Subject: Master Representative Payee File, Social Security Administration, Office of Income Security Programs
From: <Saved by Microsoft Internet Explorer 5>
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 09:00:39 -0400

Effective Date:
February 1, 2006

(71 F.R.
5397)

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
NOTICE OF SYSTEM OF RECORDS REQUIRED BY THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974

System number:  60-0222

System name:

Master Representative Payee File,
Social Security Administration, Office of Income Security Programs.

Security
classification:

None.

System Location:

National Computer
Center

Social Security
Administration

6201 Security
Boulevard

Baltimore, MD
21235

The system database will be
available by direct electronic access by Social Security field offices (FO).

Field Office (FO) addresses and
telephone numbers can be found in local telephone directories under “Social
Security Administration,” (SSA) or by accessing:

www.ssa.gov/regions/regional.html.

Categories of individuals covered
by the system:

This system maintains information
about all payees and payee applicants, including persons whose certifications as
representative payees have been revoked or terminated on or after January 1,
1991; persons who have been convicted of a violation of section 208 or section
1632 of the Social Security Act; persons convicted under other statutes in
connection with services as a representative payee; persons whose certification
as a representative payee SSA has revoked due to misuse of funds paid under
Title II and Title XVI of the Social Security Act; persons who are acting or
have acted as representative payees; representative payee applicants who were
not selected to serve as representative payees; representative payee applicants
who have been convicted of an offense resulting in more than one (1) year
imprisonment; payees and payee applicants who have an outstanding felony
warrant; organizational payees who have been authorized to collect a fee for
their service; and beneficiaries/applicants who are being served by
representative payees.

Categories of records in the
system:

Records in this system consist
of:

Names and Social Security numbers
(SSNs) (or employer identification numbers (EINs)) of representative payees
whose certifications for payment of benefits as representative payees have been
revoked or terminated on or after January 1, 1991, because of misuse of benefits
under Title II or Title XVI of the Social Security Act;

Names and SSNs (or EINs) of all
persons convicted of violations of sections 208 or 1632 of the Social Security
Act;

Names, addresses, and SSNs (or
EINs) of persons convicted of violations of statutes other than sections 208 and
1632 of the Social Security Act, when such violations were committed in
connection with the individual’s service as a Social Security representative
payee;

Names, addresses, SSNs, and
information about the crime reported by the payee for those who have an
outstanding felony warrant or who have been imprisoned for a period exceeding
one (1) year.  (An indicator will be used in the system to identify persons
identified as having an outstanding felony warrant);

Names, addresses, and SSNs (or
EINs) of representative payees who are receiving benefit payments pursuant to
section 205(j) or section 1631(a)(2) of the Social Security Act;

Names, addresses, and SSNs of
individuals for whom representative payees are reported to be providing
representative payee services under section 205(j) or section 1631(a)(2) of the
Social Security Act;

Names, addresses, and SSNs of
representative payee applicants who were not selected as representative
payees;

Names, addresses, and SSNs of
persons who were terminated as representative payees for reasons other than
misuse of benefits paid to them on behalf of beneficiaries/recipients;

Information on the representative
payee’s relationship to the beneficiaries/recipients they serve;

Names, addresses, EINs and
qualifying information of organizations authorized to charge a fee for providing
representative payee services;

Codes which indicate the
relationship (other than familial) between the beneficiaries/recipients and the
individuals who have custody of the beneficiaries/recipients;

Dates and reasons for payee
terminations (e.g., performance not acceptable, death of payee, beneficiary in
direct payment, etc.) and revocations;

Codes indicating whether
representative payee applicants were selected or not selected;

Dates and reasons representative
payee applicants were not selected to serve as payees, and dates and reasons for
changes of payees (e.g., beneficiary in direct payment, etc.);

Amount of benefits misused;

Identification number assigned to
the claim on which the misuse occurred;

Date of the determination of
misuse; and

Information about a felony
conviction reported by the representative payee.

Authority for maintenance of the
system:  Sections 205(a), 205(j), 1631(a) of the Social Security Act, and
the Social Security Protection Act of 2004 (Pub. L. No. 108-203).

Purpose(s):

Information maintained in this
system will assist SSA in the representative payee selection process by enabling
Social Security field offices to more carefully screen applicants and to
determine their suitability to become representative payees.  SSA also will
use the data for management information and workload projection purposes and to
prepare annual reports to Congress on representative payee
activities.

Routine uses of records maintained
in the system, including categories of users and the purposes of such
uses:  Disclosure may be made for routine uses as indicated below.
However, disclosure of any information defined as “return or return
information,” under 26 U.S.C. 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, will not be
disclosed unless authorized by a statute, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or
IRS regulations.

To the Department of Justice (DOJ), a court or other tribunal, or another party
before such tribunal, when:

the Social Security Administration
(SSA), or any component thereof; or

any SSA employee in his/her
official capacity; or

any SSA employee in his/her
individual capacity where DOJ (or SSA, where it is authorized to do so) has
agreed to represent the employee; or

the United States or any agency
thereof where SSA determines that the litigation is likely to affect SSA or any
of its components, is a party to litigation or has an interest in such
litigation, and SSA determines that the use of such records by DOJ, a court or
other tribunal, or another party before the tribunal, is relevant and necessary
to the litigation, provided, however, that in each case, SSA determines that
such disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which the records were
collected.

To a congressional office in
response to an inquiry from that office made at the request of the subject of
the records.

To the General Services
Administration and the National Archives Records Administration (NARA) under 44
U.S.C. § 2904 and § 2906, as amended by the NARA Act of 1984, information which
is not restricted from disclosure by Federal law for the use of those agencies
in conducting records management studies.

To the Department of Veterans
Affairs, Regional Office, Manila, Philippines, for the administration of the
Social Security Act in the Philippines and other parts of the Asia-Pacific
region, through services and facilities of that agency.

To the Department of State for
administration of the Social Security Act in foreign countries, through services
and facilities of that agency.

To the American Institute, a
private corporation under contract to the Department of State, for administering
the Social Security Act on Taiwan, through facilities and services of that
agency.

To the Department of Justice
for:

investigating and prosecuting violations of the Social Security Act to which
criminal penalties attach,representing the Commissioner of Social Security, and
investigating issues of fraud or violations of civil rights by officers or
employees of the Social Security Administration.

To the Office of the President for
responding to an inquiry received from that individual or from a third party
acting on that individual's behalf.

To the Department of Veterans
Affairs (DVA) for the shared administration of DVA’s and the Social Security
Administration's representative payee programs.

To contractors and other Federal
Agencies, as necessary, for the purpose of assisting the Social Security
Administration (SSA) in the efficient administration of its programs.  We
will disclose information under this routine use only in situations in which SSA
may enter into a contractual or similar agreement to obtain assistance in
accomplishing an SSA function relating to this system of records.

To a third party such as a
physician, social worker, or community service worker, who has, or is expected
to have, information which is needed to evaluate one or both of the
following:

the claimant's capability to
manage or direct the management of his/her affairs.

any case in which
disclosure aids investigation of suspected misuse of benefits, abuse or fraud,
or is necessary for program integrity, or quality appraisal
activities.

To a third party, where necessary,
information pertaining to the identity of a payee or payee applicant, the fact
of the person's application for, or service as, a payee, and, as necessary, the
identity of the beneficiary, to obtain information on employment, sources of
income, criminal justice records, stability of residence and other information
relating to the qualifications and suitability of representative payees, or
representative payee applicants, or their use of the benefits paid to them under
section 205(j) or section 1631(a) of the Social Security Act.

To a claimant, or other individual
authorized to act on his/her behalf, information pertaining to the address of a
representative payee applicant or a selected representative payee when this
information is needed to pursue a claim for recovery of misapplied or misused
benefits.

To the Railroad Retirement Board
(RRB) for the administration of RRB's representative payment program.

To student volunteers, individuals
working under a personal services contract, and other workers who technically do
not have the status of Federal employees, when they are performing work for the
Social Security Administration (SSA), as authorized by law, and they need access
to personally identifiable information in SSA records in order to perform their
assigned Agency functions.

To the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) for the administration of OPM's representative payee
programs.

To the Secretary of Health and Human Services or to any State, any record or
information requested in writing by the Secretary for the purpose of
administering any program administered by the Secretary, if records or
information of such type were so disclosed under applicable rules, regulations
and procedures in effect before the date of enactment of the Social Security
Independence and Program Improvements Act of 1994.

Policies and practices for
storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining and disposing of records in the
system:

Storage:

Records are stored in magnetic
media (e.g., magnetic tape, microfilm, and disc) and manual forms.

Retrievability:

Data are retrieved from the system
by the SSN or the ZIP code and name (in a situation where the representative
payee is an organization) of the representative payee, or the SSN of the
beneficiary/recipient.

Safeguards:

For computerized records
electronically transmitted between Central Office and FO locations (including
organizations administering SSA programs under contractual agreements),
safeguards include a lock/unlock password system, exclusive use of leased
telephone lines, a terminal-oriented transaction matrix, and an audit
trail.  All microfilm files are accessible only by authorized personnel who
have a need for the information in performing their official duties.
Magnetic tapes are in secured storage areas, accessible only to authorized
personnel.  Access http://www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/bluebook/app_g.htm for additional information
relating to SSA data security measures.

Retention and
disposal:

National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) guidelines will be followed for retention and disposal of
records in the Master Representative Payee File.  Changes are being
made to the Master Representative Payee File to ensure NARA compliance.  To prevent lost of data,
back-up files are maintained on disk file cartridges and are destroyed after two
weeks.

System manager(s) and
address:

Associate Commissioner

Office of Income Security
Programs

Social Security
Administration

Room 252 Altmeyer Building

6401 Security
Boulevard

Baltimore, Maryland
21235

Notification
procedures:

An individual can determine if
this system contains data about  him/her by writing to the
systems manager, at the address shown above, and providing his/her name, SSN, or
other information that may be in the system of records that will identify
him/her.   An individual requesting notification of data in person
should provide the same information, as well as provide any identity document,
preferably with a photograph, such as a driver’s license or some other means of
identification.  If an individual does not have any identification
documents sufficient to establish his/her identity, the individual must certify
in writing that he/she is the person claimed to be and that he/she understands
that the knowing and willful request for, or acquisition of, a record pertaining
to another individual, under false pretenses, is a criminal offense.

If notification is requested by
telephone, an individual must verify his/her identity by providing identifying
information that parallels information in the record to which notification is
being requested.  If it is determined that the identifying information
provided by telephone is insufficient, the individual will be required to submit
a request in writing or in person.  If an individual is requesting
information by telephone on behalf of another individual, the subject individual
must be connected with SSA and the requesting individual in the same phone
call.  SSA will establish the subject individual’s identity (his/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/her consent in
providing information to the requesting individual.

If a request for notification is
submitted by mail, an individual must include a notarized statement to SSA to
verify his/her identity or must certify in the request that he/she is the person
claimed to be and that he/she understands that the knowing and willful request
for access to records concerning another individual, under false pretense, is a
criminal offense.

These procedures are in accordance
with SSA Regulations (20 C.F.R. § 401.40(c)).

Record access
procedures:

Same as Notification
procedures.  Also, a requester should reasonably identify and specify the
information he/she is attempting to obtain.  These procedures are in
accordance with SSA Regulations (20 C.F.R. § 401.40(c)).

Contesting record
procedures:

Same as Notification
procedures.  Requester should also reasonably identify the record, specify
the information they are contesting and 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 SSA Regulations (20 C.F.R. § 401.65(a)).

Record source
categories:

Data in this system are obtained
from representative payee applicants and representative payees, the SSA Office
of Inspector General, and other SSA systems of records, such as the Claims
Folder System, 60-0089; Master Beneficiary Record, 60-0090; Supplemental
Security Income Record and Special Veterans Benefits, 60-0103; Master Files of
SSN Holders and SSN Applications, 60-0058; and Recovery of Overpayments,
Accounting and Reporting, 60-0094.

Systems exempted from
certain provisions of the Privacy Act:

None.