A recent report from the Deparment of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates the federal government has generated more than $578 million in cost savings as a result of DHS agencies’ efforts to share people’s personal data with 11 state and federal programs, Nextgov reported Friday.
The DHS annual report released Aug. 14 details the department’s 11 data matching agreements with five states and five federal agencies and notes that cost savings range between $380,000 and $414 million per year under those agreements.
“In addition to creating significant savings for taxpayers, these contracts protect personal privacy by establishing the conditions, safeguards, and procedures under which the data is disclosed,” the report reads. “One of the Privacy Office’s functions is to ensure that technologies used at the department sustain, and do not erode, privacy protections.”
One of the data matching agreements in 2019 is between the department’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The computer matching agreement, which sought to address improper duplication of benefits, enabled HUD and FEMA to save $94 million and $13 million respectively over a seven-year period.
FEMA also had a CMA with the Small Business Administration (SBA). The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) also signed agreements with the Department of Education, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Social Security Administration (SSA), New York State Department of Labor, New Jersey Department of Labor, Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance, Texas Workforce Commission, California Department of Health Care Services and the California Department of Social Services.
