[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 3]
[Revised as of January 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR1639.50]

[Page 257-258]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
         CHAPTER VI--FEDERAL RETIREMENT THRIFT INVESTMENT BOARD
 
PART 1639_CLAIMS COLLECTION--Table of Contents
 
                     Subpart D_Administrative Offset
 
Sec.  1639.50  Applicability and scope.


    (a) The regulations in this subpart apply to the collection of debts 
owed to the Board, or from a request for an offset received by the Board 
from a Federal agency. Administrative offset is authorized under section 
5 of the Federal Claims Collection Act of 1966, as amended by the Debt 
Collection Act of 1982 (31 U.S.C. 3716). The regulations in this subpart 
are consistent with the Federal Claims Collection Standards on 
administrative offset issued jointly by the Department of Justice and 
the General Accounting Office as set forth in 4 CFR 102.3.
    (b) The Executive Director, after attempting to collect a debt owed 
to the Board under section 3(a) of the Federal Claims Collection Act of 
1966, as amended (31 U.S.C. 3711(a)), may collect the debt by 
administrative offset, subject to the following:
    (1) The debt is certain in amount; and
    (2) It is in the best interest of the Board to collect the debt by 
administrative offset because of the decreased costs of collection and 
acceleration in the payment of the debt.
    (c) The Executive Director may initiate administrative offset with 
regard to debts owed by a person to a Federal agency, so long as the 
funds to be offset are not payable from net assets available for Thrift 
Savings Plan benefits. The head of the creditor agency, or his or her 
designee, must submit a written request for the offset with a 
certification that the debt exists and that the person has been afforded 
the necessary due process rights.
    (d) The Executive Director may request another agency that holds 
funds payable to a Fund debtor to pay the funds to the Board in 
settlement of the debt. The Board will provide certification that:
    (1) The debt exists; and
    (2) The person has been afforded the necessary due process rights.
    (e) If the six-year period for bringing action on a debt provided in 
28 U.S.C. 2415 has expired, then administrative offset may be used to 
collect the debt

[[Page 258]]

only if the costs of bringing such an action are likely to be less than 
the amount of the debt.
    (f) No collection by administrative offset will be made on any debt 
that has been outstanding for more than 10 years unless facts material 
to the Board or a Federal agency's right to collect the debt were not 
known, and reasonably could not have been known, by the official or 
officials responsible for discovering and collecting the debt.
    (g) The regulations in this subpart do not apply to:
    (1) A case in which administrative offset of the type of debt 
involved is explicitly provided for or prohibited by another statute; or
    (2) Debts owed to the Board by Federal agencies or by any State or 
local government.