[Federal Register: November 25, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 226)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Page 62201-62205]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25no09-127]
Presidential Documents
[[Page 62201]]
Executive Order 13520 of November 20, 2009
Reducing Improper Payments
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, and in the interest of reducing payment errors
and eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal
programs, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Purpose. When the Federal Government makes
payments to individuals and businesses as program
beneficiaries, grantees, or contractors, or on behalf
of program beneficiaries, it must make every effort to
confirm that the right recipient is receiving the right
payment for the right reason at the right time. The
purpose of this order is to reduce improper payments by
intensifying efforts to eliminate payment error, waste,
fraud, and abuse in the major programs administered by
the Federal Government, while continuing to ensure that
Federal programs serve and provide access to their
intended beneficiaries. No single step will fully
achieve these goals. Therefore, this order adopts a
comprehensive set of policies, including transparency
and public scrutiny of significant payment errors
throughout the Federal Government; a focus on
identifying and eliminating the highest improper
payments; accountability for reducing improper payments
among executive branch agencies and officials; and
coordinated Federal, State, and local government action
in identifying and eliminating improper payments.
Because this order targets error, waste, fraud, and
abuse--not legitimate use of Government services--
efforts to reduce improper payments under this order
must protect access to Federal programs by their
intended beneficiaries.
Sec. 2. Transparency and Public Participation.
(a) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
shall:
(i) identify Federal programs in which the highest dollar value or majority
of Government-wide improper payments occur (high-priority programs);
(ii) establish, in coordination with the executive department or agency
(agency) responsible for administering the high-priority program annual or
semi-annual targets (or where such targets already exist, supplemental
targets), as appropriate, for reducing improper payments associated with
each high-priority program;
(iii) issue Government-wide guidance on the implementation of this order,
including procedures for identifying and publicizing the list of entities
described in subsection (b)(v) of this section and for administrative
appeal of the decision to publish the identity of those entities, prior to
publication; and
(iv) establish a working group consisting of Federal, State, and local
officials to make recommendations to the Director of OMB designed to
improve the Federal Government's measurement of access to Federal programs
by the programs' intended beneficiaries. The working group's
recommendations shall be prepared in consultation with the Council of
Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) and submitted within
180 days of the date of this order, and the recommended measurements may be
incorporated by the Secretary of the Treasury in the information published
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section.
(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Treasury in coordination with the
Attorney General and the Director of OMB, shall
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publish on the Internet information about improper
payments under high-priority programs. The information
shall include, subject to Federal privacy policies and
to the extent permitted by law:
(i) the names of the accountable officials designated under section 3 of
this order;
(ii) current and historical rates and amounts of improper payments,
including, where known and appropriate, causes of the improper payments;
(iii) current and historical rates and amounts of recovery of improper
payments, where appropriate (or, where improper payments are identified
solely on the basis of a sample, recovery rates and amounts estimated on
the basis of the applicable sample);
(iv) targets for reducing as well as recovering improper payments, where
appropriate; and
(v) the entities that have received the greatest amount of outstanding
improper payments (or, where improper payments are identified solely on the
basis of a sample, the entities that have received the greatest amount of
outstanding improper payments in the applicable sample).
Information on entities that have received the greatest
amount of outstanding improper payments shall not
include any referrals the agency made or anticipates
making to the Department of Justice, or any information
provided in connection with such referrals.
(c) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Treasury in coordination with the
Attorney General and the Director of OMB and in
consultation with the CIGIE, shall establish a central
Internet-based method to collect from the public
information concerning suspected incidents of waste,
fraud, and abuse by an entity receiving Federal funds
that have led or may lead to improper payments by the
Federal Government.
(d) Agencies shall place a prominently displayed link
to Internet-based resources for addressing improper
payments, including the resources established under
subsections (b) and (c) of this section, on their
Internet home pages.
Sec. 3. Agency Accountability and Coordination.
(a) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the head
of each agency responsible for operating a high-
priority program shall designate an official who holds
an existing Senate-confirmed position to be accountable
for meeting the targets established under section 2 of
this order without unduly burdening program access and
participation by eligible beneficiaries. In those
agencies where the majority of payments are isolated to
a single component, the head of the agency shall name a
second accountable official for that component whose
sole responsibility would be for program integrity
activities and, as appropriate, shall consolidate and
coordinate all program integrity activities within the
component.
(b) Within 180 days of the date of this order, each
agency official designated under subsection (a) of this
section, or otherwise designated by the Director of
OMB, shall provide the agency's Inspector General a
report containing:
(i) the agency's methodology for identifying and measuring improper
payments by the agency's high-priority programs;
(ii) the agency's plans, together with supporting analysis, for meeting the
reduction targets for improper payments in the agency's high-priority
programs; and
(iii) the agency's plan, together with supporting analysis, for ensuring
that initiatives undertaken pursuant to this order do not unduly burden
program access and participation by eligible beneficiaries.
Following the receipt and review of this information,
the agency Inspector General shall assess the level of
risk associated with the applicable programs, determine
the extent of oversight warranted, and provide the
agency head with recommendations, if any, for modifying
the agency's methodology,
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improper payment reduction plans, or program access and
participation plans.
(c) If an agency fails to meet the targets established
under section 2 of this order or implement the plan
described in subsection (b)(iii) of this section for 2
consecutive years, that agency's accountable official
designated under subsection (a) of this section shall
submit to the agency head, Inspector General, and Chief
Financial Officer a report describing the likely causes
of the agency's failure and proposing a remedial plan.
The agency head shall review this plan and, in
consultation with the Inspector General and Chief
Financial Officer, forward the plan with any additional
comments and analysis to the Director of OMB.
(d) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Chief Financial Officers Council (CFOC) in consultation
with the CIGIE, the Department of Justice, and program
experts, shall make recommendations to the Director of
OMB and the Secretary of the Treasury on actions
(including actions related to forensic accounting and
audits) agencies should take to more effectively tailor
their methodologies for identifying and measuring
improper payments to those programs, or components of
programs, where improper payments are most likely to
occur. Recommendations shall address the manner in
which the recommended actions would affect program
access and participation by eligible beneficiaries.
(e) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of OMB in
consultation with the CIGIE, the Department of Justice,
and program experts, shall recommend to the President
actions designed to reduce improper payments by
improving information sharing among agencies and
programs, and where applicable, State and local
governments and other stakeholders. The recommendations
shall address the ways in which information sharing may
improve eligibility verification and pre-payment
scrutiny, shall identify legal or regulatory
impediments to effective information sharing, and shall
address the manner in which the recommended actions
would affect program access and participation by
eligible beneficiaries.
(f) Within 180 days of the date of this order, and at
least once every quarter thereafter, the head of each
agency shall submit to the agency's Inspector General
and the CIGIE, and make available to the public, a
report on any high-dollar improper payments identified
by the agency, subject to Federal privacy policies and
to the extent permitted by law. The report shall
describe any actions the agency has taken or plans to
take to recover improper payments, as well as any
actions the agency intends to take to prevent improper
payments from occurring in the future. The report shall
not include any referrals the agency made or
anticipates making to the Department of Justice, or any
information provided in connection with such referrals.
Following the review of each report, the agency
Inspector General and the CIGIE shall assess the level
of risk associated with the applicable program,
determine the extent of oversight warranted, and
provide the agency head with recommendations, if any,
for modifying the agency's plans.
Sec. 4. Enhanced Focus on Contractors and Working with
State and Local Stakeholders.
(a) Within 180 days of the date of this order, the
Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, in coordination
with the Director of OMB, and in consultation with the
National Procurement Fraud Task Force (or its successor
group), the CIGIE, and appropriate agency officials,
shall recommend to the President actions designed to
enhance contractor accountability for improper
payments. The recommendations may include, but are not
limited to, subjecting contractors to debarment,
suspension, financial penalties, and identification
through a public Internet website, subject to Federal
privacy policies and to the extent permitted by law and
where the identification would not interfere with or
compromise an ongoing criminal or civil investigation,
for knowingly failing timely to disclose credible
evidence of significant overpayments received on
Government contracts.
[[Page 62204]]
(b) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the
Director of OMB shall establish a working group
consisting of Federal and elected State and local
officials to make recommendations to the Director of
OMB designed to improve the effectiveness of single
audits of State and local governments and non-profit
organizations that are expending Federal funds. The
Director of OMB may designate an appropriate official
to serve as Chair of the working group to convene its
meetings and direct its work. The working group's
recommendations shall be prepared in consultation with
the CIGIE and submitted within 180 days of the date of
this order. The recommendations shall address, among
other things, the effectiveness of single audits in
identifying improper payments and opportunities to
streamline or eliminate single audit requirements where
their value is minimal.
(c) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the
Director of OMB shall establish a working group (which
may be separate from the group established under
subsection (b) of this section) consisting of Federal
and elected State and local officials to make
recommendations to the Director of OMB for
administrative actions designed to improve the
incentives and accountability of State and local
governments, as well as other entities receiving
Federal funds, for reducing improper payments. The
Director of OMB may designate an appropriate official
to serve as Chair of the working group to convene its
meetings and direct its work. The working group's
recommendations shall be prepared in consultation with
the CIGIE and submitted within 180 days of the date of
this order.
Sec. 5. Policy Proposals. The Director of OMB, in
consultation with the appropriate agencies and the
CIGIE, shall develop policy recommendations, including
potential legislative proposals, designed to reduce
improper payments, including those caused by error,
waste, fraud, and abuse, across Federal programs
without compromising program access, to be included, as
appropriate, in the Budget of the United States
Government for Fiscal Year 2011 and future years, or
other Administration proposals.
Sec. 6. General Provisions.
(a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair
or otherwise affect:
(i) authority granted by law to a department, agency, the head thereof, or
any agency Inspector General; or
(ii) functions of the Director of OMB relating to budgetary,
administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to require
the disclosure of classified information, law
enforcement sensitive information, or other information
that must be protected in the interests of national
security.
(c) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
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(d) This order is not intended to, and does not, create
any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity, by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
November 20, 2009.
[FR Doc. E9-28493
Filed 11-24-09; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3195-W0-P