Effective September 11, 2008, Handbook AS-353, Guide to Privacy, the Freedom of Information Act, and Records Management, was revised to include a modification to existing Systems of Records USPS 500.300, Emergency Management Records, and USPS 800.000, Address Change, Mail Forwarding, and Related Services, which were published in the Federal Register on July 17, 2008 (73 FR 41134–41135).
Handbook AS-353, Guide to Privacy, the Freedom of Information Act, and Records Management
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Appendix — Privacy Act Systems of Records
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Section C. Index of Systems of Records
Part I. Customer Systems
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USPS 500.300 System Name: Emergency Management Records
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Categories of Individuals Covered by the System
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[Renumber existing item 2 as 3, add new items 2 and 4 to read as follows:]
2. Household members of USPS employees and other individuals having emergency management responsibilities officially designated by the Postal Service to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, or recover from any natural disaster or manmade hazard.
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4. Individuals whose names have been provided to the Postal Service by government agencies or disaster relief organizations as a result of a disaster or manmade hazard.
Categories of Records in the System
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[Revise items 2 and 4 to read as follows]:
2. Medical fitness and surveillance information: Records related to medical documentation such as receipt of prophylaxis, tests, including determinations of fitness to wear protective equipment, and surveillance for exposure to hazards.
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4. Evacuee information: Records of individuals who are impacted by natural disasters or manmade hazard, such as name; postal assignment information (if USPS employee); home, work, and emergency contact information; home and work address; location in facility and activities prior to evacuation; route of exit from facility; rallying point; and emergency medical treatment administered to evacuees.
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Purpose(s)
[Revise text to read as follows:]
1. To permit collaboration among officially designated individuals who are responsible for mitigation of, preparation for, response to, and recovery from any natural disaster or manmade hazard involving the Postal Service.
2. To satisfy federal requirements for the training, fitness testing, and medical surveillance of individuals in response to a natural disaster or manmade hazard involving the Postal Service.
3. To test for the exposure of individuals to hazards.
4. To account for the whereabouts of individuals in response to a natural disaster or manmade hazard at a postal facility.
5. To assess the likelihood of an individual’s exposure to a hazard and to contact the individual with important health-related information.
6. To provide information about disaster recovery programs and services to individuals affected by a natural disaster or manmade hazard.
Routine Uses of Records Maintained in the System, Including Categories of Users and the Purposes of Such Uses
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Standard routine uses 1 through 9 apply. Medical records may be disclosed to an individual’s private treating physician, to medical personnel retained by USPS, and to public health agencies to provide medical examinations, medications, or treatment to individuals covered by this system of records.
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Retention and Disposal
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[Revise items 2 and 3 to read as follows:]
2. Medical documentation including fitness and medical surveillance information is retained 30 years from the date of collection.
3. Evacuee information is retained 5 years from the date of collection.
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System Manager(s) and Address
[Add the following entries:]
Chief Postal Inspector, United States Postal Inspection Service, United States Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza S.W., Washington, DC 20260.
Senior Vice President, Intelligent Mail and Address Quality, United States Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza, S.W., Washington, DC 20260.
Manager, Safety, Security, Emergency Planning, United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General, 1735 N. Lynn Street, Arlington, VA 22209.
[Delete the following entry:]
The Vice President, Emergency Preparedness, United States Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza S.W., Washington, DC 20260.
Notification Procedure
[Revise text to read as follows:]
Current and former employees and contractors wanting to know if information about them is maintained in this system of records must address inquiries to the facility head where currently or last employed. Headquarters employees or contractors must submit inquiries to the chief postal inspector. Requests must include full name, Social Security Number or Employee Identification Number, and employment or contract dates. Individuals from whom evacuee information may have been collected must address inquiries to the head of the facility from which they were evacuated. Household members of current or former field employees and other individuals having emergency management responsibilities officially designated by the Postal Service must address inquiries to the facility head where the postal employee in their household is currently or was last employed. Household members of current or former Headquarters employees and other individuals having emergency management responsibilities officially designated by the Postal Service must submit inquiries to the chief postal inspector.
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Record Source Categories
[Revise text to read as follows:]
Employees; contractors; medical staff of the Postal Service; designated contractors; public health agencies; emergency response agencies, providers, first responders; individuals who are evacuated in the event of a natural disaster or manmade hazard; and household members of USPS employees and other individuals having emergency management responsibilities officially designated by the Postal Service.
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Part II. Customer Systems
USPS 800.000 System Name: Address Change, Mail Forwarding, and Related Services
System Location
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USPS National Customer Support Center (NCSC), Computerized Forwarding System (CFS) sites, Post Offices, USPS Processing and Distribution Centers, USPS IT Eagan Host Computing Services Center, and contractor sites.
Categories of Individuals Covered by the System
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Customers requesting change of address, mail forwarding, or other related services either electronically, in writing, or via telephone. Customers who are victims of a natural disaster who request mail forwarding services through the Postal Service or the American Red Cross.
Categories of Records in the System
[Revise item 2, renumber existing item 8 as item 9, and add new item number 8 to read as follows:]
2. Verification and payment information: Credit and/or debit card number, type, and expiration date; or date of birth and driver’s state and license number; information for identity verification; and billing information. Customers who are victims of a natural disaster who request mail forwarding service electronically may be required to provide date of birth for verification if credit and/or debit card information is unavailable.
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8. Online user information: Internet Protocol (IP) address, domain name, operating system versions, browser version, date and time of connection, and geographic location.
9. Protective Orders.
Purpose(s)
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[Revise item 3 to read as follows:]
3. To provide address information to the American Red Cross or other disaster relief organization about a customer who has been relocated because of disaster.
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[Add item 5 to read as follows]
5. To support investigations related to law enforcement for fraudulent transactions.
Routine Uses of Records in the System, Including Categories of Users and the Purposes of Such Uses
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Standard routine uses 1 through 7, 10, and 11 apply. In addition:
[Revise items a and b to read as follows:]
a. Disclosure upon request. The new address of a specific business or organization that has filed a permanent change-of-address order may be furnished to any individual on request. (Note: The new address of an individual or family will not be furnished pursuant to this routine use, unless authorized by one of the standard routine uses listed above or one of the specific routine uses listed below.) If a domestic violence shelter has filed a letter on official letterhead from a domestic violence coalition stating (i) that such domestic violence coalition meets the requirements of 42 U.S.C. § 10410 and (ii) that the organization filing the change of address is a domestic violence shelter, the new address shall not be released except pursuant to routine use d, e, or f pursuant to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
b. Disclosure for Address Correction. Disclosure of any customer’s new permanent address may be made to a mailer, only if the mailer is in possession of the name and old address: from the National Change-of-Address Linkage (NCOALink®) file if the mailer is seeking corrected addresses for a mailing list; from the Computerized Forwarding System (CFS), from the Postal Automated Redirection System (PARS) if a mailpiece is undeliverable as addressed, or from the Locatable Address Conversion System if an address designation has been changed or assigned. Copies of change-of-address orders may not be furnished. In the event of a disaster or manmade hazard, temporary address changes may be disclosed to a mailer when, in the sole determination of the Postal Service, such disclosure serves the primary interest of the customer, for example, to enable a mailer to send medicines directly to the customer’s temporary address, and only if the mailer is in possession of the customer’s name and permanent address. If a domestic violence shelter has filed a letter on official letterhead from a domestic violence coalition stating (i) that such domestic violence coalition meets the requirements of 42 U.S.C. § 10410 and (ii) that the organization filing the change of address is a domestic violence shelter, the new address shall not be released except pursuant to routine use d, e, or f pursuant to the order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
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[Add item i to read as follows:]
i. Disclosure to a disaster relief organization. Any customer’s permanent or temporary change of address may be disclosed to the American Red Cross or other disaster relief organizations, if that address has been impacted by disaster or manmade hazard.
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Policies and Practices for Storing, Retrieving, Accessing, Retaining, and Disposing of Records in the System
Storage
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Records generated from the source document are recorded on the Forwarding Control System file server and on tapes at CFS units. Electronic change-of-address records and related service records are also stored on disk and/or magnetic tape in a secured environment. Change-of-address records are consolidated in a national change-of-address (NCOA) file at the USPS IT Eagan Host Computing Services Center. Selected extracts of NCOA are provided in the secure data format represented by the NCOALink product to a limited number of firms under contract or license agreement with USPS. Records pertaining to move-related services are also transmitted to specific service providers, including government agencies and private companies under contract to USPS.
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Retention and Disposal
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1. National change-of-address and mail forwarding records are retained 4 years from the effective date.
2. Delivery units access COA records from the change-of-address Reporting System database, which retains 2 years of information from the COA effective date. The physical change-of-address order is retained in the CFS unit for 30 days if it was scanned, or 18 months if it was manually entered into the national database.
3. Online user information may be retained for 12 months.
Records existing on paper are destroyed by shredding. Records existing on computer storage media are destroyed according to the applicable USPS media sanitization practice.
System Manager(s) and Address
[Revise text to read as follows:]
Vice President, Retail Operations, United States Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza S.W., Washington, DC 20260.
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Record Source Categories
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Customers, personnel, service providers, and, for call center operations, commercially available sources of names, addresses, telephone numbers. For emergency change-of-addresses only, commercially available sources of names, previous addresses, and dates of birth. For alternative authentication sources of names, previous and new addresses, dates of birth, and driver’s state and license number.
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next printed version of Handbook AS-353 and into the online version of the handbook available on the Postal Service™ PolicyNet website:
(The direct URL for the Postal Service PolicyNet website is http://blue.usps.gov/cpim.)
Refer any questions about this revision to the Records Office at 202-268-2608.
— Privacy Office,
Consumer Advocate, 9-11-08
