Incentives grow for agencies to prevent and recover overpayments

A fledgling law is aimed at holding the government more accountable for waste, fraud and abuse.

The amount of federal improper payments on record has risen steadily during the past decade, in part, because agencies have improved how they track and recover billions of dollars in wasted taxpayer funds.

New reports from department inspectors general and the Government Accountability Office assert that improper payments continue to be a big problem for Uncle Sam. From 2000 to 2010, improper payments ballooned from $20 billion to $125 billion, according to a March GAO report. But an eight-month-old law and an effort by the Obama administration to provide agencies with better incentives and more accountability for noncompliance are helping uncover the amount of actual debt and recapture it, said government officials last week during a conference and in subsequent interviews.

There are some attractive "carrots" for agencies included in the 2010 Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act, said Kay Daly, director of financial management and assurance at GAO. For example, agencies can use up to 25 percent of recovered funds for improving financial management; up to 25 percent for the program or fund linked to the overpayment; and up to 5 percent for inspector general activities. So, agencies can keep as much as 55 percent of the recaptured money, and the rest is returned to the general treasury.

But what about provisions to hold agencies' accountable for noncompliance, or a lack of progress?

Some specialists raised questions during a recent conference hosted by Federal Computer Week and LexisNexis about whether agencies faced any real repercussions for failing to recover improper payments. The 2010 law directs agencies deemed noncompliant by their inspectors general to submit a plan to Congress for getting back on track, including the names of designated accountable senior officials and consequences for lack of progress. The Office of Management and Budget must submit an annual report to Congress on agencies' progress related to recapturing improper payments. If an IG finds an agency in noncompliance with IPERA for more than three consecutive fiscal years for the same program or activity, then the head of the agency must provide Congress with reauthorization proposals for the program in question and any potential statutory changes needed to bring it back into compliance. The government website paymentaccurary.gov publishes the names of the officials responsible for preventing and reducing improper payments within individual agency programs.

"As with every government program, it will require strong oversight to ensure that the improper payments are effectively discovered and eliminated," wrote Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, in an email to Government Executive. Amey, who said IPERA was a step in the right direction, added he didn't know "how many programs and activities have been deemed as susceptible to significant improper payments and reviewed, so the government might have a ways to go before the public receives any real benefit."

GAO agreed with that assessment in its March report, in which the watchdog said governmentwide efforts to recover improper payments could produce significant savings, particularly when deficit reduction is front and center. But GAO also stressed the importance of oversight in making the law effective. "Congressional efforts to monitor agencies will be essential to ensure they are taking action to fully implement these legislative requirements to improve accountability, achieve targeted goals and reduce overall improper payments," the report said.

The 2002 Improper Payments Information Act did not include any provisions on the consequences of noncompliance.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.