[Senate Report 113-124]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
113th Congress
1st Session SENATE Report
113-124
_______________________________________________________________________
Calendar No. 260
IMPROPER PAYMENTS AGENCY COOPERATION ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2013
__________
R E P O R T
of the
COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND
GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
UNITED STATES SENATE
to accompany
S. 1360
TO AMEND THE IMPROPER PAYMENTS ELIMINATION AND RECOVERY IMPROVEMENT ACT
OF 2012, INCLUDING MAKING CHANGES TO THE DO NOT PAY INITIATIVE, FOR
IMPROVED DETECTION, PREVENTION, AND RECOVERY OF IMPROPER PAYMENTS TO
DECEASED INDIVIDUALS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
December 12 (legislative day, December 11), 2013.--Ordered to be
printed
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U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON : 2013
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COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware Chairman
CARL LEVIN, Michigan TOM COBURN, Oklahoma
MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri ROB PORTMAN, Ohio
JON TESTER, Montana RAND PAUL, Kentucky
MARK BEGICH, Alaska MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire
HEIDI HEITKAMP, North Dakota
Richard J. Kessler, Staff Director
John P. Kilvington, Deputy Staff Director
Beth M. Grossman, Chief Counsel
Peter P. Tyler, Senior Professional Staff Member
Keith B. Ashdown, Minority Staff Director
Christopher J. Barkley, Minority Deputy Staff Director
Andrew C. Dockham, Minority Chief Counsel
Patrick J. Bailey, Minority Counsel
Laura W. Kilbride, Chief Clerk
Calendar No. 260
113th Congress
SENATE
Report
1st Session 113-124
======================================================================
IMPROPER PAYMENTS AGENCY COOPERATION ENHANCEMENT ACT OF 2013
_______
December 12 (legislative day, December 11), 2013.--Ordered to be
printed
_______
Mr. Carper, from the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1360]
The Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs, to which was referred the bill (S. 1360) to amend the
Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of
2012, including making changes to the Do Not Pay initiative,
for improved detection, prevention, and recovery of improper
payments to deceased individuals, and for other purposes,
having considered the same, reports favorably thereon and
recommends that the bill do pass.
CONTENTS
Page
I. Purpose and Summary..............................................1
II. Background and Need for the Legislation..........................2
III. Legislative History..............................................8
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis......................................8
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact.................................10
VI. Congressional Budget Office Estimate............................11
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported...........12
I. Purpose and Summary
S. 1360 seeks to reduce the inadvertent and improper
payment of federal benefits to deceased individuals. It does so
by (1) directing the Social Security Administration (SSA) to
share its most complete database of deceased individuals with
other federal agencies, (2) improving the accuracy of the death
data the federal government collects, and (3) improving the
sharing of best practices among government agencies to better
identify, prevent and recover improper payments to dead people.
In addition, S. 1360 requires improvements to the data
analytics operations of the Do Not Pay Initiative for the
purposes of curbing improper payments, and provides federal
agencies and their inspectors general with access to the Postal
Service's database of mail delivery addresses, to better allow
identification of individuals or businesses whose lack of a
physical address prohibits them from billing for federal
services.
II. Background and Need for the Legislation
This Committee has long been concerned with the federal
government's persistent improper payment problem--that is,
executive branch agencies' too common mistake of sending money
to people or companies, whether for benefits or under
contracts, either in an incorrect amount or when no money
should be paid to the recipient at all. Improper payments
include remittances to ineligible recipients, duplicate
payments, payments for a good or service not received, and
payments that do not reflect credits for applicable
discounts.\1\ Improper payments by federal agencies impose a
significant cost on taxpayers; the Treasury loses literally
billions of dollars annually to overpayments, including, at
times, fraudulent payments to government contractors, program
beneficiaries, and others. For fiscal year 2012, for example,
federal agencies reported an estimated total of $108 billion in
improper payments, a decrease from the $116 billion reported
for the prior fiscal year, but still a staggering amount.\2\
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\1\Congressional Research Service (CRS), Improper Payments and
Recovery Audits: Legislation, Implementation, and Analysis, R42878
(January 2, 2013), p. 1.
\2\Pursuant to an executive order, the Secretary of the Treasury in
consultation with the Attorney General and the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) maintains a website on improper payments reporting at
http://www.paymentaccuracy.gov/.
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A. PREVIOUS LEGISLATION AND ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIONS
For over a decade, a series of important laws and
administrative actions have attempted to identify, prevent, and
recover improper payments.\3\
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\3\CRS, Improper Payments and Recovery Audits: Legislation,
Implementation, and Analysis, R42878, (January 2, 2013), p. 1.
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Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA). Agencies
began to deal comprehensively with improper payments following
the enactment of IPIA, which required each agency subject to
the requirements of the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990\4\
to annually review all programs and activities that it
administers, identify those that may be susceptible to
significant improper payments, develop improper payments
estimates for those programs deemed susceptible, and report the
estimates annually.\5\
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\4\The list of the 24 agencies covered by this mandate is found at
31 U.S.C.A. Sec. 901(b)(1)(2004).
\5\Pub. L.No. 107-300, 116 Stat. 2350, (31 U.S.C.A. Sec. 3321
note)(2002).
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Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010
(IPERA). In July 2010, Congress passed, and the President
signed, IPERA to enhance the reporting and reduction of
improper payments.\6\ IPERA amended IPIA by expanding on the
previous requirements for identifying, estimating, and
reporting on programs and activities susceptible to significant
improper payments and expanding requirements for recovering
overpayments across a broad range of federal programs. IPERA:
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\6\Pub. L. No. 111-204, 124 Stat. 2224 (2010).
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Added a requirement that any program with
estimated improper payments exceeding specific dollar amounts
and error rate thresholds set out in the law must report on the
actions the agency is taking to reduce improper payments.
Imposed a new requirement for agencies to conduct
audits to recover improper payments, where cost effective, for
each program and activity with at least $1 million in annual
program outlays.
Established incentives and budgetary penalties for
programs that fail to comply with the requirements of the law
over a reasonable number of years.
Required each federal agency's inspector general
to determine annually whether his or her agency is in
compliance with certain IPERA requirements and to report on
that determination.
Do Not Pay List. In June 2010, the Administration
established a Do Not Pay List via a White House memorandum.\7\
The memorandum requires agencies to prevent payment errors
before they occur by directing them to check the Do Not Pay
List before making any payments or grants. Housed within the
Department of the Treasury, the Do Not Pay List was established
to allow single-stop screening against the following databases:
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\7\See Memorandum on Enhancing Payment Accuracy Through a ``Do Not
Pay List,'' http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-
memorandum-enhancing-payment-accuracy-through-a-do-not-pay-list.
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The Social Security Administration's (SSA)
Death Master File (DMF), which lists all deaths
reported to the agency since 1936;
The General Services Administration's
Excluded Parties List System, which lists entities
debarred from receiving federal contracts;
The Department of the Treasury's Debt Check
Database, which contains information on individuals who
owe delinquent child support or non-tax debt that might
exclude them from certain federal loans, loan
insurance, or loan guarantees;
The Department of Housing and Urban
Development's (HUD) Credit Alert Verification Reporting
System, which provides information on individuals who
are in default or have had claims paid on direct or
guaranteed federal loans, or are delinquent on other
debts owed to federal agencies; and
The Department of Health and Human Services'
Office of Inspector General's (HHS-OIG) List of
Excluded Individuals/Entities, which identifies those
barred from federally-funded health care programs.
The memorandum requires that agencies access these
databases through a single federal government electronic
portal.
IPERA Improvement Act of 2012 (the ``Improvement Act'').
This law went beyond IPERA's goals for curbing agencies'
improper payments.\8\ Specifically, the Improvement Act:
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\8\Pub. L. No. 112-248, 126 Stat. 2390 (31 U.S.C.A. Sec. 3321
note)(2013).
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Expanded requirements for agencies to estimate
improper payments, forcing agencies to improve previously weak
efforts at estimating such payments. For example, the Act
prevents agencies from relying only on voluntary disclosure of
improper payments by contractors and requires agencies to
produce documentation to prove a payment was correct.
Established in statute the government-wide Do Not
Pay program (previously established through White House
memorandum as described above) that requires agencies to check
against a central, comprehensive database of entities
ineligible to receive federal funds before making payments,
including the SSA's DMF and the other databases specified in
the 2010 White House memorandum. The law also addressed some of
the challenges encountered by the Administration as it
attempted to implement its Do Not Pay program, such as the need
for multilateral data sharing agreements among agencies.
Required that the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB), within 120 days of enactment, issue a plan for curbing
improper payments to deceased individuals.
B. IMPEDIMENTS TO AGENCY ACCESS TO THE MOST COMPLETE VERSION OF THE
DEATH DATA
Most federal agencies do not have access to the most
complete death records maintained by the SSA. The most complete
version is provided to only a limited number of agencies due to
statutory limits and a lack of interagency agreements between
the requesting agency and SSA for sharing the death data.
The SSA receives death reports from family members, funeral
homes, states, other federal agencies, postal authorities, and
financial institutions. SSA records a person's death in the DMF
if it can match that person's name and Social Security number
to its records. The Social Security Act requires SSA to share
death information, including data reported by the states, with
federal agencies to ensure proper payment of benefits to
individuals.\9\
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\9\42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 405(r)(2010)
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However, that same provision of the Social Security Act
prohibits SSA from sharing state-reported death information for
any other non-beneficiary purposes.\10\ As a result, SSA
maintains a shorter public list, available for purchase from
the Commerce Department's National Technical Information
Service, which excludes state-reported deaths--about 25 percent
of SSA's total records.
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\10\42 U.S.C.A. Sec. 405(r)(6)( 2010).
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Based on congressional testimony,\11\ the Committee
believes that barring all non-beneficiary agencies from
accessing the most complete death data is antiquated, and that
the law must therefore be updated. Procedures would be in place
to ensure security and privacy of the data by non-beneficiary
paying agencies (the same required for beneficiary paying
agencies).
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\11\``Curbing Federal Agency Waste and Fraud: New Steps to
Strengthen the Integrity of Federal Payments;'' Hearing Before the
Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, 113th Cong.
(2013) http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/curbing-federal-agency-
waste-and-fraud-new-steps-to-strengthen-the-integrity-of-federal-
payments.
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Unfortunately, even many benefit-paying federal agencies do
not have access to the more comprehensive DMF.\12\ This is
largely because establishing a cooperative agreement with SSA--
a prerequisite under the statute--is a time-consuming process
often taking years and can be a low priority for SSA and other
agencies. Examples of benefit-paying federal agencies that
currently do not have access to the complete DMF include: (1)
Department of Homeland Security (2) Department of Agriculture
(3) Department of Labor (4) Federal Black Lung Benefits Program
(5) Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (6) Department
of the Treasury and (7) Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
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\12\To eliminate any confusion about the version that should be
available to federal agencies, Section 7(b) of S. 1360 changes the name
of the Death Master File to the National Death Registry (the
``Registry'').
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Even if these benefit-paying federal agencies received
access to the more comprehensive list, many other agencies that
make non-benefit payments--and even programs within benefit-
paying federal agencies that do not themselves make benefit
payments--still would not have the ability to ensure that they
were not making payments to deceased individuals. And their
Inspectors General, whose audit work is so critical to ensuring
the efficient function of federal programs, also would continue
to have access only to the less complete list. Some examples of
non-beneficiary agencies that are denied access to the complete
DMF include: (1) Department of Justice (2) Department of State
(3) Drug Enforcement Administration (4) Federal Bureau of
Investigation (5) General Services Administration and (6)
Centers for Disease Control.
While all payment-making agencies are allowed access to the
Do Not Pay Initiative to screen payments, SSA has provided the
Treasury Department with access only to its less comprehensive
death list for use in the Do Not Pay initiative. This means
that a critical screening mechanism established by the IPERA
Improvement Act to screen federal payments for improper
payments omits a significant number of individuals that SSA
knows have died.
Denying access of the most complete death data to many
federal agencies is significant and consequential to the level
of federal improper payments. Federal agencies have in recent
years remitted a large amount of money either to dead
beneficiaries, or for payments for services for deceased
individuals:
A total of $601 million in improper payments were
made from 2006 through 2010 to federal retirees found to have
already died.\13\
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\13\Office of Personnel Management Office of Inspector General
(OPM-OIG), Stopping Improper Payment to Deceased Annuitants (September
14, 2011), p. ii. http://www.opm.gov/our-inspector-general/legal-and-
legislative-affairs/stopping-improper-payments-to-deceased-
annuitants.pdf.
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More than $1 billion in farm program payments were
made to farmers who were dead for more than three years.\14\
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\14\GAO, Federal Farm Programs: USDA Needs to Strengthen Management
Controls to Prevent Improper Payments to Estates and Deceased
Individuals, GAO-07-1137T (July 24, 2007), p. 2. A recent report found
that payments to dead individuals continue to be a problem at the
Department of Agriculture. See Farm Programs: USDA Needs to Do More to
Prevent Improper Payments to Deceased Individuals, GAO-13-503 (June 28,
2013).
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Medicare prescription drug plans were paid
approximately $3.6 million for drugs provided to 1,500 dead
beneficiaries.\15\
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\15\Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-
OIG), Review of Medicare Payments to Prescription Drug Plans on Behalf
of Deceased Enrollees, A-05-09-00027 (May 17, 2011), p. i.
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Medicare did not identify or recover an estimated
$8.2 million in overpayments for claims with dates of service
after the beneficiaries' deaths.\16\
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\16\HHS-OIG, Review of Medicare Parts A and B Services Billed with
Dates of Services After Beneficiaries' Deaths, A-01-09-00519 (September
2010), p. i.
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New Mexico paid claims for 11 deceased Medicaid
beneficiaries who died in other states and therefore were not
included in the death data maintained by New Mexico Bureau of
Vital Records, a situation not unique to New Mexico.\17\
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\17\HHS-OIG, Review of Medicaid Payments for Deceased Recipients in
New Mexico, A-06-10-00093 (March 31, 2011), p.i.
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Public housing agencies paid an estimated $7
million in federal rental assistance to deceased tenants in
single-member households, even after receiving a 2008 memo from
HUD to take corrective actions.\18\
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\18\Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General (HUD-
OIG), HUD Did Not Maintain Documentation to Determine if Public Housing
Agencies Took Corrective Action on its January 7, 2008 Memorandum and
Public Housing Agencies Paid an Estimated $7 million for Deceased
Tenants, 2010-FW-0001 (November 10, 2009), p. 1.
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C. IMPROVING ACCURACY OF THE DEATH DATA
In addition to SSA offering incomplete access to benefit-
paying federal agencies, the DMF, as currently administered,
faces additional shortcomings. Indications of these
shortcomings include:
In 2013, the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) reported its analysis showing 130 records
where the date of death was recorded to occur before
the date of birth, and 1,295 records where the recorded
age at death was between 111 and 129;\19\ and
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\19\GAO, Social Security Administration: Preliminary Observations
on the Death Master File, GAO-13-574T (May 8, 2013), p. 5.
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In July 2012, the Social Security
Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG)
reported that approximately 1.2 million deceased
beneficiaries were not captured on the DMF because SSA
was unable to match the beneficiaries' personally
identifiable information in its records.\20\
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\20\SSA-OIG, Title II Deceased Beneficiaries Who Do Not Have Death
Information in the Numident, A-09-11-21171 (July 2012), p. 2.
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The SSA Inspector General and GAO made recommendations to
improve the accuracy of the DMF, both the complete database
available to some agencies, and the less complete public DMF.
These steps include more frequent analysis of the existing data
and improved procedures for correction.\21\
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\21\GAO, Social Security Administration: Preliminary Observations
on the Death Master File, GAO-13-574T (May 8, 2013); GAO, Social
Security Death Data: Additional Action Needed to Address Data Errors
and Federal Agency Access, GAO-14-46 (November 2013); and SSA Inspector
General, Hearing Statement for the Record before the Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Curbing Federal Agency
Waste and: New Steps to Strengthen the Integrity of Federal Payments
(May 8, 2013).
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D. ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES TO CURB FEDERAL IMPROPER PAYMENTS
Agencies can take actions to curb improper payments beyond
those involving deceased individuals.
Since passage of the IPERA Improvement Act, the Department
of Treasury established operations of the Do Not Pay
Initiative. This Initiative includes the creation of a center
within the Treasury Department that will analyze payment data
in order to identify payments that are improper or potentially
fraudulent. This analysis would involve payments across a wide-
range of federal agencies and programs. However, the roles and
responsibilities of this analysis center have not yet been
determined. For example, the center's interaction with similar
efforts by federal agency inspectors general is not yet
defined, and there is no timetable for the continuing
development of the center.
A common challenge for improving the detection of improper
payments is access to databases helpful for identifying the
validity of payment recipients under program rules. A common
need is to verify business or home addresses. The U.S. Postal
Service maintains a list of mail delivery addresses, including
the lists of known locations of commercial mailboxes and
unoccupied buildings. This database is helpful for purposes of
curbing improper payments when a valid address is necessary,
and the lack of a valid address is an indicator of potential
fraud. However, most agencies and inspectors general do not yet
have access to this database.
E. HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT
HEARING
On May 8, 2013, the Committee held a hearing to examine the
implementation of IPERA and the IPERA Improvement Act, and to
explore potential next steps for similar initiatives, such as
improving the sharing and accuracy of data to prevent improper
payments to dead people. At the hearing, The Honorable Daniel
I. Werfel, Controller, OMB's Office of Federal Financial
Management, highlighted federal efforts to prevent improper
payments. Both his testimony and that of Richard L. Gregg,
Fiscal Assistant Secretary at the Department of the Treasury,
also provided an update on the progress made in implementing
the Do Not Pay initiative, acknowledging that there was much to
be done to ensure that the initiative provided a comprehensive
solution to payment integrity. The Honorable Patrick P.
O'Carroll, Jr., SSA Inspector General and Daniel Bertoni, a GAO
Director for Education, Welfare, and Income Security
highlighted continuing weaknesses in the DMF. Finally, Marianna
LaCanfora, the SSA Acting Deputy Commissioner for Retirement
and Disability Policy, discussed administration proposals to
make the DMF more widely available to federal agencies for
purposes of combatting fraud and curbing improper payments. The
proposals would require legislative action.
S. 1360 reflects lessons learned through the June 2013
hearing, as well as the Committee's other ongoing oversight of
federal agency improper payments.
F. SUMMARY OF NEEDS FOR IMPROVEMENTS
S. 1360, the Improper Payments Agency Cooperation
Enhancement Act, provides federal agencies, and states that
manage federal programs, with much greater access to the
complete DMF in order to curb improper payments to deceased
individuals, as well as for other needs such as public safety
and health. The Act also improves the accuracy of the DMF by
establishing requirements for correcting any errors detected
and by establishing procedures for sharing the instances of
death among federal agencies. The Act convenes a short-term
task force to ensure that federal agencies managing retirement
programs share best practices for identifying deceased
recipients. Also, the Act requires the Treasury Department to
submit a report to Congress describing how the Do Not Pay data
analysis center will operate. Finally, the Act requires the
Postal Service to provide federal agencies and inspectors
general with access to its database of mail delivery addresses,
which can help to curb payments to fraudulent business that use
invalid addresses.
III. Legislative History
Senators Carper, Coburn, Ayotte, Johnson, McCaskill, and
Tester introduced S. 1360 on July 24, 2013, and the bill was
referred to the Committee.
The Committee considered S. 1360 at a business meeting on
July 31, 2013. The Committee adopted the bill by voice vote.
Members present for the vote on the bill were Senators Carper,
Levin, McCaskill, Tester, Begich, Baldwin, Coburn, Johnson,
Ayotte, and Chiesa.
IV. Section-by-Section Analysis
Section 1--Short title
This section establishes the Act's title as the ``Improper
Payments Agency Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2013.''
Section 2--Improving the sharing and use of death data by government
agencies to curb improper payments
This section amends the IPERA Improvement Act by adding to
it a new Section 7, which establishes new requirements
regarding improper payments.
Subsection (a) defines key terms used in the Act.
Subsection (b) requires the SSA Commissioner to establish
and maintain a National Deaths Registry (the National Deaths
Registry is the new name the bill gives to the existing Death
Master File currently maintained by SSA).
Subsection (c) requires the Commissioner to enter into
cooperative agreements with federal agencies, under which the
agencies and their inspectors general may receive information
in the Registry (in full and without limitation). The
agreements will require agencies to reimburse SSA for the
reasonable cost of providing such information. The agencies may
receive the Registry information for the following purposes:
(i) making authorized payments or to prevent, identify, or
recover improper payments; (ii) curbing improper payments of
federal retirement annuities to deceased individuals; (iii)
verifying information obtained as part of the decennial census;
and (iv) facilitating other agency functions, including public
health or safety, law enforcement, tax administration, health
administration, and debt collection. Subsection (c) also
requires the SSA Commissioner, to the extent feasible, to enter
into cooperative agreements with states and local and tribal
governments to provide, on a reimbursable basis, information in
the Registry for purposes of making federally funded payments,
avoiding federally funded improper payments, and for making
payments wholly funded by state or local or tribal governments.
The Commissioner may withhold information in the Registry if he
determines that there are exceptional circumstances, such as
safety of the individual or interference with an investigation.
Information provided from the Registry shall be considered
strictly confidential and only used for purposes described
therein.
Subsection (d) establishes Registry requirements. It
requires the SSA Commissioner to implement procedures for
identifying and correcting errors in the Registry identified by
federal agencies, states and local and tribal governments, and
members of the public. These procedures shall include a process
for determining the accuracy of death records in the Registry
through the use of a statistical sample. The Commissioner shall
ensure that the Registry is operated and maintained in
accordance with protocols that ensure the secure transfer and
storage of information. The Commissioner shall also make
information in the Registry available to a contractor of any
agency, state, or local or tribal government for purposes
described in the Act if the agency, state or local or tribal
government certifies that the contractor is in compliance with
the Act's privacy and security requirements.
Subsection (e) requires the Director of OMB to identify
each agency that maintains a beneficiary database that would
benefit from improved data matching with the Registry. The head
of each such agency shall establish a data matching procedure
and, within one year of the enactment of this Act, a process to
promptly inform the Commissioner of the death of a federal
beneficiary or annuitant. Establishing such a data matching
procedure shall not diminish the requirement for the OMB
Director to convene a task force to improve the sharing of
information related to the death of an individual receiving a
federal retirement annuity.
Subsection (f) requires the OMB Director to (1) issue
implementation guidance within six months of the date of
enactment, after consulting with the Council of Inspectors
General on Integrity and Efficiency, the SSA Commissioner, and
the heads of other relevant agencies; (2) provide guidance to
states and local and tribal governments on accessing and using
the Registry; (3) develop a plan to assist states and local and
tribal governments in order to enable them to electronically
submit death records to the SSA Commissioner no later than
January 1, 2015, including recommendations for statutory
changes or financial assistance necessary to facilitate such
electronic submissions.
Subsection (g) requires the OMB Director to (1) consult
with relevant parties and to submit a plan within 270 days of
enactment describing how states and local governments that
provide benefits under a federally funded program will improve
data matching with the Registry and (2) report annually on the
implementation of this Act within one year of enactment and for
three additional years.
Subsection (h) requires the SSA Commissioner to include in
the Registry information regarding death information received
from a state, or any other source, and to provide such
information as authorized by the Act to any agency and
inspector general, thereby overriding current statutory
restrictions on such sharing. The Commissioner may use any
information in the Registry for any purpose authorized under
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 401 et seq.) regardless
of whether the information was provided to the Commissioner
under the authority of this Act or the Social Security Act.
Section 2 of the Act also makes a technical correction to
Section 2(g)(3) of IPIA of 2002 (31 U.S.C. Sec. 3321 note) to
ensure that the definition of improper payments does not
inadvertently omit any group of potential recipients.
Specifically, this provision clarifies that improper payments
encompasses improper payments not only to any non-federal
person or entity and to federal employees but also to ``any
other individual in federal service,'' which includes elected
officials and uniformed personnel as well.
Section 3. Enhancement of prepayment and pre-award procedures
This section amends Section 5(a)(2) of the IPERA
Improvement Act of 2012 (31 U.S.C. Sec. 3321 note) by adding
subparagraph (F), which states ``The registry of people who are
deceased established by the Commissioner of Social Security
under section 7.''; and by adding paragraph (3), requiring each
agency operating or maintaining a database described in
paragraph (2) to provide each other agency access to such
database, subject to reasonable conditions. These amendments
have the intent of requiring that relevant federal agencies, as
determined, share information on identified deceased
individuals.
Section 4. Data analytics
This section amends section 5 of the IPERA Improvement Act
of 2012 (31 U.S.C. Sec. 3321 note) by adding subparagraph (h),
requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to submit a report to
Congress describing how the Do Not Pay Initiative data
analytics center incorporate (1) comparisons of payment and
beneficiary enrollment lists for state programs that use
federal funds to identify improper payments, (2) reviews of
payments across federal programs to identify payment
duplication, and (3) reviews of other information determined to
be effective. The report, due within 180 days after enactment,
must also describe the metrics used to determine if the
analytic and investigatory efforts have helped reduce improper
payments.
Section 5. Curbing improper payment of federal retirement annuities to
deceased individuals
This section requires the OMB Director to convene a task
force within 60 days of enactment charged with identifying ways
to improve information sharing and best practices with respect
to the deaths of retired annuitants. Task force membership
shall include the Department of Defense, SSA, the Department of
Veterans Affairs, the Office of Personnel Management, and any
other agency that provides annuity payments. The task force's
plan is due within 270 days of enactment, and a report to the
Congress on that plan is due no later than one year after
enactment. The task force shall also report to Congress on the
plan's implementation no later than two years after enactment,
at which time the task force will be dissolved.
Section 6. Agency access to postal database
This section amends 39 U.S.C. Sec. 412 to require the
Postal Service to provide agencies and inspectors general with
access to its database of mail delivery addresses, including
the lists of known locations of commercial mailbox offices, for
purposes of curbing improper payments. Such access shall be
made under mutually agreeable terms and be reimbursable. This
section also specifies the definitions of certain terms.
V. Evaluation of Regulatory Impact
Pursuant to the requirements of paragraph 11(b) of rule
XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee has
considered the regulatory impact of this bill. The Committee
concurs with the Congressional Budget Office, which states that
the bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandate Reform Act and
would not affect state, local, and tribal governments. The
enactment of this legislation will not have significant
regulatory impact.
VI. Congressional Budget Office Estimate
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, November 19, 2013.
Hon. Tom Carper,
Chairman, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1360, the Improper
Payments Agency Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2013.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Sheila Dacey.
Sincerely,
Douglas W. Elmendorf.
Enclosure.
S. 1360--Improper Payments Agency Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2013
S. 1360 would require federal agencies to expand their use
of information on deceased individuals to improve accuracy of
payments and for other purposes. To that end, the bill would
require the Social Security Administration (SSA) to share
information on deaths with more agencies and for a broader
range of purposes. In addition, it would require the Office of
Management and Budget to provide guidance, convene a task force
on sharing information on the deaths of federal retirees, and
submit reports to the Congress. Finally, the bill would require
the Secretary of the Treasury to report efforts to reduce
improper payments and require the Postal Service to share
information on delivery addresses for the purposes of reducing
improper payments.
Enacting S. 1360 could reduce direct spending; therefore,
pay-as-you-go procedures apply. However, CBO estimates that
such effects would probably be insignificant for each year over
the next 10 years. The bill also would not have a significant
effect on revenues. CBO estimates that implementing S. 1360
would have no significant net impact on discretionary spending.
Under current law, the Social Security Administration
collects information on deaths and maintains a record--the
Death Master File (DMF)--of all deaths reported to the agency
dating to 1936. The DMF includes the deceased person's name,
social security number, date of birth, and date of death. SSA
uses the DMF to administer its own program and shares the
information with other programs that pay federal benefits. For
some federal agencies like the Internal Revenue Service, SSA
provides the entire file. SSA also establishes cooperative
agreements with other agencies, such as state agencies
administering the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to
periodically verify identifying information on program
applicants and recipients against the DMF. SSA also makes a
less-complete file of information on deaths available to the
general public. That public file has information on about 87
million deceased individuals compared to 98 million in the
complete file. (A provision of law restricts SSA from sharing
information about deaths that were reported to SSA by states
with anyone other than agencies that pay federal benefits.)
S. 1360 would require SSA to share the complete DMF with
more agencies and for a broader range of purposes. It also
would make the complete DMF part of the Do Not Pay program--a
program administered by the Department of the Treasury that
allows agencies to check various databases before making
payments in order to identify ineligible recipients. Hence,
there would likely be more frequent checks against the DMF than
occur under current law.
The expanded availability of information on deaths would
probably reduce the amount of mistaken payments to dead people,
but CBO expects that any budgetary savings would be small.
Because large, benefit-paying agencies generally already use
the complete DMF, CBO expects that enacting the bill would not
reduce the number of payments to deceased people by a
significant amount. In addition, the Department of Treasury has
mechanisms it uses to recover such payments if they are
identified at a later time, so many such improper payments are
recovered anyway. For these reasons, CBO estimates that any
reduction in unrecovered payments to deceased individuals as a
result of enacting S. 1360 would be small.
S. 1360 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Sheila Dacey
and Matt Pickford. The estimate was approved by Peter H.
Fontaine, Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
VII. Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by
S. 1360 as reported are shown as follows (existing law proposed
to be omitted is enclosed in brackets, new matter is printed in
italic, and existing law in which no change is proposed is
shown in roman):
IMPROPER PAYMENTS ELIMINATION AND RECOVERY IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2012
P.L. 112-248
(31 U.S.C. Sec. 3321 note)
Section 1. Short title.
* * * * * * *
SEC. 5. DO NOT PAY INITIATIVE.
* * *
(a) Prepayment and preaward procedures.--
(1) In general.--Each agency shall review prepayment
and preaward procedures and ensure that a thorough
review of available databases with relevant information
on eligibility occurs to determine program or award
eligibility and prevent improper payments before the
release of any Federal funds.
(2) Databases.--At a minimum and before issuing any
payment and award, each agency shall review as
appropriate the following databases to verify
eligibility of the payment and award:
(A) The Death Master File of the Social
Security Administration.
(B) The General Services Administration's
Excluded Parties List System.
(C) The Debt Check Database of the Department
of the Treasury.
(D) The Credit Alert System or Credit Alert
Interactive Voice Response System of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(E) The List of Excluded Individuals/Entities
of the Office of Inspector General of the
Department of Health and Human Services.
(F) The registry of people who are deceased
established by the Commissioner of Social
Security under section 7.
(3) Agencies to provide access.--Each agency that
operates or maintains a database described in paragraph
(2) shall provide each other agency with access to the
information contained in that database for purposes of
complying with paragraphs (1) and (2), subject to such
reasonable and permissible conditions as the agency
operating or maintaining the database establishes.
* * * * * * *
(h) Report on Improper Payments Data Analysis.--Not later
than 180 days after the date of enactment of the Improper
Payments Agency Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2013, the
Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to Congress a report,
which may be included as part of another report submitted to
Congress, which shall include a description of--
(1) data analytics performed as part of the Do Not
Pay Initiative for the purpose of detecting,
preventing, and recovering improper payments through
pre-award, post-award per-payment, and post-payment
analysis which shall include a description of any
analysis or investigations incorporating--
(A) review and data matching of payments and
beneficiary enrollment lists of State programs
carried out using Federal funds for the
purposes of identifying eligibility
duplication, residency ineligibility, duplicate
payments, or other potential improper payment
issues;
(B) review of multiple Federal agencies and
program for which comparison of data could show
payment duplication; and
(C) review of other information the Secretary
of the Treasury determines are effective, which
may include investigation or review of
information from multiple Federal agencies or
programs; and
(2) the metrics used in determining whether the
analytic and investigatory efforts have reduced, or
contributed to the reduction of, improper payments or
improper awards.
* * * * * * *
SEC. 7. IMPROVING THE SHARING AND USE OF DEATH DATA BY GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES TO CURB IMPROPER PAYMENTS.
(a) Definitions.--In this section--
(1) the term ``Commissioner'' means the Commissioner
of Social Security;
(2) the term ``Director'' means the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget;
(3) the term ``Inspector General'' has the meaning
defined by section 5(e)(1);
(4) the term ``local government'' means the
government of a political subdivision of a State;
(5) the term ``payment'' has the meaning given that
term under section 2(g) of the Improper Payment
Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. Sec. 3321 note);
(6) the term ``Registry'' means the National Deaths
Registry established under subsection (b)(1); and
(7) the term ``tribal government'' means the
government of an Indian tribe, as that term is defined
in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and
Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. Sec. 450b).
(b) Establishment of Registry.--
(1) In general.--The Commissioner shall establish and
maintain a registry of information relating to the
deaths of individuals, to be known as the National
Deaths Registry.
(2) Inclusion of information.--As provided under this
section and in accordance with the guidance issued
under subsection (f), the Commissioner shall include
information relating to the deaths of individuals in
the Registry for the purpose of supporting the Do Not
Pay Initiative under section 5 and otherwise
preventing, identifying, or recovering improper
payments.
(c) Use of the Registry.--
(1) Availability to federal agencies.--The Commissioner
shall enter into cooperative agreements with agencies,
including Inspectors General--
(A) under which the Commissioner shall
provide the information in the Registry (in
full and without limitation, as provided in
subsection (h)(1)) to the agency or Inspector
General for purposes of facilitating--
(i) the making of authorized payments
or the prevention, identification, or
recovery of improper payments;
(ii) carrying out section 5;
(iii) in the case of the Bureau of
the Census, verifying information
obtained as part of a decennial census
conducted under section 141(a) of title
13, United States Code; or (iv) other
agency functions, including public
health or safety, law enforcement, tax
administration, health administration
oversight, and debt collection, as
determined appropriate by the
Commissioner and in accordance with
guidance issued under subsection (f);
and
(B) which shall require the agency or
Inspector General to provide reimbursement to
the Commissioner for the reasonable cost of
carrying out the agreement.
(2) Availability to states and local and tribal
government.--
(A) For making federally funded payments or
avoiding federally funded payments or avoiding
federally funded improper payments.--The
Commissioner shall, to the extent feasible,
enter into cooperative agreements with States
and local and tribal governments--
(i) to provide the information in the
Registry to the State or local or
tribal government for purposes of
facilitating the making of authorized
payments and the prevention,
identification, or recovery of improper
payments under federally funded
programs; and
(ii) which shall require the State or
local or tribal government to provide
reimbursement to the Commissioner for
the reasonable cost of carrying out the
agreement.
(B) For programs wholly funded by states and
local and tribal governments.--The Commissioner
may enter into cooperative agreements with
States and local and tribal governments--
(i) to provide the information in the
Registry for purposes relating to
programs wholly funded by the State or
local or tribal governments; and
(ii) which shall require the State or
local or tribal government to provide
reimbursement to the Commissioner for
the reasonable cost of carrying out the
agreement.
(3) Exceptional circumstances.--The Commissioner may
withhold information that would otherwise be required
to be disclosed under a cooperative agreement under
this subsection if the Commissioner determines there
are exceptional circumstances warranting an exception
(such as safety of the individual or interference with
an investigation).
(4) Confidentiality.--Information provided by the
Commission under an agreement under this subsection or
by an individual to any agency that has entered into a
cooperative agreement under this subsection shall be--
(A) considered as strictly confidential; and
(B) used only for the purposes described in
this subsection and for carrying out an
agreement under this subsection.
(d) Registry Requirements.--The Commissioner shall--
(1) implement procedures for identifying and
correcting errors, including those identified--
(A) by agencies;
(B) by States and local and tribal
governments; and
(C) by members of the public;
(2) include a process for determining the accuracy of
death records in the Registry, including estimates of
accuracy through the use of statistical sampling of
errors on a systematic basis;
(3) ensure the Registry is operated and maintained in
accordance with protocols that ensure the secure
transfer and storage of any information provided to
another entity consistent with applicable laws and best
practices of the Federal Government relating to
information, privacy, security, and disclosure,
including protecting social security numbers and other
identifiers determined appropriate by the Commissioner;
and
(4) make the information in the Registry available to
a contractor of an agency, State, or local or tribal
government for carrying out a purpose described in
subsection (c)(1) or (c)(2) and in accordance with the
cooperative agreement with the agency, State, or local
or tribal government if the agency, State, or local or
tribal government submits to the Commissioner a
certification that the contractor is in compliance with
the requirements of the agency relating to privacy and
security described in paragraph (3).
(e) Reporting by Federal Agencies of Additional Death Data
to the Registry.--
(1) Improved death data matching by federal
agencies.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 90 days after
the date of enactment of the Improper Payments
Agency Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2013, the
Director shall identify each agency or
component of an agency that operates or
maintains a database of information relating to
beneficiaries, annuity recipients, or other
matters such that improved data matching with
the Registry would be desirable, as determined
by the Director.
(B) Matching requirement.--
(i) In general.--The head of each
agency identified by the Director under
subparagraph (A) shall establish a data
matching procedure under which the
agency shall compare information in the
database of the agency with information
in the Registry in order to improve the
accuracy and completeness of the
information in both the database of the
agency and in the Registry relating to
the death of individuals and to
facilitate the prevention,
identification, and recovery of
improper payments.
(ii) Do not pay program.--The
requirement to establish a data
matching procedure under this
subparagraph shall not be construed to
diminish in any way the requirements
for an agency under section 5, relating
to preventing identifying, and
recovering improper payments, including
to deceased individuals.
(2) Prompt reporting.--Not later than 1 year after
the date of enactment of the Improper Payments Agency
Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2013, each agency
identified by the Director under paragraph (1)(A) shall
establish a procedure (consistent with guidance issued
under subsection (f)) under which the agency shall,
promptly and on a regular basis, submit to the
Commissioner information relating to the death of a
Federal beneficiary, Federal annuitant recipient, or
other individual relevant for the purposes of this
section.
(f) Guidance by the Office of Management and Budget.--
(1) Guidance to agencies.--Not later than 6 months
after the date of enactment of the Improper Payments
Agency Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2013, and in
consultation with the Council of Inspectors General on
Integrity and Efficiency, the Commissioner, and the
heads of other relevant agencies, the Director shall
issue guidance for agencies regarding implementation of
this section.
(2) Guidance for states and local and tribal
governments.--Not later than 6 months after the date of
enactment of the Improper Payments Agency Cooperation
Enhancement Act of 2013, the Director shall provide
guidance to States and local and tribal governments
relating to accessing and using information in the
Registry.
(3) Plan to assist states and local and tribal
governments.--The Director shall develop a plan to
assist States and local and tribal governments in
providing electronically to the Commissioner, for use
or inclusion in the Registry, records relating to the
death of individuals, which shall include
recommendations to Congress for any statutory changes
or financial assistance to States and local and tribal
governments that are necessary to ensure States and
local and tribal governments can provide such records
electronically not later than January 1, 2015.
(g) Reporting.--
(1) Report to congress on improving data matching
regarding payments to individuals who are deceased.--
Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of
Improper Payments Agency Cooperation Enhancement Act of
2013, the Director, after consultation with the
Commissioner, the heads of other relevant agencies, and
States and local and tribal governments, shall submit
to Congress a plan regarding how States and local and
tribal governments that provide benefits under a
federally funded program will improve data matching
with the Registry.
(2) Annual report.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of enactment of the Improper Payments Agency
Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2013, and every year
thereafter until the date that is 4 years after such
date of enactment, the Director shall submit to
Congress a report, which may be included as part of
another report submitted to Congress by the Director,
regarding the implementation of this section and the
Improper Payments Agency Cooperation Enhancement Act of
2013. The first report under this paragraph shall
include the recommendations of the Director described
in subsection (f)(3).
(h) Consistency With the Social Security Act.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding section 205(r) of
the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 405(r)) or any
other provision of that Act, the Commissioner may
include in the Registry any information provided to the
Commissioner pursuant to that Act (including any
information received from a State or any other source)
and may use or provide all such information (including
information received from States or any other source)
as authorized under this section to any agency,
including any Inspector General.
(2) Functions.--To the extent any function of the
Commissioner under the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C.
Sec. 401 et seq.) is the same as a required function of
the Commissioner under this section, performance of the
function under that Act shall also satisfy the
requirement to perform the function under this section.
(3) Use regardless of source of information.--The
Commissioner may use any information in the Registry
for any purpose authorized under the Social Security
Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 401 et seq.), regardless of whether
the information was provided to the Commissioner under
authority of this section or any provision of the
Social Security Act.
----------
IMPROPER PAYMENTS INFORMATION ACT OF 2002
P.L. 107-300
(31 U.S.C. Sec. 3321 note)
Section 2. Estimates of Improper Payments and Reports on
Actions to Reduce Them.
(g) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Agency.--The term ``agency'' means an executive
agency, as that term is defined in section 102 of title
31, United States Code.
(2) Improper payment.--The term ``improper
payment''--
(A) means any payment that should not have
been made or that was made in an incorrect
amount (including overpayments and
underpayments) under statutory, contractual,
administrative, or other legally applicable
requirements; and
(B) includes any payment to an ineligible
recipient, any payment for an ineligible good
or service, any duplicate payment, any payment
for a good or service not received (except for
such payments where authorized by law), and any
payment that does not account for credit for
applicable discounts.
(3) Payment.--The term ``payment'' means any transfer
or commitment for future transfer of Federal funds such
as cash, securities, loans, loan guarantees, and
insurance subsidies to any non-Federal person or entity
or a Federal employee or any other individual in
Federal service, that is made by a Federal agency, a
Federal contractor, a Federal grantee, or a
governmental or other organization administering a
Federal program or activity.
----------
TITLE 39--POSTAL SERVICE
PART I. GENERAL
* * * * * * *
CHAPTER 4. GENERAL AUTHORITY
SEC. 412. NONDISCLOSURE OF LISTS OF NAMES AND ADDRESSES.
(a) Except as specifically provided by subsection [(b)]
subsection (b) or (c) or other law, no officer or employee of
the Postal Service shall make available to the public by any
means or for any purpose any mailing or other list of names or
addresses (past or present) of postal patrons or other persons.
(b) The Postal Service shall provide to the Secretary of
Commerce for use by the Bureau of the Census such address
information, address-related information, and point of postal
delivery information, including postal delivery codes, as may
be determined by the Secretary to be appropriate for any census
or survey being conducted by the Bureau of the Census. The
provision of such information under this subsection shall be in
accordance with such mutually agreeable terms and conditions,
including reimbursability, as the Postal Service and the
Secretary of Commerce shall deem appropriate.
(c)(1) For purposes of this subsection._
(A) the term ``agency'' means an executive agency as
that term is defined under section 102 of title 31;
(B) the term ``improper payment'' has the meaning
given that term in section 2(g) of the Improper
Payments Information Act of 2002 (31 U.S.C. Sec. 3321
note); and
(C) the term ``Inspector General'' has the meaning
given that term in section 5(e)(1) of the Improper
Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of
2012 (31 U.S.C. Sec. 3321 note);
(2) The Postal Service shall provide to agencies (including
to Inspectors General) access to information concerning
delivery addresses, including the Commercial Mail Receiving
Agency lists of known locations of commercial mailbox offices,
for purposes of improved detection, prevention, and recovery of
improper payments.
(3) The provision of information under this subsection
shall be in accordance with such mutually agreeable terms and
conditions, including reimbursability, as the Postal Service
and the agency or Inspector General determine appropriate.