22 C.F.R. Subpart A—General
Title 22 - Foreign Relations
This part prescribes standards and procedures for the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) collection and disposal of claims. These standards and procedures are applicable to all claims and debts for which a statute, regulation or contract does not prescribe different standards or procedures. This part covers USAID's collection, compromise, suspension, termination, and referral of claims to the Department of Justice. (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 means an amount of money, funds, or property that has been determined by an agency official to be due the United States from any person, organization, or entity, except another Federal agency. As used in this part, the terms debt and claim are synonymous. (e) CFO means the Chief Financial Officer of USAID or a USAID employee or official designated to act on the CFO's behalf. (f) Creditor agency means the Federal 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. (g) 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. (h) Delinquent claim means any claim that has not been paid by the date specified in the agency's bill for collection or demand letter for payment or which has not been satisfied in accordance with a repayment agreement. (i) 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 remaining 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, 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. (j) Employee means a current employee of the Federal Government including a current member of the Armed Forces or a Reserve of the Armed Forces. (k) 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. (l) Person means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, association and, except for purposes of administrative offsets under subpart C and interest, penalty and administrative costs under subpart B of this part, includes State and local governments and Indian tribes and components of tribal governments. (m) Recoupment is a special method for adjusting debts arising under the same transaction or occurrence. For example, obligations arising under the same contract generally are subject to recoupment. (n) Waiver means the cancellation, remission, forgiveness or non-recovery of a debt or debt-related charge as permitted or required by law. (o) Withholding order means any order for 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. This part does not apply to: (a) 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; (b) Claims arising from investment guaranty operations for which settlement and arbitration authority is conferred by section 635(I) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended; (c) Claims against any foreign country or any political subdivision thereof, or any public international organization; (d) Claims where the 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; and (e) Claims owed USAID by other Federal agencies. Such debts will be resolved by negotiation between the agencies. (a) This part does not supersede or require omission or duplication of administrative proceedings required by contract, statute, regulation or other Agency procedures, e.g., resolution of audit findings under grants or contracts, informal grant appeals, formal appeals, or review under a procurement contract. (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 claims involving fraud, the presentation of a false claim, or misrepresentation on the part of the debtor or any party having 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 Department of Justice (DOJ), and/or returning it to the CFO for further action. (b) The CFO will not administratively compromise, terminate, suspend or otherwise dispose of debts involving fraud, the presentation of a false claim or misrepresentation on the part of the debtor or any party having an interest in the claim without the approval of DOJ. A claim will not be subdivided to avoid the $100,000 limit on the Agency's authority to compromise, suspend, or terminate a debt. A debtor's liability arising 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.
Title 22: Foreign Relations
PART 213—CLAIMS COLLECTION
Subpart A—General
§ 213.1 Purpose and scope.
§ 213.2 Definitions.
§ 213.3 Loans, guarantees, sovereign and interagency claims.
§ 213.4 Other remedies.
§ 213.5 Fraud claims.
§ 213.6 Subdivision of claims not authorized.
§ 213.7 Omission not a defense.
