Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records-Financial Management System (FMS), 177-179 [E7-25520]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 2, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 177-179]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-25520]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records--Financial Management 
System (FMS)

AGENCY: Federal Student Aid, Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of a New System of Records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended 
(Privacy Act), (5 U.S.C. 552a), the Department of Education 
(Department) publishes this notice of a new system of records entitled 
the ``Financial Management System (FMS)'' (18-11-17).
    FMS interfaces with other Federal Student Aid systems and 
consolidates and centralizes all Federal Student Aid accounting and 
financial data into one system. FMS is a conduit (pass-through system) 
containing personally identifiable information that is obtained from 
other Federal Student Aid systems. FMS has been in operation since 
October 2001. However, because FMS maintains Privacy Act records and 
discloses these records to the United States Department of the Treasury 
and to loan holders, a management decision was made to treat FMS as an 
official system of records under the Privacy Act.

DATES: The Department seeks comment on the new system of records 
described in this notice, in accordance with the requirements of the 
Privacy Act. We must receive your comments on or before February 1, 
2008.
    The Department filed a report describing the new system of records 
covered by this notice with the Chair of the Senate Committee on 
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Chair of the House 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Administrator of 
the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) on December 27, 2007. This new system of records will 
become effective at the later date of--(1) The expiration of the 40-day 
period for OMB review on February 5, 2008, or (2) February 1, 2008 
unless the system of records needs to be changed as a result of public 
comment or OMB review.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about this new system of records to 
John Hurt, Director, Financial Management Group, Office of the Chief 
Financial Officer (OCFO), Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of 
Education, 830 First Street, NE., Union Center Plaza (UCP), room 54C3, 
Washington, DC, 20202-5345. If you prefer to send your comments through 
the Internet, use the following address: comments@ed.gov.
    You must include the term ``Financial Management System of 
Records'' in the subject line of your electronic comment.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public 
comments about this notice at the U.S. Department of Education in room 
54C3, UCP, 5th Floor, 830 First Street, NE., Washington, DC, between 
the hours of 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., eastern time, Monday through Friday 
of each week, except Federal holidays.

Assistance to Individuals With Disabilities in Reviewing the Rulemaking 
Record

    On request, we will supply an appropriate aid, such as a reader or 
print magnifier, to an individual with a disability who needs 
assistance to review the comments or other documents in the public 
rulemaking record for this notice.
    If you want to schedule an appointment for this type of aid, please 
contact the person listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Hurt. Telephone number: 202-377-
3453. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), you 
may call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.
    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 
alternative format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, or computer 
diskette) on request to the contact person listed in this section.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Introduction

    The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)) requires the Department to 
publish in the Federal Register this notice of a new system of records. 
The Department's regulations implementing the Privacy Act are contained 
in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) in 34 CFR part 5b.
    The Privacy Act applies to a record about an individual that is 
maintained in a system of records from which information is retrieved 
by a unique identifier associated with each individual, such as a name 
or social security number. The information about each individual is 
called a ``record,'' and the system, whether manual or computer-based, 
is called a ``system of records.'' The Privacy Act requires each agency 
to publish a system of records notice in the Federal Register and to 
submit, whenever the agency publishes a new system of records or makes 
a significant change to an established system of records, a report to 
the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
OMB. Each agency is also required to send copies of the report to the 
Chair of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House 
of Representatives, and to the Chair of the Committee on Homeland 
Security and Governmental Affairs of the Senate.

Electronic Access to This Document

    You can view this document, as well as all other documents of this 
Department published in the Federal Register, in text or Adobe Portable 
Document Format (PDF) on the Internet, at the following site: https://
www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.
    To use PDF you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available 
free at this site. If you have questions about using 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: https://www.gpoaccess.gov/
nara/.


    Dated: December 27, 2007.
Lawrence A. Warder,
Acting Chief Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid.

    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Acting Chief 
Operating Officer, Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education 
(Department) publishes a notice of a new system of records to read as 
follows:

[[Page 178]]

18-11-17

SYSTEM NAME:
    Financial Management System (FMS).

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    None.

SYSTEM LOCATION(S):
    (1) Financial Management Group, Office of the Chief Financial 
Officer (OCFO), Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education, 830 
First Street, NE., Union Center Plaza (UCP), room 54C3, Washington, DC 
20202-5345.
    (2) Perot Systems Corporation, 2300 W. Plano Parkway, Plano, TX 
75075-8427.
    (3) ACS Education Services, Inc., 501 Bleecker Street, Utica, NY 
13501-2401.
    (4) ACS Education Solutions, LLC, 12410 Milestone Center, 
Germantown, MD 20876-7101.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    This system contains records on those individual borrowers who are 
eligible for refunds of loan overpayments received by the Department's 
Office of Federal Student Aid under Title IV of the Higher Education 
Act of 1965, as amended.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    The FMS system contains personally identifiable information about 
individual borrowers who are entitled to a refund of an overpayment or 
discharge, or both. The system includes a borrower's social security 
number, name and address, amount of overpayment to be refunded, and 
name of the loan holder.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), (20 
U.S.C. 1070 et seq.).

PURPOSE(S):
    Information in this system is maintained for the purpose of 
processing refunds to borrowers or loan holders (lenders and guaranty 
agencies) for overpayments and discharges of Title IV Federal student 
aid. When a loan overpayment or loan discharge occurs and FMS receives 
loan refund information, FMS sends refund transaction data (the 
borrower's name and other identifiers) to the Department of Education's 
Central Automated Processing System (EDCAPS) for posting to the general 
ledger and subsequent payment by the Department of the Treasury to the 
borrower or loan holder (lenders and guaranty agencies).

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSE OF SUCH USES:
    The Department may disclose information contained in a record in 
this system of records without the consent of the individual if the 
disclosure is compatible with the purposes for which the record was 
collected.
    These disclosures may be made on a case-by-case basis, or, if the 
Department has complied with the computer matching requirements of the 
Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, as amended, under 
a computer matching agreement.
    (1) Program Disclosure. In order to refund loan overpayments back 
to the borrower or loan holder and to answer questions that may arise 
about the refund payments, the Department may disclose information from 
this system to the Department of the Treasury via Treasury's Electronic 
Certification System (eCS) or to the loan holder.
    (2) Contract Disclosure. If the Department contracts with an entity 
for the purposes of performing any function that requires disclosure of 
records in this system to employees of the contractor, the Department 
may disclose the records to those employees. Before entering into such 
a contract, the Department shall require the contractor to maintain 
Privacy Act safeguards as required under 5 U.S.C. 552a(m) with respect 
to the records in the system.
    (3) Research Disclosure. The Department may disclose records to a 
researcher if the Director, Financial Management Group, Office of Chief 
Financial Officer, Federal Student Aid, determines that the individual 
or organization to which the disclosure would be made is qualified to 
carry out specific research related to functions or purposes of this 
system of records. The Director may disclose records from this system 
of records to that researcher solely for the purpose of carrying out 
research related to the functions or purposes of this system of 
records. The researcher shall be required to maintain Privacy Act 
safeguards with respect to the disclosed records.
    (4) Disclosure for Use by Other Law Enforcement Agencies. The 
Department may disclose information to any Federal, State, local, or 
foreign agency or other public authority responsible for enforcing, 
investigating, or prosecuting violations of administrative, civil, or 
criminal law or regulation if that information is relevant to any 
enforcement, regulatory, investigative, or prosecutorial responsibility 
within the receiving entity's jurisdiction.
    (5) Enforcement Disclosure. In the event that information in this 
system of records indicates, either on its face or in connection with 
other information, a violation or potential violation of any applicable 
statute, Executive order, regulation, or rule of a competent authority, 
the Department may disclose the relevant records to the appropriate 
agency, whether foreign, Federal, State, Tribal, or local, charged with 
the responsibility of investigating or prosecuting that violation or 
charged with enforcing or implementing the statute, order, regulation, 
or rule, issued pursuant thereto.
    (6) Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Disclosure.
    (a) Introduction. In the event that one of the following parties 
listed below is involved in litigation or ADR, or has an interest in 
litigation or ADR, the Department may disclose certain records to the 
parties described in paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this routine use 
under the conditions specified in those paragraphs:
    (i) The Department or any of its components.
    (ii) Any Department employee in his or her official capacity.
    (iii) Any Department employee in his or her individual capacity if 
the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been requested to or has 
agreed to provide or arrange for representation for the employee.
    (iv) Any Department employee in his or her individual capacity 
where the Department has agreed to represent the employee.
    (v) The United States where the Department determines that the 
litigation is likely to affect the Department or any of its components.
    (b) Disclosure to the DOJ. If the Department determines that 
disclosure of certain records to the DOJ is relevant and necessary to 
litigation or ADR, the Department may disclose those records as a 
routine use to the DOJ.
    (c) Adjudicative Disclosure. If the Department determines that it 
is relevant and necessary to the litigation or ADR to disclose certain 
records to an adjudicative body before which the Department is 
authorized to appear, to an individual, or to an entity designated by 
the Department or otherwise empowered to resolve or mediate disputes, 
the Department may disclose those records as a routine use to the 
adjudicative body, individual, or entity.
    (d) Disclosure to Parties, Counsel, Representatives, or Witnesses. 
If the Department determines that disclosure of certain records to a 
party, counsel, representative, or witness is relevant and necessary to 
litigation or ADR, the

[[Page 179]]

Department may disclose those records as a routine use to a party, 
counsel, representative, or witness.
    (7) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or Privacy Act Advice 
Disclosure. The Department may disclose records to the DOJ or the OMB 
if the Department concludes that disclosure is desirable or necessary 
in determining whether particular records are required to be disclosed 
under the FOIA or Privacy Act.
    (8) Disclosure to the DOJ. The Department may disclose records to 
the DOJ to the extent necessary to obtain DOJ advice on any matter 
relevant to an audit, inspection, or other inquiry related to the 
programs covered by this system.
    (9) Congressional Member Disclosure. The Department may disclose 
the records of an individual to a member of Congress or the member's 
staff in response to an inquiry from the member made at the written 
request of that individual. The member's right to the information is no 
greater than the right of the individual who requested the inquiry.
    (10) Disclosure in the Course of Responding to Breach of Data. The 
Department may disclose records from this system of records to 
appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when: (a) The Department 
suspects or has confirmed that the security or confidentiality of 
information in the FMS has been compromised; (b) the Department has 
determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise, 
there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, identity 
theft or fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of the FMS or 
other systems or programs (whether maintained by the Department or 
another agency or entity) that rely upon the compromised information; 
and, (c) the disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and persons is 
reasonably necessary to assist in connection with the Department's 
efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed compromise and 
prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    Records are maintained in hardcopy, microfilm, magnetic storage and 
optical storage media, such as tape, disk, etc.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Records in this system are retrievable by social security number or 
name of borrower.

SAFEGUARDS:
    This system of records limits data access to Department and 
contract staff on a need-to-know basis and controls individual users' 
ability to access and alter records within the system. All users of 
this system of records are given a unique user identification and are 
required to establish a password that adheres to the Federal Student 
Aid Information Security and Privacy Policy requiring a complex 
password that must be changed every 60-90 days in accordance with 
Department information technology standards. Annually, all users of FMS 
must acknowledge the completion of FMS-specific security awareness 
training before they can obtain or renew their access to this system of 
records. An automated audit trail documents the identity of each person 
and device having access to FMS.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    FMS' records retention and disposal schedule is in compliance with 
the Department's Records Retention and Disposition Schedule (RRDS) 
policy and the guidance specified in the National Archives and Records 
Administration (NARA) General Records Schedule (GRS) 7 entitled 
``Expenditure Accounting Records.''

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
    (1) Financial Management System (FMS)--Director, Financial 
Management Group, OCFO, Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of 
Education, 830 1st Street, NE., UCP, Washington, DC 20202-5345.
    (2) Direct Loan Servicing System (DLSS)--Director, Servicing Group, 
Borrower Services, Federal Student Aid, U.S. Department of Education, 
830 1st Street, NE., UCP, Washington, DC 20202-5345.
    (3) Direct Loan Consolidation System (DLCS)--Director, 
Consolidation Group, Borrower Services, Federal Student Aid, U.S. 
Department of Education, 830 1st Street, NE., UCP, Washington, DC 
20202-5345.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to determine whether a record exists regarding you in 
the system of records, provide the system manager with your name, date 
of birth, and social security number. Your requests must meet the 
requirements of the regulations in 34 CFR 5b.5, including proof of 
identity.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to gain access to a record in this system of records, 
provide the system manager with your name, date of birth, and social 
security number. Your requests for access to a record must meet the 
requirements of the regulations in 34 CFR 5b.5, including proof of 
identity.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURE:
    If you wish to contest the content of a record regarding you in the 
system of records, contact the system manager. Your request to correct 
or amend a record must meet the requirements of the regulations in 34 
CFR 5b.7, including proof of identity, specification of the particular 
record that you are seeking to have changed, and the written 
justification for making such a change.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information in this system is obtained from other Department and 
contractor-managed systems, such as the Direct Loan Servicing, Direct 
Loan Consolidation System, Conditional Disability Discharge Tracking 
System, Campus Based Student Loan System, as well as manual and 
electronic processes internal to Federal Student Aid.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    None.
[FR Doc. E7-25520 Filed 12-31-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P