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B-215703 1 (1984-10-30)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadlzp0001 and id is 1 raw text is: THE COMPTROLLER WENERAL OECISION OP THU UNITED STATES WAS H4IN GTON, 0.0. 2 0546 PILE: B-215703 PATE: October 30, 1984 MATTER OF: Four Square Construction Company DIGEST: Since the government made payment by issuing a check within 30 days after the contracting agency received a proper invoice, payment of interest is not authorized under the Prompt Payment Act even though the contractor did not receive the payment until a substitute check was issued where the failure to receive the initial payment was outside the control of the contracting agency. By letter of June 28, 1984, an authorized certifying officer of the Department of Agriculture, Office of Finance and Management, requested our opinion a- to the propriety of paying interest on an account due Four Square Construction Company (Four Square) in the following circumstances. Four Square has requested payment of interest from November 7, 1983, the date the contract was completed, through March 7, 1984, contending that the late receipt of the payment was not its fault, but was the fault of the federal payment system. The certifying officer reports that payment was made by the Department of Agriculture on November 17, 1983, by issuance of a check in the full amount of Four Square's invoice. However, Four Square notified the Forest Service on December 12, 1983, that the firm had'not received payment. The Department of Agriculture submitted a request for issuance of a substitute or replacement check to the Kansas City Disbursing Center on December 13, 1983. On January 17, 1984, Four Square notified the Forest Service that it still had not received payment. The Forest Service then submitted another request to the Disbursing Center and the Treasury issued a substitute check on March 2, 1984. *We find that Four Square is not entitled to interest. The Prompt Payment Act, Pub. L. No. 97-177 (Mai 21, 1982), codiffed at 31 U.S.C. §5 3901-3906 (1982), requires every federal agency to pay an interest penalty on amounts owed to contractors for the acquisition of property or services when the agency fails to pay within 30 days from receipt of a proper invoice. However, the Prompt Payment Act provides that a payment [owed by the government) is o3OL14

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