2013-10428. Privacy Act of 1974; Report of Matching Program

AGENCY:

Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION:

Notice of Computer Matching Program.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides notice that it intends to conduct a recurring computer-matching program matching Social Security Administration (SSA) Master Beneficiary Records (MBR) and Self-Employment Income System (MEF) with VA pension, compensation, and dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) records. The goal of this match is to identify beneficiaries who are receiving VA benefits and SSA benefits or earned income, and to reduce or terminate VA 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 (FR), 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 through www.Regulations.gov; by mail or hand-delivery to the Director, Regulations Management (02REG), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Ave. NW., Room 1068, Washington, DC 20420; or by fax to [phone]. Copies of comments received will be available for public inspection in the Office of Regulation Policy and Management, Room 1063B, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday (except holidays). Please call [phone] for an appointment. In addition, during the comment period, comments may be viewed online through the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) at www.Regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sharon Nicely, Pension Analyst, Pension and Fiduciary Service (21P), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20420, [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

VA will use this information to verify the income information submitted by beneficiaries in VA's needs-based benefit programs and adjust VA benefit payments as prescribed by law.

The legal authority to conduct this match is 38 U.S.C. 5106, which requires any Federal department or agency to provide VA such information as VA requests for the purposes of determining eligibility for benefits, or verifying other information with respect to payment of benefits.

The VA records involved in the match are in “Compensation, Pension and Education and Rehabilitation Records—VA (58 VA 21/22/28),” a system of records which was first published at 41 FR 9294 (March 3, 1976), amended and republished in its entirety at 77 FR 42593 (July 19, 2012). The routine use is number 39 regarding computer matches. The SSA records consist of information from the system of records identified as the SSA MBR, SSA/ORSIS, 60-0090, routine use number 23 and SSA MEF, SSA/OEEAS, 60-0059, routine use numbers 15 and 25.

In accordance with the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 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 Privacy Act of 1974 as amended by Public Law 100-503.

Approved: March 26, 2013.

John R. Gingrich,

Chief of Staff, Department of Veterans Affairs.