U.S. Geological Survey Manual

1. Purpose. This chapter contains procedures under which certain types of obligations will be recorded and paid by the Office of Financial Management (OFM) via the Federal Financial System (FFS) without need for submission of invoices or receiving reports. This procedure is limited to recurrent payments for which the payment of services is a fixed amount paid either quarterly or monthly. The recurring payment procedure may be used when the foregoing conditions are met and the vendor agrees not to issue billings.

2. Responsibilities.

A. The Chief, OFM is responsible for implementing the procedures, and recording and liquidating the obligations for the services as set forth in this chapter.

B. The Division Chiefs and heads of USGS offices are responsible for ensuring that OFM has the required information and documentation for automatic disbursement services relating to their respective offices. OFM should be informed of any circumstances requiring revision or termination of recurring payments.

C. Other USGS employees who have warrants through the redelegation authority of SM 205.4 are responsible for submitting a properly prepared purchase order, Form 9-1134 (Order for Supplies and Services), in accordance with SM 403.5, to cover services requiring payments of regular, periodic fixed amounts.

3. Procedures.

A. USGS Program Offices must first submit a DI-1, Requisition, to a Warranted Contracting Officer in accordance with SM 402.3.1.

B. Warranted Contracting Officers must then issue purchase order, Form 9-1134, in accordance with SM 403.5, to cover agreements with vendors, not to extend beyond the current fiscal year, and to provide for payment of fixed amounts at monthly or quarterly intervals. The recurring payment procedure may also be applied to contract and lease agreements that satisfy the restrictions cited in SM 342.2.1.

C. Purchase order, Form 9-1134, must indicate "Automatic Payment" in the Accounting and Appropriation Data block of the purchase order. This will be accomplished by use of a rubber stamp with at least one-fourth inch letters.

(See Figure 1.)

D. Purchase Order, Form 9-1134, must show quantity and unit price per month or quarter for the specified services. (See Figure 1.)

E. Purchase Order, Form 9-1134, must show dates that the services are to begin and terminate during the current fiscal year. (See Figure 1.)

F. Vendor must agree not to submit invoices to OFM at any time during the service period.

G. Purchase Order, Form 9-1134, must indicate the identification number that OFM will include on all checks made in payment against the purchase order. This may be fiscal year and purchase order number; and cannot exceed nine characters. The system assigns a two digit suffix to designate the month of service. For example, 1PO23456710 identifies the October payment for FY 1991 purchase order number 234567.

4. Revisions or Terminations Affecting Agreement.

A. Payments continue on an automatic basis after services are performed for the period specified in the purchase order or agreement. As a safeguard against erroneous or excess payments, it is essential that timely notices be received in OFM of any changes in circumstances which might require revision or discontinuance of the recurring payment.

B. The USGS office which issued the recurring payment agreement will notify OFM by memorandum 30 days in advance of any revision or termination of services or cancellation of the purchase order. Notification must also be furnished regarding changes of ownership, death of vendor or contractor, or any other development which would make automatic disbursement inappropriate.

C. Purchase orders for recurring payments must be reissued each fiscal year.

D. Written notification to authorize continuance of payments for contracts or lease agreements which are issued for more than one fiscal year, must be sent to OFM at the beginning of each fiscal year. This notification must also include the account number to be charged for the new fiscal year.

5. Documentation of Disbursements. After the close of each month and/or quarter, OFM automatically processes a disbursement voucher prepared from stored information extracted from the purchase order. The check will indicate the vendor's name and address and the purchase order or other number (see 3.G above) for check identification purposes.

6. Recording of Obligations. Purchase orders covering this type of service will be obligated. These costs should not be reported on Form 9-803 (Accrued Expenditure Report).

7. Exclusions. The recurring payment feature of FFS will not be used for processing continuing service transactions where the rate of monthly or quarterly payment varies throughout the fiscal year, or where the vendor must issue billings to accommodate the vendor's system.