System Name:

The National Fraud Case Data Base, SSA/DCFAM.

Security classification:

None.

System location:

Social Security Administration Security Section Deputy Commissioner for Finance, Office of Central Records Operations Assessment and Management Metro West Building 6401 Security Boulevard 300 North Greene Street Baltimore, MD 21235 Baltimore, MD 21201 Regional Security Staff Security and Integrity Section Region I Northeastern program Service Center Room 1109 4th Floor JFK Building 1 Jamaica Plaza Boston, MA 02203 Jamaica, NY 11432 Regional Security Staff Security and Integrity Section Region II Mid-Atlantic Program Service Center Room 4015 7th Floor 26 Federal Plaza 300 Spring Garden Street New York, NY 10278 Philadelphia, PA 19123 Regional Security Staff Security and Integrity Section Region III Great Lakes Program Service Center 7th Floor 3rd Floor 300 Spring Garden Street 600 West Madison Philadelphia, PA 19123 Chicago, IL 60661 Regional Security Staff Integrity Branch Region VI Southeastern Program Service Center Room 1400 2001 12th Avenue N. 1200 Main Tower Building Birmingham, AL 35285 1200 Commerce Street Regional Security Staff Security and Integrity Section Room 325 Mid-America Program Service Center Federal Building Room 414 1961 Stout Street 601 East 12th Street Denver, CO 80294 Kansas City, MO 64106 Security and Integrity Section Security/Fraud Unit Region IX Western Program Service Center 6th Floor 1221 Nevin Avenue 75 Hawthorne Street Richmond, CA 94801 San Francisco. CA 94105 Regional Security Staff Integrity and Security Branch Region X Office of Disability and International Mail Stop RX-51 Operations Blanchard Plaza 7160 Security West Building 2201 Sixth Avenue 1500 Woodlawn Drive Seattle, WA 98121 Baltimore, MD 21241 Wilkes-Barre Data Operations Center Albuquerque Data Operations Center Room 509 P.O. Box 4429, Station A 19 North Main Street Albuquerque, NM 87106 Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 Salinas Data Operations Center 100 East Alvin Drive Salinas, CA 93906 Records constituting an extension of the file may be located elsewhere in SSA (e.g., district, branch and/or regional offices).

Categories of individuals covered by the system:

Persons suspected of violating Federal statutes affecting the administration of programs under the responsibility of SSA, including those against whom civil recovery action is being considered or pursued.

Categories of records in the system:

Information maintained in each record includes the identity of the suspect, the nature of the alleged offense, documentation of the investigation into the alleged offense, and the disposition of the case by SSA or the United States Attorney.

Authority for maintenance of the system:

Sections 205(a), 206, 208, 1102, 1106, 1107, 1631(d)(1) and (2) and 1632, of the Act and section 413 of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act.

Purpose(s):

The information in this system pertains to suspected violations of Federal statutes. Cases may move through several levels of SSA at field, regional and/or central office locations during the course of documenting a suspected fraudulent situation. Information in this system is used by SSA staff to determine if a violation of the penal provisions of the Act or related provisions of the U.S.C. has been committed. If so, such material is used as the basis for referral of the case to the HHS, OIG Investigative Staff for development and investigation and, through them, is referred to DOJ for consideration of prosecution. The material also is used to determine the direction of investigation of potential fraud situations. Additionally, the information is used:

to monitor the progress of development of individual suspected fraud cases to insure timely resolution; and
for statistical analysis purposes to identify
- types of cases which occur with such frequency as to suggest the need for revision of policies and procedures relative to establishing eligibility for payments; and
- trends and averages with respect to the processing of such cases and their disposition under the Federal judicial system.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories of users and the purposes of such uses:

Disclosure may be made for routine uses as indicated below:

To officers of employees of State governments as well as the CHAMPUS program for use in conducting investigations of possible fraud or abuse against the title XIX or CHAMPUS program.
To States Attorneys in connection with State programs involving the SSA.
To the Department of the Treasury to investigate cases involving fraudulent tax returns or forgery of Social Security checks.
To the United States Postal Service for investigating alleged theft of Social Security checks.
To State and local police authorities for the purpose of investigating the loss, theft, and/or forgery of Medicare checks.
To a congressional office in response to an inquiry from that office made at the request of the subject of a record.
To the DOJ in the event of litigation where the defendant is:
- (a) HHS, any component of HHS, or any employee of HHS in his or her official capacity;
- (b) United States where HHS determines that the claim, if successful, is likely to directly affect the operations of HHS or any of its components; or
- (c) Any HHS employee in his or her individual capacity where the Justice Department has agreed to represent such employee; HHS may disclose such records as it deems desirable or necessary to the Department of Justice to enable that Department to present an effective defense, provided such disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which the records were collected.
To third party contacts for the purpose of establishing or negating a violation of the Act or related provisions of the United States Criminal Code.
To IRS for the purpose of auditing SSA's compliance with safeguards provisions of the IRC of 1986, as amended.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining and disposing of records in the system:

Storage: Records are stored in paper form and in magnetic media (e.g., magnetic tape and disc).

Retrievability:

Records are indexed and retrieved by SSN or by name of the subject of the investigation or by internally assigned control numbers. Records are transmitted electronically from field office locations to the Deputy Commissioner for FAM.

Safeguards:

Manual records are maintained in locked filing cabinets and are accessed only by employees with a job-related need for the information. System security for automated records is maintained in accordance with the Systems Security Handbook. This includes maintaining paper records in a secure area restricting access to authorized employees, encrypting records that are in magnetic media format and those records being transmitted over communications lines. In addition, software and data associated with these records will be accessible only to authorized employees using personal identification numbers and passwords. (See Appendix G to this publication for additional information relating to safeguards SSA employs to protect personal information.)

Retention and disposal:

Paper records may be retained 5 years after final disposition of the case. At the end of the retention period, the records are destroyed by shredding. Records may also be transferred to a Federal Records Center after they have been closed for 2 years. Data maintained in magnetic media is retained an indefinite period of time. Once determined no longer needed, these records are disposed of in accordance with established SSA procedures for disposal of records; e.g., erasure of tapes.

System manager(s) and address:

SSA Systems Security Officer Office of Financial Policy and Operations 6401 Security Boulevard Baltimore, MD 21235

Notification procedure:

Per 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2) the Agency is exempt from publishing procedures whereby an individual can be notified at his/her request if the system of records contains a record pertaining to him/her.

Record access procedures:

Per 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2) the Agency is exempt from publishing procedures whereby an individual can be notified at his/her request how to gain access to any record pertaining to him/her contained in this system of records..

Contesting record procedures:

Per 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2), records in this system are exempt from access by the individual named in this system of records. .

Record source categories:

Per 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2), the Agency is exempt from publishing the record sources.

Systems exempted from certain provisions of the Privacy Act:

Exemption of this system to the access provisions is claimed under 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2) inasmuch as these records are investigatory materials compiled for law enforcement purposes in anticipation of a criminal proceeding.