2018-11856. Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program

AGENCY:

Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.

ACTION:

Notice of a new matching program.

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: [phone].

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: [phone].

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 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.