We hope everyone had a great summer! As we settle back into the routine of the school year, it's a good time to think about the federal government's fiscal year end. Make sure you work on those 2007 unpaid invoices before the start of the 2008 fiscal year.

FFATA
The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (S. 2590) requires the full disclosure of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2007 on a website maintained by the Office of Management and Budget.
On July 1, 2007, the implementation schedule for the website called for the commencement of a pilot program for enabling searches for subgrants and subcontracts across the federal government. The website, to be launched by January 1, 2008, will be available to the public free of charge and will include the following federal award information:

• the name of the entity receiving the award;
• the amount of the award;
• information on the award including transaction type, funding agency, etc;
• the location of the entity receiving the award; and
• a unique identifier of the entity receiving the award

The General Services Administration (GSA) Office of Government-wide Policy (OGP) intends to issue a sole-source purchase order to Eagle Eye in Fairfax, VA to acquire web-site software and licenses, technical support, analyzed data sets of federal acquisition and grants funding activities, for the period of FY2000 through FY2007. Updates in FY2008 include Web display software to allow searching and filtering on many data fields, which establishes the existing relationships between organizations receiving federal financial assistance (referred to as FFATA Data), to allow free public, easily accessible searching and filtering on many data fields similar to the www.fedspending.org website, as it currently exists. The launch of the government website for search of contracts and grants is scheduled for August 2007.

In keeping with E-Government principles, OMB plans to make use of tools already owned and managed to achieve the objectives and deadlines required by the act.

Veterans Affairs Veterans First Contracting Program
Public Law 109-461, Veterans Benefits, Health Care and Information Technology Act of 2006, was signed by President Bush on December 22, 2006.

In January 2007, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, Steve Preston and the Adminstrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, Paul Denett, wrote to department and agency heads, identifying progress the Administration has made to increase contracting opportunities for service-disabled veterans.

Effective June 20, 2007, this legislation authorizes a unique “Veterans First” approach specific to VA contracting. This approach changes the priorities for contracting preferences within VA, placing SDVOSBs and VOSBs first and second, respectively, in satisfying VA's acquisition requirements. Certain conditions must be met. All VOSBs, including SDVOSBs, must register in the VetBiz.gov Vendor Information Pages (VIP) database, available at www.VetBiz.gov, to be eligible for award of a contract. Contracting officers must continue to make a fair and reasonable price determination.

Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES)
On July 28, 1997, AAFES launched an “Exchange Catalog Online” service. Today, the Exchange Online Store has 1.2 million shoppers, five million orders and $1 billion dollars in sales.

Payment and remittance information for AAFES is available via the Partners website
http://partners.aafes.com.

Most Common AAFES Payment Issues

• Out of tolerance invoices (invoice exceeds PO amounts)
• Illegible invoices
• Invoice references incorrect PO number or PO number is missing
• Payment address/location changes not submitted timely
• Matching of invoices and chargebacks to proper invoice numbers and credit memos
• Invoice date is earlier than ship date
• Discount days are equal or greater than net days
• Vendor invoices are received before the purchase order is entered into the system

Federal Government Overpayments
From time-to-time, the federal government makes overpayments to contractors. It is the contractor's responsibility to send the overpayment back to the government. The agency may find the error and request the payment to be sent promptly, or the vendor themselves may find the error. The money must still be returned in a timely manner. A GBG member requested a list of government addresses to send overpayments. Below is a sample list of the government addresses.

For DFAS Columbus:

The customer should promptly forward a check made payable to the Finance and Accounting Office, DFAS-CO, at the following address:

Regular Mail:
Defense Finance and Accounting Service Columbus Center
Attn: DFAS-ATOCCC/CO
P.O. Box 182204
Columbus, Ohio 43218-2204

Express or Fed-Ex:
Defense Finance and Accounting Service Columbus Center
Attn: DFAS-ATOCCC/CO
Building 21
3990 E. Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43213-1152

To ensure that all payments received by DFAS Columbus will be credited to the correct account and the debt will be properly offset, the following information should accompany all checks and/or correspondence:

• Copy of demand letter (if issued)
• Contract number and delivery order number (if applicable)
• Invoice/shipment number
• Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) (if applicable)
• Accounting Classification Reference Number (ACRN) (if applicable)
• Payment system from which overpayment was received (if known)
• Point of contact information (name, phone, etc.) at which you may be contacted
• Copy of remittance advice (if available)
• Treasury check number, date and amount (when available)
• Any other identifying information that may be helpful in identifying the correct account for the deposit of funds

NOTE: If your overpayment is from another DFAS location, or for additional assistance, contact your applicable Customer Service Office from which the payment was issued. http://www.dfas.mil/contractorpay/dfascustomerservicephonenumbers.html

Customer Service Contact Information:

AAFES
PO Box 660202
Dallas, TX 75266-0202
Include PO number of overpayment
Finance and Accounting Help Desk: 800-582-3289

National Institute of Health
NIH
OFM/Commercial Accounts Branch
31 Center Drive, MSC 2045
Bldg. 31B, Rm. B1B39
Bethesda, MD 20891-2045
Customer Service: 301-496-6088

General Services Administration
Federal Acquisition Service Kansas City: 816-926-7287

General Services Administration
Federal Acquisition Service Fort Worth: 817-978-2408
Call GSA customer service numbers before sending overpayments.

U.S. Geological Survey
807 National Center
Reston, VA 20192, USA
A letter stating that an overpayment had occurred.
Water Resources Division overpayments should be sent directly to that department.

Veteran's Affairs
Financial Services Center
Customer Support Help Desk
Financial Operations Service
1615 Woodward Street
Austin, TX 78772
877-353-9791

Treasury Offset Program (TOP)
Call Center to obtain agency contact information during customer service hours.
Toll Free: 800-304-3107

Debt Management Services (DMS)
Financial Management Service
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Phone: 202-874-3810
Fax: 202-874-7494

United States Department of Agriculture
National Finance Center
P.O. Box 60000
New Orleans, LA 70160