Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 55 / Tuesday, March 22, 2022 / Notices 16163 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Food Safety and Inspection Service 

[Docket No. FSIS–2011–0031] 

Privacy Act of 1974; New System of 

Records 

AGENCY: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Food Safety and Inspection Service. 

ACTION: Notice of a new system of 

records. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, the 

Department of Agriculture (USDA) 

proposes a new Food Safety and 

Inspection Service (FSIS) system of 

records entitled: USDA/FSIS–0005, 

AssuranceNet (ANet). ANet is a Webbased system that collects information 

to support FSIS’ mission through 

detecting vulnerabilities in food safety 

systems, processes, and functions so 

that the potential for harm can be 

promptly identified, reduced, and 

eliminated. The information stored in 

ANet is gathered from various electronic 

and paper-based sources, and is used to 

track, measure, and monitor activities 

and performance. The System also alerts 

FSIS’ management officials to the 

performance of critical public health 

and food defense functions; assists in 

discerning trends; identifies and focuses 

on areas of high-risk; and helps to 

determine strategies to combat threats to 

food safety and food defense. Within 

ANet, FSIS maintains contact and other 

identifying information about Federal 

employees, State employees, contractors 

of USDA, government officials, and 

representatives who work at or are 

associated with the work at meat and 

poultry establishments and egg products 

plants. 

DATES: Applicable Date: April 21, 2022. 

Written comments must be received on 

or before the above date. The proposed 

system will be adopted on the above 

date, without further notice, unless it is 

modified in response to comments, in 

which case the notice will be 

republished. 

ADDRESSES: FSIS invites interested 

persons to submit comments on the 

notice. Comments may be submitted by 

one of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: This 

website provides the ability to type 

short comments directly into the 

comment field on this web page or 

attach a file for lengthier comments. Go 

to https://www.regulations.gov. Follow 

the on-line instructions at that site for 

submitting comments. 

• Mail: Send to Docket Clerk, U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, Food Safety 

and Inspection Service, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Mailstop 

3758, Washington, DC 20250–3700. 

• Hand- or courier-delivered 

submittals: Deliver to 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Jamie L. 

Whitten Building, Room 350–E, 

Washington, DC 20250–3700. 

Instructions: All items submitted by 

mail or electronic mail must include the 

Agency name and docket number FSIS– 

2011–0031. Comments received in 

response to this docket will be made 

available for public inspection and 

posted without change, including any 

personal information, to https://

www.regulations.gov. 

Docket: For access to background 

documents or comments received, call 

(202) 720–5627 to schedule a time to 

visit the FSIS Docket Room at 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20250–3700. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Scott Safian, AssuranceNet System 

Owner/Manager, Enforcement and 

Litigation Division, Office of 

Investigation, Enforcement and Audit, 

Food Safety and Inspection Service, 

1400 Independence Ave. SW, 

Washington, DC, 20250; Telephone 

202–418–8872. FOR PRIVACY 

Questions: Privacy Office, Office of the 

Chief Information Officer, USDA, 1400 

Independence Ave. SW, Washington, 

DC, 20250; Telephone 202–619–8503. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Privacy Act requires agencies to publish 

in the Federal Register (FR) a notice of 

any new or revised system of records. A 

‘‘system of records’’ is a group of any 

records under the control of an agency 

from which information is retrievable by 

the name of the individual or by some 

unique identifier assigned to the 

individual. USDA is proposing to 

establish a new System of Records 

Notice, entitled USDA/FSIS–0005, 

AssuranceNet (ANet). 

The primary purpose of ANet is to 

enable oversight, monitoring, and 

management of critical public health 

activities related to meat, poultry, and 

egg products manufactured and handled 

by businesses under the regulatory 

oversight of FSIS. ANet tracks, 

measures, and monitors critical public 

health information and regulatory 

functions executed by FSIS employees. 

ANet’s data enables FSIS to ensure that 

critical public health functions and 

activities are performed effectively, 

according to designated schedules and 

times, and that the methods used are 

standardized and traceable. The System 

compares actual performance with 

predetermined performance measures of 

the individual regulated businesses and 

Agency employees, and in aggregate 

groups of establishments and incommerce facilities, program circuits, 

regions and districts, and by program 

activities and projects. 

FSIS program areas currently use 

ANet to monitor public health 

regulatory activities. ANet tracks 

regulatory, compliance, and 

performance information related to 

inspection, surveillance, enforcement, 

and litigation activities and compares 

this data to performance targets. The 

data comparisons allow for management 

oversight and control of regulatory 

activities and agency performance 

across several diverse program areas. 

ANet strengthens FSIS’ ability to 

analyze the effectiveness of its 

regulatory policies and procedures and 

assures that its methods, evaluations, 

and enforcement activities are 

standardized and traceable nationwide. 

ANet comprises multiple systems and 

system functions. The System’s 

structure consists of the components 

that provide application security, 

application navigation, business logic 

processing, data storage and retrieval, 

data presentation, report creation and 

distribution, performance management, 

document management, and workflow 

management. 

The USDA is issuing a Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking to exempt this 

System of Records from certain 

provisions of the Privacy Act. A Privacy 

Impact Assessment is posted on https:// 

www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/ 

documents/fsis-assurance-net-pia.pdf. 

In accordance with the Privacy Act, as 

implemented by the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) 

Circular A–108, USDA has provided a 

report of this proposed new system of 

records to the Chair of the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental 

Affairs, United States Senate; the Chair 

of the Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform, House of 

Representatives; and the Administrator 

of the Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, OMB. 

Done, in Washington, DC 

Paul Kiecker, 

Administrator. 

SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER: 

AssuranceNet (ANet), USDA/FSIS– 

0005. 

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: 

Unclassified. 

SYSTEM LOCATION: 

Records are maintained at the U.S. 

Department of Agriculture, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20250, and at USDA’s National 


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Information Technology Center facility 

at 8930 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, 

Missouri, 64114. 

SYSTEM MANAGER: 

Director, Enforcement and Litigation 

Division, Office of Investigation, 

Enforcement and Audit, Food Safety 

and Inspection Service, 355 E Street 

SW, Room 9–205, Patriots Plaza 3, 

Washington, DC 20024. 

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM: 

Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 

U.S.C. 451 et seq.); Federal Meat 

Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.); 

Egg Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 

1031 et seq.); Humane Methods of 

Livestock Slaughter Act of 1978 (7 

U.S.C. 1901–1906); Authority to Operate 

(ATO), dated 03/23/2017. 

PURPOSE OF THE SYSTEM: 

The primary role of this web-based 

electronic database is to ensure data 

relating to work performed by 

employees, individually and in 

aggregate, is collected and maintained, 

as is information regarding management 

controls, performance tracking, and 

performance measurements associated 

with inspection, enforcement, 

laboratory sampling, pathogen 

reduction, recalls, import surveillance 

and re-inspection, investigations, policy 

development, management projects, and 

litigation activities. 

ANet supports the various regulatory 

and enforcement functions critical to 

FSIS’ food safety mission to ensure that 

meat, poultry, and egg products are safe, 

wholesome, unadulterated and properly 

labeled. Using ANet, FSIS monitors 

regulatory inspection, verification, 

compliance, enforcement, sampling, and 

other data and information to discern 

trends, causes, outcomes, and to 

measure the effectiveness of Agency 

efforts in protecting public health. 

Through its ability to schedule and 

analyze the use of FSIS resources, ANet 

also improves the Agency’s ability to 

respond to naturally occurring events, 

accidents, and intentional acts that can 

put food and the food supply chain at 

risk. 

ANet provides program offices with a 

central repository for reporting, 

managing, and analyzing in-plant and 

in-commerce data. It is designed to (1) 

assess the performance of nonsupervisory in-plant inspection 

personnel, (2) assess the performance of 

in-plant supervisory personnel, (3) 

oversee surveillance and enforcement 

activities, (4) document all phases of a 

compliance action, (5) consolidate the 

existing information data reporting 

applications and aggregate performance 

data, and (6) document and report 

compliance and enforcement activities. 

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE

SYSTEM

All individuals granted access to 

ANet are covered: (1) Employees and 

contractors of USDA (‘‘USDA 

Personnel’’); and (2) government 

officials (domestic and foreign) (‘‘Other 

State and Federal Government 

Officials’’). All individuals, even if they 

are not users of ANet, who are 

mentioned or referenced in any 

documents entered into ANet by a user 

are also covered. This group may 

include, but is not limited to: 

Establishment workers, vendors, agents, 

interviewees, as well as private citizens 

who become involved with FSIS 

investigations. 

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM: 

ANet contains the names and contact 

information of Federal employees and 

State employees who work at or are 

associated with the work at a plant. 

Contact information, including first and 

last names, telephone numbers, and 

work, home, or email addresses, will be 

retained for operators or officials of 

establishments or in-commerce 

facilities, as well as for private citizens 

involved with FSIS investigations. 

RECORDS SOURCE CATEGORIES: 

Information is obtained directly from 

the individual and firm (or designee) 

that is the subject of the records. 

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE

SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND

THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES: 

In addition to those disclosures 

generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 

552a(b) of the Privacy Act of 1974, all 

or a portion of the records or 

information contained in this system 

may be disclosed outside of USDA as a 

routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 

552a(b)(3) as follows: 

1. To the U.S. Department of Justice 

(DOJ or other Federal agency conducting 

litigation or in proceedings before any 

court, adjudicative or administrative 

body, when it is necessary for the 

litigation and one of the following is a 

party to the litigation or has an interest 

in such litigation: 

a. USDA or any component thereof; 

b. Any employee of USDA in his/her 

official capacity; 

c. Any employee of USDA in his/her 

individual capacity where DOJ or USDA 

has agreed to represent the employee; or 

d. The United States or any agency 

thereof and if the USDA determines that 

the records are both relevant and 

necessary to the litigation and the use of 

such records is compatible with the 

purpose for which USDA collected the 

records. 

2. To the National Archives and 

Records Administration (NARA) or 

other Federal government agencies 

pursuant to records management 

inspections being conducted under the 

authority of 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906. 

3. To a congressional office from the 

record of an individual in response to 

an inquiry from that congressional office 

made at the request of the individual to 

whom the record pertains. 

4. To an Agency, organization, or 

individual for the purpose of performing 

audit or oversight operations as 

authorized by law, but only such 

information as is necessary and relevant 

to such audit or oversight function. This 

would include, but not be limited to, the 

Comptroller General or any of his/her 

authorized representatives in the course 

of the performance of the duties of the 

Government Accountability Office, or 

USDA’s Office of the Inspector General 

or any authorized representatives of that 

office. 

5. To appropriate agencies, entities, 

and persons when: 

a. USDA suspects or has confirmed 

that there has been a breach of the 

system of records. 

b. USDA has determined that as a 

result of the suspected or confirmed 

breach, there is a risk of harm to 

individuals, USDA (including its 

information systems, programs, and 

operations), the Federal Government, or 

national security; and 

c. The disclosure made to such 

agencies, entities, and persons is 

reasonably necessary to assist in 

connection with USDA’s efforts to 

respond to the suspected or confirmed 

breach or to prevent, minimize, or 

remedy such harm. 

6. To another Federal agency or 

Federal entity when USDA determines 

that information from this system of 

records is reasonably necessary to assist 

the recipient agency or entity in (a) 

responding to a suspected or confirmed 

breach or (b) preventing, minimizing, or 

remedying the risk of harm to 

individuals, the recipient agency or 

entity (including its information 

systems, programs, and operations), the 

Federal government or national security, 

resulting from a suspected or confirmed 

breach. 

7. To contractors and their agents, 

grantees, experts, consultants, and 

others performing or working on a 

contract, service, grant, cooperative 

agreement, or other assignment for 

USDA, when necessary to accomplish 

an Agency function related to this 

system of records. Individuals who 

provided information under this routine 


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use are subject to the same Privacy Act 

requirements and limitations on 

disclosure as are applicable to USDA 

officers and employees. 

8. When a record on its face, or in 

conjunction with other records, 

indicates a violation or potential 

violation of law, whether civil, criminal, 

or regulatory in nature, and whether 

arising by general statute or particular 

program, statute, or by regulation, rule, 

or order issued pursuant thereto, 

disclosure may be made to the 

appropriate agency, whether Federal, 

State, local, tribal, foreign, or other 

public authority responsible for 

investigating, enforcing or prosecuting 

such violation or charged with enforcing 

or implementing the statute, or rule, 

regulation, or order issued pursuant 

thereto, if that information disclosed is 

relevant to any enforcement, regulatory, 

investigative, or prospective 

responsibility of the receiving entity. 

9. To an appropriate Federal, State, 

tribal, local, international, or foreign law 

enforcement agency or other appropriate 

authority charged with investigating or 

prosecuting a violation or enforcing or 

implementing a law, rule, regulation, or 

order, where a record, either on its face 

or in conjunction with other 

information, indicates a violation or 

potential violation of law, which 

includes criminal, civil, or regulatory 

violations and such disclosure is proper 

and consistent with the official duties of 

the person making the disclosure. 

10. To an appropriate Federal, State, 

tribal, local, international, or foreign law 

enforcement agency or appropriate 

authority responsive for protecting 

public health, preventing or monitoring 

disease or illness outbreaks, or ensuring 

the safety of the food supply. This 

includes the Department of Health and 

Human Services and its agencies, 

including the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention and the Food 

and Drug Administration, other Federal 

agencies, and State, tribal, and local 

health departments. 

11. To a court or adjudicative body in 

proceeding when: (a) USDA or any 

component thereof, or (b) any employee 

of USDA in his or her official capacity; 

or (c) any employee of USDA in his or 

her individual capacity where USDA 

has agreed to represent the employee, or 

the United States Government, is a party 

to the litigation or has an interest in 

such litigation, and USDA determines 

that the records are both relevant and 

necessary to the litigation; and that use 

of such records is therefore deemed by 

USDA to be for a purpose that is 

compatible with the purpose for which 

USDA collected the records. 

12. To an establishment regulated by 

FSIS, but only in connection with the 

USDA/FSIS investigation of 

establishments and verification 

activities. 

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF

RECORDS: 

The system includes a database, 

electronic documents and paper 

records. The storage for the database 

records is a dedicated virtual server 

located in the USDA NITC facility in 

Kansas City, MO. Duplicate records are 

maintained at the USDA NITC facility in 

St. Louis, MO. The primary storage for 

the electronic documents is a records 

management system managed and 

hosted by USDA at their Enterprise Data 

Centers in Kansas City, MO and Saint 

Louis, MO. Paper records are 

maintained in the USDA offices where 

they were created. Records backup 

storage is maintained by NITC 

Personnel in a virtual tape library at the 

USDA NITC facility in Kansas City, MO. 

Copies of the backup records are 

maintained at the USDA NITC facility in 

St. Louis, MO. 

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF

RECORDS: 

Records are primarily retrieved using 

a unique identifier such as case ID or 

investigation file number. Records may 

also be retrieved by case type, date 

range, firm ID, firm name, region, or key 

word search. Names can also be used to 

retrieve individual records; however, 

using the case ID or other database 

fields reduces the need for retrieval by 

information that could identify an 

individual. 

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR RETENTION AND

DISPOSAL OF RECORDS: 

Records will be destroyed or retired in 

accordance with the USDA’s published 

records disposition schedules, as 

approved by the NARA. A master file 

backup is created at the end of the 

calendar year and maintained in St. 

Louis Mo. The St. Louis offsite storage 

site is located approximately 250 miles 

from the primary data facility and is not 

susceptible to the same hazards. 

ADMINISTRATION, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL

SAFEGUARDS: 

Records in this system are 

safeguarded by restricting accessibility, 

in accordance with USDA security and 

access policies. The safeguarding 

includes: Firewall(s), network 

protection, and an encrypted password. 

Each user is assigned a level of rolebased access, which is strictly 

controlled and granted through USDAapproved, secure application (Level 2 

eAuthentication) after the user has 

successfully completed the Government 

National Agency Check with Inquiries 

(NACI) investigation. Controls are in 

place to preclude anonymous usage and 

browsing. 

RECORDS ACCESS PROCEDURES: 

Because individual access to these 

records would impair investigations and 

alert subjects that their activities are 

being scrutinized, the Agency proposes 

to exempt portions of this system from 

the notification and access procedures 

of the Privacy Act, pursuant to section 

(k)(2) and USDA’s implementing 

regulations at 7 CFR part 1. However, 

individuals seeking notification of and 

access to their records should submit a 

written request, with reasonable 

specificity, to the FSIS Freedom of 

Information Act (FOIA) Office at: 1400 

Independence Ave. SW, Room 1168– 

South, Mail Stop No. 3713, Washington, 

DC 20250. Requests for such access will 

be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. 

CONTESTING RECORDS PROCEDURES: 

In accordance with the 7 CFR part 1, 

individuals seeking to contest or amend 

information maintained in the system 

should direct their request to the above 

listed System Manager and should 

include the reason for contesting it and 

the proposed amendment to the 

information with supporting 

information to show how the record is 

inaccurate. A request for contesting 

records should contain: Name, address, 

ZIP code, name of the system of records, 

year of records in question, and any 

other pertinent information to help 

identify the file. 

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES: 

See ‘‘Records Access Procedures’’ 

above. 

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM: 

The USDA/FSIS–0005, AssuranceNet 

system of records is exempt from 

subsections (c)(3), (c)(4), (d)(1)–(4), 

(e)(1)–(3), (e)(4)(G)–(I), (f), and (g) of the 

Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, to the extent 

it contains investigatory material 

compiled for law enforcement purposes 

in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(k) (2). 

In addition, to the extent a record 

contains information from other exempt 

systems of records, USDA will rely on 

the exemptions claimed for those 

systems. 

HISTORY: 

None. 

[FR Doc. 2022–05746 Filed 3–21–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–DM–P 


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