SORN OPM Central 1

OPM/Central-1 Civil Service Retirement and Insurance Records

System name:

Civil Service Retirement and Insurance Records.

System location:

Associate Director, for Retirement and Insurance Service, Office of Personnel Management, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, DC 20415- 0001. Certain records pertaining to State income tax withholdings from annuitant payments are located with State Taxing Offices. Certain information concerning enrollment/change in enrollment in a health plan under the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program may be located at other agencies. Certain records pertaining to overpayments must be forwarded to the Department of the Treasury for collection activity. Certain records pertaining to enrollment in a Preauthorized Debit Program (PAD) for sending recurring remittances to OPM for service credit and voluntary contributions accounts are maintained with a lockbox bank which operates the PAD program for OPM.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:

a. Former Federal employees and members of Congress who performed service subject to the Civil Service Retirement (CSR) or Federal Employees Retirement (FER) system.

b. Current Federal employees who have:

(1) Performed Federal service subject to the CSR system other than with their present agency; or

(2) Filed a designation of beneficiary for benefits payable under the CSR system; or

(3) Requested OPM to review claim for health benefits made under the Federal Employees Benefits Program; or

(4) Enrolled/changed enrollment in a plan under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program; or

(5) Filed a service credit application in connection with former Federal service; or

(6) Filed an application for disability retirement with OPM and are awaiting final decision, or whose disability retirement application has been disapproved by OPM.

c. Former Federal employees who died subject to or who retired under the CSR or FER system, or their surviving spouses, and/or children who have received or are receiving CSR or FER benefits and/ or Federal Employees Group Life Insurance benefits, or Federal Employees Health Benefits.

d. Former Federal employees who died subject to or who retired under a Federal Government retirement system other than CSR or FER system, or their surviving spouses and/or children, who have received or are receiving Federal Employees Group Life Insurance benefits and/ or Federal Employees Health Benefits.

e. Applicants for Federal employment found unsuitable for employment on medical grounds.

f. Former spouses of Federal employees who have received or are receiving CSR or FER benefits, or who have filed a court order awarding future benefits.

Categories of records in the system:

This system comprises those retirement service history records of employee's service in the Federal Government other than for the agency in which they may presently be employed. Also included in the system are current personnel data pertaining to active United States Postal Service employees who, by virtue of the provisions set forth in 5 U.S.C. 2105(e), are not considered civil service employees. It also contains information concerning health benefit enrollment/change in enrollment, and information developed in support of claims for benefits made under the retirement, health benefits, and life insurance programs for Federal employees that OPM administers. Also included are medical records and supporting evidence on those individuals whose application for disability retirement has been rejected. Consent forms and other records related to the withholding of State income tax from annuitant payments, whether physically maintained by the State or OPM; are included in this system. Consent forms and other records related to enrollment in the Preauthorized Debit Program, whether physically maintained by the authorized lockbox bank or OPM, are included in the system.

These records contain the following information:

a. Documentation of Federal service subject to the CSR or FER system.

b. Documentation of service credit and refund claims made under the CSR or FER system.

c. Documentation of voluntary contributions made by eligible individuals.

d. Retirement and death claims files, including documents supporting the retirement application, health benefits, and life insurance eligibility, medical records supporting disability claims (after receipt by OPM), and designations of beneficiary.

e. Claim review files pertaining to requests that claims made under the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program be reviewed by OPM.

f. Enrollment and change in enrollment information under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

g. Documentation of continuing coverage for life insurance and health benefits for annuitants and their survivors under a Federal Government retirement system other than the CSR or FER system, or for compensationers and their survivors under the Office of Workers Compensation programs.

h. The system also maintains a file of court orders submitted by former spouses of Federal employees. These court orders are submitted to support claims to apportion funds/benefits due to a Federal employee at some point in the future.

i. Records relating to overpayments made to annuitants, survivor annuitants, spouses and/or dependents. These records may be retained in OPM or provided to the Department of the Treasury, pursuant to the Debt Collection Act of 1996. There are two different systems applicable to overpayments. First, OPM has installed a new financial

management system. The system uses the Social Security Number as part of the identifying information in the record. The Debt Collection Act of 1996 requires agencies to turn over all receivables more than 180 days past due to the Department of the Treasury for all further collection activity. The Social Security Number is one of the

required fields for transferring the record to the Department of the Treasury. OPM may obtain the SSN from case files or requests made to credit bureaus.

Authority for maintenance of the system:

Includes the following with any revisions or amendments:

Section 3301 and chapters 83, 84, 87, 89 of title 5, United States Code, Pub. L. 83-598, 84-356, 86-724, and 94-455; and Executive Order 9397.

Purpose(s):

These records provide information and verification on which to base entitlement and computation of CSR and FER and survivors' Benefits, Federal Employees Health Benefits and Enrollments, and Federal Employees Group Life Insurance benefits, and to withhold State income taxes from annuitant payments. These records also serve to review rejection of applicants for Federal employment on medical suitability grounds. These records also may be used to locate individuals for personnel research. These records also provide information and verification concerning enrollment/change in

enrollment in a plan under the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program.

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

Routine uses 1 through 10 of the Prefatory Statement at the beginning of OPM's system notices (60 FR 63075, effective January 17, 1996) apply to the records maintained within this system. The routine uses listed below are specific to this system of records only:

a. To disclose, to the following recipients, information needed to adjudicate a claim for benefits under OPM's or the recipient's benefits program(s), or information needed to conduct an analytical study of benefits being paid under such programs: Office of Workers Compensation Programs; Department of Veterans Affairs Pension Benefit

Program; Social Security Administration's Old Age, Survivor and Disability Insurance and Medical Programs, Health Care Financing Administration, and Supplemental Security Income Program; military retired pay programs; Federal civilian employee retirement programs (other than the CSR or FER system); or other national, State, county,

municipal, or other publicly recognized charitable or social security administrative agency;

b. To disclose to the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance Office information necessary to verify the election, declination, or waiver of regular and/or optional life insurance coverage or eligibility for payment of a claim for life insurance.

c. To disclose to health insurance carriers contracting with OPM to provide a health benefits plan under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, Social Security Numbers and other information necessary to identify enrollment in a plan, to verify eligibility for payment of a claim for health benefits, or to carry out the coordination for benefits provisions of such contracts.

d. To disclose to any inquirer, if sufficient information is provided to assure positive identification of an individual on whom a department or agency maintains retirement or insurance records, the fact that an individual is or is not on the retirement rolls, and if

so, the type of annuity (employment or survivor, but not retirement on disability) being paid, or if not, whether a refund has been paid.

e. When an individual to whom a record pertains dies, to disclose to any person possibly entitled in the order of precedence for lump-sum benefits, information in the individual's record that might properly be disclosed to the individual, and the name and relationship of any other person whose claim for benefits takes precedence or who is entitled to share the benefits payable. When a representative of the estate has not been appointed, the individual's next of kin may be recognized as the representative of the estate.

f. To disclose to the Internal Revenue Service, Department of the Treasury, information as required by the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended.

g. To disclose to the Department of Treasury information necessary to issue benefit checks or savings bonds.

h. To disclose information to any person who is responsible for the care of the individual to whom a record pertains, and who is found by a court or OPM Medical Officers to be incompetent or under other legal disability, information necessary to assure payment of

benefits to which the individual is entitled.

i. To disclose to the Parent Locator Service of the Department of Health and Human Services, upon its request, the present address of an annuitant, or former employee, for enforcing child support obligations against such individual.

j. In connection with an examination ordered by the agency under

(1) Medical examination procedures; or

(2) Agency-filed disability retirement procedures.

To disclose to the agency-appointed representative of an employee all notices, decisions, other written communications, or any pertinent medical evidence other than medical evidence that a prudent physician would hesitate to inform the individual of; such medical evidence will be disclosed only to a licensed physician, designated

in writing for that purpose by the individual or his or her representative.

k. To disclose information to any source from which additional

information is requested relevant to OPM determination on an individual's eligibility for or entitlement to coverage under the retirement, life insurance, and health benefits program, to the extent necessary to identify the individual and the type of

information requested.

l. To disclose information to the Office of Management and Budget at any stage of the legislative coordination and clearance process in connection with private relief legislation as set forth in OMB circular No. A-19.

m. To provide an official of another Federal agency information needed in the performance of official duties related to reconciling or reconstructing data files, compiling descriptive statistics, and making analytical studies to support the function for which the

records were collected and maintained.

n. To disclose to a Federal agency, in response to its request, the address of any annuitant or applicant for refund of retirement deductions, if the agency requires that information to provide consideration in connection with the collection of a debt due the

United States.

o. To disclose to an allottee, as defined in 5 CFR 831.1501, the name, address, and the amount withheld from an annuitant's benefits, pursuant to 5 CFR 831.1501 et seq. as an allotment to that allottee

to implement the program of voluntary allotments authorized by 5 U.S.C. 8345(h) or 8465.

p. To disclose to a Federal agency, in response to its request, information in connection with the hiring, retention, separation, or retirement of an employee; the issuance of a security clearance; the reporting of an investigation of an employee; the letting of a

contract; the classification of a job; or the issuance of a license, grant, or other benefit by the requesting agency, to the extent that OPM determines that the information is relevant and necessary to the requesting party's decision on the matter.

q. To disclose to a State agency responsible for the collection of State income taxes the information required by an Agreement to Implement State Income Tax Withholdings from Civil Service Annuities entered pursuant to section 1705 of Pub. L. 97-35 or 5 U.S.C. 8469 to implement the program of voluntary State income tax withholding required by 5 U.S.C. 8345(k) or 8469.

r. To disclose to the Social Security Administration the Social Security Numbers of civil service annuitants to determine

(1) their vital status as shown in the Social Security Master Records;

(2) whether recipients of the minimum annuity are receiving at least the Special Primary Insurance Amount benefit from the Social Security Administration; and

(3) whether civil service retirees with post-1956 military service credit are receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration.

s. To disclose information contained in the Retirement Annuity Master File; including the name, Social Security Number, date of birth, sex, OPM's claim number, health benefit enrollment code, retirement date, retirement code (type of retirement), annuity rate, pay status of case, correspondence address, and ZIP code, of all Federal retirees and their survivors to Federal agencies and requesting States to help eliminate fraud and abuse in the benefit programs administered by the Federal agencies and States (and those States to local governments) and to collect debts and overpayments owed to the Federal Government, and to State governments and their components.

t. To disclose to a Federal agency, a person or an organization contracting with a Federal agency for rendering collection services within the purview of section 13 of the Debt Collection Act of 1982, in response to a written request from the head of the agency or his other designee, or from the debt collection contractor, the following

data concerning an individual owing a debt to the Federal Government:

(1) The debtor's name, address, Social Security Number, and other information necessary to establish the identity of the individual;

(2) the amount, status, and history of the claim; and

(3) the agency or program under which the claim arose.

u. To disclose information contained in the Retirement Annuity Master File, upon written request, to state tax administration agencies, for the express purpose of ensuring compliance with state tax obligations by persons receiving benefits under the Civil Service Retirement System or the Federal Employees Retirement System, and to prevent fraud and abuse, but only the following data elements: name, correspondence address, date of birth, sex, Social Security Account Number, annuity rate, commencing date of benefits, and retirement code (type of retirement).

v. To disclose information to a State court or administrative agency in connection with a garnishment, attachment, or similar proceeding to enforce an alimony or child support obligation.

w. To disclose to a former spouse when necessary to explain how that former spouse's benefit under 5 U.S.C. 8341(h), 8345(j), 8445, or 8467 was computed.

x. To disclose to a Federal or State agency (or its agent) when necessary to locate individuals who are owed money or property either by a Federal agency, state or local agency, or by a financial institution or similar institution.

y. To disclose to a health plan participating in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and to an FEHBP enrollee or covered family member or an enrollee or covered family member's authorized representative, in connection with the review of a

disputed claim for health benefits, from information maintained within this system of records, the decision of OPM regarding the disputed claim review.

z. To disclose to a State or local government, or private individual or association engaged in volunteer work, identifying and address information and other pertinent facts, for the purpose of developing an application as representative payee for an annuitant or

survivor annuitant who is mentally incompetent or under other legal disability.

aa. To disclose on request to a spouse or dependent child (or court-appointed guardian thereof) of a CSR or FER system annuitant or an annuitant of any other Federal retirement system enrolled in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program whether the annuitant has changed from a self-and-family to a self-only health benefits

enrollment.

bb. To the Defense Manpower Data Center, Department of Defense, and the U.S. Postal Service to conduct computer matching programs for the purpose of identifying and locating individuals who are receiving Federal salaries or benefit payments and are past due in their repayment of debts owed to the U.S. Government under certain programs

administered by the Office of Personnel Management in order to collect the debts under the provisions of the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365) by voluntary repayment, or by administrative or salary offset procedures.

cc. To any other Federal agency for the purpose of effecting administrative or salary offset procedures against a person employed by that agency or receiving or eligible to receive some benefit payments from the agency when the Office of Personnel Management as a creditor has a claim against that person.

dd. To disclose information concerning past due receivables to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Service, and to any other debt collection center designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, or any debt collection contractor for the purpose of collecting the receivable by cross servicing in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 3711(M).

ee. To disclose information concerning past due receivables to the Department of the Justice for the purpose of litigating to enforce collection of a past due account or to obtain the Department of Justice's concurrence in a decision to compromise, suspend, or terminate collection action on an overpayment with the principal amount in excess of $100,000 or such higher amount as the Attorney General may, from time to time, prescribe in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 3711(a).

ff. To disclose information concerning past due receivables to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Service, or to any other debt collection center designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, or any other Federal agency for the purpose of collecting the receivable through offset under 31 U.S.C. 3716 (administrative offset), 31 U.S.C. 3720A (Tax refund offset), 5 U.S.C. 5514 (Salary offset), or offset under any other statutory or common law authority.

gg. To disclose information concerning overpayees in arrears to other Federal agencies for the purpose of implementing 31 U.S.C. 3720B, which prohibits persons who are past due on Federal debts from obtaining Federal financial assistance in the form of loans or loan insurance or guaranties.

hh. To disclose information concerning past due receivables to any employer of the debtor for the purpose of conducting administrative wage garnishment pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3720D.

ii. To disclose information or publicly disseminate information concerning overpayees in arrears and the debt to the public for the purpose of publicly disseminating information regarding the identity of the debtor pursuant to 31 U.S.C. 3720B.

jj. To disclose information concerning past due receivables to State and local governments in an effort to collect monies owed the Federal government.

kk. To disclose information concerning past due receivables to the Internal Revenue Service for the purpose of: Effecting an administrative offset against the individual's income tax refund to recover monies owed the Federal government by the individual, or

obtaining the mailing address of a taxpayer in order to locate the individual to collect or compromise a Federal receivable against the taxpayer in accordance with 31 U.S.C. 3711, 3717, 3728, and 3718 and 26 U.S.C. 6103(m)(2) and 6402.

ll. To disclose information concerning past due receivables to any person or for any debt collection purpose authorized by statue not specifically enumerated here.

Disclosures to consumer reporting agencies:

Disclosures pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(12): Disclosures may be made from this system to consumer reporting agencies as defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681a(f)) or the Federal Claims Collection Act of 1966 (31 U.S.C. 3701(a)(3)).

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

Storage: These records are maintained on magnetic tapes, disks, microfiche, and in folders.

Retrievability: These records are retrieved by the name, Social Security Number,

date of birth and/or claim number of the individual to whom they pertain.

Safeguards: Records are kept in lockable metal file cabinets or in a secured

facility with access limited to those whose official duties require access. Personnel screening is employed to prevent unauthorized disclosure.

Retention and disposal: All records on a claim for retirement, life insurance, health

benefits, and tax withholdings are maintained permanently. Medical suitability records are maintained for 18 months. Requests for review of health benefits claims are maintained up to 3 years. Disposal of manual records is by shredding or burning; magnetic tapes and discs are erased.

System manager(s) and address:

Associate Director, Retirement and Insurance Service, Office of Personnel Management, 1900 E Street NW., Washington, DC 20415-0001.

Notification procedure:

Individuals wishing to inquire if this system contains information about them should contact the system manager. Individuals must furnish the following information for their records to be located and identified:

a. Name, including all former names.

b. Date of birth.

c. Social Security Number.

d. Name and address of office in which currently and/or formerly employed in the Federal service.

Record access procedures:

Individuals wishing to request access to their records in this system should contact the system manager. Individuals must furnish the following information for their records to be located and identified:

a. Name, including all former names.

b. Date of birth.

c. Social Security Number.

d. Name and address of office in which currently and/or formerly employed in the Federal service.

e. Annuity, service credit, or voluntary contributions account number, if assigned.

Individuals requesting access must also follow OPM's Privacy Act regulations on verification of identity and access to records (5 CFR part 297).

Contesting record procedure:

Individuals wishing to request amendment of their records in this system should contact the system manager. Individuals must furnish the following information for their records to be located and identified:

a. Name, including all former names.

b. Date of birth.

c. Social Security Number.

d. Name and address of office in which currently and/or formerly employed in the Federal service.

e. Annuity, service credit, or voluntary contributions account number, if assigned.

Individuals requesting amendment of their records must also follow OPM's Privacy Act regulations regarding verification of identity and amendment of records (5 CFR part 297).

Record source categories:

The information in this system is obtained from:

a. The individual to whom the information pertains.

b. Agency pay, leave, and allowance records.

c. National Personnel Records Center.

d. Federal civilian retirement systems other than the CSR/FER systems.

e. Military retired pay system records.

f. Office of Workers' Compensation Benefits Program.

g. Veteran's Administration Pension Benefits Program.

h. Social Security Old Age, Survivor, and Disability Insurance and Medicare Programs.

i. Health insurance carriers and plans participating in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Programs.

j. The Office of Federal Employees Group Life Insurance.

k. Official Personnel Folders.

l. The individual's co-workers and supervisors.

m. Physicians who have examined or treated the individual.

n. Former spouse of the individual.

o. State courts or support enforcement agencies.

p. Credit bureaus.