Privacy Act of 1974; Amended Systems of Records Notice

AGENCY:

Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), ACF, DHHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is publishing notice of its amendment of its system of records entitled “The Location and Collection System”, DHHS/OCSE No. 09-90-0074.

DATES:

HHS invites interested parties to submit comments on this notice by October 26, 2000. As required by the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(r)), on September 19, 2000 HHS sent a report of an Amended System to the Committee on Government Reform and Oversight of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and the Office of Management and Budget. The amendments in this notice are effective upon publication unless HHS receives comments that would result in a contrary determination.

ADDRESSES:

Interested parties may comment on this Notice by writing to the Associate Commissioner for Automation and Program Operations, Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for Children and Families, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW, 2nd Floor West, Washington, DC 20447, (202) 401-4963. All comments received will be available for public inspection at this address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Donna Bonar, Associate Commissioner for Automation and Program Operations, at the above address.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is amending one of its System of Records, “The Location and Collection System (LCS),” DHHS/OCSE No. 09-90-0074, last published at 64 FR 49809 on September 14, 1999. OCSE wishes to advise the public that the LCS is being expanded to include a new routine use. This notice also provides technical amendments to the System of Records. Consistent with section 453(j)(6) of the Social Security Act (the Act) as added by Public Law 106-113, information contained in the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) portion of the system will be disclosed to the Department of Education (DOE) for the purpose of enforcing obligations on loans made under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 that are in default or for collection of overpayments of grants awarded under this Act. We have also made an adjustment to this Notice to clarify that information provided to researchers pursuant to section 453(j)(5) of the Act will be derived from the NDNH portion of this system.

The complete system notice is republished below.

09-90-0074

SYSTEM NAME:

Location and Collection System (LCS), HHS, OCSE.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:

None.

SYSTEM LOCATION:

Office of Child Support Enforcement, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., 4th Floor East, Washington, DC 20447; Social Security Administration, 6200 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, Maryland 21235.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:

Records will be maintained to locate individuals for the purpose of establishing parentage, establishing, setting the amount of, modifying, or enforcing child support obligations, or enforcing child custody or visitation orders and may include (1) information on, or facilitate the discovery of, or the location of any individuals: (A) Who are under an obligation to pay child support or provide child custody or visitation rights; (B) against whom such an obligation is sought; (C) to whom such an obligation is owed including the individual's social security number (or numbers), most recent address, and the name, address, and employer identification number of the individual's employer; and (D) who have or may have parental rights with respect to a child; (2) information on the individual's wages (or other income) from, and benefits of, employment (including rights to enrollment in group health care coverage); (3) information on the type, status, and amount of any assets or debts owed to or by such an individual; and (4) information on certain Federal disbursements payable to a delinquent obligor which may be offset for the purpose of collecting past-due child support.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:

Specific records retained in the LCS system are: The name of noncustodial or custodial parent or child, Social Security number (when available), date of birth, place of birth, sex code, State case identification number, local identification number (State use only), State or locality originating request, date of origination, type of case (TANF, non-TANF full-service, non-TANF locate only, parental kidnapping); home address, mailing address, type of employment, work location, annual salary, pay rate, quarterly wages, medical coverage, benefit amounts, type of military service (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, not in service), retired military (yes or no), Federal employee (yes or no), recent employer's address, known alias (last name only), date requests sent to State and Federal agencies or departments (SSA, Treasury, DoD/OPM, VA, USPS, FBI, and SESAs), dates of Federal agencies' or departments' responses, date of death, record identifier; employee's SSN, SSN verification indicator and any corrected SSN, employee first name, middle name, last name, employee address(es), date of birth (optional), employee date of hire (optional), employee State of hire, wage amount, quarter paid, reporting period; employer name, Federal Employer Identification Number or Federal Information Processing System Code, State Employee Identification Number of Federal Information Processing System Code, employer address, employer foreign address, employer optional address, and employer optional foreign address; multistate employer name, address and Federal Identification Number; employee SSN, employee first name, middle name, last name, employee address(es), date of birth (optional), date of hire (optional), State of hire (optional), employee wage amount, quarter paid, reporting period; unemployment insurance record identifier, claimant SSN, SSN verification indicator and any corrected SSN; claimant first name, middle name, claimant address, SSA/VA benefit amount, unemployment insurance benefits amount, reporting period, quarter paid, payer State, date report processed; State code, local code, case number, arrearage amount, collection amount, adjustment amount, return indicator, transfer State, street address, city and State, zip code, zip code 4, total debt, number of adjustments, number of collections, net amount, adjustment year, tax period for offset, type of offset, offset amount, submitting State FIPS, locate code, case ID number, case type, and court/administrative order indicator. Records used to aid State Child Support Enforcement Agencies in obtaining information from multistate financial institutions may include institution name(s), name control, Taxpayer Identification Number(s), year, month, service bureau indicator, transfer agent indicator, foreign corporation indicator, reporting agent/transmitter, address(es), file indicator, record type, payee last name control, SSN(s), payee account number, account full legal title (optional), payee foreign country indicator (optional), payee names, addresses, account balances (optional), trust fund indicator, account balance indicator (optional), account update indicator, account type, date of birth. Individuals will be fully informed of the uses and disclosures of their records.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:

Legal authority for maintenance of the system is contained in sections 452 and 453 of the Social Security Act that require the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to establish and conduct the Federal Parent Locator Service, a computerized national location network which provides address and social security number information to authorized persons, primarily for the purposes of establishing and collecting child support obligations.

PURPOSES:

The primary purpose of the Location and Collection System is to improve States' abilities to locate parents and collect child support.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND THE PURPOSE OF SUCH USES:

The routine uses of records maintained in the LCS are as follows: (1) Request the most recent home and employment addresses and SSN of the noncustodial or custodial parents from any State or Federal government department, agency or instrumentality which might have such information in its records; (2) provide the most recent home and employment addresses and SSN to State Child Support Enforcement (CSE) agencies under agreements covered by section 463 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 663) for the purpose of locating noncustodial parents or children in connection with activities by State courts and Federal attorneys and agents charged with making or enforcing child custody determinations or conducting investigations, enforcement proceedings or prosecutions concerning the unlawful taking or restraint of children; (3) provide the most recent home and employment addresses and SSN to agents and attorneys of the United States, involved in activities in States which do not have agreements under section 463 of the Act for purposes of locating noncustodial parents or children in connection with Federal investigations, enforcement proceedings or prosecutions involving the unlawful taking or restraint of children; (4) provide to the State Department the name and SSN of noncustodial parents in international child support cases, and in cases involving the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction; (5) provide to State agencies data in the NDNH portion of this system for the purpose of administering the Child Support Enforcement program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; (6) provide to the Commissioner of Social Security information for the purposes of verifying reported SSNs, verifying eligibility and/or payment amounts under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, and for other purposes; (7) provide to the Secretary of the Treasury information in the NDNH portion of this system for purposes of administering advance payments of the earned income tax credit and verifying a claim with respect to employment in a tax return; (8) provide to researchers new hire data for research efforts that would contribute to the TANF and CSE programs. Information disclosed may not contain personal identifiers; (9) provide to State CSE agencies, or any agent of an agency that is under contract with the State CSE agency, information which will assist in locating individuals for the purposes of establishing paternity and for establishing, modifying, and enforcing child support obligations; (10) disclose to authorized persons as defined in section 463(d)(2) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 663(d)(2)) records for the purpose of locating individuals and enforcing child custody and visitation orders; (11) disclose to the State agency administering the Medicaid, Unemployment Compensation, Food Stamp, SSI and territorial cash assistance programs new hire information for income eligibility verification; (12) disclose to State agencies administering unemployment and worker's compensation programs new hire information to assist in determining the allowability of claims; (13) disclose information to the Treasury Department in order to collect past due child support obligation via offset of tax refunds and certain Federal payments such as: Federal salary, wage and retirement payments; vendor payments; expense reimbursement payments, and travel payments; (14) disclose to the Secretary of State information necessary to revoke, restrict, or deny a passport to any person certified by State CSE agencies as owing a child support arrearage in an amount specified in section 452(k) of the Act; and (15) disclose to States information pertaining to multistate financial institutions which has been provided by such institutions in order to aid State Child Support Enforcement Agencies; and (16) disclose to the Department of Education information in the NDNH portion of this system for purposes of enforcing obligations on loans under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 that are in default or for collecting overpayments of grants awarded under this Act.

DISCLOSURE TO CONSUMER REPORTING AGENCIES:

None.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:

STORAGE:

The Location and Collection System records are maintained on disc and computer tape, and hard copy.

RETRIEVABILITY:

System records can be accessed by either a State assigned case identification number or Social Security Number.

SAFEGUARDS:

1. Authorized Users: All requests from the State IV-D Agency must certify that: (1) They are being made to locate noncustodial and custodial parents for the purpose of establishing paternity or securing child support, or in cases involving parental kidnapping or child custody and visitation determinations and for no other purpose; (2) the State IV-D agency has in effect protective measures to safeguard the personal information being transferred and received from the Federal Parent Locator Service; and (3) the State IV-D Agency will use or disclose this information for the purposes prescribed in 45 CFR 303.70.

2. Physical Safeguards: For computerized records electronically transmitted between Central Office and field office locations (including organizations administering HHS programs under contractual agreements), safeguards include a lock/unlock password system. All input documents will be inventoried and accounted for. All inputs and outputs will be stored in a locked receptacle in a locked room. All outputs will be labeled “For Official Use Only” and treated accordingly.

3. Procedural and Technical Safeguards: All Federal and State personnel and contractors are required to take a nondisclosure oath. A password is required to access the terminal. All microfilm and paper files are accessible only by authorized personnel who have a need for the information in the performance of their official duties. These practices are in compliance with the standards of Chapter 45-13 of the HHS General Administration Manual, “Safeguarding Records Contained in Systems of Records,” and the Department's Automated Information System Security Program Handbook.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:

Quarterly wage data and unemployment data supplied to the LCS which, within 12 months, has not produced a match as a result of any information comparison will not thereafter be used for child support enforcement purposes. Quarterly wages and unemployment data and new hire information will be deleted from the database 24 months after the date of entry. An information comparison will be retained for 24 months. Sample data will be retained only long enough to complete research authorized under section 453(j)(5) of the Act. Tax refund and administrative offset information will be maintained for six years in an active master file for purposes of collection and adjustment. After this time, records of cases for which there was no collection will be destroyed. Records of cases with a collection will be stored on-line in an inactive master file. Records pertaining to passport denial will be updated and/or deleted as obligors meet satisfactory restitution or other State approved arrangements. Records of information provided to authorized users will be maintained only long enough to communicate the information to the appropriate State or Federal agent. Thereafter, the information provided will be destroyed. However, records pertaining to the disclosures, which include information provided by States, Federal agencies contacted, and an indication of the type(s) of information returned, will be stored on a history tape and in hard copy for five years and then destroyed. Records of information provided by financial institutions for the purpose of facilitating matches will be maintained only long enough to communicate the information to the appropriate State agent. Thereafter, the information provided will be destroyed. However, records pertaining to the disclosures, which include information provided by States, Federal agencies contacted, and an indication of the type(s) of information returned, will be stored on a history tape and in hard copy for five years and then destroyed.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:

Associate Commissioner for Automation and Program Operations, Office of Child Support Enforcement, Administration for Children and Families, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW, 2nd Floor West, Washington, D.C. 20447.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:

To determine if a record exists, write to the Systems Manager at the address listed above. The Privacy Act provides that, except under certain conditions specified in the law, only the subject of the records may have access to them. All requests must be submitted in the following manner: identify the system of records you wish to have searched, have your request notarized to verify your identity, indicate that you are aware that the knowing and willful request for or acquisition of a Privacy Act record under false pretenses is a criminal offense subject to a $5,000 fine. Your letter must also provide sufficient particulars to enable OCSE to distinguish between records on subject individuals with the same name.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:

Write to the Systems Manager specified above to attain access to records. Requesters should provide a detailed description of the record contents they are seeking.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURE:

Contact the official at the address specified under System Manager above, and identify the record and specify the information to be contested and corrective action sought with supporting justification to show how the record is inaccurate, incomplete, untimely, or irrelevant.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:

Information is obtained from departments, agencies, or instrumentalities of the United States or any State and from multi-state financial institutions.

ITEMS EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE ACT:

None.