E5-7801. Privacy Act of 1974; Report of Matching Program

AGENCY:

Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

Notice is hereby given that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) intends to conduct a recurring computer matching program matching Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons (BOP), inmate records with VA pension, compensation, and dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) records. The goal of this match is to identify incarcerated veterans and beneficiaries who are receiving VA benefits, and to reduce or terminate benefits, if appropriate. The match will include records of current VA beneficiaries.

DATES:

The match will start no sooner than 30 days after publication of this notice in the Federal Register, or 40 days after copies of this Notice and the agreement of the parties is submitted to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget, whichever is later, and end not more than 18 months after the agreement is properly implemented by the parties. The involved agencies' Data Integrity Boards (DIB) may extend this match for 12 months provided the agencies certify to their DIBs, within three months of the ending date of the original match, that the matching program will be conducted without change and that the matching program has been conducted in compliance with the original matching program.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments may be submitted by: Mail or hand-delivery to Director, Regulations Management (00REG1), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue, NW., Room 1068, Washington, DC 20420; fax to [phone]; or e-mail to [e-mail]. All comments received will be available for public inspection in the Office of Regulation Policy and Management, Room 1063B, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday (except holidays). Please call [phone] for an appointment.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Pamela Liverman (212A), [phone], ext. 107.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

VA will use this information to verify incarceration and adjust VA benefit payments as prescribed by law. The proposed matching program will enable VA to accurately identify beneficiaries who are incarcerated for a felony or a misdemeanor in a Federal penal facility.

The legal authority to conduct this match is 38 U.S.C. 1505, 5106, and 5313. Section 5106 requires any Federal department or agency to provide VA such information as VA requests for the purposes of determining eligibility for, or the amount of VA benefits, or verifying other information with respect thereto. Section 1505 provides that no VA pension benefits shall be paid to or for any person eligible for such benefits, during the period of that person's incarceration as the result of conviction of a felony or misdemeanor, beginning on the sixty-first day of incarceration. Section 5313 provides that VA compensation or dependency and indemnity compensation above a specified amount shall not be paid to any person eligible for such benefits, during the period of that person's incarceration as the result of conviction of a felony, beginning on the sixty-first day of incarceration.

The VA records involved in the match are the VA system of records, VA Compensation, Pension and Education and Rehabilitation Records—VA (58 VA 21/22), first published at 41 FR 9294 (March 3, 1976), and last amended at 66 FR 47725 (9/13/01) with other amendments as cited therein. The BOP records consist of information from the system of records identified as Inmate Central Records System, Justice/BOP-005 published on June 7, 1984 (48 FR 23711). In accordance with Title 5 U.S.C. subsection 552a(o)(2) and (r), copies of the agreement are being sent to both Houses of Congress and to the Office of Management and Budget. This notice is provided in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 as amended by Public Law 100-503.

Approved: December 6, 2005.

Gordon H. Mansfield,

Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs.