[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 229 (Wednesday, November 27, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70971-70972]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-28395]
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RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended; Notice of Computer Matching
Program (Railroad Retirement Board--Office of Personnel Management)
AGENCY: Railroad Retirement Board (RRB).
ACTION: Notice of a renewal of an existing computer-matching program
that expired on February 1, 2013.
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SUMMARY: As required by the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the RRB is
issuing public notice of its renewal of an ongoing computer-matching
program with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The purpose of
this notice is to advise individuals applying for or receiving benefits
under the Railroad Retirement Act of the use made by RRB of this
information obtained from OPM by means of a computer match.
DATES: This matching program becomes effective as proposed without
further notice on January 6, 2014. We will file a report of this
computer-matching program with the Committee on Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate; the Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform of the House of Representatives; and the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget
(OMB).
ADDRESSES: Interested parties may comment on this publication by
writing to Ms. Martha P. Rico, Secretary to the Board, Railroad
Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Timothy Grant, Chief Privacy
Officer, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago,
Illinois 60611-2092, telephone 312-751-4869 or email at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. General
The Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, (Pub. L.
100-503), amended by the Privacy Act of 1974, (5 U.S.C. 552a) as
amended, requires a Federal agency participating in a computer matching
program to publish a notice in the Federal Register for all matching
programs.
The Privacy Act, as amended, regulates the use of computer matching
by Federal agencies when records contained in a Privacy Act System of
Records are matched with other Federal, State, or local government
records. It requires Federal agencies involved in computer matching
programs to:
(1) Negotiate written agreements with the other agency or agencies
participating in the matching programs;
(2) Obtain the approval of the matching agreement by the Data
Integrity Boards (DIB) of the participating Federal agencies;
(3) Publish notice of the computer matching program in the Federal
Register;
(4) Furnish detailed reports about matching programs to Congress
and OMB;
(5) Notify applicants and beneficiaries that their records are
subject to matching; and
(6) Verify match findings before reducing, suspending, terminating,
or denying a person's benefits or payments. The last notice for this
matching program was published at 75 FR 53004 (August 30, 2010).
B. RRB Computer Matches Subject to the Privacy Act
We have taken appropriate action to ensure that all of our computer
matching programs comply with the requirements of the Privacy Act, as
amended.
Notice of Computer Matching Program, RRB with the Office of Personnel
Management (OMB)
A. Name of Participating Agencies
OPM and RRB.
B. Purpose of the Matching Program
The purpose of the match is to enable the RRB to (1) identify
affected RRB annuitants who are in receipt of a Federal public pension
benefit but who have not reported receipt of this benefit to the RRB,
and (2) receive needed Federal public pension benefit information for
affected RRB annuitants more timely and accurately.
C. Authority for Conducting the Match
Sections 3(a)(1), 4(a)(1) and 4(f)(1) of the Railroad Retirement
Act, as amended, 45 U.S.C. 231b(a)(1), 231c(a)(1) and 231c(f)(1)
require that the RRB reduce the Railroad Retirement benefits of certain
beneficiaries entitled to Railroad Retirement employee and/or spouse/
widow benefits who are also entitled to a government pension based on
their own non-covered earnings. We call this reduction a Public Service
Pension (PSP) offset.
Section 224 of the Social Security Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 424a,
provides for the reduction of disability benefits when the disabled
worker is also entitled to a public disability benefit (PDB). We call
this a PDB offset. A civil service disability benefit is considered a
PDB. Section 224(h)(1) requires any Federal agency to provide RRB with
information in its possession that RRB may require for the purposes of
making a timely determination of the amount of reduction under section
224 of the Social Security Act. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. Section 552a(b)(3)
OPM has established routine uses to disclose the subject information to
RRB.
D. Categories of Records and Individuals Covered
The records to be used in the match and the roles of the matching
participants are described as follows: OPM will provide the RRB once a
year via secure electronic file transfer, data extracted from its
annuity and survivor master file of its Civil Service Retirement and
Insurance Records. The Privacy Act System of Records designation is
OPM/Central-1, (Civil Service Retirement and Insurance Records),
Published in the Federal Register on June 7, 2011 (76 FR 32997). The
RRB Privacy Act System of Records is RRB-22, Railroad Retirement,
Survivor, and Pensioner Benefit System, published in the Federal
Register on July 26, 2010 (75 FR 43727)
Normally on December of each year, OPM transmits to us
approximately 2.5 million electronic records for matching. The records
contain these data elements: Name, social security number, date of
birth, civil service claim number, first potential month and year of
eligibility for civil service benefits, first month, day, year of
entitlement to civil service benefits, amount of current gross civil
service benefits, and effective date (month, day, year) of civil
service amount, and where applicable, civil service disability
indicator, civil service FICA covered month indicator, and civil
service total service months. The RRB will match the Social Security
number, name, and date of birth contained in the OPM file against
approximately the 1.2 million records in our files. For records that
match, the RRB will extract the civil service payment information.
E. Inclusive Dates of the Matching Program
This matching program will become effective 40 days after a copy of
the agreement, as approved by the Data Integrity Board of each agency,
is sent to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget, or 30 days
after publication of this notice in the Federal Register, whichever
date is later. The matching program will continue for 18 months after
the effective date and may be extended for an additional 12 months, if
the conditions specified in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.
Dated: November 19, 2013.
By authority of the Board.
Martha P. Rico,
Secretary to the Board.
[FR Doc. 2013-28395 Filed 11-26-13; 8:45 am]
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