According to data on paymentaccuracy.gov, between fiscal 2021 and 2024, agencies estimated that $766 billion in overpayments was caused by data or information access issues. Image: MidoSemsem/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffDespite a presumption that other federal agencies have access to the Treasury Department’s “Do Not Pay” database for preventing improper payments “it is unclear exactly how many agencies use [it] or the extent of their use,” says a report for Congress.
Under the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019, agencies have access to the DNP and certain other databases, “enabling them to verify whether recipients are eligible to receive payments and prevent improper payments in cases of ineligibility,” the Congressional Research Service said. The DNP also can perform matches at the time of payment, such as by matching death data against payment information that has been submitted to Treasury by agencies, and there is no cost to agencies to use it, the report said.
However, according to data on paymentaccuracy.gov, between fiscal 2021 and 2024, agencies estimated that $766 billion in overpayments was caused by data or information access issues, it said. In each year, failure to access available data was described as the largest data access issue, well above inability to access available data or lack of available data.
It cited as examples a report from the Transportation Department IG finding that the department was not using the DNP database in prepayment processes; one from the SBA IG showing that the agency did not perform minimum database checks; and a decision by the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program to monitor and track agency use of the DNP as part of a larger payment integrity initiative.
It added that “some agencies, such as the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Defense, reported that they have regularly identified incorrect information in BFS’s DNP across multiple fiscal years of use. Some agencies have also reported that the DNP Initiative has not reduced their improper payments.”
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