[Federal Register: June 16, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 115)]
[Notices]
[Page 35137-35140]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16jn05-84]
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PEACE CORPS
Privacy Act of 1974, Systems of Records
AGENCY: Peace Corps.
ACTION: Notice of establishment of new system of records.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5
U.S.C. 552a), the Peace Corps is establishing a new system of records,
PC-28 entitled ``Applications for Employment.''
DATES: Please submit any comments within 40 days of publication on or
before July 10, 2005. Unless the Peace Corps receives comments that
would require another determination, this system becomes effective on
July 11, 2005.
[[Page 35138]]
ADDRESSES: Please submit any comments within 40 days of publication on
or before July 10, 2005 to Director, Human Resources Management OR
Records Management Officer Peace Corps Headquarters, 1111 20th St.,
NW., Washington, DC 20526.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 552a(e)(4) and (11) of Title 5 of
the United States Code provides that the public be given a 30-day
period in which to comment on the new system. The Office of Management
and Budget (OMB), which was oversight responsibility under the Act,
requires a 40-day period in which to review the proposed system. In
accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), Peace Corps has provided a report on
this system to OMB and the Congress.
PEACE CORPS (PC-28)
System Name:
Applications for Employment.
System Location:
Office of Management, Human Resources Management, 1111 20th Street
NW., Washington, DC 20526. Occasionally located on a temporary basis in
domestic regional offices and overseas Posts. Electronic records are
stored offsite by a contracted agent of the agency in a secure
facility.
Categories of Individuals Covered by System:
All applicants for employment with the Peace Corps (including
unsuccessful applicants); all application documents and materials of
current and former Foreign Service (FS) employees of the Peace Corps
excluding Presidential Appointments, employees under full-time, part-
time, intermittent, temporary, and limited appointments; anyone serving
in an advisory capacity (compensated and uncompensated) and expert
consultants; application documents and materials of other agency
employees on detail; student applicants for internships, student
interns and other student summer hires, Stay-in-School student
employees, and Cooperative Education Program participants; Persons who
have applied to the agency for Federal employment and current and
former Federal employees submitting applications for other positions in
the Federal service and within Peace Corps.
Categories of record in the system:
To the extent that an agency utilizes and automated medium in
connection with maintenance of records in this system, the automated
versions of these records are considered covered by this system of
records.
Application forms, resumes, and related correspondence. Position
vacancy announcement information such as position title, series and
grade level(s), office and duty location, opening and closing date of
the announcement, and dates of referral and return of lists of
qualified candidates; applicant personal data such as name, address,
social security number, date of birth, sex, veterans' preference and
federal competitive status; and applicant qualification and processing
information such as qualifications, grade level eligibility, reason for
ineligibility, referral status, and dates of notification.
Related correspondence may include referral letters and memoranda
relating to the application process; education and training related
documentation; employment history and earnings; honors, awards or
fellowships; military service; convictions or offenses against the law;
names of relatives employed in the Federal service; qualification
determinations; employment consideration; priority groupings;
correspondence relating to the consideration of the individual for
employment. These records may also include copies of correspondence
(electronic and otherwise) between the applicant and the Office or
agency and other items provided by applicants but not specifically
requested by the agency.
This system also includes any Peace Corps employment application
materials established for making appointments outside a register; or
reassignments, promotions, reinstatements, or transfers of Federal
employees into positions at Peace Corps.
These records also contain information on the ranking of an
applicant, his or her placement on a list of eligible, what
certificates/rosters applicant's names appeared on, requests for Office
approval of or opposition to an eligible qualifications and the
Office's decision in the matter, an office's request for approval for
the agency to pass over an eligible and the Office's decision in the
matter, and an agency's decision: to object/pass over an eligible when
the agency has authority to make such decisions. Reasons for when the
objection/pass over decision applies to a compensable preference
eligible with 30 percent or more disability. Records may also include:
Agency applicant file systems where the agency retains applications,
resumes, and other related records for hard-to-fill or unique positions
for future consideration. Records and statements related to an
applicant's involvement in intelligence related activities.
Authority for Maintenance of System:
The Peace Corps Act, 22 U.S.C. 2501, et. seq., including 22 U.S.C.
2506 and 22 U.S.C. 3901 et seq. (Foreign Service Act of 1980).
Routine Uses of records maintained in the system, including categories
of users and the purposes of such uses:
Used to evaluate qualifications of potential candidates by the
Director, Human Resource Management and his/her delegates, Executive
Staff, Hiring Managers and their delegates, other supervisors and
personnel security staff. These records also may be reviewed by staff
with internal audit responsibilities. The records are available to
personnel specialists who review the applicants' qualifications and
consider them for appropriate agency vacancies. More specifically these
records and the information in these records may be used: General
Routine Uses A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, and K apply to this system.
Records May Also Be Disclosed To:
a. In contacting persons named as references, and present or former
supervisors, for purposes of commenting upon, rating or verifying
information about past performance submitted as part of job
application.
b. To provide information to other Federal agencies, state
governments, foreign governments and international organizations where
employees are being considered for detail, assignment or secondment.
c. By attorneys, union representatives or other persons designated
by employees in writing to represent them in complaints, grievance,
appeal, litigation cases or administrative processes;
d. To disclose information to the Department of Labor, Department
of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration, Department of
Defense, or any other Federal agencies that have special civilian
employee retirement and disability programs; or to a national, state,
county, municipal, or other publicly recognized charitable or income
security, administration agency (e.g., State unemployment compensation
agencies), when necessary to adjudicate a claim under the retirement,
insurance, unemployment or health benefits programs of the agency or an
agency cited above, or to an agency to conduct an analytical study or
audit of benefits being paid or to be paid under such programs.
e. To provide an official of another Federal agency with
information needed in the performance of official duties in
[[Page 35139]]
support of the functions for which the records were collected and
maintained.
Policies and Practices for Storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining,
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
These records are electronic media and hard copy. Records are
maintained on data storage devices, lists, forms and hard copy record
files. Electronic records are maintained within Peace Corps on
proprietary systems or within an automated application system on data
storage devices. Information contained in the automated system is
housed offsite in a secure location as government owned and retrievable
information. All information, regardless of media, is retained to be
available in document form.
Retrieval:
These records may be retrieved by the names of the individuals on
whom they are maintained or by vacancy announcement number. In the
Personnel Office, the records are recorded by name and vacancy
announcement number. They can also be retrieved, by any common
identifier in the automated application. These may be by individual
name, social security number, vacancy announcement, demographic fields,
veteran's status, current grade, grade applied for, or any other data
fields completed by the applicant. Records are generally retrieved by
the name with the social security number or date birth as a secondary
identifier when necessary.
Accessibility/Safeguards:
All Peace Corps employees have undergone background investigations.
Access to the Agency is controlled by security guards and admission is
limited to those individuals possessing a valid identification card or
individuals under proper escort. The HRM office is in a secondary
secured area where even Peace Corps employees not within the HRM
organization are required to have escorts. All records containing
personal information are maintained in secured file cabinets or in
restricted areas, access to which is limited to authorized personnel.
Access to computerized files is password-protected and under the direct
supervision of the system manager. The system manager and contractor
has the capability of printing audit trails of access through the
computer media, thereby permitting regular and ad hoc monitoring of
system usage. Automated media is access limited to authorized personnel
whose duties require access. Access to and use of these records are
limited to those persons whose official duties require such access. The
AVUE system is secured by password and through a permissions based
system. Permission is granted by a system administrator. Remote data
storage facilities are secured through physical and system-based
safeguards. Electronic files are password protected and accessible only
by authorized personnel. Data maintained electronically at Peace Corps
is on network servers and located in a locked room with physical access
limited to authorized personnel.
Retention and disposal:
Applications from individuals who are selected for positions with
the Peace Corps are placed on the permanent side of the employee's
Official Personnel Folder. Paper applications rejected in the initial
review because they do not meet requirements for Agency employment and
applications which appear to meet requirements for Agency employment,
but which are subsequently rejected, are retained for two years and
then destroyed. Electronic media files are maintained indefinitely for
the applicant to draw upon when seeking future opportunities. These
files also remain available for the Agency when searching for qualified
applicants for the variety of positions available agency-wide. Paper
files on applicants who may be of interest at a later date are also
retained indefinitely. In divisional or regional offices, the paper
records may be retained for an indefinite period of time. They are then
forwarded to HRM or discarded. Applicant records, whether electronic
media or hard copy will be maintained until they become inactive at
which time they will be retired or destroyed in accordance with
published records schedules of the Peace Corps or as approved by the
National Archives and Records Administration. Most records are retained
for a period of 2 years. Some records are destroyed by shredding or
burning while magnetic tapes or disks are erased.
System Manager(s) and Address:
Director, Human Resources Management OR Records Management Officer
Peace Corps Headquarters, 1111 20th St. NW., Washington, DC 20526.
Notification Procedures:
Any individual who wants to know whether this system of records
contains a record about him or her, who wants access to his or her
record, or who wants to contest the contents of a record, should make a
written request to the System Manager. Requests should be accepted for
processing if they contain sufficient information to convince the
System Manager that the requester is the subject of the records,
including identifying information needed to locate your record and a
brief description of the item or items of information required.
Requesters will be required to provide adequate identification, such as
a driver's license, employment identification card, passport, or other
identifying documents. Requests for correction or amendment must
identify the record to be changed and the corrective action sought.
Complete Peace Corps Privacy Act procedures are set out in 22 CFR part
308.
Record Access Procedures:
Requests from individuals should be addressed as indicated in the
Notification section above. Individuals who wish to amend records
pertaining to themselves should also address their requests as
described in the Notification section above.
Contesting Record procedures:
Individuals wishing to contest or amend information maintained in
this system should specify the information being contested, the reasons
for contesting it, and the proposed amendment to such information.
Individuals have the right to request that we amend a record pertaining
to them when it is believed to be inaccurate, or lacks relevance,
timeliness, or completeness. At the time we grant access to a record,
we will furnish guidelines for you to request amendment to the record.
Requests for amendments to records must be in writing and mailed or
delivered to the FOIA/Privacy Act Officer, FOIA/Privacy Act Office,
Peace Corps Headquarters, 1111 20th St. NW., Washington, DC 20526, who
will coordinate the review of the request to amend the record with the
appropriate office(s). Such requests must contain, at a minimum,
identifying information needed to locate the record, a brief
description of the item or items of information to be amended, and the
reason for the requested change. The requester should submit as much
documentation, arguments or other data as seems warranted to support
the request for amendment. We will review all requests for amendments
to records within 20 working days of receipt of the request and either
make the changes or inform you of our refusal to do so and the reasons.
Record Source Categories:
These records are normally submitted by the individuals seeking
employment Some records could come from
[[Page 35140]]
individuals or employment agencies sponsoring the applications.
Information in this system of records is provided by:
(a) The individual to whom the information pertains;
(b) Peace Corps officials;
(c) Other sources contacted to provide additional information about
the individual under appropriate routine uses listed above in the
notice. System exempted from certain provisions of the Privacy Act:
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(4), records contained within this system
that are required by statute to be maintained and used solely for
statistical purposes are exempted from 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3), (d),
(e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H) and (I), and (f). Pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
552a(k)(5)), certain records contained within this system contain
confidential source information and are exempted from 5 U.S.C.
552a(c)(3), (d), (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H) and (I), and (f). Pursuant to 5
U.S.C. 552a(k)(6), records that contain testing or examination material
the release of which may compromise testing or examination procedures
are also exempted from 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3), (d), (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H)
and (I), and (f).
Dated: June 6, 2005.
Gilbert Smith,
Associate Director for Management.
[FR Doc. 05-11843 Filed 6-10-05; 3:21 pm]
BILLING CODE 6051-01-M