PowerTrack Wording in Tariffs Causes Concern

As the upcoming tariffs have been published, there has been some language added to them all concerning the ability of PowerTrack to collect offsets via ebills. The language has caused considerable concern that this change will give the government the ability to directly withdraw funds from TSP bank accounts, instead of deducting the money from future invoice payments, as is done now. The specific language is below:

Currently, PowerTrack does not have the capability to process administrative offsets under the provisions of 31 USC 3716. By accepting shipments under this tariff, the Transportation Service Provider gives consent for a representative of the Department of Defense or United States Coast Guard to access PowerTrack, generate, and approve electronic bills (ebills) in lieu of an administrative offset under 31 USC 3716, and agrees to hold US Bank, or a successor administrator of PowerTrack, harmless for any ebills approved, paid or collected under this provision. Approved ebills paid or collected under this provision by the Department of Defense or United States Coast Guard shall be treated as an administrative offset for the purpose of appeals and refunds.

In discussing this issue with some USBank representatives, they have stated that this change will not have the effect of allowing the government open access to TSPs’ bank accounts. They have stated that this language gives them the authority to issue ebills to offset invoices being paid through PowerTrack invoices, mirroring the current system that occurs on non-PowerTrack invoices. This change was necessary to give USBank the legal authority to handle offsets in the same manner as DFAS does currently.

While this will be welcome news to TSPs, there is one bit of information that may cause some concern. While waiting for these tariffs to become effective, GSA has apparently been holding some offset notices and waiting until PowerTrack had the legal authority to perform offsets. Therefore, once the tariffs with the updated language becomes effective with the new rate cycles, TSPs should expect to see a large number of offsets happen very quickly, and continue until the backlog is cleared.

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3. State Department Billing and PowerTrack - April 19th, 2006