U.S. Department of State Fiscal Year 2019 Agency Financial Report

In addition, in 2019 Department grants processed through HHS’ Payment Management System are included in a Do Not Pay review. The Health and Human Services Division of Payment Management incorporated a review of the Do Not Pay portal into their payment process to identify individuals or entities with delinquent Federal non-tax debt, a recipient that is listed as deceased on the DMF, and recipients excluded from doing business with the government. In 2019, the Department was notified of one recipient that appeared ineligible due to results of the Do Not Pay process. In addition, in 2019, one recipient payment was stopped as a result of the Treasury Offset Program (TOP). The TOP is a centralized offset program, administered by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s Debt Management Services, to collect delinquent debts owed to the Federal agencies and states (including past-due child support), in accordance with 26 U.S.C. 6402(d) (collection of debts owed to Federal agencies), 31 U.S.C. 3720A (reduction of tax refund by amount of the debts), and other applicable laws. Premium Class Travel Reviews The Department’s mission is conducted throughout the world and requires extensive travel, sometimes of a significant duration. Because of the high volume of travel, the Department has made concerted efforts to monitor if official travel has adhered to Government-wide and Department regulations for premium class travel. For 2019, there were no instances identified where a business class travel payment was inappropriate and needed to be recovered, or where the travelers flying business class were found to be ineligible. However, there have been instances where proper and complete supporting documentation was not readily available. Those errors represent an error rate of 1 percent ($11,554) in 2019, 1 percent ($13,941) in 2018, 4 percent ($47,536) in 2017, and 4 percent ($32,242) in 2016. OMB requires agencies to report improper payment errors based on six categories of errors: program design or structural issue, inability to authenticate eligibility, failure to verify, administrative or process error, medical necessity, and insufficient documentation to determine. All Department errors found each year were attributable to documentation and administrative errors. The Department carefully considered these results in combination with results from other travel reviews, and will undertake efforts next year to correct the deficiencies noted during the 2019 review. D ebt M anagement Outstanding debt from non-Federal sources (net of allowance) increased from $58.0 million at September 30, 2018 to $59.7 million at September 30, 2019. Civil Monetary Penalties, IBWC, and Administrative Loans increased by $2.3 million while Direct Loans and Passport non-sufficient funds decreased by $0.6 million at September 30, 2019, resulting in an increase overall to the non-Federal source figures. Non-Federal receivables consist of debts owed to the International Boundary and Water Commission, Civil Monetary Fund, and amounts owed for repatriation loans, medical costs, travel advances, and other miscellaneous receivables. The Department uses installment agreements, salary offset, and restrictions on passports as tools to collect its receivables. It also receives collections through its cross-servicing agreement with the Department of the Treasury (Treasury). In 1998, the Department entered into a cross-servicing agreement with Treasury for collections of delinquent receivables. In accordance with the agreement and the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (Public Law No. 104-134), the Department referred $2.7 million to Treasury for cross-servicing in 2019. Of the current and past debts referred to Treasury, $1.6 million was collected in 2019. Receivables Referred to the Department of the Treasury for Cross-Servicing 2019 2018 2017 Number of Accounts 2,823 1,377 1,114 Amounts Referred (dollars in millions) $2.7 $4.3 $3.3 Amounts Collected (dollars in millions) $1.6 $1.6 $1.5 142 | U nited S tates D epartment of S tate 2019 A gency F inancial R eport OTHER INFORMATION | PAYMENT INTEGRITY AND OTHER LAWS AND REGULATIONS