[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 48 (Monday, March 11, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17529-17530]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-05097]



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OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

[Docket ID: OPM-2024-0003]


Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management.

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 Privacy Protections Amendment of 1990 (Privacy Act), and 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on the conduct of 
matching programs, notice is hereby given of the reestablishment of a 
matching program between the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and 
the Social Security Administration (SSA) (Computer Matching Agreement 
1045), the purpose of which is to assist OPM in meeting its legal 
obligation to offset benefits payable by OPM to annuitants.

DATES: Please submit comments on or before April 10, 2024. The matching 
program will begin on April 20, 2024, unless comments have been 
received from interested members of the public that require 
modification and republication of the notice. The matching program will 
continue for 18 months from the beginning date and may be extended for 
an additional 12 months if the respective agency Data Integrity Boards 
determine that the conditions specified in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o)(D) have 
been met.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments via mail to: Stanley McMichael, 
Resource Management Officer, Retirement Services and Management, 
Retirement Services, Office of Personnel Management, Room 3313-D, 1900 
E. Street NW Washington, DC 20415 or via email at 
[email protected]. You may also submit comments, identified by 
docket number and title, at the Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov by following the instructions for submitting 
comments. All submissions received must include the agency name and 
docket number for this document. The general policy for comments and 
other submissions from members of the public is to make these 
submissions available for public viewing at http://www.regulations.gov 
as they are received without change, including any personal identifiers 
or contact information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lisa Morgan, Retirement Services, 
Office of Personnel Management, at (202) 936-0866.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, 
as amended by the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 
and the Computer Matching Privacy Protection Amendment of 1990 (Privacy 
Act), and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on the conduct 
of matching programs, including OMB Final Guidance Interpreting the 
Provision of Public Law 100-53 (published in the Federal Register on 
June 19, 1989 (54 FR 25818) and OMB Circular A-108, notice is hereby 
given of a re-established matching program between the Office of 
Personnel Management (OPM) and the Social Security Administration 
(SSA). This matching program, Computer Matching Agreement 1045, is 
being reestablished to enable SSA to disclose wage and self-employment 
income information to OPM. OPM will match SSA's information with OPM's 
records on disability retirees under age 60, disabled adult child 
survivors, certain retirees in receipt of a supplemental benefit under 
the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS), and certain annuitants 
receiving a discontinued service retirement benefit under the Civil 
Service Retirement System (CSRS). The law limits the amount these 
retirees, survivors, and annuitants can earn while retaining benefits 
paid to them. Retirement benefits cease upon re-employment in Federal 
service for discontinued service annuitants. OPM will use the earnings 
and self-employment information from SSA to determine continued 
eligibility for benefits under OPM programs.

PARTICIPATING AGENCIES:
    OPM and SSA.

AUTHORITY FOR CONDUCTING THE MATCHING PROGRAM:
    Legal authorities for the disclosures under this agreement are 5 
U.S.C. 8337(d), 8341(a)(4)(B), 8344(a)(4)(b), and 8468, which establish 
earnings limitations for certain CSRS and FERS annuitants. The 
authority to terminate benefits may be found in 5 U.S.C. 8341(e)(3)(B) 
and 8443(b)(3)(B). The Internal Revenue Code (IRC), at 26 U.S.C. 6103 
(l)(11), requires SSA to disclose tax return information to OPM upon 
request for purposes of the administration of chapters 83 and 84 of 
title 5 of the United States Code. SSA is authorized to verify the SSNs 
submitted by OPM under the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3)); the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1306); and SSA's privacy regulations (20 
CFR part 401).

PURPOSE(S):
    The purpose of this agreement between OPM and SSA is to assist OPM 
in meeting its legal obligation to offset benefits payable by OPM to 
annuitants. SSA will disclose wage and self-employment income data 
available from tax return information governed by the Internal Revenue 
Code (IRC), (26 U.S.C. 6103(l)(11)) information to OPM. OPM will use 
the wage and self-employment data obtained from SSA to match against 
OPM's records of disability retirees under age 60, disabled adult-child 
survivors, certain retirees in receipt of a supplemental benefit under 
the Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS), and certain annuitants 
receiving a discontinued service retirement benefit under the Civil 
Service Retirement System (CSRS). Because the law limits the amount 
these individuals can earn and still retain the benefits paid to them 
by OPM, OPM will use the SSA information to determine an individual's 
continued eligibility to receive a benefit from OPM.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS:
    The individuals whose information is involved in this matching 
program are those disability retirees under the age of 60, disabled 
adult-child survivors, certain retirees in receipt of a supplemental 
benefit under the FERS, and certain annuitants receiving a discontinued 
service retirement benefit under the CSRS who receive benefits from 
OPM. SSA will provide information about these individuals by 
referencing their master file of all individuals with Social Security 
numbers (SSN) and their file of earnings and self-employment records.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS:
    The categories of records involved in this matching program include 
the full name, SSN, date of birth, and the tax year for requested 
earnings for those individuals about who the match is being conducted. 
In turn, SSA will disclose the following records to OPM: In the case of 
a ``match'' response, SSA will disclose wage and self- employment data 
(employer identification number(s), employer address(es), wage 
amount(s) from Form W-2, and/or earnings amount(s) from self-
employment, annual total wages, and earnings report type) to OPM. SSA 
will also provide a death indicator if the individual is listed as 
deceased in SSA records. In the case of a ``no-match'' response, SSA 
will disclose the reason for the ``no match'', which may include the 
following: SSN not in file (never issued to anyone); Name and DOB

[[Page 17530]]

match; gender code does not; Name and gender code match; DOB does not; 
Name matches, DOB, and gender code do not; Name does not match; DOB and 
gender code not checked Death indicator (yes/no) if applicable; gender 
is not required to perform SSN verifications by SSA; it is optional.

SYSTEM(S) OF RECORDS:
    OPM's system of records involved in this matching program is OPM/
Central-1, Civil Service Retirement and Insurance Published at 73 FR 
15013 (March 20, 2008) and 87 FR 5874 (February 2, 2022). SSA's systems 
of records involved in this matching program are the Master Files of 
Social Security Number Holders and SSN Applications, referred to as the 
Enumeration System), 60-0058, last fully published at 87 FR 263 
(January 4, 2022), and the Earnings Recording and Self Employment 
Income System, 60-0059 (referred to as the Master Earnings File (MEF)) 
last fully published at 71 FR 1819 (January 11, 2006) and amended at 78 
FR. 40542 (July 5, 2013), and 83 FR 54969 (November 1, 2018).

Office of Personnel Management.
Kayyonne Marston,
Federal Register Liaison.
[FR Doc. 2024-05097 Filed 3-8-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325-38-P