00-25766. Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988; Notice of RRB Records Used in Computer Matching

AGENCY:

Railroad Retirement Board (RRB).

ACTION:

Notice of Records Used in Computer Matching Programs; Notification to individuals who are beneficiaries under the Railroad Retirement Act.

SUMMARY:

As required by the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, RRB is issuing public notice of its use and intent to use, in ongoing computer matching programs, civil service benefit and payment information obtained from 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 RRM of this information obtained from OPM by means of a computer match.

ADDRESSES:

Interested parties may comment on this publication by writing to Ms. Beatrice Ezerski, Secretary to the Board, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. LeRoy Blommaert, Privacy Act Officer, Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092, telephone number [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, Pub. L. 100-503, requires a Federal agency participating in a computer matching program to publish a notice regarding the establishment of a matching program.

Name of Participating Agencies

Office of Personnel Management and Railroad Retirement Board.

Purpose of the Match

The purpose of the match is to enable the RRM 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. Previously the RRB relied on the affected annuitant to report adjustments in the amounts of such public pension benefits.

Authority for Conducting the Match

Sections 3(a)(1), 4(a)(1) and 4(f)(1) of the Railroad Retirement Act 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 noncovered earnings. This reduction is referred to as Public Service Pension offset. Section 224 of the Social Security Act provides for the reduction of disability benefits when the disabled worker is also entitled to a public disability benefit (PDB). This reduction is referred to as 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.

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 RRB with a magnetic tape file 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. The following information from this OPM Privacy Act System of Records will be transmitted to RRB for the approximately 2.3 million records in the system: 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 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 the same fields in its Master Benefit File. The Privacy Act System of Records designations for this file is: RRB-26, “Payment, Rate and Entitlement History File” For records that are matched, the RRB will extract the civil service payment information.

Inclusive Dates of the Matching Program

The 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.

The notice we are giving here is in addition to any individual notice.

A copy of this notice has been or will be furnished to both House of Congress and the Office of Management and Budget.

Dated: September 29, 2000.

By Authority of the Board.

Beatrice Ezerski,

Secretary to the Board.