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![handle is hein.gao/gaobadlsw0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
B-212976
THU COMPRNOLLEN ENINAL
.OP Til UNITIO STATED
WASHINGTON. O.0. 20641
OATE: June 6, 1984
MATTER C
OIOEST:
Assessment of interest by or against
Federal agencies on past due debts
Under the Department of Agriculture's payment
policy guidance, a debt owed to the Department
by Government contractors and others is not
considered to be paid until the check is actu-
ally received by the Department. A trade
association with whom the Department does
business insists that the payment policy
should be changed on equitable grounds because
under the Prompt Payment Act, when the Govern-
ment is the debtor, a payment is considered
made as of the date on the payment check
tendered. Agriculture's payment policy when
it is the creditor is consistent with the
Treasury Fiscal Requirements Manual, which
reflects prevailing commercial practice.
There is no reason to change the policy nor
does GAO consider it inequitable.
The Assistant Secretary for Administration of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture has requested our decision concerning an
alleged inequity in the Government's policies with regard to
late payment charges for past due amounts owed to the United
States, as compared with the requirements of the-Prompt Pay-
ment Act, Pub. L. No. 97-177, May 21, 1982, for late payment
charges on past due amounts owed P1 the United States.
According to Agriculture, a trade association which
represents grazing permittees contends that late payment
charges should be assessed in the same manner, whether the
United States is debtor or creditor. The inequity arises,
according to the trade association, because Treasury regula-
tions require Government agencies to include in contracts for
goods or services sold to an organization outside the U.S.
Government the following minimum payment terms and provisions:
Specify when the payment will be due.
Require that payment be received [by the
Government] no later than the due date.
DECIION
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