and 
interstate movement of agricultural products; to issue compliance 
agreements for the handling and interstate movement of regulated 
articles; to facilitate management of pests and beneficial organisms; 
to communicate the activities and results of survey detection to users 
on a timely basis; to monitor the distribution of pests; to respond to 
a plant health pest outbreak; to forecast survey supply needs; and to 
validate pest risk models. Certain IPHIS survey data that do not 
include personally identifiable information are exported to the 
National Agricultural Pest Information System (NAPIS). Purdue 
University owns and maintains NAPIS, which supports the web-based 
public interface pest tracker site for the Cooperative Agricultural 
Pest Survey Program.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    Categories of individuals covered by this system include 
individuals who enter into compliance agreements with APHIS or who are 
identified in emergency action notifications, including members of the 
public such as property owners, residents, and farmers. The system also 
contains information on APHIS employees and contractors or other 
entities working on behalf of APHIS.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The system collects information related to the point of contact for 
particular locations where surveys, seizures, and traces occur. The 
compliance agreement fields in IPHIS include the names, mailing 
addresses, and email addresses of individuals (property owners/
residents) and business entities that handle regulated articles and 
agree to comply with the movement restrictions and domestic quarantine 
regulations. The emergency action notification fields in IPHIS contain 
the names, addresses, email addresses, and phone and fax numbers of 
owners or agents of regulated articles or regulated areas when 
agricultural officials have prescribed remedial measures due to 
agricultural pests. The system also includes information, such as 
names, addresses, email addresses, and phone and fax numbers, about 
APHIS employees and contractors or others working on behalf of APHIS.
    The IPHIS system will also collect agricultural survey data that 
includes additional categories of records such as survey location and 
GPS coordinates.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information in this system comes primarily from the members of the 
public; regulated individuals and entities; APHIS employees; other 
Federal, State, Tribal, and local government agencies; diagnostic 
laboratories; and university cooperators.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, records maintained in the system may be 
disclosed outside the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), as 
follows:
    (1) To cooperators from other Federal departments and their 
agencies; State, local, Tribal, and Territorial governments; plant 
health officials; cooperators from academic institutions; and 
diagnostic laboratories performing functions or working to respond to 
events declared to be emergencies of national significance determined 
to impact the U.S. critical infrastructure or other related emergency 
response functions performed for USDA, when necessary to accomplish an 
agency function related to this system of records;
    (2) When a record on its face, or in conjunction with other records 
indicates a violation or potential violation of law, whether civil, 
criminal, or regulatory in nature, and whether arising by general 
statute or particular program, statute, or by regulation, rule, or 
order issued pursuant thereto, APHIS may disclose the record to the 
appropriate agency, whether Federal, foreign, State, Tribal, local, or 
other public authority responsible for enforcing, investigating, or 
prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing or implementing 
the statute, rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant thereto, if the 
information disclosed is relevant to any enforcement, regulatory, 
investigative,

[[Page 27555]]

or prosecutive responsibility of the receiving entity;
    (3) To the Department of Justice when: (a) USDA or any component 
thereof; or (b) any employee of USDA in his or her official capacity, 
or any employee of the agency in his or her individual capacity where 
the Department of Justice has agreed to represent the employee; or (c) 
the United States Government, is a party to litigation or has an 
interest in such litigation, and USDA determines that the records are 
relevant and necessary to the litigation and the use of such records by 
the Department of Justice is for a purpose that is compatible with the 
purpose for which USDA collected the records;
    (4) In an appropriate proceeding before a court, grand jury, or 
administrative or adjudicative body or official, when USDA or other 
Agency representing USDA determines that the records are relevant and 
necessary to the proceeding; or in an appropriate proceeding before an 
administrative or adjudicative body when the adjudicator determines the 
records to be relevant to the proceeding;
    (5) To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when: (a) USDA 
suspects or has confirmed that there has been a breach of the system of 
records; (b) USDA has determined that as a result of the suspected or 
confirmed breach there is a risk of harm to individuals, USDA 
(including its information systems, programs, and operations), the 
Federal Government, or national security; and (c) the disclosure made 
to such agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to 
assist in connection with USDA's efforts to respond to the suspected or 
confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm;
    (6) To another Federal agency or Federal entity, when information 
from this system of records is reasonably necessary to assist the 
recipient agency or entity in (a) responding to a suspected or 
confirmed breach or (b) preventing, minimizing, or remedying the risk 
of harm to individuals, the recipient agency or entity (including its 
information systems, programs, and operations), the Federal Government, 
or national security, resulting from a suspected or confirmed breach;
    (7) To Congressional office staff in response to an inquiry made at 
the written request of the individual to whom the record pertains;
    (8) To contractors and their agents, grantees, experts, 
consultants, and others performing or working on a contract, service, 
grant, cooperative agreement, or other assignment for USDA, when 
necessary to accomplish an agency function related to this system of 
records; and
    (9) To the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) or 
to the General Services Administration for records management 
activities conducted under 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:
    N/A.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
    Paper-based records are stored and maintained in USDA/APHIS offices 
in locked file cabinets that require presentation of employee 
identification for building admittance and access. Electronic records 
are maintained in an electronic database on a server in a secure data 
center or on the APHIS web server and website that is maintained by 
APHIS' Information Technology Division. Information Technology 
personnel maintain backup media.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
    Records are retrieved by any of the data entry fields included in 
categories of records such as the name of the property owner, resident, 
and/or farmer, address, phone, fax, and/or email address, etc. System 
users can also retrieve records by data entry fields associated with 
agricultural surveys or investigations including location, site, 
activity, or diagnostic sample.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
    APHIS is working closely with NARA to update retention schedules. 
Records will be retained indefinitely pending NARA's approval of a 
records retention schedule.

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
    Physical security measures are in place to prevent unauthorized 
persons from accessing IPHIS. Electronic records are stored on secure 
file servers. IPHIS includes physical access controls, firewalls, 
intrusion detection systems, and system auditing to prevent 
unauthorized access. To access IPHIS, users are required to complete 
the USDA eAuthentication registration process and are validated through 
role-based authentication and authorization. Cooperators have signed a 
General Memorandum of Understanding in which they have agreed to 
safeguard the confidentiality of such data and prohibit unauthorized 
access to the data provided by APHIS. They also agree not to release 
any of the data provided by APHIS, and to refer any and all requests 
for the data provided to APHIS Legislative and Public Affairs, Freedom 
of Information and Privacy Act Office.
    Paper files are kept in a safeguarded environment with controlled 
access only by authorized personnel. All IPHIS users are also required 
to complete appropriate training to learn requirements for safeguarding 
records maintained under the Privacy Act. Azure safeguards records and 
ensures that privacy requirements are met in accordance with Federal 
and cybersecurity mandates. Azure provides continuous storage 
management, security administration, regular dataset backups, and 
contingency planning/disaster recovery. Azure employs automated 
mechanisms to restrict access to media storage areas. This is done by 
requiring a successful multi-factor authentication to the APHIS 
Enterprise Infrastructure (AEI) on an authorized computing device which 
is a member of the AEI, and rights control based on administrator level 
special accounts. Azure also employs automated mechanisms to audit 
access attempts and access granted into these areas. This is done 
through the use of reports generated from the Azure Monitor Logs.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    All requests for access to records must be in writing and should be 
submitted to the APHIS Privacy Act Officer, 4700 River Road Unit 50, 
Riverdale, MD 20737; or by facsimile (301) 734-5941; or by email 
[email protected]. In accordance with 7 CFR 1.112 (Procedures for 
requests pertaining to individual records in a record system), the 
request must include the full name of the individual making the 
request; the name of the system of records; and preference of 
inspection, in person or by mail. In accordance with 7 CFR 1.113, prior 
to inspection of the records, the requester shall present sufficient 
identification (e.g., driver's license, employee identification card, 
social security card, credit cards) to establish that the requester is 
the individual to whom the records pertain. In addition, if an 
individual submitting a request for access wishes to be supplied with 
copies of the records by mail, the requester must include with his or 
her request sufficient data for the agency to verify the requester's 
identity.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    Individuals seeking to contest or amend records maintained in this 
system of records must direct their request to the address indicated in 
the ``RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES''

[[Page 27556]]

paragraph, above and must follow the procedures set forth in 7 CFR 
1.116 (Request for correction or amendment to record). All requests 
must state clearly and concisely what record is being contested, the 
reasons for contesting it, and the proposed amendment to the record.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
    Individuals may be notified if a record in this system of records 
pertains to them when the individuals request information utilizing the 
same procedures as those identified in the ``RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES'' 
paragraph above.

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.

HISTORY:
    None.

[FR Doc. 2021-10707 Filed 5-20-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-34-P