Effective Date: August 8, 2010
(71 F.R. 16397)
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION NOTICE OF SYSTEM OF RECORDS
REQUIRED BY THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974
System number:
60-0372
System name:
Economic
Recovery List (ERL) Database, Social Security Administration
Security classification:
None.
System location:
Social
Security Administration
Office of
Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems
6401
Security Boulevard
Baltimore,
Maryland 21235
Categories of individuals covered by
the system:
Persons receiving benefits under Title II and XVI of the
Social Security Act, as well as those covered by the Railroad Retirement Board
(RRB) and the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Benefits Administration
(VBA). Executors or other persons
qualified to receive a decedent’s payment in the event that, between
when a person is determined eligible and issuance of the payment, that
person has died.
Categories of records in the system:
This system will contain information regarding the payees
and payments made under provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 (ARRA) or other similar legislation. For Title II and Title XVI
beneficiaries, this system will contain the person’s Social Security number
(SSN), claim account number, beneficiary identification code, reason for
non-payment, and post-payment information such as DOT Offset Payment (TOP),
returned payment, returned payment, non-receipt claims, reclamation claims,
limited payability data, and the name of an executor or other person qualified
to receive payment, tax identification number, and mailing address for
reissuance of payment to the estate of the deceased if, between the
determination that a person is eligible and the issuance of payment that person
has died. For payments made by
RRB and VBA, the system will contain the person’s SSN. For all payments the system will contain the agency that qualified
the person to receive the payment.
Authority for maintenance of the
system:
Title II,
Section 2201, Subtitle C of the ARRA.
Purpose(s):
We will
use data in this system to determine persons eligible for a one-time payment
under the ARRA, or any subsequent payments authorized under an amendment to or
legislation similar to the ARRA, and to prevent duplicate
payments to those who qualify under more than one criterion.
Routine uses of records maintained in
the system, including categories of users and the purpose of such uses:
Disclosure
may be made for routine uses as indicated below:
1. To
the Department of the Treasury to prepare checks or payments it will send to
those persons eligible for the one-time payment, or similar payments
subsequently authorized under the ARRA or other legislation.
2. To the Department of the Treasury to allow the Department to
recover debts to the Federal government under the Treasury Offset Program.
3. To
the Internal Revenue Service to allow for administration of the Make Work Pay
credit.
4. To
the Office of the President in response to an inquiry from that office made at
the request of the subject of the record or a third party on that person’s
behalf.
5. To
a congressional office in response to an inquiry from that
office made at the request of the subject of a record or a third party on that
person’s behalf.
6. To
the Department of Justice (DOJ), a court, other tribunal, or another party
before such court or tribunal when:
a)
The agency or any of our components; or
b)
Any agency employee in his or her official
capacity; or
c)
Any agency employee in his or her
individual capacity when DOJ (or the agency when we are authorized to do so)
has agreed to represent the employee; or
d)
the United States or any agency thereof
when we determine that the litigation is likely to affect our operations or any
of its components,
is party to the litigation or has an
interest in such litigation, and we determine that the use of such records by
DOJ, a court, other tribunal, or another party before such court or tribunal is
relevant and necessary to the litigation.
In each case, however, we must determine that such disclosure is compatible
with the purpose for which we collected the records.
7. To our contractors and other Federal agencies, as necessary, to
assist us in efficiently administering our programs.
8. To
student volunteers, persons working under a personal services contract, and
others who are not technically Federal
employees, when they are performing work for us as authorized by law, and they
need access to information in our records in order to perform their assigned
agency duties.
9. To
the Railroad Retirement Board and Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans
Benefits Administration, to identify persons who qualify for a payment as a
beneficiary from more than one agency.
10. To
the appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies, entities, and persons when:
a)
we suspect or confirm that the security or
confidentiality of information in this system of records has been compromised;
b)
we determine that as a result of the
suspected or confirmed compromise there is a risk of harm to economic or
property interests, risk of identity theft or fraud, or harm to the security or
integrity of this system or our other systems or programs that rely upon the
compromised information; and
c)
we determine that
disclosing the information to such agencies, entities, and persons is necessary
to assist in our efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise
and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
We will use this routine use to respond only to those incidents
involving an unintentional release of our records.
11. To
Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies and private security
contractors, as appropriate, information necessary:
a)
to enable them to ensure the safety of our
employees and customers, the security of our workplace, and the operation of
our facilities; or
b)
to assist investigations
or prosecutions with respect to activities that affect such safety, security,
or activities that disrupt the operation of our facilities.
12. To
the General Services Administration and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) under 44 U.S.C. §§
2904 and 2906, as amended by the NARA Act, information that is not restricted
from disclosure by Federal law for their use in conducting records management
studies.
Policies and practices for storing,
retrieving, accessing, retaining and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
We
maintain and store records in this system in electronic form.
Retrievability:
We retrieve records by
beneficiary Social Security number, claim account number, or beneficiary
identification code.
Safeguards:
We retain
electronic files with personal identifiers in secure storage areas accessible
only to our authorized employees and contractors who have a need for the
information when performing their official duties. Security measures include the use of access
codes (personal identification number (PIN) and password) to enter our computer
systems that house the data.
We
annually provide all our employees and contractors with appropriate security
awareness and training that includes reminders about the need to protect
personally identifiable information and the criminal penalties that apply to
unauthorized access to, or disclosure of, personally identifiable information
(5 U.S.C. § 552a(i)(l)). Furthermore, employees
and contractors with access to databases maintaining personally identifiable
information must sign a sanction document annually, acknowledging their
accountability for inappropriately accessing or disclosing such information.
Retention and disposal:
We
maintain records in SSA headquarters within the Office of Retirement and
Survivors Insurance Systems. We will
maintain these records for seven years, pending application of an appropriate
General Records Schedule, or approval by
System manager and address:
Project
Manager
Office of
Retirement and Survivors Insurance Systems
Social
Security Administration
6401
Security Boulevard
Baltimore,
Maryland 21235-6401
Notification procedure:
Persons
can determine if this system contains a record about them by writing to the
system manager at the above address and providing their name, SSN, or other
information in this system of records that will identify them. Persons requesting notification by mail must
include a notarized statement to us to verify their identity or must certify in
the request that they are the person they claim to be and that they understand
that the knowing and willful request for, or acquisition of, a record
pertaining to another person under false pretenses is a criminal offense.
Persons
requesting notification of records in person must provide the same information,
as well as provide an identity document, preferably with a photograph, such as
a driver's license. Persons lacking
identification documents sufficient to establish their identity must certify in
writing that they are the person they claim to be and that they understand that
the knowing and willful request for, or acquisition of, a record pertaining to
another person under false pretenses is a criminal offense.
Persons
requesting notification by telephone must verify their identity by providing
identifying information that parallels the information in the record about
which they are requesting notification.
If we determine that the identifying information the person provides by
telephone is insufficient, we will require the person to submit a request in
writing or in person. If a person
requests information by telephone on behalf of another person, the subject
person must be on the telephone with the requesting person and us in the same
phone call. We will establish the
subject person’s identity (his or her name, SSN, address, date of birth, and
place of birth, along with one other piece of
information such as mother's maiden name) and ask for his or her consent to provide
information to the requesting person.
These procedures are in accordance with our regulations at 20 C.F.R. §§
401.40 and 401.45.
Record access procedures:
Same as notification procedures. Persons also should reasonably specify the
record contents they are seeking. These
procedures are in accordance with our regulations (20 C.F.R. § 401.40(c)).
Contesting record procedures:
Same as notification procedures. Persons also should reasonably identify the
record, specify the information they are contesting, and state the corrective
action sought and the reasons for the correction with supporting justification
showing how the record is incomplete, untimely, inaccurate, or irrelevant. These procedures are in accordance with our
regulations (20 C.F.R. § 401.65(a)).
Record source categories:
We obtain
data covered by this system of records from information in our existing systems
of records (e.g., the Master Beneficiary Record, 60‑0090 and Supplemental
Security Income Record and Special Veterans Benefits, 60-0103), as well as from
systems of records of the Railroad Retirement Board and Veterans Benefits
Administration. We may also obtain data from an executor or other person
qualified to receive a decedent’s payment in the event that, between
when a person is determined eligible and the issuance of payment, that
person has died.
Systems exempt from certain
provisions of the Privacy Act:
None.