Management of Federal Agency Disbursements

Issuing agencies

Abstract

The Department of the Treasury's (Treasury) Bureau of the Fiscal Service ("Fiscal Service" or "we"), is proposing to amend its regulation that implements a statutory mandate requiring the Federal Government to deliver non-tax payments by electronic funds transfer (EFT) unless a waiver is available. Among other things, this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would strengthen the EFT requirement by narrowing the scope of existing waivers from the EFT mandate or requiring agencies to obtain Fiscal Service's approval to invoke certain existing waivers; provide that Treasury has the right to nullify an agency's use of a waiver if Treasury determines that application of a waiver would lead to an agency initiating an unusually large number or proportion of payments by means other than EFT; and clarify that when an agency fails to make a payment by EFT as prescribed by part 208, Treasury has authority to assess a charge to an agency. The proposed changes reflect the reality that the use of electronic payments has expanded significantly since the waivers from the EFT mandate were first published in 1998 and also seek to take advantage of Treasury's growing profile of electronic payment options, which are faster, less expensive, and safer than paper checks. Strengthening the EFT requirements as proposed in the NPRM is also consistent with Treasury's commitment to reducing check payments.