Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, Computer Matching Between The Department of Education and The Department of Justice

[Federal Register: March 8, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 46)]

[Notices]               

[Page 12222-12223]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr08mr00-50]                         


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION



Privacy Act of 1974; Computer Matching Program


AGENCY: Department of Education.


ACTION: Notice; Computer matching between the Department of Education 

and the Department of Justice.


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SUMMARY: Section 5301(a)(1) of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (now 

designated as section 421(a)(1) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 

U.S.C. 862(a)(1)) includes provisions regarding the judicial denial of 

Federal benefits. Section 5301 authorizes Federal and State judges to 

deny certain Federal benefits (including student financial assistance 

under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended) to 

individuals convicted of drug trafficking or possession.

    In order to ensure that Title IV student financial assistance is 

not awarded to individuals subject to denial of benefits under court 

orders issued pursuant to section 5301, the Department of Justice and 

the Department of Education implemented a computer matching program. 

The current computer matching agreement expires on March 3, 2000. The 

Department of Education must continue to obtain from the Department of 

Justice identifying information regarding individuals who are the 

subject of section 5301 denial of benefits court orders. The purpose of 

this notice is to announce the continued operation of the computer-

matching program and to provide certain required information concerning 

the computer-matching program.

    In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as 

amended by the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 

(Pub. L. 100-503), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Guidelines on 

the Conduct of Matching Programs (see 54 FR 25818, June 19, 1989), and 

OMB Circular A-130, the following information is provided:


1. Names of Participating Agencies


    The Department of Education (ED) (recipient agency) and the 

Department of Justice (source agency) (DOJ).


2. Purpose of the Match


    This matching program is designed to assist ED in enforcing the 

sanctions imposed under section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 

(Pub. L. 100-690).


[[Page 12223]]


3. Authority for Conducting the Matching Program


    Under section 5301 of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, as amended 

(21 U.S.C. 862), ED must deny Federal benefits to any individual upon 

whom a Federal or State court order has imposed a penalty denying 

eligibility for those benefits. Student financial assistance under 

Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA) is a 

Federal benefit under section 5301 and ED must, in order to meet its 

obligations under the HEA, have access to information about individuals 

who have been declared ineligible under section 5301.

    Section 5301 and the Procedures for Implementation of section 5301 

(Pub. L. 100-690), transmitted to the Congress on August 30, 1989, 

direct DOJ to act as an information clearinghouse for Federal agencies. 

While DOJ provides information about section 5301 individuals who are 

ineligible for Federal benefits to the General Services Administration 

(GSA) for inclusion in GSA's List of Parties Excluded from Federal 

Procurements and Nonprocurement Programs, DOJ and ED have determined 

that matching against the DOJ data base is more efficient and effective 

than access to the GSA List. The DOJ data base has specific information 

about the Title IV, HEA programs for which individuals are ineligible 

and has more complete identifying information about those individuals 

than does the GSA List. Both these elements are essential for a 

successful match.


4. Categories of Records and Individuals Covered by the Match


    ED will submit for verification records from its Central Processing 

System files (Federal Student Aid Application File (18-11-01)) the 

social security number (SSN) and other identifying information for each 

applicant for Title IV student financial assistance. ED will use the 

SSN and the first two letters of an applicant's last name for the 

match.

    The DOJ Denial of Federal Benefits Clearing System (DEBAR)(OJP-

0013) contains the names, social security numbers, dates of birth, and 

other identifying information regarding individuals convicted of 

Federal or State offenses involving drug trafficking or possession of a 

controlled substance who have been denied Federal benefits by Federal 

or State courts. This system of records also contains information 

concerning the specific program or programs for which benefits have 

been denied. DOJ will make available for the matching program the 

records of only those individuals who have been denied Federal benefits 

under one or more of the Title IV, HEA programs.


5. Effective Dates of the Matching Program


    The matching program will become effective 40 days after a copy of 

the agreement, as approved by the Data Integrity Board of each agency, 

is sent to Congress and OMB (or later if OMB objects to some or all of 

the agreement), or 30 days after publication of this notice in the 

Federal Register, whichever date is later. The matching program will 

continue for 18 months after the effective date and may be extended for 

an additional 12 months thereafter, if the conditions specified in 5 

U.S.C.552a(o)(2)(D) have been met.


6. Address for Receipt of Public Comments or Inquiries


    Individuals wishing to comment on this matching program or obtain 

additional information about the program including a copy of the 

computer matching agreement between ED and DOJ should contact Ms. Edith 

Bell, Program Specialist, U.S. Department of Education, Room, 3053, 

ROB-3, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20202-5400. Telephone: 

(202) 708-8242. If you use a telecommunications device for the deaf 

(TDD), you may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-

800-877-8339.

    You may inspect all public comments about this matching program at 

Regional Office Building 3, 7th and D Streets, SW, Room 3045, 

Washington, DC, between the hours of 8:30 am and 4 pm, Eastern time, 

Monday through Friday of each week except Federal holidays.

    Individuals with disabilities may obtain this document in an 

alternate format (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape or computer 

diskette) on request to the contact person listed in the preceding 

paragraph.


Electronic Access to This Document


    You may view this document in text or Adobe Portable Document 

Format (PDF) on the Internet at the following sites:


http://ocfo.ed.gov/fedreg.htm

http://www.ed.gov/news.html

http://ifap.ed.gov


    To use the PDF you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader Program with 

Search, which is available free at the previous sites. If you have 

questions about using the PDF, call the U.S. Government Printing Office 

(GPO), toll free at 1-888-293-6498, or in the Washington, DC, area at 

(202) 512-1530.


    Note: 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 on GPO access 

at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/index.html


    Dated: February 28, 2000.

Greg Woods,

Chief Operating Officer, Office of Student Financial Assistance.

[FR Doc. 00-5602 Filed 3-7-00; 8:45 am]

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