Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 3 / Wednesday, January 5, 2011 / Notices 579 

Dated: December 29, 2010. 

Clifford Taffet, 

General Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

Community Planning and Development 

(Acting). 

[FR Doc. 2010–33299 Filed 1–4–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

[Docket No. FR–5386–N–16] 

Privacy Act of 1974; Computer 

Matching Program Between the 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD) and the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS): Matching Tenant Data 

in Assisted Housing Programs 

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information 

Officer, HUD. 

ACTION: Notice of a New Computer 

Matching Agreement between HUD and 

HHS. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Computer 

Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 

1988, as amended, HUD is providing 

notice of its intent to execute a new 

computer matching agreement with 

HHS for a recurring matching program 

with HUD’s Office of Public and Indian 

Housing (PIH) and Office of Housing, 

involving comparisons of information 

provided by participants in any 

authorized HUD rental housing 

assistance program with the 

independent sources of income 

information available through the 

National Directory of New Hires 

(NDNH) maintained by HHS. 

Specifically, the HUD–HHS computer 

matching program will now include 

program participants of HUD’s new 

Disaster Housing Assistance Program 

(DHAP), in addition to participants of 

previously authorized HUD rental 

housing assistance programs and 

conditions requiring HUD’s annual 

Quality Control for Rental Assistance 

Subsidy Determinations (‘‘QC’’) study to 

provide a statistical measurement of 

subsidy error within HUD rental 

housing assistance programs. The most 

recent renewal of the current matching 

agreement expires on January 5, 2011. 

DATES: HUD will file a report of the 

subject matching program with the 

Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform of the House of 

Representatives, the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental 

Affairs of the Senate, and Office of 

Management and Budget’s (OMB), 

Office of Information and Regulatory 

Affairs. The matching program will 

become effective as cited in Section V 

of this notice. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit comments regarding 

this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, 

Office of General Counsel, Room 10276, 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 

Washington, DC 20410–0500. 

Communications should refer to the 

above docket number and title. 

Facsimile (FAX) comments are not 

acceptable. A copy of each 

communication submitted will be 

available for public inspection and 

copying between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. 

weekdays at the above address. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

Privacy Act Inquires: Office of the Chief 

Information Officer, contact the Chief 

Privacy Officer, Department of Housing 

and Urban Development, 451 Seventh 

Street, SW., Room 2256, Washington, 

DC 20410, telephone number (202) 402– 

8073. For program information: Office of 

Public and Indian Housing, contact 

Nicole Faison, Program Advisor for the 

Real Estate Assessment Center, 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., 

Room PCFL1, Washington, DC 20410, 

telephone number (202) 475–7963; and 

for the Office of Housing, contact 

Catherine M. Brennan, Director of the 

Housing Assistance Policy Division, 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW, 

Room 6160, Washington, DC 20410, 

telephone number (202) 402–6732. 

(These are not toll-free numbers.) A 

telecommunications device for hearingand speech-impaired individuals (TTY) 

is available at (800) 877–8339 (Federal 

Information Relay Service). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On March 

11, 2009, Section 239 of HUD’s 2009 

Appropriations Act modified Section 

904 of the Stewart B. McKinney Act of 

1988, as amended, to include the 

Disaster Housing Assistance Program 

(DHAP) as a ‘‘program’’ of HUD for the 

purpose of income verifications and 

computer matching. Computer matching 

for participants of the Disaster Housing 

Assistance Program is expected to begin 

no sooner than January 2, 2011. As 

such, pursuant to the Computer 

Matching and Privacy Protection Act 

(CMPPA) of 1988, as amended, OMB’s 

guidance on this statute entitled ‘‘Final 

Guidance Interpreting the Provisions of 

Public Law 100–503’’, and OMB Circular 

No. A–130, Appendix 1 to OMB’s 

Revisions of Circular No. A–130, 

‘‘Transmittal Memorandum No. 4, 

Management of Federal Information 

Resources,’’ prescribes agencies 

responsibilities for maintaining records 

about individuals, HUD is providing the 

public with notice of a new computer 

matching agreement with HHS 

(previous notice of a computer matching 

program between HUD and HHS was 

previously published at 73 FR 10046 on 

February 25, 2008). The first HUD–HHS 

computer matching program was 

conducted in September 2005, with 

HUD’s Office of Public and Indian 

Housing. The scope of the HUD–HHS 

computer matching program was 

extended to include HUD’s Office of 

Housing in December 2007. This notice 

supersedes the previous notice and 

changes the scope of the existing 

computer matching program to now 

include participants of HUD’s DHAP. 

The matching program will be carried 

out only to the extent necessary to: (1) 

Verify the employment and income of 

individuals participating in programs 

identified in Section I below, to 

correctly determine the amount of their 

rent and assistance, (2) identify, 

prevent, and recover improper 

payments made on behalf of tenants, 

and (3) after removal of personal 

identifiers, to conduct analyses of the 

employment and income reporting of 

individuals participating in any HUD 

authorized rental housing assistance 

program. 

HUD will make the results of the 

computer matching program available to 

public housing agencies (PHAs), private 

housing owners and management agents 

(O/As) administering HUD rental 

assistance programs to enable them to 

verify employment and income and 

correctly determine the rent and 

assistance levels for individuals 

participating in those programs, and 

contract administrators (CAs) overseeing 

and monitoring O/A operations. This 

information also may be disclosed to the 

HUD Inspector General (HUD/IG) and 

the Attorney General in detecting and 

investigating potential cases of fraud, 

waste, and abuse of the above named 

programs. 

In addition to the above noted 

information disclosures, limited 

redisclosure of reports containing 

NDNH information may be redisclosed 

to the following persons and/or entities: 

(1) independent auditors for the sole 

purpose of performing an audit of 

whether these HUD authorized entities 

verified tenants’ employment and/or 

income and calculated the subsidy and 

rent correctly; and (2) entities and/or 

individuals associated with grievance 

procedures and judicial proceedings 

(i.e. lawyers, court personnel, agency 

personnel, grievance hearing officers, 

etc.) relating to independently verified 

unreported income identified through 

this matching program. 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
580 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 3 / Wednesday, January 5, 2011 / Notices 

HUD and its third party 

administrators (PHAs, O/As, and CAs) 

will use this matching authority to 

identify, reduce or eliminate improper 

payments in HUD’s rental housing 

assistance programs, while continuing 

to ensure that HUD rental housing 

assistance programs serve and are 

accessible by its intended program 

beneficiaries. 

I. Authority 

This matching program is being 

conducted pursuant to Section 217 of 

the Consolidated Appropriation Act of 

2004 (Pub. L. 108–199, Approved 

January 23, 2004), which amended 

Section 453(j) of the Social Security Act 

(42 U.S.C. 653(j)), Sections 3003 and 

13403 of the Omnibus Budget 

Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Pub. L. 103– 

66, approved August 10, 1993); Section 

542(b) of the 1998 Appropriations Act 

(Pub. L. 105–65); Section 904 of the 

Stewart B. McKinney Homeless 

Assistance Amendments Act of 1988, as 

amended by Section 239 of HUD’s 2009 

Appropriations, effective March 11, 

2009 (42 U.S.C. 3544); Section 165 of 

the Housing and Community 

Development Act of 1987 (42 U.S.C. 

3543); the National Housing Act (12 

U.S.C. 1701–1750g); the United States 

Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437– 

1437z); Section 101 of the Housing and 

Community Development Act of 1965 

(12 U.S.C. 1701s); the Native American 

Housing Assistance and SelfDetermination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 

4101 et seq.); and the Quality Housing 

and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (42 

U.S.C. 1437a(f)). 

The Housing and Community 

Development Act of 1987 authorizes 

HUD to require applicants and 

participants (as well as members of their 

household six years of age and older) in 

HUD-administered programs involving 

rental housing assistance to disclose to 

HUD their social security numbers 

(SSNs) as a condition of initial or 

continuing eligibility for participation 

in the programs. Effective January 31, 

2010, all applicants and participants 

under the age of six, are required to 

disclose their SSN to HUD, in 

accordance with regulatory revisions 

made to 24 CFR 5.216, as published at 

74 FR 68924, on December 29, 2009. 

Section 217 of the Consolidated 

Appropriations Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 

108–199, approved January 23, 2004) 

authorizes HUD to provide to HHS 

information on persons participating in 

any programs authorized by: 

(i) The United States Housing Act of 

1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.); 

(ii) Section 202 of the Housing Act of 

1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q); 

(iii) Section 221(d)(3), 221(d)(5) or 

236 of the National Housing Act (12 

U.S.C. 17151(d) and 1715z–1); 

(iv) Section 811 of the CranstonGonzalez National Affordable Housing 

Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); or 

(v) Section 101 of the Housing and 

Urban Development Act of 1965 (12 

U.S.C. 1701s); 

The Refinement of Income and Rent 

Determination Requirements in Public 

and Assisted Housing Programs: 

Implementation of the Enterprise 

Income Verification (EIV) System— 

Amendments; Final rule published at 74 

FR 68924 on December 29, 2009, 

requires program administrators to use 

HUD’s EIV system to verify tenant 

employment and income information 

during mandatory reexaminations or 

recertifications of family composition 

and income and reduce administrative 

and subsidy payment errors in 

accordance with HUD administrative 

guidance (new HUD regulation at 24 

CFR 5.233). 

This matching program also assists 

HUD in complying with the following 

federal laws, requirements, and 

guidance related to identifying and 

reducing improper payments: 

1. Improper Payments Elimination 

and Recovery Act of 2010 (IPERA) (Pub. 

L. 111–204); 

2. Presidential Memorandum on 

Enhancing Payment Accuracy Through 

a ‘‘Do Not Pay List’’ (June 18, 2010); 

3. Office of Management and Budget 

M–10–13, Issuance of Part III to OMB 

Circular A–123, appendix C; 

4. Presidential Memorandum on 

Finding and Recapturing Improper 

Payments (March 10, 2010); 

5. Reducing Improper Payments and 

Eliminating Waste in Federal Programs 

(Executive Order 13520, November 

2009); 

6. Improper Payments Information 

Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107–300); and 

7. Office of Management and Budget 

M–03–13, Improper Payments 

Information Act of 2002 Implementation 

Guide. 

HHS shall then compare this 

information provided by HUD with data 

contained in the National Directory of 

New Hires and report the results of the 

data match to HUD. The Act gives HUD 

the authority to disclose this 

information to CAs, O/As, and PHAs for 

the purpose of verifying the 

employment and income of individuals 

receiving benefits in the above 

programs. HUD shall not seek, use or 

disclose information relating to an 

individual without the prior written 

consent of that individual, and HUD has 

the authority to require consent as a 

condition of participating in HUD rental 

housing assistance programs. 

HHS’ disclosure of data from the 

National Directory of New Hires is 

authorized by Section 217 of the 

Consolidated Appropriations Act of 

2004 (Pub. L. 108–199). The disclosures 

from the HHS system of records, 

‘‘Location and Collection System of 

Records,’’ No. 09–90–0074, will be made 

pursuant to ‘‘Routine Use’’ (17), 

identified in the Federal Register last 

published at 72 FR 51446 on September 

7, 2007. This routine use authorizes 

HHS to ‘‘disclose to the Department of 

Housing and Urban Development 

information in the NDNH portion of this 

system for purposes of verifying 

employment and income of individuals 

participating in specified programs and, 

after removal of personal identifiers, to 

conduct analyses of the employment 

and income reporting of these 

individuals.’’ 

II. Objectives To Be Met by the 

Matching Program 

HUD’s primary objective of the 

computer matching program is to verify 

the employment and income of 

individuals participating in the housing 

programs identified in Section I above, 

to determine the appropriate level of 

rental assistance, and to detect, deter 

and correct fraud, waste, and abuse in 

rental housing assistance programs. In 

meeting these objectives HUD also is 

carrying out a responsibility under 42 

U.S.C. 1437f(K) to ensure that income 

data provided to PHAs, and O/As, by 

household members is complete and 

accurate. HUD’s various rental housing 

assistance programs require that 

participants meet certain income and 

other criteria to be eligible for rental 

assistance. In addition, tenants generally 

are required to report and recertify the 

amounts and sources of their income at 

least annually. However, under the 

QHWRA of 1998, PHAs operating Public 

Housing programs may now offer 

tenants the option to pay a flat rent, or 

an income-based rent. Those tenants 

who select a flat rent will be required 

to recertify income at least every three 

years. In addition, the changes to the 

Admissions and Occupancy final rule 

(March 29, 2000 (65 FR 16692)) 

specified that household composition 

must be recertified annually for tenants 

who select a flat rent or income-based 

rent. 

An additional objective of this 

computer matching program is to 

facilitate the statistical measurement of 

subsidy error by completing an annual 

QC study. The QC study provides 

national estimates of the extent, 

severity, costs, and sources of rent errors 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 3 / Wednesday, January 5, 2011 / Notices 581 

for rental assistance programs, 

administered by the Offices of Housing 

and Pubic and Indian Housing. This 

study is designed to measure the extent 

of administrative error by housing 

providers and tenant income reporting 

errors. The errors evaluated in this 

study affect the rent contributions 

tenants should have been charged. HUD 

will use NDNH information resulting 

from this data comparison and 

disclosure solely for the purpose of 

conducting aggregate analyses of 

employment and income reporting of 

individuals participating in the rental 

housing assistance programs. The study 

will not contain personally identifiable 

information of individuals. 

III. Program Description 

In this computer matching program, 

tenant-provided information included 

in HUD’s automated systems of records 

known as Tenant Rental Assistance 

Certification System (TRACS) (HUD/H– 

11), Inventory Management System 

(HUD/PIH–4, formerly the Public and 

Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) 

(HUD/PIH–4), and Enterprise Income 

Verification (EIV) System (HUD/PIH–5) 

will be compared to data from the 

NDNH database. The notices for these 

systems were published at 65 FR 52777, 

67 FR 20986, and 70 FR 41780, which 

was subsequently amended and 

published at 72 FR 17589, respectively. 

The notice for the EIV system was 

subsequently updated and published in 

the Federal Register on September 1, 

2009, at 74 FR 45235. HUD will disclose 

to HHS only tenant personal identifiers, 

i.e., full name, Social Security Number, 

and date of birth. HHS will match the 

HUD-provided personal identifiers to 

personal identifiers included in the 

National Directory of New Hires 

(NDNH) contained within their systems 

of records known as ‘‘Location and 

Collection System of Records,’’ No. 09– 

90–0074. HHS will provide income data 

to HUD only for individuals with 

matching personal identifiers. 

A. Income Verification 

Any disparity between tenantreported income and/or sources and the 

income and sources derived from the 

match (i.e., a ‘‘hit’’) will be further 

reviewed by HUD, the program 

administrator, or the HUD Office of 

Inspector General (OIG) to determine 

whether the income reported by tenants 

to the program administrator is correct 

and complies with HUD and program 

administrator requirements. 

Specifically, current or prior wage 

information and other data will be 

sought directly from employers and/or 

tenants. 

B. Administrative or Legal Actions 

With respect to the ‘‘hits’’ that will 

occur as a result of this matching 

program, HUD requires program 

administrators to take appropriate 

action in consultation with tenants to: 

(1) resolve income disparities between 

tenant-reported and independent 

income source data, and (2) use correct 

income amounts in determining housing 

rental assistance. 

Program administrators must compute 

the rent in full compliance with all 

applicable occupancy regulations. 

Program administrator must ensure that 

they use the correct income and 

correctly compute the rent. The program 

administrator may not suspend, 

terminate, reduce, or make a final denial 

of any housing assistance to any tenant 

as the result of information produced by 

this matching program until: (a) The 

tenant has received notice from the 

program administrator of its findings, 

and tenants are informed of the 

opportunity to contest such findings 

and (b) either the expiration of any 

notice period provided in applicable 

HUD requirements of the program or the 

30-day period beginning on the date on 

which notice of adverse findings was 

mailed or otherwise provided to the 

tenant. In all cases, program 

administrators will resolve income 

discrepancies in consultation with 

tenants. Additionally, serious 

violations, which program 

administrators, HUD program staff, or 

HUD OIG verify, should be referred for 

full investigation and appropriate civil 

and/or criminal proceedings. 

IV. Records To Be Matched 

HHS will conduct the matching of 

tenant SSNs, full names, and dates of 

births (DOBs) to tenant data HUD 

supplies from its Tenant Rental 

Assistance Certification System 

(TRACS) (HUD/H–11) and Public and 

Indian Housing Information Center (PIC) 

system (HUD/PIH–4). Program 

administrators utilize the form HUD– 

50058 module within the PIC system 

and the form HUD–50059 module 

within the TRACS to provide HUD with 

the tenant data. 

HHS will match the tenant records 

included in HUD/H–11 and HUD/PIH– 

4 to NDNH records contained in HHS’ 

‘‘Location and Collection System of 

Records,’’ No. 09–90–0074. HUD will 

place the resulting matched data into its 

Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) 

system (HUD/PIH–5). The notice for this 

system was published at 72 FR 17589, 

and subsequently updated and 

published in the Federal Register on 

September 1, 2009, at 74 FR 45235. 

Routine uses of records maintained in 

the system, including categories of users 

and purposes of such uses was 

published in that Notice. 

V. Period of the Match 

The matching program will become 

effective and the matching may 

commence after the respective Data 

Integrity Boards (DIBs) of both agencies 

approve and sign the computer 

matching agreement, and after, the later 

of the following: (1) 40 days after report 

of the matching program is sent to 

Congress and OMB; (2) at least 30 days 

after publication of this notice in the 

Federal Register, unless comments are 

received, which would result in a 

contrary determination. The computer 

matching program will be conducted 

according to agreement between HUD 

and HHS. The computer matching 

agreement for the planned match will 

terminate either when the purpose of 

the computer matching program is 

accomplished, or 18 months from the 

effective date. The agreement may be 

renewed for one 12-month period, with 

the mutual agreement of all involved 

parties, if the following conditions are 

met: 

(1) Within three months of the 

expiration date, all Data Integrity Boards 

(DIBs) review the agreement, find that 

the program will be conducted without 

change, and find a continued favorable 

examination of benefit/cost results; and 

(2) All parties certify that the program 

has been conducted in compliance with 

the agreement. 

The agreement may be terminated, 

prior to accomplishment of the 

computer matching purpose or 18 

months from the date the agreement is 

signed (whichever comes first), by the 

mutual agreement of all involved parties 

within 30 days of written notice. 

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552a; 88 Stat. 1896; 42 

U.S.C. 3535(d). 

Dated: December 16, 2010. 

Jerry E. Williams, 

Chief Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2010–33298 Filed 1–4–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 


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