6744 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 25 / Friday, February 6, 2015 / Notices 

1Mortgagee Letter 2015–03 is available at http:// 

portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/

huddoc?id=15-03ml.pdf. 

Secretary, in the Secretary’s discretion, 

determines are necessary to improve the 

fiscal safety and soundness of the HECM 

program authorized by section 255 of 

the National Housing Act. 

FHA provided two alternative paths 

to claim payment in pending litigation: 

The Hold Election and the Mortgagee 

Optional Election Assignment, which 

are further discussed in Mortgagee 

Letter 2015–03.1 When analyzed in the 

aggregate, these options are costly; 

either option, even if offered alone, 

poses a significant financial impact to 

the FHA insurance funds. The Hold 

Election, when applied to the potential 

universe of mortgages involving NonBorrowing Spouses of HECM borrowers, 

imposes a financial risk to the insurance 

funds that is simply too great. FHA’s 

obligation to protect the soundness of 

the insurance funds makes it impossible 

to offer this option broadly. Even though 

the Mortgagee Optional Election 

Assignment also poses a financial risk to 

the FHA insurance funds, the risk is 

significantly less; therefore, FHA has 

determined that the only alternative 

path to claim payment that FHA will 

permit mortgagees to elect, pursuant to 

Mortgagee Letter 2015–03, is the 

Mortgagee Optional Election 

Assignment. 

In Mortgagee Letter 2015–03, FHA set 

out the Mortgagee Optional Election 

Assignment path to claim payment for 

existing HECMs with FHA Case 

Numbers issued prior to August 4, 2014. 

FHA alerted mortgagees that aside from 

the present procedures for either the 

sale of the home or foreclosure of the 

HECM in accordance with the contract 

as endorsed, or the Mortgagee Optional 

Election Assignment alternative, no 

other path to claim payment exists. 

Comments on the changes announced 

in Mortgagee Letter 2015–03 will be 

accepted for a period of 30 days and 

will be considered by HUD. 

Dated: February 3, 2015. 

Biniam Gebre, 

Acting Assistant Secretary for Housing— 

Federal Housing Commissioner. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02452 Filed 2–5–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND 

URBAN DEVELOPMENT 

[Docket No. FR–5843–N–02] 

Computer Matching and Privacy 

Protection Act of 1988—Computer 

Matching Program Between the U.S. 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD), Office of 

Inspector General (OIG) and the Office 

of Personnel Management (OPM) 

AGENCY: Office of the Chief Information 

Officer, HUD. 

ACTION: Notice of a new computer 

matching program between HUD OIG 

and OPM. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Computer 

Matching and Privacy Protection Act 

(CMPPA) of 1988, as amended, and in 

accordance with the requirements of the 

Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as 

amended, HUD OIG is providing notice 

of its intent to execute a new computer 

matching agreement with OPM for a 

matching program initiated by HUD’s 

OIG involving comparisons of income 

data provided by participants in HUD’s 

various rental housing assistance 

programs with independent income 

sources available in OPM systems of 

records. This computer match is similar 

to matches that were previously 

published in the Federal Register on 

March 9, 2004 (69 FR 11033) and 

January 27, 2005 (70 FR 3939). 

DATES: Effective Date: HUD OIG will file 

a report of the subject matching program 

with the Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform of the Housing of 

Representatives, the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental 

Affairs of the Senate, and the 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. 

Comments Due Date: March 9, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit comments regarding 

this notice to the Rules Docket Clerk, 

Office of General Counsel, Department 

of Housing and Urban Development, 

451 Seventh Street SW., Room 10276, 

Washington, DC 20410–3000. 

Communications should refer to the 

above docket number and title. 

Comments sent by fax are not 

acceptable. A copy of each 

communication submitted will be 

available for public inspection and 

copying between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 

p.m., weekdays at the above address. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

Privacy Act inquiries, contact: Donna 

Robinson-Staton, Chief Privacy Officer, 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, 451 Seventh Street SW., 

Capital View Building, 4th Floor, 

Washington, DC 20410, telephone 

number (202) 402–8073. For legal 

inquiries, contact: Jeremy Kirkland, 

Counsel to the Inspector General, 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development, Office of Inspector 

General, 451 Seventh Street SW., Room 

8260, Washington, DC 20410, (202) 708– 

1613. For computer matching program 

inquiries, contact Nicole Faison, Deputy 

Director for the Data and Predictive 

Analytics Division, Department of 

Housing and Urban Development, Office 

of Inspector General, 451 Seventh Street 

SW., Room 8254, Washington, DC 

20410, (202) 402–2445. A 

telecommunications device for hearingand speech-impaired individuals (TTY) 

is available at (800) 877–8339 (Federal 

Information Relay Service). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Computer Matching and Privacy 

Protection Act (CMPPA) of 1988, an 

amendment to the Privacy Act of 1974 

(5 U.S.C. 552a), OMB’s guidance on this 

statute entitled ‘‘Final Guidance 

Interpreting the Provisions of Public 

Law 100–503, and OMB Circular No. A– 

130 requires publication of notices of 

computer matching programs. Appendix 

I to OMB’s Revision of Circular No. A– 

130, ‘‘Transmittal Memorandum No. 4, 

Management of Federal Information 

Resources,’’ prescribes Federal agency 

responsibilities for maintaining records 

about individuals. In compliance with 

the CMPPA and Appendix I to OMB 

Circular No. A–130, copies of this notice 

are being provided to the Committee on 

Government Reform and Oversight of 

the House of Representatives, the 

Committee of Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs of the Senate, and 

OMB’s Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs. 

I. Authority 

This matching program is being 

conducted pursuant to the Improper 

Payments Elimination and Recovery 

Improvement Act of 2012 (Pub. L. 112– 

248); 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 (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 SelfVerDate Sep<11>2014 18:52 Feb 05, 2015 Jkt 235001 PO 00000 Frm 00064 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\06FEN1.SGM 06FEN1

asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 25 / Friday, February 6, 2015 / Notices 6745 

Determination Act of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 

4101 et seq.); and the QHWRA Act of 

1998 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(f)). 

HUD OIG will obtain from OPM 

income information of persons (tenants) 

participating in any HUD rental housing 

assistance program 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. 

1751(d) and 1715z–1); 

iv. Section 811 of the CranstonGonzalez National Affordable Housing 

Act (42 U.S.C. 80130); or 

v. Section 101 of the Housing and 

Urban Development Act of 1965. 

This matching program also assists 

HUD in complying with the following 

federal laws, requirements, and 

guidance related to identifying and 

reducing improper payments: Improper 

Payments Elimination and Recovery Act 

of 2010 (IPERA) (Pub. L. 111–204); 

Presidential Memorandum on 

Enhancing Payment Accuracy Through 

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

Office of Management and Budget M– 

10–13, Issuance of Part III to OMB 

Circular A–123, Appendix C; 

Presidential Memorandum on Finding 

and Recapturing Improper Payments 

(March 10, 2010); Reducing Improper 

Payments and Eliminating Waste in 

Federal Programs (Executive Order 

13520, November 2009); Improper 

Payments Information Act of 2002 (Pub. 

L. 107–300); and Office of Management 

and Budget M–03–13, Improper 

Payments Information Act of 2002 

Implementation Guide. 

II. Objectives To Be Met by the 

Matching Program 

The primary objective of the matching 

program is to (1) verify income of 

individuals participating in the housing 

programs identified in Section I of this 

notice; (2) increase the availability of 

rental assistance to qualified 

individuals; (3) identify tenants 

receiving excess housing assistance 

resulting from unreported or 

underreported tenant income; (4) collect 

excess assistance from tenants; and (5) 

detect, deter, and correct fraud, waste, 

and abuse in rental housing assistance 

programs. Appropriate administrative or 

legal action against tenants who 

inaccurately report their income may be 

taken by HUD OIG, HUD program office 

staff, federal agencies, and 

administrators of HUD rental housing 

assistance programs: Public Housing 

Agencies/Authorities (PHAs), owners 

(Os), and agents (As), collectively 

referred to as POAs. 

III. Program Description 

In this matching program, HUD OIG 

will compare tenant income included in 

HUD’s automated systems of records 

identified as: Tenant Housing 

Assistance and Contract Verification 

Data (THACVD), HUD–H–11; and 

Inventory Management System (IMS) 

formerly and also known as the Public 

and Indian Housing Information Center 

(PIC) (IMS/PIC), HUD/PIH.01, with 

income data maintained in the 

following OPM systems of records: 

OPM/GOVT–1, General Personnel 

Records System; and OPM/Central-1, 

Civil Service Retirement and Insurance 

Records. The notices for the 

aforementioned systems were published 

as follows: 

1. THACVD, HUD/H–11, originally 

published in the Federal Register 

Privacy Act Issuances, 1995 

Compilation, and subsequently 

amended and last published at 62 FR 

11909–11910 on March 13, 1997; 

2. IMS/PIC, HUD/PIH.01, last 

published at 77 FR 22337–22340 on 

April 13, 2012; 

3. OPM/GOVT–1, General Personnel 

Records System, published at 76 FR 

32997 on June 7, 2011, and amended 

and republished at 77 FR 73694 on 

December 11, 2012. The disclosure of 

information contained in this system of 

records is permissible pursuant to 

routine use ‘‘hh’’ described in the 

published system of records notice 

(SORN); and 

4. OPM/Central–1, Civil Service 

Retirement and Insurance Records, 

published at 64 FR 54930 on October 8, 

1999, as amended at 65 FR 2772 on May 

3, 2000, and amended and republished 

at 73 FR 15013 on March 20, 2008. The 

disclosure of information contained in 

this system of records is permissible 

pursuant to routine use ‘‘cc’’ described 

in the published SORN. 

HUD OIG will match the tenant name 

(first and last name), social security 

number, date of birth, sex, income, and/ 

or address included in HUD’s systems of 

records to the same or similar data 

extracted from the following OPM 

Information Technology (IT) systems to 

identify tenant income disparities 

which require further verification to 

determine if the tenants received 

appropriate levels of rental assistance: 

1. Enterprise Human Resource 

Integration (EHRI) which contains 

records that are covered by OPM/

GOVT–1 General Personnel Records; 

and 

2. Retirement Annuity Master File 

(RAMF) which contains records that are 

covered by OPM/Central–1 Civil Service 

Retirement Records. 

A. Income Verification 

Any disparity between tenantreported income and/or income sources 

and the income and sources derived 

from the match (i.e. a ‘‘hit’’) will be 

further reviewed and independently 

verified by HUD OIG, HUD program 

office staff, and/or POAs to determine 

whether income reported by tenants is 

correct and complies with HUD and 

program administrator requirements. 

B. Administrative or Legal Actions 

Regarding all the matching described 

in this notice, HUD requires that POAs 

or HUD staff take the following 

appropriate actions 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. 

POAs must compute the rent in full 

compliance with all applicable 

occupancy regulations. POAs must 

ensure that they use the correct income 

and correctly compute the rent. POAs 

may not suspend, terminate, reduce, or 

make a final denial of any rental 

housing assistance to any tenant as the 

result of information produced by this 

matching program until: (a) The POA or 

HUD has independently verified the 

disparate income and confirmed the 

amount of the income involved, 

whether the individual actually has or 

had access to the income for the 

individual’s own use, and the period or 

periods when the individual actually 

had the income; (b) The tenant has 

received notice from the POA of its 

findings and has been informed of the 

opportunity to contest such findings; 

and (c) either the notice period provided 

in applicable regulations of the program, 

or 30 days, whichever is later, has 

expired. In most cases, POAs will 

resolve income discrepancies in 

consultation with tenants. (3) 

Additionally, serious or egregious 

violations, which POAs, HUD program 

office staff, or the HUD OIG verify, may 

be referred for full investigation and 

initiation of appropriate civil and/or 

criminal proceedings. 

IV. Records To Be Matched 

A description of tenant records (one 

record for each family member) in 

THACVD and IMS/PIC include the 

following data elements for each family 

member: (1) SSN; (2) Last Name, First 

Name, and Middle Initial; (3) Date of 

Birth; and (4) the Address of the assisted 

family. 

For matched tenants’ SSNs (i.e., 

‘‘hits’’), HUD OIG will extract the 

following information from EHRI: SSN, 


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6746 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 25 / Friday, February 6, 2015 / Notices 

Date of Birth, Name, Sex, Work 

Schedule, Annual Salary, Location 

Code, Standard Metropolitan Statistical 

Area, Submitting Office Number (SON), 

Agency Code, and File Date. HUD OIG 

will extract the following information 

from RAMF: File ID, SSN, Date of Birth, 

Sex, Last name, Annualized Salary, 

Annuity Commence Date, Pay Status, 

OPM Claim Number, Health Benefit 

Enrollment Code, Date of Death, Zip 

Code, Contact Address, and ‘‘As of’’ 

Date of File. In addition, HUD OIG will 

use the SON Master File to obtain the 

address of the agencies so that employer 

verification letters can be sent to such 

agencies. This information includes: 

SON, Agency Code and sub-element, 

SON name and address, zip code, and 

File Date. 

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 matching 

program will be conducted according to 

the computer matching agreement 

between HUD OIG and OPM. 

The Improper Payments Elimination 

and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 

(IPERIA) authorizes each Inspector 

General and the head of each agency to 

enter into computer matching 

agreements with other inspector general 

and agency heads that allow ongoing 

data matching (which includes 

automated data matching) in order to 

assist in the detection and prevention of 

improper payments. IPERIA further 

authorizes such matching agreements to 

have a termination date of less than 3 

years (Pub. L. 112–248, Section 

5(e)(2)(C)(i)). The computer matching 

agreement for the planned match will 

terminate either when the purpose of 

the matching program is accomplished, 

or less than 36 months from the 

effective date of the computer matching 

agreement, whichever occurs first. 

IPERIA provides that within three 

months prior to the expiration of a 

matching agreement, the Data Integrity 

Boards (DIBs) may renew the matching 

agreement for a current, ongoing 

matching program for not more than 3 

years. (Pub. L. 112–248, Section 

5(e)(2)(C)(ii)). The agreement may be 

renewed for a period not to exceed 3 

years, with the mutual agreement of all 

involved parties, if the following 

conditions are met: (1) Within three 

months of the expiration date, all 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 computer matching agreement. 

The agreement may be terminated, 

prior to accomplishment of the 

computer matching purpose or less than 

36 months from the effective date of the 

computer matching agreement, 

(whichever occurs first), by the mutual 

agreement of all involved parties within 

30 days of written notice. 

Dated: January 22, 2015. 

Rafael C. Diaz, 

Chief Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2015–02469 Filed 2–5–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

U.S. Geological Survey 

[GX15DA009DU2000] 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Request for Comments 

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 

Department of the Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of a new information 

collection, National Ground-Water 

Monitoring Network Cooperative 

Funding Application. 

SUMMARY: We (the U.S. Geological 

Survey) will ask the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) to 

approve the information collection (IC) 

described below. As required by the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 

1995, and as part of our continuing 

efforts to reduce paperwork and 

respondent burden, we invite the 

general public and other Federal 

agencies to take this opportunity to 

comment on this IC. 

DATES: To ensure that your comments 

are considered, we must receive them 

on or before April 7, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this information collection to the 

Information Collection Clearance 

Officer, U.S. Geological Survey, 12201 

Sunrise Valley Drive MS 807, Reston, 

VA 20192 (mail); (703) 648–7197 (fax); 

or gs-info_collections@usgs.gov (email). 

Please reference ‘‘Information Collection 

1028–NEW, National Ground-Water 

Monitoring Network Cooperative 

Funding Application’’ in all 

correspondence. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Daryll Pope, USGS, at (609) 771–3933 or 

dpope@usgs.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The USGS is working with the 

Federal Advisory Committee on Water 

Information (ACWI) and its 

Subcommittee on Ground Water 

(SOGW) to develop and administer a 

National Ground-Water Monitoring 

Network (NGWMN). This network is 

required as part of Public Law 111–11, 

Subtitle F—Secure Water: Section 9507 

‘‘Water Data Enhancement by the 

United States Geological Survey’’. The 

Network will consist of an aggregation 

of well data from existing Federal, 

Multistate, State, Tribal, and local 

groundwater monitoring networks. To 

support data providers for the National 

Ground-Water Monitoring Network, the 

USGS will be providing funding 

through cooperative agreements to 

water-resource agencies that collect 

groundwater data. The USGS will be 

soliciting applications for funding that 

will request information from the 

Agency collecting the data. Elements 

will include contact information (phone 

number and email address), and a 

proposal describing their existing data 

collection and a plan to evaluate their 

data for incorporation into the NGWMN. 

The proposal will be evaluated by the 

USGS and the NGWMN Program Board 

to appropriate funding. The proposal 

will describe the groundwater networks 

to be included in the NGWMN, the 

purpose of the networks, an estimate of 

the number of wells they would submit 

for the network, an overview of the 

methods they would use to select and 

classify wells for the network a 

description of data collection 

techniques, and information on their 

databases. The proposal would also 

require estimates of one-time costs to 

complete the above tasks and annual 

costs to participate in the network. 

II. Data 

OMB Control Number: 1028–NEW. 

Title: National Ground-Water 

Monitoring Network Cooperative 

Funding Application. 

Type of Request: New information 

collection. 

Affected Public: Multistate, State, 

Tribal, or Local water-resource agencies 

who operate groundwater monitoring 

networks. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory 

to be considered for funding. 

Frequency of Collection: Annually. 

Estimated Annual Number of 

Respondents: 100. 


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