Administration wants millions to expand payment ineligibility portal

Spending $10 million to expand VerifyPayment.gov in fiscal 2012 would help ensure that federal payments aren’t being sent to dead people, people in prison or organizations blocked from working for the federal government, Federal TImes reports.

This request is part of the Obama administration’s drive to prevent $50 billion from being given to an “ineligible recipient, in the wrong amount, at the wrong time or without adequate documentation” by October 2012, the news outlet said. The request was made some time ago, when the portal was called Do Not Pay, FCW reported.

If approved by Congress, the money would be used to connect multiple databases and an advanced search mechanism and help create an operations center based in the Treasury’s Department’s Bureau of the Public Debt.

The Web portal is described as a one-stop-shop for federal agency officials to verify the eligibility of people getting money, FCW has reported. It's a repository of data collected from agencies and also provides data to agencies.