A History of the Claims Division

This article appeared in the GAO Review, Vol. 15, Issue 3, Summer 1980. One of the most important responsibilities vested in GAO is the to settling of claims for and against the U.S. Government. The focus of this work is on overseeing the claims activities in agencies rather than directly handling most of the claims at GAO. Because of this, the Comptroller General made the Claims Division a major component of the Financial and General Management Studies Division, which performs parallel oversight functions for agency accounting systems. The Federal Claims Collection Act allowed the executive agencies either to compromise a settlement or terminate their collection efforts on claims not in excess of $20,000. It was intended that the Act would require the executive agencies to assume more responsibility for their claims. GAO could establish procedures for the agencies to follow. By monitoring the agencies, the Claims Division would be able to detect and eliminate those causes of debts.