Employee Travel Claims (DOI)

GAO provided information on whether it is permissible to: (1) verify the validity of travel claims for temporary duty (TDY) travel vouchers not exceeding $2,500 after, rather than prior to, payment certification; and (2) perform such postpayment validation procedures on a statistical sampling basis. GAO noted that: (1) for travel vouchers processed under the automated portion of the Department of the Interior's (DOI) system, GAO approval for postpayment validation procedures is not needed assuming that the electronic checks and edits that DOI staff described exist and are operating as intended; (2) those electronic checks and edits qualify as prepayment controls and would be sufficient to ensure validation; (3) the use of statistical sampling as a postpayment validation procedure would qualify as an acceptable procedure for verifying that the automated checks, edits, and other controls are working properly and, as such, is permitted; (4) for travel vouchers processed under the manual portion of the system, the proposed postpayment validation procedures are acceptable only under certain circumstances; and (5) GAO has no objection to the proposal's implementation provided the steps or control procedures GAO suggested are effectively implemented.