[Federal Register: August 27, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 166)]
[Notices]
[Page 45881]
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OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

Privacy Act of 1974; Publication of a Proposed New Routine Use

AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

ACTION: Notice of a proposed new routine use.

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SUMMARY: This notice proposes to add a new routine use to an existing
Central System of Records.

DATES: This proposed routine use will be effective without further
notice October 6, 1998, unless comments received dictate otherwise.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Office of Personnel Management,
Attn: Mary Beth Smith-Toomey, Office of the Chief Information Officer,
1900 E Street NW, Room 5415, Washington, DC 20415-7900.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Beth Smith-Toomey, (202) 606-
8358.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OPM finds that it is in the Government's
interest to add a new routine use to OPM's Central System of Records,
OPM/Central-1, Civil Service Retirement and Insurance Records. This
system of records is applicable to a number of OPM managed benefit
programs, including the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB)
Program, the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) Program,
and two of the Federal Government's retirement programs, the Civil
Service Retirement System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement
System (FERS). This new routine use will allow OPM to release
information from OPM/Central-1, Civil Service Retirement and Insurance
Records, where OPM has determined that the use of that information is
compatible with proper disclosure and will directly benefit Federal
employees, annuitants or their dependents, survivors, and
beneficiaries. For example, OPM utilizes the services of contractors to
send out annual income tax information to annuitants, to distribute to
annuitants annual rate and benefit information regarding the FEHB
Program, and to distribute open season and customer feedback
information involving the FEGLI Program. Moreover, in certain
circumstances, a private organization may undertake a project that
results in Federal employees, annuitants or their dependents, survivors
and beneficiaries obtaining important and timely information that is
beneficial to that audience. Such a situation was anticipated by
Congress in October 1991 as part of the debate on the legislation that
would include OPM's Fiscal Year 1992 appropriation. In the Conference
Report accompanying H.R. 2622, the conferees directed OPM to seriously
consider requests from certain private organizations for ``blind
mailings'' in which OPM would facilitate these organizations getting
information to Federal annuitants and employees without the
organizations ever actually seeing the addresses of the proposed
recipients. A contractor to the private organization would then require
access to certain OPM information in order to make the blind mailing
possible. Any release of such information must also comply with section
626 of the Treasury, Postal, and General Government Appropriations Act
for Fiscal Year 1998, P.L. 105-61, and any such successor law. Section
626 provides that none of the funds appropriated by that Act or any
other Act may be used to provide a Federal employee's home address to
any labor organization except where the employee has authorized such
disclosure or that disclosure has been ordered by a court of competent
jurisdiction. OPM shall exercise its discretion under the new routine
use in accordance with section 626, or any such successor law.
    The new routine use is added to the following Central System of
Records: OPM/Central-1, Civil Service Retirement and Insurance Records.
    For Non-Federal Personnel--To disclose information to private
organizations, contractors, grantees, volunteers, or other non-Federal
personnel performing or working on a project, contract, service, grant,
cooperative agreement, or job for, to the benefit of, or consistent
with the interests of the Federal Government when OPM has determined
that the use of that information is compatible with proper disclosure
and will benefit Federal employees, annuitants or their dependents,
survivors, and beneficiaries.

Office of Personnel Management.
Janice R. Lachance,
Director.
[FR Doc. 98-23011 Filed 8-26-98; 8:45 am]
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