Notice2023-11856
Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
June 5, 2023
Effective
July 2, 2023
Issuing agencies
Education Department
Abstract
This document provides notice of a new matching program between the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). The current 18-month CMA was recertified for an additional 12 months on July 2, 2022 and will automatically expire on July 1, 2023.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 107 (Monday, June 5, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 107 (Monday, June 5, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36556-36558]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-11856]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
[ED-2023-FSA-0012]
Privacy Act of 1974; Matching Program
AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice of a new computer matching agreement (CMA).
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SUMMARY: This document provides notice of a new matching program
between the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Justice
(DOJ). The current 18-month CMA was recertified for an additional 12
months on July 2, 2022 and will automatically expire on July 1, 2023.
DATES: Submit your comments on the proposed CMA on or before July 5,
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2023. The CMA will be effective the later of: (1) July 2, 2023, or (2)
July 3, 2023, unless comments have been received from interested
members of the public requiring modification and republication of the
notice. The CMA will continue for 18 months after the effective date of
the 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: Comments must be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking
Portal at <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>. However, if you require an accommodation or
cannot otherwise submit your comments via <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>, please
contact the program contact person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT. The Department will not accept comments by email or by fax. 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 <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> 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
``FAQ'' tab.
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 <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Therefore,
commenters should be careful to include in their comments only
information that they wish to make publicly available.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerard Duffey, Management and Program
Analyst, U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid,
Philadelphia, PA 19107. Telephone: (215) 656-3249.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: We provide this notice in accordance with
the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended by the Computer
Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (Pub. L. 100-503) and the
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Amendments of 1990 (Pub. L.
101-508) (CMPPA); the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Final
Guidance Interpreting the Provisions of Public Law 100-503, the
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (54 FR 25818, June
19, 1989); and OMB Circular A-108, Federal Agency Responsibilities for
Review, Reporting, and Publication under the Privacy Act (81 FR 94424,
December 23, 2016).
Participating Agencies: The Department of Education (ED) and the
Department of Justice (DOJ).
Authority for Conducting the Matching Program: Under section 421 of
the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 862) (originally enacted as
section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, Pub. L. 100-690, 21
U.S.C. 853a, which was amended and re-designated as section 421 of the
Controlled Substances Act by section 1002(d) of the Crime Control Act
of 1990, Pub. L. 101-647) (hereinafter referred to as ``section
5301'')), an individual convicted of a Federal or State drug
trafficking or possession offense may be denied, at the discretion of
the court, certain Federal benefits, including those under the Federal
Student Financial Assistance Programs authorized by title IV of the
Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, as amended (title IV, HEA student
financial assistance). The Denial of Federal Benefits and Defense
Procurement Fraud Debarment Clearinghouse Programs (DFB/DPFD) database
(formerly known as DEBARS) collects information regarding those
individuals for whom benefits are denied and forwards this information
to the General Services Administration (GSA) for inclusion in the
publication ``Lists of Parties Excluded from Federal Procurement or
Non-procurement Programs,'' more commonly known as the ``Debarment
List.'' Federal agencies are required by law to consult the Debarment
List, prior to the provision of certain benefits. However, ED and DOJ
have determined that, for purposes of verifying title IV, HEA student
financial assistance eligibility, direct access to the DFB/DPFD
database would be more useful than access to the GSA's Debarment List
because the DFB/DPFD database contains information essential to the
effective operation of the match that is not available in the GSA List.
By matching the names, dates of birth, and Social Security Number
(SSNs) in the DFB/DPFD database with ED's student financial aid
records, ED is able to identify students who do not qualify for Federal
student financial assistance pursuant to section 5301. DOJ's system of
records also contains information concerning the specific program or
programs for which benefits have been denied, as well as the period of
ineligibility. DOJ will make available for the CMA the records of only
those individuals who have been denied Federal benefits under one or
more of the title IV, HEA programs. Thus, ED avoids the cost of
disbursing student financial assistance funds to individuals who do not
qualify for Federal student financial assistance, but who would
otherwise receive aid had the CMA not existed.
DOJ is the lead contact agency for information related to
violations of section 5301 and, as such, provides this data to ED. The
18-month CMA was recertified for an additional 12 months on July 2,
2022 and will automatically expire on July 1, 2023.
Purpose(s): The purpose of this matching program is to ensure that
the requirements of 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 Aid Awareness and Application Processing System
of Records (AAAP) (18-11-21)--published in the Federal Register on
September 13, 2022 (87 FR 56026), and available at: <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/09/13/2022-19890/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/09/13/2022-19890/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records</a>.
Categories of Records: ED will use the 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 (CPS) and Free
Application for Federal Student Aid Processing System (FPS). 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 who 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
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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:
Aid Awareness and Application Processing (18-11-21)--published in the
Federal Register on September 13, 2022 (87 FR 56026), and available at:
<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/09/13/2022-19890/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/09/13/2022-19890/privacy-act-of-1974-system-of-records</a>. (Note: The ED Central Processing
System (CPS) and Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
Processing System (FPS) are the ED information systems that process
FAFSA data from the Aid Awareness and Application Processing system of
records. CPS will process this data through September 30, 2024 for
Award Year (AY) 2023-24. FPS will become operational on or after
December 1, 2023 and begin processing FAFSA data for AY 2024-25. After
September 30, 2024, CPS will be decommissioned and be fully replaced by
FPS within AAAP. FPS will process data for all AYs thereafter.
Accessible Format: By request to the program contact person listed
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, individuals with disabilities
can obtain this document in an accessible format. The Department will
provide the requestor with an accessible format that may include Rich
Text Format (RTF) or text format (txt), a thumb drive, an MP3 file,
braille, large print, audiotape, or compact disc, or other accessible
format.
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 at <a href="http://www.govinfo.gov">www.govinfo.gov</a>. 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 the Department published in the
Federal Register by using the article search feature at
<a href="http://www.federalregister.gov">www.federalregister.gov</a>. Specifically, through the advanced search
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published
by the Department.
Richard Cordray,
Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid.
[FR Doc. 2023-11856 Filed 6-2-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on June 5, 2023.
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