[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 98 (Thursday, May 21, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28016-28018]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-13591]


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POSTAL SERVICE


Privacy Act of 1974, System of Records

AGENCY: Postal Service.

ACTION: Notice of new system of records.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this document is to publish notice of a new 
Privacy Act system of records, USPS 040.050, Customer Programs-Customer 
Electronic Document Preparation and Delivery Service Records. The new 
system contains information provided by customers who use the Postal 
Service's electronic-to-paper document printing and mailing service. 
Customers using this service electronically send a master document and 
mailing list to a postal control center, which electronically routes 
the documents to print sites for printing and mailing for Postal 
Service delivery.

DATES: Any interested party may submit written comments on the proposed 
new system of records. This proposal will become effective without 
further notice on June 30, 1998, unless comments received on or before 
that date result in a contrary determination.

ADDRESSES: Written comments on this proposal should be mailed or 
delivered to: Payroll Accounting/Records, United States Postal Service, 
475 L'Enfant Plaza SW Rm 8831, Washington, DC 20260-5243.
    Copies of all written comments will be available at the above 
address for public inspection and photocopying between 8 a.m. and 4:45 
p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Betty Sheriff, (202) 268-2608.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The proposed system of records will collect 
information related to a new electronic-to-paper mailing and delivery 
service offered by the Postal Service. The service will facilitate 
increased use of the mail while providing a means for small-volume 
customers to have quality mailings promptly prepared and delivered.
    Customers who use the service will create documents on their 
desktop computers and, using a postal icon on their computer screen, 
transmit that document and an associated address file through the 
Internet to a network

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control center. The network control center electronically routes the 
digital documents to commercial print sites where they are printed, 
assembled, and entered into the mailstream for Postal Service delivery, 
often on the next day.
    Before transmission to a print site, addresses on the list will be 
standardized and updated with any forwarding information that has been 
provided by customers. The product is a complete, correct, and 
standardized address that can be read by automation equipment and 
matched to a ZIP Code resulting in savings to the Postal Service 
through more effective operations and savings to the customer who has 
avoided duplication and remailings. Address correction is limited to 
notification to the customer of any addresses that are invalid and the 
Postal Service will not otherwise supplement or verify name or address 
information on the list. In providing these services, the Postal 
Service does not compile or disclose any mailing list.
    The original list submitted by the customer will not be copied and 
may be returned to the customer after conversion. One copy of the 
converted list will be maintained under secured conditions for a period 
of 30 days to confirm quality handling of the order and to serve the 
customer who wishes to make a follow-up mailing using the same document 
and/or list. The list will be retained longer than 30 days or updated 
only at the customer's request.
    System design provides for maintenance of information by the name 
of the customer requesting the service and not by the names of persons 
or entities on that customer's mailing list. The customers requesting 
the service will be primarily small businesses to which the Privacy Act 
will not apply. Nevertheless, to the extent records are covered by the 
Privacy Act, measures have been taken to protect them. The measures, 
discussed below, are intended also to ensure compliance with the Postal 
Reorganization Act (39 U.S.C. 412), which prohibits the Postal Service 
from releasing lists of the names or addresses of its customers or 
other persons.
    Printing and mailing will be performed by commercial printers 
operating under a license agreement with the Postal Service. These 
licensees will not be maintaining records and, consequently, not 
operating a system of records. Nevertheless, because of the sensitive 
nature of the information, under the terms of a license agreement, the 
licensees must agree that any information received from the Postal 
Service in the course of the agreement must be kept in strict 
confidence and not disclosed to any person; must not be used by the 
licensee for any purpose other than to satisfy the conditions of the 
agreement; and must be provided with safeguards to prevent unauthorized 
access, disclosure, or misuse. Licensee sites will be subject to 
impromptu compliance inspections by the Postal Inspection Service.
    Rather than apply all of its general routine uses (authorized third 
party disclosures) considered applicable to most Postal Service systems 
of records, the Postal Service has limited the application of routine 
uses to four situations. The first allows disclosure to the Department 
of Justice relative to litigation in which the Postal Service has an 
interest. The second allows disclosure to a law enforcement agency for 
criminal or civil law enforcement purposes. The third allows a 
disclosure to a congressperson that would occur only at the prompting 
of the records subject. The third allows disclosure to a contractor to 
perform an agency function, a disclosure that will be necessary as 
discussed above. Each of these is relevant and necessary to accomplish 
the system's purpose.
    The terms of agreements with customers who use this new service 
will provide that the mailing lists transmitted to the Postal Service 
will remain the property of the customer. Consequently, routine uses 
within the proposed system will not apply to these lists.
    Security controls have been applied to protect the information 
during transmission and physical maintenance. The network control 
center to which a customer transmits its order is housed in a Postal 
Service computer complex with access to the building controlled by 
guards, access to rooms controlled by the use of card keys, and access 
to systems controlled by log on identifications and passwords. Industry 
standard security and encryption technology will be used for Internet 
transmission between the customer and the network control center. 
Dedicated lines will be used for transmission between the network 
control center and the licensee. As discussed above, the terms of the 
license agreement will provide for the protection of information 
received by the licensee who will be subject to audit by the Postal 
Inspection Service.
    For the above reasons, the Postal Service is establishing this 
grouping of records as a system of records subject to the Privacy Act.
    Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(11), interested persons are invited to 
submit written data, views, or arguments on this proposal. A report of 
the following proposed system has been sent to Congress and to the 
Office of Management and Budget for their evaluation.
USPS 040.050

SYSTEM NAME:
    Customer Programs--Customer Electronic Document Preparation and 
Delivery Records, USPS 040.050.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    Marketing, Headquarters; and Information Systems Service Center, 
San Mateo, CA.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    Customers who electronically request mail preparation and delivery 
service.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    Name and address of customer requesting service, USPS-assigned 
order number, and billing information; address list provided by the 
customer.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    39 U.S.C. 403, 404.

PURPOSE(S):
     To promote increased use of the mail by providing electronic 
document preparation and mailing services for customers.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    Note: Mailing lists contained within this system are owned by 
the customer submitting the mailing list; consequently, no routine 
uses apply to these mailing lists.

    1. Records from this system may be disclosed to the Department of 
Justice or to other counsel representing the Postal Service, or may be 
disclosed in a proceeding before a court or adjudicative body before 
which the Postal Service is authorized to appear, when (a) the Postal 
Service; or (b) any postal employee in his or her official capacity; or 
(c) any postal employee in his or her individual capacity whom the 
Department of Justice has agreed to represent; or (d) the United States 
when it is determined that the Postal Service is likely to be affected 
by the litigation, is a party to litigation or has an interest in such 
litigation, and such records are determined by the Postal Service or 
its counsel to be arguably relevant to the litigation, provided, 
however, that in each case, the Postal Service determines that 
disclosure of the records is a use of the information that is 
compatible with the purpose for which it was collected. This routine 
use specifically contemplates that information may be released in 
response to relevant

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discovery and that any manner of response allowed by the rules of the 
forum may be employed.
    2. When the Postal Service becomes aware of an indication of 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, or in response to the appropriate agency's request on 
a reasonable belief that a violation has occurred, the relevant records 
may be referred to the appropriate agency, whether federal, state, 
local, or foreign, charged with the responsibility of investigating or 
prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing or implementing 
the statute, rule, regulation, or order issued pursuant thereto.
    3. Disclosure may be made to a congressional office from the record 
of an individual in response to an inquiry from the congressional 
office made at the prompting of that individual.
    4. Records or information from this system may be disclosed to an 
expert, consultant, or other person who is under contract to the Postal 
Service to fulfill an agency function, but only to the extent necessary 
to fulfill that function. This may include disclosure to any person 
with whom the Postal Service contracts to reproduce, by typing, 
photocopy, or other means, any record for use by Postal Service 
officials in connection with their official duties or to any person who 
performs clerical or stenographic functions relating to the official 
business of the Postal Service.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    Name and address of customer will be automated during conversion 
and then stored off-line on magnetic media.

RETRIEVABILITY:
    Postal Service-assigned job number and customer name and customer 
identification number.

SAFEGUARDS:
    Access to these records is limited to those persons whose official 
duties require such access. Access to automated records is restricted 
by the use of encryption technology, dedicated lines, and authorized 
access codes. Licensees who have access to information are required by 
the terms of the license agreement to protect the information from 
unauthorized access; to limit its use to that provided by the license 
agreement; and to apply appropriate administrative and physical 
safeguards to protect the information.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    Records supporting a customer order will be destroyed 30 days from 
completion of order, unless maintained longer at customer's request. 
Disposal will be by data deletion from magnetic media.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
    Chief Marketing Officer & Senior Vice President, United States 
Postal Service, 475 L'Enfant Plz SW, Washington DC 20260-2400.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
    Individuals wanting to know whether information about them is 
maintained in this system of records must address inquiries in writing 
to the system manager. Inquiries must contain name, customer 
identification number, address, and order number, if known.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    Requests for access must be made in accordance with the 
Notification Procedure above and the Postal Service Privacy Act 
regulations regarding access to records and verification of identity 
under 39 CFR 266.6.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    See Notification and Record Access Procedures above.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information is furnished by record subjects (customers) requesting 
the service.
Stanley F. Mires,
Chief Counsel, Legislative.
[FR Doc. 98-13591 Filed 5-20-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7710-12-P