Compliance with Other Key Legal and Regulatory Requirements
OPM is required to comply with other legal and regulatory financial requirements, such as the DCIA.
In response to a steady increase in the amount of delinquent debt owed to the United States, and concern that appropriate actions were not being taken to collect this delinquent debt, Congress passed the DCIA of 1996, P.L. 104-134. The purpose of the DCIA was to strengthen overall controls over collections due to the Government from private parties, including Federal employees. The DCIA has had a major impact on the way OPM makes its payments and collects the monies owed to it. Table 37 summarizes OPM’s debt management activity for September 2023 and 2022. OPM complies with the DCIA via cross servicing.
Cross-Servicing
Under the DCIA, all Federal agencies must refer past due, legally enforceable, non-tax debts that are more than 180 days delinquent to Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) for collection through the Treasury Offset Program (TOP). The 180-day timeframe was modified by the DATA Act to 120 days.
OPM has established an agreement with BFS to cross-service its debts, which allows BFS to automatically include the debts in the TOP as part of its collection effort. A debt is legally enforceable if there has been a final agency decision that the debt, in the amount stated, is due and there are no legal bars to collection action. To date, OPM has collected more than $20.5 million via BFS cross servicing.
Table 37 - Debt Management Activity
| Receivables Activity | September 2023 | September 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Total receivables at beginning of year | $384.52 | $395.08 |
| New receivables and accruals | $224.33 | $244.78 |
| Less collections, adjustments, and amounts written-off | $216.98 | $255.34 |
| Total receivables at end of period | $393.79 | $384.52 |
| Total delinquent | $80.11 | $9.84 |
| Percent delinquent of total receivables | 20.34% | 2.56% |
| Receivables Activity | September 2023 | September 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| Total receivables at beginning of year | $32.95 | $35.24 |
| New receivables and accruals | $26.45 | $43.04 |
| Less collections, adjustments, and amounts written-off | $24.03 | $45.33 |
| Total receivables at end of period | $35.37 | $32.95 |
| Total delinquent | $34.46 | $31.88 |
| Percent delinquent of total receivables | 97.43% | 96.75% |
Travel and Purchase Card Usage
OPM measures its effectiveness in travel and purchase card usage by monitoring the percentage of the total outstanding balances that are current (less than 61 days). Tables 38 and 39 compare OPM’s percentages that are more than 61 days old to Government-wide percentages.
| Travel Card Usage | September 2023* | September 2022* |
|---|---|---|
| Outstanding Balance (OPM) | $39,412.00 | $74,917.33 |
| Outstanding more than 61 days (OPM) | $2,481.00 | - |
| % outstanding more than 61 days (OPM) | 1.88% | 0.00% |
| % outstanding more than 61 days (Government-wide) | 5.72% | 7.38% |
Footnote
September 2022 source: GSA current and historical delinquency metrics for the CFO Act Agencies
Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment
On November 2, 2015, the President signed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (“the 2015 Act”), which was included as Section 701 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. The 2015 Act amended the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment of 1990 to improve the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect. OPM’s penalty for 2023 is shown in the table below.
| Statutory Authority | Penalty Name & Description | Year Enacted | Latest year of adjustment (via statute or regulation) | Current Penalty (Dollar Amount or Range) | Bureau Name | Location for Penalty Update Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 CFR 185, 103(a); 5 CFR 185, 103(f)(2) | Civil Penalty for False Claims & Statements | 2015 | 2023 | $13,508 | Not Applicable | Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment Federal Register, 88 FR 5776, (1/30/2023) |