Effective Date: January 11, 2006
(71 F.R. 1836)
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION NOTICE OF SYSTEM OF RECORDS REQUIRED BY
THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974
SYSTEM NUMBER: 60-0218
System name:
Disability
Insurance and Supplemental Security Income Demonstration Projects and
Experiments System, Social Security Administration, Deputy Commissioner for
Disability Income and Security Programs.
Security classification:
None.
System Location:
Social Security Administration
Office
of Systems
Social
Security Administration
Office
of Disability and Income Security Programs
Office
of Program Development and Research
Certain Social Security Administration
(SSA) field office (FO) locations (FO addresses and telephone numbers can be
found in local telephone directories under "Social Security
Administration,'' (SSA) or by accessing http://www.ssa.gov/regions/regional.html).
Contractor sites: Contractor addresses may
be obtained by writing to the system manager at the address below.
Categories of individuals covered by the system:
A. Persons in
sample groups of Social Security Title II disability insurance (DI) applicants,
DI beneficiaries and their auxiliary beneficiaries; persons selected from State
temporary DI programs; other persons who are representative payees of these
persons and temporarily disabled persons receiving State benefits
(non-applicants) in comparison groups for the vocational rehabilitation (VR)
demonstrations.
B. Persons in sample groups of individuals
who apply for, or receive, Social Security Title XVI Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) payments on the basis of a disability or blindness in general and
particularly those who are medically determined to be drug addicted or
alcoholic, mentally
retarded or developmentally disabled, and representative payees of those
individuals.
Categories of in the system:
The system
maintains records which are used for statistical and research analysis only, as
well as other records which will be used to conduct program functions involving
the demonstrations and experiments. Tax return information, the disclosure of
which would violate section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), will be
used solely for internal SSA purposes and will not be disclosed to other
entities. Participants will be informed at the time of data collection that
information obtained by survey or interview exclusively for statistical and
research purposes will be protected from disclosure for other purposes to the
fullest extent permissible by law.
Records in the system will consist of data
relating to the following: Demographic characteristics, education, marital
status, military service, dependents, family and household composition; medical
history (mental and physical); medical expenses, disability
characteristics
and health information; living arrangements, health insurance coverage and use;
medical and rehabilitation services; employment; occupation and industry
classification; income (including tax return information subject to section
6103 of the IRC); earnings and expenditures; referrals to and participation in
the SSI and related Federal/State welfare programs; benefits received; types of
cost of services under DI, SSI and related Federal/State welfare programs;
reasons for, or circumstances of, closure; attitudes toward work,
rehabilitation or treatment programs; impairment-related work expenses;
worker's compensation benefits; job search methods; knowledge and understanding
of provisions affecting entitlement to benefits; participation in, and services
rendered, under the Ticket to Work program; also, for SSI projects only,
driver's license and alcohol and drug use (disclosure of this information may
be restricted by 21 U.S.C. 1175 and 42 U.S.C. 4582).
Authority for maintenance of the system:
Sections 222, 234 and 1110 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 422,
434 and 1310); section 505 of Pub. L. 96-265 (the Social Security Disability
Amendments of 1980), as amended by section 12101 of Pub. L. 99-272; section
10103 of Pub. L. 101-239; and section 5120 of Pub. L. 101-508.
Purpose(s):
The purpose of
this system is to provide SSA with data necessary to carry out and evaluate
demonstrations and experiments for testing alternative approaches to continuing
benefit eligibility during employment and to the rehabilitation of Title II DI
beneficiaries and individuals who apply for, or receive, Title XVI SSI payments
on the basis of a disability or blindness and, to report to Congress, as
required by section 505 of Pub. L. 96-265, as amended by section 12101 of Pub.
L. 99-272 and section 10103 of Pub. L. 101-239, section 5120 of Pub. L.
101-508, and sections 301 and 302 of Pub. L. 106-170.
Except for tax return information, and
records collected by means of surveys or interviews for use solely for research
and statistical purposes, SSA may also provide information from this system to
components of the Department of Health and Human Services; e.g., the Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the purpose of determining
eligibility for health insurance (HI) benefits or supplemental medical
insurance (SMI) benefits under the demonstrations and experiments and for the
purpose of obtaining data from CMS on HI and SMI utilization during the
demonstrations and experiments; to State DDSs for the purpose of making
disability determinations; and to State VR agencies for the purpose of
screening DI beneficiaries and SSI recipients for VR potential and designing
and implementing a plan of VR services for accepted beneficiaries and
recipients.
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:
1. With respect to any records, including
those collected by means of survey or interview to be used solely for research
and statistical purposes, disclosure may be made:
(a) To a congressional office in response
to an inquiry from that office made at the request of the subject of a record.
(b) To a contractor under contract to the
Social Security Administration, subject to any restrictions imposed by 26
U.S.C. 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, for the performance of research and
statistical activities directly related to this system of records in conducting
the demonstrations and experiments and to provide a statistical data base for
research studies.
2. With respect only to records that are
not collected by means of surveys or interviews for use solely for research and
statistical purposes, disclosure may be made subject to any restrictions
imposed by 26 U.S.C. 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code:
(a) To a third party organization under
contract to SSA for the performance of project management activities directly
related to this system of records.
(b) To a State vocational rehabilitation
agency in the State in which the disabled individual resides, for the purpose
of assisting the agency in providing rehabilitation counseling and service to
the individual that are necessary in carrying out the demonstrations and experiments.
3. To the Internal Revenue Service, for the
purpose of auditing the Social Security Administration's compliance with the
safeguard provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. To the Secretary of Health and Human
Services or to any State, the Commissioner shall disclose 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.
7. We
may disclose information to appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies,
entities, and persons when (1) we suspect or confirm that the security or
confidentiality of information in this system of records has been compromised;
(2) we determine 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 this system or other systems or
programs of SSA that rely upon the compromised information; and (3) 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. SSA will use
this routine use to respond only to those incidents involving an unintentional
release of its records.
Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining,
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
Records in this
system may be stored in paper form (e.g., hard copy questionnaires and computer
printouts) and in magnetic media (e.g., magnetic tape and disc) and on other
media (e.g., compact, optical or zip diskette) formats.
Retrievability:
Records in this
system are indexed and retrieved by the SSN.
Safeguards:
SSA safeguards are established for
automated records in accordance with the SSA Systems Security Handbook. This includes
maintaining the records in a secured building, such as the National Computer
Center (NCC). Entry into the NCC is restricted to employees whose duties
require such entry. Special passes, including the employees' photographs, are
issued to all personnel authorized to enter the NCC. The employees are required
to wear their passes at all times. Marshals are stationed in the lobby of the
center to ensure that only those employees authorized to enter the NCC do so.
Manually maintained records are kept in
locked cabinets or in otherwise secure areas. Access to the records is limited
to those employees who require the information to perform their assigned
duties. SSA employees and employees of contractors having access to the records
in this system have been notified of criminal sanctions for unauthorized
disclosure of information about individuals. Agreements ensure further
confidentiality protections.
Contractor use of records is restricted to
performing the duties of the contract, and contractors are required to
establish adequate safeguards to protect personal information. Additionally,
contractors and their employees are subject to the same criminal penalties as
SSA employees for violations of the Privacy Act.
Access http://www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/bluebook/app_g.htm for additional
information relating to SSA data security measures.
Retention and disposal:
Magnetic tapes
or other files with personal identifiers are retained in secured storage areas
accessible only to authorized personnel.
Micro-data files, prepared for purposes of
research, evaluation and analysis, are stripped of personal identifiers (e.g.,
purged, scrambled, encrypted, etc.) and are subject to procedural safeguards to
assure anonymity.
Hardcopy questionnaires will be destroyed
when survey reports are completed. Records with identifiers will be held in
secure storage areas and will be disposed of when they are no longer needed for
SSA analysis.
Means of disposal will be appropriate to
the storage medium (e.g., erasure of tapes, shredding of paper records, etc.).
Records used in administering the demonstration and experimental programs will
be retained indefinitely.
System manager(s) and address(es):
Associate Commissioner
Office
of Program Development and Research
Office of Disability Income and
Security Programs
Social
Security Administration
Notification procedures:
An individual
can determine if this system contains a record about him/her by writing to the
system manager(s) at the above address 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 records in person should provide the same
information, as well as provide an 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, or acquisition of, a record pertaining to another individual under false
pretenses is a criminal offense. These procedures are in accordance with SSA
Regulations (20 CFR 401.40(c)).
Record access procedures:
Same
as Notification procedures. Also, requesters should reasonably
identify the record, specify the information they are attempting to obtain.
These procedures are in accordance with SSA Regulations (20 CFR 401.40(c)).
Contesting record procedures:
Same
as Notification procedures. Also, requesters should 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 CFR
401.65(a)).
Record source categories:
Records in this system are derived in part
from other SSA systems of records such as the Earnings Record and
Self-Employment Income System, 60-0059, the Claims Folders System, 60-0089
(disability case folders), the Master Beneficiary Record, 60-0090, the
Supplemental Security Income Record and Special Veterans Benefits, 60-0103, the
Completed
Determination Record--Continuing Disability Determination, 60-0050, the
National Disability Determination Services (NDDS) File, 60-0044, the
Ticket-to-Work and Self-Sufficiency Program Payment Database, 60-0295, and the
Ticket-to-Work Program Manager (PM) Management Information System, 60-0300;
other SSA administrative
records; program
records of other Federal/State welfare programs; survey data collected by
contractors or SSA personnel; from the individual; the Health Insurance Master
Record, 09-70-0502 of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS);
case service reports of VR agencies and referral and monitoring agencies; and
employers.
Systems exempted from certain provisions of the Privacy Act:
None.