OMB has issued the latest guidance to agencies on their responsibilities to reduce improper payments, revising policies under the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012 and several executive orders. According to OMB memo 15-02, a revision effective immediately to Circular A-123:
consolidates and streamlines reporting requirements for agencies and inspectors general, and eliminates duplicative and old one-time requirements so agencies can spend less time producing compliance reports and more time focusing on gamechanging solutions for achieving payment accuracy;
establishes new categories for reporting improper payments that will provide more granularity on improper payment estimates-thus leading to more effective corrective actions at the program level and more focused strategies for reducing improper payments at the government-wide level;
introduces a new internal control framework to ensure that payments are made in the right amount, to the right entity, and for the right purpose; and
provides guidance to agencies to strengthen the statistical validity of estimates and include payments to federal employees in the definition of improper payments, among other things.
OMB said the government-wide improper payment rate already has declined for four consecutive years, from 5.42 percent in fiscal 2009 to 3.53 percent in2013.
The memo is here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2015/m-15-02.pdf
