Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS <SUBJECT>Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Office of Mental Health (OMH), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of a new system of records. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 1974, notice is hereby given that VA is establishing a new system of records titled, “Law Enforcement Officer Evaluations (LEO Evals)—VA” (216VA10). This system will be used to assist with the occupational placements of VA police officer candidates and officers undergoing psychological evaluations for hire and annually thereafter. Psychological evaluations, testing, and notes will contain data to assess the applicant's or employee's psychological fitness to meet the functional requirements of a VA police officer position. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments on this new system of records must be received no later than August 23, 2024. If no public comment is received during the period allowed for comment or unless otherwise published in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> by VA, the new system of records will become effective a minimum of 30 days after date of publication in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . If VA receives public comments, VA shall review the comments to determine whether any changes to the notice are necessary. </DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Comments may be submitted through <E T="03">www.Regulations.gov</E> or mailed to VA Privacy Service, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, (005X6F), Washington, DC 20420. Comments should indicate that they are submitted in response to “Law Enforcement Officer Evaluations (LEO Evals)—VA (216VA10)”. Comments received will be available at <E T="03">www.Regulations.gov</E> for public viewing, inspection or copies. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Stephania Griffin, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Chief Privacy Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, (105HIG), Washington, DC 20420, <E T="03">stephania.griffin@va.gov,</E> telephone number 704-245-2492 (Note: This is not a toll-free number). </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Description of Proposed Systems of Records</HD> This system of records is used to assist with occupational placements VA police officer candidates and officers undergoing psychological evaluations for hire and annually thereafter. Psychological evaluations, testing, and notes will contain data to assess the applicant's or employee's psychological fitness to meet the functional requirements of a VA police officer position. VA Handbook 0730, Security and Law Enforcement, appendix A, dated August 11, 2000, describes the medical standards for VA police officer applicants and incumbents. VA Handbook 0730 states that the VA police officers must possess emotional and mental stability. These guidelines are consistent with VA Handbook 0720, Procedures to Arm Department of Veterans Affairs Police, dated January 24, 2000. These standards are based on 5 CFR 339.301. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Proposed Routine Use Disclosures of Data in the System</HD> VA is proposing the following routine use disclosures of information maintained in the system. 1. To a Member of Congress or staff acting upon the Member's behalf when the Member or staff requests the information on behalf of, and at the request of, the individual who is the subject of the record. 2. <E T="03">Data Breach Response and Remediation, for VA:</E> To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when (a) VA suspects or has confirmed that there has been a breach of the system of records; (b) VA has determined that as a result of the suspected or confirmed breach there is a risk of harm to individuals, VA (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 VA's efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed breach or to prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm. 3. <E T="03">Data Breach Response and Remediation, for Another Federal Agency:</E> To another Federal agency or Federal entity, when VA 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. 4. <E T="03">Law Enforcement:</E> To a Federal, State, local, territorial, Tribal, or foreign law enforcement authority or other appropriate entity charged with the responsibility of investigating or prosecuting a violation or potential violation of law, whether civil, criminal, or regulatory in nature, or charged with enforcing or implementing such law, provided that the disclosure is limited to information that, either alone or in conjunction with other information, indicates such a violation or potential violation of law civil. The disclosure of the names and addresses of Veterans and their dependents from VA records under this routine use must also comply with the provisions of 38 U.S.C. 5701. 5. <E T="03">Department of Justice (DoJ), Litigation, or Administrative Proceeding:</E> To DoJ, or in a proceeding before a court, adjudicative body, or other administrative body before which VA is authorized to appear, when: (a) VA or any component thereof; (b) Any VA employee in his or her official capacity; (c) Any VA employee in his or her individual capacity where DoJ has agreed to represent the employee; or (d) The United States, where VA determines that litigation is likely to affect the agency or any of its components is a party to such proceedings or has an interest in such proceedings, and VA determines that use of such records is relevant and necessary to the proceedings. 6. <E T="03">Office of Management and Budget (OMB):</E> To OMB for the performance of its statutory responsibilities for evaluating Federal programs. 7. <E T="03">OMB:</E> To OMB at any stage in the legislative coordination and clearance process in connection with private relief legislation as set forth in OMB Circular No. A-19. 8. <E T="03">National Archives and Records Administration (NARA):</E> To NARA in records management inspections conducted under 44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906, or other functions authorized by laws and policies governing NARA operations and VA records management responsibilities. 9. <E T="03">Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC):</E> To EEOC in connection with investigations of alleged or possible discriminatory practices, examination of Federal affirmative employment programs, or other functions of the Commission as authorized by law. 10. <E T="03">Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA):</E> To FLRA in connection with the investigation and resolution of allegations of unfair labor practices, the resolution of exceptions to arbitration awards when a question of material fact is raised, matters before the Federal Service Impasses Panel, and the investigation of representation petitions and the conduct or supervision of representation elections. 11. <E T="03">Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB):</E> To MSPB in connection with appeals, special studies of the civil service and other merit systems, review of rules and regulations, investigation of alleged or possible prohibited personnel practices, and such other functions promulgated in 5 U.S.C. 1205 and 1206, or as authorized by law. 12. <E T="03">Health Care Providers, for Referral by VA:</E> To: (a) a Federal agency or a health care provider when VA refers a patient for medical and other health services, or authorizes a patient to obtain such services and the information is needed by the Federal agency or health care provider to perform the services; or (b) a Federal agency or a health care provider under the provisions of 38 U.S.C. 513, 7409, 8111, or 8153, when treatment is rendered by VA under the terms of such contract or agreement or the issuance of an authorization, and the information is needed for purposes of medical treatment or follow-up, determination of eligibility for benefits, or recovery by VA of the costs of the treatment. 13. <E T="03">Health Care Providers, for Referral to VA:</E> To a non-VA health care provider when that health care provider has referred the individual to VA for medical or other health services. 14. <E T="03">Covered Entities, for their Health Care Operations:</E> To a covered entity for their health care operations, provided that the entity either has or had a relationship with the individual, and the disclosure is for the purpose of: (a) Conducting quality assessment and improvement activities; patient safety activities as defined in 42 CFR 3.20; population-based activities relating to improving health or reducing health care costs, protocol development, case management, and care coordination; contacting of health care providers and patients with information about treatment alternatives; and related functions that do not include treatment; (b) Reviewing the competence or qualifications of health care professionals; evaluating practitioner and provider performance, and health plan performance; conducting training programs for health care practitioners, trainees, and students; training of non-health care professionals; accreditation, certification, licensing, or credentialing activities; or (c) Health care fraud and abuse detection or compliance. 15. <E T="03">Guardi ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 36k characters. 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