(a) Purpose. This part prescribes standards and procedures for the collection and disposal of claims due to the United States from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This part covers USAID's administrative actions to collect claims/debts (including administrative and salary offsets; compromise; suspension or termination of collection actions; transfer and/or referral of claims to the U.S. Departments of the Treasury and Justice). The terms “claim” and “debt” are synonymous and interchangeable. They refer to an amount of money, funds, or property that an appropriate USAID official has determined to be due to the United States from any person, organization, or entity except another Federal Department or Agency.

(b) Scope. The standards and procedures in this part are applicable to all claims and debts for which a statute, regulation, or contract does not prescribe different standards or procedures.

(c) Applicability. This part does not apply to USAID:

(1) Claims arising out of loans for which compromise and collection authority is conferred by section 635(g)(2) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended;

(2) Claims arising from investment guaranty operations for which settlement and arbitration authority is conferred by section 635(l) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended;

(3) Claims against any foreign country or any political subdivision thereof, or any public international organization;

(4) Claims where the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) determines that the achievement of the purposes of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended, or any other provision of law administered by USAID require a different course of action;

(5) Claims owed USAID by other Federal Departments and Agencies. Such debts will be resolved by negotiation between the Departments/Agencies; and

(6) Claims that appear to be fraudulent, false, or misrepresented by a party with an interest in the claim except to the extent provided in § 213.4.

(a) Administrative offset means the withholding of money payable by the United States to, or held by the United States for, a person to satisfy a debt the person owes the Government.

(b) Administrative wage garnishment means the process by which federal agencies require a private sector employer to withhold up to 15% of an employee's disposable pay to satisfy a delinquent debt owed to the federal government. A court order is not required.

(c) Agency means the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

(d) Claim (or Debt) means an amount of money, funds, or property that a USAID official has determined to be due the United States from any person, organization, or entity, except another Federal Department or Agency. As used in this part, the terms “debt” and “claim” are synonymous and interchangeable.

(e) CFO means the Chief Financial Officer of USAID or a USAID official delegated by the CFO to act on the CFO's behalf.

(f) Compromise means that the creditor Agency accepts less than the full amount of an outstanding debt in full satisfaction of the entire amount of the debt.

(g) Creditor Agency means the Federal Department or Agency to which the debt is owed, including a debt-collection center when acting on behalf of a creditor Agency in matters pertaining to the collection of a debt.

(h) Debtor means an individual, organization, association, corporation, or a State or local government indebted to the United States, or a person or entity with legal responsibility for assuming the debtor's obligation.

(i) Delinquent debt means any debt that is past due and is legally enforceable. A debt is past due if it has not been paid by the date specified in the Agency's initial written demand for payment notice or applicable agreement or instrument (including a postdelinquency payment agreement) unless the parties involved have made other satisfactory payment arrangements.

(j) Discharge of indebtedness means the release of a debtor from personal liability for a debt. Further collection action is prohibited.

(k) Disposable pay means that part of current basic pay, special pay, incentive pay, retired pay, retainer pay, or, in the case of an employee not entitled to basic pay, other authorized pay, which remains after the deduction of any amount required by law to be withheld (other than deductions to execute garnishment orders) in accordance with 5 CFR parts 581 and 582. Among the legally required deductions that must be applied first to determine disposable pay are levies pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code (title 26 of the United States Code) and deductions described in 5 CFR 581.105(b) through (f). These deductions include, but are not limited to, Social Security withholdings; Federal, State, and local tax withholdings; health-insurance premiums; retirement contributions; and life-insurance premiums.

(l) Employee means a current U.S. Direct-Hire employee of the Federal Government, including a current member of the Armed Forces or a Reserve of the Armed Forces.

(m) Employee salary offset means the administrative collection of a debt by deductions at one or more officially established pay intervals from the current pay account of an employee without the employee's consent.

(n) Person means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association, and, except for purposes of administrative offsets under subpart C of this part and interest, penalties, and administrative costs under subpart B of this part, includes State and local governments and Indian tribes and components of tribal governments.

(o) Recoupment is a special method for adjusting debts that arise under the same transaction or occurrence. For example, obligations that arise under the same contract generally are subject to recoupment.

(p) Suspension means the temporary cessation of active debt collection pending the occurrence of an anticipated event.

(q) Termination means the cessation of all active debt-collection action for the foreseeable future.

(r) Waiver means the decision to forgo the collection of a debt owed to the United States, as provided for by a specific statute and according to the standards set out under that statute.

(s) Withholding order means any order for the withholding or garnishment of pay issued by USAID or a judicial or administrative body. For the purposes of this part, “wage garnishment order” and “garnishment order” have the same meaning as “withholding order.”

(a) This part does not supersede or require the omission or duplication of administrative proceedings required by contract, statute, or regulation (e.g., resolution of audit findings under grants or contracts; or appeal provisions under grants or contracts).

(b) The remedies and sanctions available to the Agency under this part for collecting debts are not intended to be exclusive. The Agency may impose, where authorized, other appropriate sanctions upon a debtor for inexcusable, prolonged or repeated failure to pay a debt. For example, the Agency may stop doing business with a grantee, contractor, borrower or lender; convert the method of payment under a grant or contract from an advance payment to a reimbursement method; or revoke a grantee's or contractor's letter-of-credit.

(a) The CFO will refer a claim that appears to be fraudulent, false, or misrepresented by a party that has an interest in the claim to the USAID Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG has the responsibility for investigating or referring the matter, where appropriate, to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The OIG has the responsibility to provide the results of the investigation on a timely basis to the CFO for any further action.

(b) The CFO will not administratively compromise, terminate, or suspend collection action, or otherwise dispose of a claim that appears to be fraudulent, false, or misrepresented by a party that has an interest in the claim, without the approval of DOJ.

USAID will not subdivide a claim to avoid the $100,000 limit on the Agency's authority to compromise a claim, suspend collection action on a claim, or terminate collection action on a claim. A debtor's liability that arises from a particular transaction or contract is a single claim.

Failure by USAID to comply with any provision of this part is not available to a debtor as a defense against payment of a debt.