Federal Agencies' Bill Paying Performance and Comments on S. 328, a Bill To Amend the Prompt Payment Act

T-AFMD-87-3: Published: Mar 19, 1987. Publicly Released: Mar 19, 1987.

Additional Materials:

Contact:

Office of Public Affairs
(202) 512-4800
youngc1@gao.gov

GAO presented its views on S. 328, a bill to amend the Prompt Payment Act. GAO found that: (1) although federal agencies had noticeably reduced early and excessively late payments, they were still short of the act's goal; (2) about one-fourth of the commercial payments were still late, and agencies often did not pay the required interest penalties; (3) agencies made another quarter of their commercial payments early, costing the government about $200 million in interest; and (4) agencies paid only about half of their commercial bills on time. The proposed bill would: (1) modify established due dates; (2) clarify authorized periodic payments; (3) require double interest payments; (4) eliminate grace periods; (5) define discount periods; (6) expand agency reporting requirements; (7) require the inclusion of contract clauses regarding due dates in the Federal Acquisition Regulation; and (8) require progress payments under construction projects within 7 days. GAO agreed with the intent of the provisions, and to continue to work with federal agencies to improve the timeliness of vendor payments.

Jul 18, 2018

Jul 17, 2018

Jul 16, 2018

Jun 28, 2018

May 31, 2018

May 24, 2018

May 10, 2018

Apr 17, 2018

Apr 5, 2018

Looking for more? Browse all our products here