SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Treasury is establishing this system to support the receipt and appropriate referral of information from the public via www.fraud.gov regarding suspected waste, fraud, abuse, improper payments, misuse of Federal funds, or other misconduct affecting Federal programs. Executive Order 14249, Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse, states that it is the policy of the United States to defend against financial fraud and improper payments and directs Treasury-related activity to support fraud prevention and payment integrity. Executive Order 14395, Establishing the Task Force To Eliminate Fraud, directs a comprehensive national strategy to stop fraud, waste, and abuse in Federal benefit programs and includes Treasury, DOJ, inspectors general, and other agencies in coordinated anti-fraud work.

SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:

Department of the Treasury, .032 Federal Program Waste, Fraud, and Abuse Tip Intake and Referral Records.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:

Unclassified.

SYSTEM LOCATION:

Records are maintained by the Department of the Treasury, Treasury Common Services Center (TCSC), 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S):

Treasury's Chief Information Officer, U.S. Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20006. Email: ciofrontoffice@treasury.gov.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:

31 U.S.C. 321(a)(7); 31 U.S.C. 3351 et seq.;44 U.S.C. 3101; Executive Order 14249, Protecting America's Bank Account Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse;Executive Order 14395, Establishing the Task Force To Eliminate Fraud.

PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:

The purpose of this system is to enable Treasury to:

1. Receive and maintain tips, complaints, allegations, leads, referrals, and supporting information submitted by members of the public via www.fraud.gov concerning suspected waste, fraud, abuse, improper payments, misuse of Federal funds, or other misconduct affecting Federal programs;

2. Review, validate for completeness, de-duplicate, categorize, and triage such information;

3. Identify the Federal agency or Office of Inspector General with program responsibility, audit responsibility, oversight responsibility, or enforcement authority over the subject matter of the tip;

4. Refer tips and related information to the appropriate Federal agency, including the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a relevant Office of Inspector General, or another Federal agency or component for review and action;

5. Coordinate with Federal agencies regarding referrals, status, outcomes, duplicate submissions, urgent threats, or related program-integrity matters;

6. Protect Federal funds, promote payment integrity, identify or prevent improper payments, and support the detection, prevention, investigation, recovery, or remediation of waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal programs; and

7. Maintain records necessary to administer the intake and referral process, including audit logs, correspondence, disposition records, and referral histories.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:

This system may contain records about:

1. Individuals who submit tips, complaints, allegations, leads, inquiries, or supporting information to Treasury via www.fraud.gov;

2. Individuals identified by submitters as subjects, witnesses, victims, ( printed page 36652) beneficiaries, recipients, payees, providers, contractors, grantees, subrecipients, vendors, employees, agents, intermediaries, facilitators, or other persons associated with suspected waste, fraud, abuse, improper payments, misuse of Federal funds, or other misconduct; and

3. Individuals whose information appears in supporting materials submitted to Treasury.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:

Records in this system may include:

1. Tip, complaint, allegation, referral, or lead information submitted to Treasury via www.fraud.gov;

2. Submitter contact information, such as full name (first, middle, middle initial, last), aliases, business name, mailing address, email address, telephone number, organizational affiliation, and preferred method of contact;

3. Information concerning subjects of tips, including full name, aliases, date of birth, address, telephone number, email address, employer, business name, role, program participation, recipient or payee status, provider status, vendor status, grantee status, contractor status, account identifiers, transaction identifiers, award identifiers, grant identifiers, contract identifiers, payment identifiers, or other identifying information provided by the submitter or developed during triage;

4. Descriptions of suspected waste, fraud, abuse, improper payments, misuse of Federal funds, eligibility violations, false statements, false claims, kickbacks, conflicts of interest, identity misuse, organized fraud schemes, program-integrity vulnerabilities, or related misconduct;

5. Program, agency, benefit, grant, contract, payment, award, transaction, or account information relevant to the tip;

6. Supporting documents, photographs, screenshots, audio, video, messages, correspondence, spreadsheets, links, metadata, or other materials submitted by the public or obtained during Treasury's intake and triage process;

7. Treasury triage notes, risk indicators, categorizations, jurisdictional determinations, referral decisions, duplicate-tip determinations, status information, and disposition information;

8. Referral records, including receiving agency, office, or component; date of referral; referral method; acknowledgement of receipt; referral status; and related correspondence;

9. Communications with submitters, receiving agencies, inspectors general, law enforcement agencies, or other authorized entities;

10. Records concerning consent, anonymity, confidentiality requests, whistleblower-related assertions, and limitations on further contact; and

11. Audit logs, access logs, system-generated metadata, case identifiers, user identifiers, and administrative records necessary to operate, secure, and audit the system.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:

Information in this system may be obtained from:

1. Members of the public who submit tips, complaints, allegations, leads, or supporting materials via www.fraud.gov;

2. Federal agencies including inspectors general and law enforcement agencies;

3. State, local, Tribal, territorial government entities, where appropriate and authorized;

4. Treasury records and systems, to the extent necessary for intake, triage, de-duplication, referral, audit, security, or program administration;

5. Publicly available sources;

6. Contractors, consultants, detailees, or agents acting on behalf of Treasury; and

7. System-generated metadata, audit logs, and administrative records.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:

In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a(b), records and/or information or portions thereof maintained as part of this system may be disclosed outside Treasury as a routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:

(1) To the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”), for the purpose of representing or providing legal advice to the Department in a proceeding before a court, adjudicative body, or other administrative body before which the Department is authorized to appear, when such proceeding involves:

(a) The Department or any component thereof;

(b) Any employee of the Department in his or her official capacity;

(c) Any employee of the Department in his or her individual capacity where the Department of Justice or the Department has agreed to represent the employee; or

(d) The United States, when the Department determines that litigation is likely to affect the Department or any of its components; and the use of such records by the DOJ is deemed by the DOJ or the Department to be relevant and necessary to the litigation provided that the disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which records were collected;

(2) To a Federal, State, or local law enforcement authority or other appropriate entity charged with the responsibility for investigating or prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing or implementing such law, when a record, either alone or in conjunction with other information indicates a violation or potential violation of law that is criminal, civil, or regulatory in nature, and the disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which the records were collected;

(3) To a Congressional office in response to an inquiry made at the request of, and on behalf of, the individual to whom the record pertains;

(4) To the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) pursuant to records management inspections being conducted under the authority of 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906;

(5) To appropriate agencies, entities, and person when (1) the Department of the Treasury suspects or has confirmed that there has been a breach of the system of records; (2) the Department of the Treasury has determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed breach there is a risk of harm to individuals, the Department of the Treasury (including its information systems, programs, and operations), the Federal Government, or national security; and (3) the disclosure made to such agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to assist in connection with the Department of the Treasury's efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed breach or to prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm; and

(6) To another Federal agency or Federal entity, when the Department of the Treasury determines that information from this system of records is reasonably necessary to assist the recipient agency or entity in (1) responding to a suspected or confirmed breach or (2) 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, subcontractors, grantees, experts, consultants, detailees, shared-service providers, or other persons or entities performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative agreement, interagency agreement, or other assignment for ( printed page 36653) Treasury when the disclosure is necessary to assist Treasury in operating, maintaining, securing, improving, auditing, evaluating, or administering the system.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:

Records in this system are stored electronically in secure facilities.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:

Records may be retrieved by the case number that is assigned to each individual's submission, or by an individual's name, email address, or another personal identifier.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:

Records in this system will be maintained and disposed in accordance with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) retention schedules. The Department of the Treasury is in the process of developing a new records schedule for submission to NARA. Until the new schedule is approved, the records will be treated as permanent.

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:

Records in this system are safeguarded in accordance with the Treasury Shared Services Enterprise Cybersecurity Program Policy. Strict security access, multi-factor authentication and audit logging controls have been imposed to minimize the risk of compromising the information that is being stored. Access to the computer system containing the records in this system is limited to those individuals who have a need to know the information for the performance of their official duties and who have appropriate clearances.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:

See “Notification Procedures” below.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:

See “Notification Procedures” below.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:

Individuals seeking notification of and access to any record contained in this system of records, or seeking to contest its content, may submit a request in writing, in accordance with Treasury's Privacy Act regulations (located at 31 CFR 1.26), to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Transparency Liaison, whose contact information can be found at https://home.treasury.gov/​footer/​freedom-of-information-act under “FOIA Requester Service Centers and FOIA Liaison.” If an individual believes more than one bureau maintains Privacy Act records concerning him or her, the individual may submit the request to the Office of Privacy, Transparency, and Records, FOIA and Transparency, Department of the Treasury, 1500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20220.

No specific form is required, but a request must be written and:

• Be signed and either notarized or submitted under28 U.S.C. 1746, a law that permits statements to be made under penalty of perjury as a substitute for notarization;
• State that the request is made pursuant to the FOIA and/or Privacy Act disclosure regulations;
• Include information that will enable the processing office to determine the fee category of the user;
• Be addressed to the bureau that maintains the record (in order for a request to be properly received by the Department, the request must be received in the appropriate bureau's disclosure office);
• Reasonably describe the records;
• Give the address where the determination letter is to be sent;
• State whether or not the requester wishes to inspect the records or have a copy made without first inspecting them; and
• Include a firm agreement from the requester to pay fees for search, duplication, or review, as appropriate. In the absence of a firm agreement to pay, the requester may submit a request for a waiver or reduction of fees, along with justification of how such a waiver request meets the criteria for a waiver or reduction of fees found in the FOIA statute at5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(A)(iii).

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2), portions of this system of records may be exempt from 5 U.S.C. 552a(c)(3), (d), (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), (H), and (I), and (f), to the extent that the records consist of investigatory material compiled for law enforcement purposes.

HISTORY:

None.

91 FR 36651