Department of Education May 31, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (Privacy Act) (5 U.S.C. 552a), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Final Guidance Interpreting the Provisions of Public Law 100-503, the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988, 54 FR 25818 (June 19, 1989), and OMB Circular A-130, Appendix I, notice is hereby given of the renewal of the computer matching program between the U.S. Department of Education (ED) (the recipient agency) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) (the source agency). After the ED and VA Data Integrity Boards approve a new computer matching agreement (CMA), the computer matching program will begin on the effective date as specified in the CMA and as indicated in paragraph 5 of this notice. In accordance with the Privacy Act and applicable OMB guidance, the following information is provided:

The Secretary invites guaranty agencies with agreements to participate in the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program to submit proposals to enter into a Voluntary Flexible Agreement (VFA) with the Secretary, as authorized by section 428A of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA). Guaranty agencies whose proposals are accepted will operate under the requirements of the VFA in lieu of the guaranty agency agreements established under sections 428(b) and (c) of the HEA. The intent of this invitation is for the Secretary to receive proposals from guaranty agencies or from teams of guaranty agencies, that will lead to the development of VFAs that will enhance the integrity and stability of the FFEL Program, improve services to students, schools and lenders, and use Federal resources more cost- effectively and efficiently. The Secretary is particularly interested in receiving proposals that eliminate poorly aligned incentives in the current guaranty agency structure as well as the conflicts of interest that may potentially exist when a guaranty agency is responsible for both default prevention and default collections. The Secretary invites the submission of either individual proposals from a single guaranty agency or joint proposals from teams of guaranty agencies. However, under the Secretary's planned reorganization of guaranty agency responsibilities, as described in the ``Scope of the VFAs'' section of this notice, it is likely that joint proposals would result in greater efficiencies and ease of implementation. A joint proposal, if approved, will result in separate, but complementary, VFAs for each of the agencies in the team. A guaranty agency may submit more than one proposal in response to this notice. However, an agency will have only one VFA, that could provide that the agency assume a number of different guaranty agency activities as described in the GA Responsibility Areas section of this notice. This notice provides information on the scope and conditions of VFA proposals that the Secretary is seeking, the procedures for the submission of VFA proposals, the information that must be included in a VFA proposal submitted in response to this notice, and the steps the Secretary will take when finalizing a VFA.

The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Privacy, Information and Records Management Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13).