[Department of the Treasury Collection of Unclaimed Properties]

The Department of the Treasury requested a decision on whether it could contract with collection firms for information identifying unclaimed property held by third parties and pay the firms' fees out of the recovered assets under authority of the Debt Collection Act. GAO held that: (1) authority was not available to pay finders' fees for unclaimed or abandoned property; (2) the Treasury could use its appropriation account to finance information acquisition contracts, since the expense was necessary or incident to the execution of the appropriation; and (3) the Treasury could pay the contractor from the amounts collected if the acquired information established the identity of the debtor and the delinquency of the debt, except for debts owed under the Internal Revenue Code or tariff laws.