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By: FEDweek StaffSaying that payment integrity will be a “top priority” during the Biden administration, OMB has issued guidance that it says “will transform the way agencies improve payment integrity.”
Memo M-21-19 revises Appendix C to OMB Circular A-123, Requirements for Payment Integrity Improvement, which spans nearly 80 pages and was last revised in 2018. The goal is to “create a more comprehensive and meaningful set of requirements to allow agencies to spend less time complying with low-value activities and more time researching the underlying causes of improper payments, balancing payment integrity risks and controls, and building the capacity to help prevent future improper payments,” the memo says.
“Requirements for payment integrity should not negatively affect program mission, agency efforts to advance equity, efficiency, customer experience, or the overall operations of the agency; therefore, this guidance aims to ensure that federal agencies focus on identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and responding to payment integrity risks to prevent improper payments in the most appropriate manner,” it says.
Improper payments, a long-running issue for many agencies, have been the subject of numerous reports by GAO and agency inspectors general, legislative proposals and presidential management agendas.
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