[Decision on Army's Collection of Erroneous Payments of Military Retired Pay Received by Deceased Army Member's Widow]

The Army requested an advance decision regarding the overpayment of retirement benefits to a deceased member's widow. The Army asked whether: (1) it could set off a portion of the debt against the widow's lump-sum death benefits; (2) it could set off the remainder of the debt against the widow's continuing annuity payments; (3) it could waive interest charges in collecting the debt; and (4) the authorizing legislation for the Survivor Benefit Plan prohibited such administrative offsets. GAO held that: (1) the Army should apply to the widow's debt her Survivor Benefit Plan annuity entitlement for the period in between her husband's death and the time she reported his death to the Army; (2) the Army could either collect the remainder of the debt through offsets against the widow's continuing payments or waive the remainder of the debt; (3) if the Army chose to collect the debt, it should do so under established federal claims collection procedures; and (4) while the pertinent statute prohibited certain kinds of legal action against Survivor Benefit Plan annuities, it did not prohibit administrative offsets. Accordingly, the Army may set off the debt against the widow's survivors' benefits.