[Army and Air Force Requests to Waive Collection of Compensation Overpayments]

The Army and the Air Force requested approval of their proposal to waive collection of compensation overpayments to several thousand reserve technicians and active duty members. The services noted that: (1) the overpayments resulted from errors in the application of a statute and discrepancies in pay files; (2) overpayment identification and collection would entail excessive administrative costs; (3) individual debt was minor; and (4) the overpayments were eligible for waiver consideration on an individual basis. GAO concurred with the proposal, since: (1) the administrative costs for overpayment collection would probably exceed the estimated recovery; and (2) administrative errors caused the overpayments. Accordingly, the Army and the Air Force should forego collection actions on these overpayments.