Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records, 28366-28368 [2012-11617]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 93 (Monday, May 14, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28366-28368]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-11617]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of an altered system of records.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended 
(Privacy Act), the Department of Education (Department) publishes this 
notice to revise the system of records notice for the Office of the 
Inspector General Data Analytics System (18-10-02). The Department 
amends this system of records notice by: (1) Clarifying the purposes of 
the system and adding that a purpose of the system is to coordinate 
relationships with other Federal, State, local, or foreign agencies or 
other public authorities responsible for assisting in the 
investigation, prosecution, oversight, or enforcement of violations of 
administrative, civil, or criminal law or regulations; (2) proposing to 
revise routine use (1), ``Disclosure for Use by Other Law Enforcement 
Agencies,'' to allow for the disclosure of information to a Federal, 
State, local, or foreign agency or other public authority responsible 
for assisting the Department in the investigation, prosecution, 
oversight, or enforcement of violations of administrative, civil, or 
criminal law or regulations; (3) proposing to revise routine use (12), 
``Disclosure to the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency 
(PCIE),'' to allow disclosure

[[Page 28367]]

to its successor entity, the Council of Inspectors General for 
Integrity and Efficiency or any successor entity; (4) revising the 
safeguards of the system to allow data in the system to be accessed by 
authorized users; and, (5) updating the person listed as the System 
Manager.

DATES: The Department seeks comments on the revised routine uses of the 
information in the altered system of records described in this notice, 
in accordance with the requirements of the Privacy Act. We must receive 
your comments on or before June 13, 2012.
    The Department filed a report describing the altered 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 May 9, 2012. This altered system of records will 
become effective at the later date of--(1) The expiration of the 40-day 
period for OMB review on June 18, 2012 unless OMB waives 10 days of its 
40-day review period, in which case on June 8, 2012, or (2) June 13, 
2012, unless the system of records needs to be changed as a result of 
public comment or OMB review. The Department will publish any changes 
to the revised routine use that results from public comment or OMB 
review of this notice.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments about the proposed routine uses to this 
altered system of records to Charles Coe, Assistant Inspector General 
for Information Technology Audits and Computer Crime Investigations, 
Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland 
Avenue SW., Room 8129, Potomac Center Plaza (PCP) building, Washington, 
DC 20202-1510. If you prefer to send comments by email, use the 
following address: comments@ed.gov.
    You must include the term ``OIG Data Analytics System'' in the 
subject line of your electronic message.
    During and after the comment period, you may inspect all public 
comments about this notice at the U.S. Department of Education, PCP 
Building, Room 8166, 500 12th Street SW., Washington, DC 20202-0028, 
between the hours of 8:00 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 provide an appropriate accommodation or 
auxiliary aid 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 accommodation or auxiliary aid, please contact the person 
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Shelley Shepherd, Assistant Counsel to 
the Inspector General, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., room 8166, PCP 
building, Washington, DC 20202-1510. Telephone: (202) 245-7077. If you 
use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) or a text telephone 
(TTY), you can call the Federal Relay Service (FRS) at 1-800-877-8339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    The Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires the Department to publish 
in the Federal Register this notice of an altered system of records (5 
U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and (11)). The Department's regulations implementing 
the Privacy Act are contained in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 
in 34 CFR part 5b. The Department first published notice of the Office 
of the Inspector General Data Analytics System (18-10-02) in the 
Federal Register on October 16, 2008 (73 FR 61406).
    The Privacy Act applies to information about an individual that 
contains individually identifying information that 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 notice of a 
system of records in the Federal Register and to prepare a report to 
OMB whenever the agency publishes a new system of records or makes a 
significant change to an established system of records. Each agency is 
also required to send copies of the report to the Chair of the Senate 
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Chair 
of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The report 
is intended to permit an evaluation of the probable or potential effect 
of the proposal on the privacy rights of individuals.
    Accessible Format: Individuals with disabilities can obtain this 
document in an accessible format (e.g., braille, large print, 
audiotape, or compact disc) on request to the contact person listed 
under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
    Electronic Access to This Document: 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 via the Federal Digital System 
at: www.gpo.gov/fdsys. 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 Adobe 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: 
www.federalregister.gov. Specifically, through the advanced search 
feature at this site, you can limit your search to documents published 
by the Department.

    Dated: May 9, 2012.
Kathleen S. Tighe,
Inspector General.
    For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Inspector General of 
the U.S. Department of Education publishes a notice of an altered 
system of records. The following amendments are made to the Notice of 
New System of Records entitled ``The Office of Inspector General Data 
Analytics Program (ODAS)'' (18-10-02), as published in the Federal 
Register on October 16, 2008 (73 FR 61406-61412):
    1. On page 61409, third column, under the heading ``PURPOSE(S)'', 
the paragraph is revised to read as follows:

PURPOSES:

    This system of records is maintained for purposes of: (1) 
Enabling the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to fulfill the 
requirements of section (4)(a)(1), (3), and (4) of the Inspector 
General Act of 1978, as amended, which require OIG to provide policy 
direction for and to conduct, supervise, and coordinate audits and 
investigations relating to the programs and operations of the 
Department; to conduct, supervise and coordinate activities for the 
purpose of promoting economy and efficiency in the administration 
of, or preventing and detecting fraud, and abuse in, the programs 
and operations of the Department; and to conduct, supervise, or 
coordinate relationships between other Federal, State, and local 
agencies with respect to matters relating to economy and efficiency, 
or the prevention and detection of fraud, and abuse in programs and 
operations of the Department or the identification and

[[Page 28368]]

prosecution of participants in such fraud, or abuse; (2) improving 
the efficiency, quality, and accuracy of existing data collected by 
the Department; (3) conducting data modeling for indications of 
fraud, waste, and abuse, and internal control weaknesses concerning 
Department programs and operations, the results of which may be used 
in the conduct of audits, investigations, inspections, or other 
activities as necessary to promote economy and efficiency and to 
prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse in Department programs 
and operations; and (4) coordinating relationships with other 
Federal, State, local, or foreign agencies or other public 
authorities responsible for assisting in the investigation, 
prosecution, oversight, or enforcement of violations of 
administrative, civil, or criminal law or regulations.

    2. On page 61410, first column, under the heading ``Routine Uses of 
Records Maintained in the System, including Categories of Users and the 
Purposes for Such Uses'', the paragraph labeled ``(1) Disclosure for 
Use by Other Law Enforcement Agencies'', is revised to read as follows:
    ``(1) Disclosure for Use by Other Law Enforcement Agencies. The 
Department may disclose information from this system of records as a 
routine use to any Federal, State, local, foreign agency, or other 
public authority responsible for enforcing, investigating, prosecuting, 
overseeing, or assisting in the enforcement, investigation, 
prosecution, or oversight of, violations of administrative, civil, or 
criminal law or regulation if that information is relevant to any 
enforcement, regulatory, investigative, prosecutorial, or oversight 
responsibility of the Department or of the receiving entity.''
    3. On page 61411, first column, under the heading ``Routine Uses of 
Records Maintained in the System, including Categories of Users and the 
Purposes for Such Uses'', the paragraph labeled ``Disclosure to the 
President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE)'', is revised to 
read as follows:
    ``(12) Disclosure to the Council of Inspectors General for 
Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE). The Department may disclose records 
as a routine use to members and employees of the CIGIE, or any 
successor entity, for the preparation of reports to the President and 
Congress on the activities of the Inspectors General.''
    4. On page 61411, 2nd column, under the heading labeled 
``Safeguards'', paragraphs 1 and 2 are revised to read as follows:

    ``Access to data in ODAS is restricted to authorized users and 
is recorded in an access log. All physical access to the 
Department's site where this system of records is maintained is 
controlled and monitored by security personnel who check each 
individual entering the building for his or her employee or visitor 
badge. All data maintained in the system of records are kept on a 
secured and restricted private network and stored in a combination 
locked computer laboratory. ODAS is housed within a secure and 
controlled computer lab. Physical access to the lab is by authorized 
OIG personnel only. The general public does not have access to ODAS.
    All information stored in this system is secured by using 
database encryption technology and is resistant to tampering and 
circumvention by unauthorized users. Access to data by all users 
will be monitored using both automated and manual controls. The 
information is accessed by users either on a ``need to know'' and 
intended systems usage basis or pursuant to a published routine use 
and consistent with the purposes of the system.

    5. On page 61411, 3rd column, under the heading ``SYSTEM MANAGER 
AND ADDRESS'', the paragraph is revised to read as follows:

SYSTEM MANAGER AND ADDRESS:

    Director, Computer Assisted Assessment Techniques, Information 
Technology Audits and Computer Crimes Investigations, Department of 
Education, Office of Inspector General, 400 Maryland Avenue SW., 
PCP, Washington, DC 20202-1510.

[FR Doc. 2012-11617 Filed 5-11-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000-01-P