[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 106 (Friday, June 1, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25446-25448]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-11856]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[Docket ID ED-2018-FSA-00151]
Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program
AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.
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 and Privacy Protections Amendments of 1990 (Privacy Act), and
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance on the conduct of
computer matching programs, notice is hereby given of the renewal of
the computer matching program between the Department of Education (ED)
(recipient agency) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) (source agency).
DATES: Submit your comments on the proposed matching program on or
before July 2, 2018.
The matching program will go into effect at the later of the
following two dates: June 20, 2018 or 30 days after the publication of
this notice, on June 1, 2018, unless comments have been received from
interested members of the public requiring modification and
republication of the notice.
The matching program will continue for 18 months after the
effective date of the computer matching agreement (CMA) and may be
extended for an additional 12 months thereafter, if the conditions
specified in 5 U.S.C. 552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal
or via postal mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. We will not
accept comments submitted by fax or by email or those submitted after
the comment period. To ensure that we do not receive duplicate copies,
please submit your comments only once. In addition, please include the
Docket ID at the top of your comments.
Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to www.regulations.gov to
submit your comments electronically. Information on using
Regulations.gov, including instructions for accessing agency documents,
submitting comments, and viewing the docket, is available on the site
under the ``help'' tab.
Postal Mail, Commercial Delivery, or Hand Delivery: If you
mail or deliver your comments about this new CMA, address them to:
Marya Dennis, Management and Program Analyst, U.S. Department of
Education, Federal Student Aid, Union Center Plaza, 830 First Street
NE, Washington, DC 20202-5454. Telephone: (202)377-3385.
Privacy Note: ED's policy is to make all comments received from
members of the public available for public viewing in their entirety on
the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. Therefore,
commenters should be careful to include in their comments only
information that they wish to make publicly available.
Assistance to Individuals with Disabilities in Reviewing the
Rulemaking Record: On request we will provide an appropriate
accommodation or auxiliary aid to an individual with a disability who
needs assistance to review the comments or other documents in the
public rulemaking record for this notice. If you want to schedule an
appointment for this type of accommodation or auxiliary aid, please
contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marya Dennis, Management and Program
Analyst, U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid, Union
Center Plaza, 830 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20202-5454.
Telephone: (202)377-3385.
If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text
telephone (TTY), call the Federal Relay Service, toll free, at 1-800-
877-8339.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 421(a)(1) of the Controlled
Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 862(a)(1)) includes provisions regarding the
judicial denial of Federal benefits. Section 421 of the Controlled
Substances Act, which was originally enacted as section 5301 of the
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, and which was amended and redesignated as
section 421 of the Controlled Substances Act by section 1002(d) of the
Crime Control Act of 1990, Public Law 101-647 (hereinafter referred to
as ``section 5301''), authorizes Federal and State judges to deny
certain Federal benefits (including student financial assistance under
title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA)) to
individuals convicted of drug trafficking or possession of a controlled
substance.
In order to ensure that HEA student financial assistance is not
awarded to individuals subject to denial of benefits under court orders
issued pursuant to section 5301, DOJ and ED implemented a computer
matching program. The 18-month CMA was recertified for an additional 12
months on June 20, 2017. The 12-month recertification of the CMA will
automatically expire on June 19, 2018.
For the purpose of ensuring that HEA student financial assistance
is not awarded to individuals denied benefits by court orders issued
under the Denial of Federal Benefits Program, ED must continue to
obtain from DOJ identifying information regarding individuals who are
the subject of section 5301 denial of benefits court orders. The
purpose of this notice is to announce the continued operation of the
computer matching program and to provide certain required information
concerning the computer matching program.
PARTICIPATING AGENCIES
The Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Justice
(DOJ).
AUTHORITY FOR CONDUCTING THE MATCHING PROGRAM:
Under section 5301, ED must deny Federal benefits to any individual
upon whom a Federal or State court order has imposed a penalty denying
eligibility for those benefits. Student financial assistance under the
HEA is a Federal benefit and under section 5301, ED must, in order to
meet its obligations under the HEA, have access to information about
individuals who have been declared ineligible under section 5301.
While DOJ provides information under section 5301 about individuals
who are ineligible for Federal benefits to the General Services
Administration (GSA) for inclusion in GSA's List of Parties Excluded
from Federal Procurement and Nonprocurement Programs, DOJ and ED have
determined that matching against the DOJ database is more efficient and
effective than matching against the GSA List. The DOJ database has
specific information about the HEA programs for which individuals are
ineligible, as well as the expiration of the debarment period, making
the DOJ database more complete than the GSA List. Both of these
elements are essential for a successful match.
PURPOSE(S):
The purpose of this matching program is to ensure that the
requirements of section 421 of the Controlled Substances Act
(originally enacted as section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988,
Public Law 100-690, 21 U.S.C. 853a, which was amended and redesignated
as section 421 of the Controlled Substances Act by section 1002(d) of
the Crime Control Act of 1990, Public Law 101-647) (hereinafter
referred to as ``section 5301'') are met.
DOJ is the lead contact agency for information related to section
5301 violations and, as such, provides this data to ED. ED seeks access
to the information contained in the Denial of Federal Benefits and
Defense Procurement Fraud Debarment Clearinghouse program (DFB/DPFD)
database (formerly known as DEBARS) that is authorized under section
5301 for the purpose of ensuring that HEA student financial assistance
is not awarded to individuals subject to denial
[[Page 25448]]
of benefits under court orders issued pursuant to the Denial of Federal
Benefits Program.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS:
The individuals whose records are included in this matching program
are individuals who are the subject of section 5301 denial of benefits
court orders, and all students who complete a Free Application for
Federal Student Aid. ED receives data from the DOJ DFB/DPFD system that
is used to match title IV, HEA applicant data in ED's Central
Processing System (Federal Student Aid Application File (18-11-01)).
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS:
ED will use the Social Security number (SSN), date of birth, and
the first two letters of an applicant's last name for the match. These
data elements are contained in ED's Central Processing System. The DOJ
DFB/DPFD system contains the names, SSNs, dates of birth, and other
identifying information regarding individuals convicted of Federal or
State offenses involving drug trafficking or possession of a controlled
substance that have been denied Federal benefits by Federal or State
courts. This system of records also contains information concerning the
specific program or programs for which benefits have been denied, as
well as the duration of the period of ineligibility. DOJ will make
available for the matching program the records of only those
individuals who have been denied Federal benefits under one or more of
the title IV, HEA programs.
SYSTEM(S) OF RECORDS:
DOJ system of records: DFB/DPFD (The most recent full DFB/DPFD
system of records notice was published in the Federal Register on May
10, 1999, 64 FR 25071.) ED system of records: Federal Student Aid
Application File (18-11-01). (The most recent ED system of records
notice was published in the Federal Register on August 3, 2011, 76 FR
46774.) (Note: The ED Central Processing System [CPS] is the ED
information system that processes data from the Federal Student Aid
Application File.)
Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print,
audiotape, or compact disc) by contacting the contact person listed in
the preceding paragraph.
Electronic Access to This Document: The official version of this
document is the document published in the Federal Register. You may
access the official edition of the Federal Register and the Code of
Federal Regulations via the Federal Digital System at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. At this site you can view this document, as well as all other
documents of this Department published in the Federal Register, in text
or Portable Document Format (PDF). To use PDF you must have Adobe
Acrobat Reader, which is available free at the site.
You may also access documents of ED published in the Federal
Register by using the article search feature at:
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by ED.
Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a; 21 U.S.C. 862(a)(1).
Dated: May 29, 2018.
James F. Manning,
Acting Chief Operating Officer Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2018-11856 Filed 5-31-18; 8:45 am]
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