[Federal Register: March 8, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 46)]
[Notices]
[Page 12222-12223]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr08mr00-50]
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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Privacy Act of 1974; Computer Matching Program
AGENCY: Department of Education.
ACTION: Notice; Computer matching between the Department of Education
and the Department of Justice.
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SUMMARY: Section 5301(a)(1) of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (now
designated as 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 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) to
individuals convicted of drug trafficking or possession.
In order to ensure that Title IV student financial assistance is
not awarded to individuals subject to denial of benefits under court
orders issued pursuant to section 5301, the Department of Justice and
the Department of Education implemented a computer matching program.
The current computer matching agreement expires on March 3, 2000. The
Department of Education must continue to obtain from the Department of
Justice 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.
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), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidelines on
the Conduct of Matching Programs (see 54 FR 25818, June 19, 1989), and
OMB Circular A-130, the following information is provided:
1. Names of Participating Agencies
The Department of Education (ED) (recipient agency) and the
Department of Justice (source agency) (DOJ).
2. Purpose of the Match
This matching program is designed to assist ED in enforcing the
sanctions imposed under section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988
(Pub. L. 100-690).
[[Page 12223]]
3. Authority for Conducting the Matching Program
Under section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, as amended
(21 U.S.C. 862), 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
Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) is a
Federal benefit under section 5301 and 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.
Section 5301 and the Procedures for Implementation of section 5301
(Pub. L. 100-690), transmitted to the Congress on August 30, 1989,
direct DOJ to act as an information clearinghouse for Federal agencies.
While DOJ provides information about section 5301 individuals who are
ineligible for Federal benefits to the General Services Administration
(GSA) for inclusion in GSA's List of Parties Excluded from Federal
Procurements and Nonprocurement Programs, DOJ and ED have determined
that matching against the DOJ data base is more efficient and effective
than access to the GSA List. The DOJ data base has specific information
about the Title IV, HEA programs for which individuals are ineligible
and has more complete identifying information about those individuals
than does the GSA List. Both these elements are essential for a
successful match.
4. Categories of Records and Individuals Covered by the Match
ED will submit for verification records from its Central Processing
System files (Federal Student Aid Application File (18-11-01)) the
social security number (SSN) and other identifying information for each
applicant for Title IV student financial assistance. ED will use the
SSN and the first two letters of an applicant's last name for the
match.
The DOJ Denial of Federal Benefits Clearing System (DEBAR)(OJP-
0013) contains the names, social security numbers, 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. 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.
5. Effective 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 OMB (or later if OMB objects to some or all of
the agreement), 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 thereafter, if the conditions specified in 5
U.S.C.552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.
6. Address for Receipt of Public Comments or Inquiries
Individuals wishing to comment on this matching program or obtain
additional information about the program including a copy of the
computer matching agreement between ED and DOJ should contact Ms. Edith
Bell, Program Specialist, U.S. Department of Education, Room, 3053,
ROB-3, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20202-5400. Telephone:
(202) 708-8242. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf
(TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-
800-877-8339.
You may inspect all public comments about this matching program at
Regional Office Building 3, 7th and D Streets, SW, Room 3045,
Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 am and 4 pm, Eastern time,
Monday through Friday of each week except Federal holidays.
Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an
alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape or computer
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding
paragraph.
Electronic Access to This Document
You may view this document in text or Adobe Portable Document
Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following sites:
http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm
http://www.ed.gov/news.html
http://ifap.ed.gov
To use the PDF you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with
Search, which is available free at the previous sites. If you have
questions about using the PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing Office
(GPO), toll free at 1-888-293-6498, or in the Washington, DC, area at
(202) 512-1530.
Note: The official version of this document is the document
published in the Federal Register.
Free Internet access to the official edition of the Federal
Register and the Code of Federal Regulations is available on GPO access
at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html
Dated: February 28, 2000.
Greg Woods,
Chief Operating Officer, Office of Student Financial Assistance.
[FR Doc. 00-5602 Filed 3-7-00; 8:45 am]
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