Master Representative Payee File, Social Security Administration, Office of Income Security Programs
System number:
60-0222.
System name:
Master Representative Payee File, Social Security Administration,
Office of Income Security Programs.
Security classification:
None.
System Location:
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payees have been revoked or terminated on or after January 1, 1991;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, and
others 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:
1. 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been revoked or terminated on or after January 1, 1991, because of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;
2. Names and SSNs (or EINs) of all persons convicted of violations
of sections 208 or 1632 of the Social Security Act;
3. 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;
4. 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);
5. 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;
6. 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;
7. Names, addresses, and SSNs of representative payee applicants
who were not selected as representative payees;
8. 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;
9. Information on the representative payee's relationship to the
beneficiaries/recipients they serve;
10. Names, addresses, EINs and qualifying information of
organizations authorized to charge a fee for providing representative
payee services;
11. Codes which indicate the relationship (other than familial)
between the beneficiaries/recipients and the individuals who have
custody of the beneficiaries/recipients;
12. Dates and reasons for payee terminations (e.g., performance not acceptable, death of payee, beneficiary in direct payment, etc.) and revocations;
13. Codes indicating whether representative payee applicants were
selected or not selected;
14. 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.);
15. Amount of benefits misused;
16. Identification number assigned to the claim on which the misuse
occurred;
17. Date of the determination of misuse; and
18. 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. 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.
1. To the Department of Justice (DOJ), a court or other tribunal,
or another party before such tribunal, when:
(a) The Social Security Administration (SSA), or any component
thereof; or
(b) Any SSA employee in his/her official capacity; or
(c) 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
(d) The
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.
2. To a congressional office in response to an inquiry from that
office made at the request of the subject of the records.
3. To the General Services Administration and the National Archives
Records
Administration (
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.
4. To the
Department of Veterans Affairs, Regional Office,
and facilities of that agency.
5. To the Department of State for administration of the Social
Security Act in foreign countries through services and facilities of
that agency.
6. To the American Institute, a private corporation under contract
to the Department of State, for administering the Social Security Act
on
7. To the Department of Justice for:
(a) Investigating and prosecuting violations of the Social Security
Act to which criminal penalties attach,
(b) Representing the Commissioner of Social Security, and
(c) Investigating issues of fraud or violations of civil rights by
officers or employees of the Social Security Administration.
8. 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.
9. To the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) for the shared
administration of DVA's and the Social Security Administration's
representative payee programs.
10. 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.
11. 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:
(a) The claimant's capability to manage or direct the management of his/her affairs.
(b) 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.
12. 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 to serve as
representative payees or their use of the benefits paid to them under
section 205(j) or section 1631(a) of the Social Security Act.
13. 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.
14. To the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) for the administration
of RRB's representative payment program.
15. 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.
16. To the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for the
administration of OPM's representative payee programs.
17. 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.
18. 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 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
destroyed after two weeks.
System manager(s) and address:
Associate Commissioner, Office of Income Security Programs, Social
Security Administration,
Room 252
Boulevard,
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 CFR
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 CFR 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 CFR 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.