Comment on OCHAMPUS Right of Access to Records

The Office of Program Integrity of the Department of Defense's Office of Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services requested an advance decision as to whether the Department of the Treasury is authorized to restrict the Office of Program Integrity from: (1) contacting a Federal Reserve bank directly to verify letter-of-credit balances; or (2) contacting and requesting documentation directly from Treasury's Banking and Cash Management Section. GAO is not authorized to render opinions involving interagency access to records conflicts except in cases pertaining to the use of appropriated funds. However, GAO informally commented that it is not aware of any authority which gives the Office of Program Integrity the right to obtain letter-of-credit information directly from Federal Reserve banks. Treasury informed GAO that this information can be obtained directly from its Banking and Cash Management Administrative Services Branch.