Page:M-21-19 Memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies.pdf/1

 EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET March 5, 2021 M-21-19

MEMORANDUM FOR HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

FROM: Robert FairweatherActing Director

SUBJECT: Transmittal of Appendix C to OMB Circular A-123, Requirements for Payment Integrity Improvement

This Administration will continue to make payment integrity a top priority, focusing on reducing improper payments and protecting taxpayer money a top priority. This includes balancing payment integrity risks and controls to ensure funding is serving its intended purpose. By focusing on taking appropriate actions at the front end to prevent improper payments from being made while also acknowledging the need to balance payment integrity risk and controls, this guidance presents a payment integrity framework that will transform the way agencies improve payment integrity.

One of the priorities in this guidance is reducing administrative burden to allow agencies to focus on preventing improper payments and ensuring taxpayer money is serving its intended purpose. Requirements for payment integrity should not negatively affect program mission, agency efforts to advance equity, efficiency, customer experience, or the overall operations of the agency; therefore, this guidance aims to ensure that federal agencies focus on identifying, assessing, prioritizing, and responding to payment integrity risks to prevent improper payments in the most appropriate manner.

The goal of this revised version of OMB Circular A-123's Appendix C is to transform the payment integrity compliance framework and create a more comprehensive and meaningful set of requirements to allow agencies to spend less time complying with low-value activities and more time researching the underlying causes of improper payments, balancing payment integrity risks and controls, and building the capacity to help prevent future improper payments.

Appendix C to OMB Circular A-123 (which was last updated in June 2018 as OMB Memorandum M-18-20) is hereby modified. Unless otherwise noted in the guidance, the requirements found in Appendix C are effective starting in Fiscal Year 2021.

Please contact Heather Pajak (hpajak@omb.eop.gov) in OMB's Office of Federal Financial Management with any questions regarding this guidance.

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