[Question Concerning Debt Collection Due to Overpayment of Former President's Staff]

An official of the General Services Administration (GSA) asked whether the agency should terminate collection action under the Former Presidents Act of 1958 in regard to an overpayment during fiscal year (FY) 1980 for the staff of a former President. Under the act, the former President chooses his staff members and the GSA Administrator pays them without regard to civil service and classification laws but with a statutory maximum limit per annum. According to the record, the overpayment was the result of administrative error in the appropriation request under the act. Although the overpayment did not exceed the appropriation, it violated the allowable authorization for the former President's staff for FY 1980. Since GSA recognized that there could be no waiver since the waiver statute only applies to employees of executive agencies and certain congressional agencies, it submitted the case to GAO because it wanted GAO to concur with its conclusion that there could and should be a termination of collection action based on the lack of meritorious claim by the government. However, GAO did not agree with GSA that the claim was legally without merit. Since GAO recognized the difficulty in collecting the funds, it suggested that GSA collect the money by administrative offset against future amounts appropriated for the former President's staff after providing him with his full procedural rights to challenge the debt. Accordingly, GSA must proceed with collection action.