10 U.S.C. § 2773a — Departmental accountable officials
submitted 24 years ago by Pub. L. 107-314 to r/title-10-ARMED-FORCES · 390 words · no verdicts yet
This section lets the Secretary of Defense designate certain employees or service members as departmental accountable officials. It sets when they may be personally liable for illegal, improper, or incorrect payments and defines “certifying official.”
(a) The Secretary of Defense may put in writing a designation for a covered civilian employee or armed-forces member under the Secretary’s authority. The designation says that the person may be personally responsible for money owed because of an illegal, improper, or incorrect Department of Defense payment. The person may be called a “departmental accountable official.”
(b) A covered employee or member is someone whose job requires providing a Department of Defense certifying official with information, data, or services that the certifying official directly uses to certify payment vouchers. The person must not already be accountable for those payments under subtitle III of title 31 or another law.
(c)(1) The Secretary may make a departmental accountable official financially liable for an illegal, improper, or incorrect payment if the Secretary finds that the payment resulted from information, data, or services the official provided and the certifying official directly relied on when certifying the supporting voucher, and that the payment resulted from the official’s fault or negligence. (2) This liability applies in the same way and to the same extent as liability for an official accountable under subtitle III of title 31. (3) If the United States suffers a loss, this official’s liability is joint and several with the liability of every other liable United States officer*, employee, or uniformed-service member.
(d) In this section, “certifying official” means an employee with the responsibilities listed in 31 U.S.C. § 3528(a).
The Secretary of Defense may designate any civilian employee of the Department of Defense or member of the armed forces* under the Secretary’s jurisdiction who is described in subsection (b) as an employee or member who, in addition to any other potential accountability, may be held accountable through personal monetary liability for an illegal, improper, or incorrect payment made by the Department of Defense described in subsection (c). Any such designation shall be in writing. Any employee or member who is so designated may be referred to as a “departmental accountable official”.
An employee or member of the armed forces described in this subsection is an employee or member who—
is responsible in the performance of the employee’s or member’s duties for providing to a certifying official of the Department of Defense information, data, or services that are directly relied upon by the certifying official in the certification of vouchers for payment; and
is not otherwise accountable under subtitle III of title 31 or any other provision of law for payments made on the basis of such vouchers.
The Secretary of Defense may subject a departmental accountable official to pecuniary liability for an illegal, improper, or incorrect payment made by the Department of Defense if the Secretary determines that such payment—
resulted from information, data, or services that that official provided to a certifying official and upon which that certifying official directly relies in certifying the voucher supporting that payment; and
was the result of fault or negligence on the part of that departmental accountable official.
Pecuniary liability under this subsection shall apply in the same manner and to the same extent as applies to an official accountable under subtitle III of title 31.
Any pecuniary liability of a departmental accountable official under this subsection for a loss to the United States resulting from an illegal, improper, or incorrect payment is joint and several with that of any other officer* or employee of the United States or member of the uniformed services* who is pecuniarily liable for such loss.
In this section, the term “certifying official” means an employee who has the responsibilities specified in section 3528(a) of title 31.
Source credit: (Added Pub. L. 107–314, div. A, title X, § 1005(a), Dec. 2, 2002, 116 Stat. 2631; amended Pub. L. 109–163, div. A, title X, § 1056(c)(8), Jan. 6, 2006, 119 Stat. 3440.)
- 2002Enacted · Pub. L. 107-314 · 116 Stat. 2631
- 2006Amended · Pub. L. 109-163 · 119 Stat. 3440
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 107-314 on 2002-12-02.
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