Government Shutdown Threatens Invoicing Process

There has been a lot of coverage in the news about the possible shutdown of the federal government. This attention has led many TSPs to inquire if a federal government shutdown would affect the invoicing process. While there is not a clear yes or no answer at this point, there is a chance that TSPs could see delays in the invoicing payment process if a shutdown occurs.

The good news is that TSPs are not paid directly by the federal government for personal property moves. US Bank makes the payments to TSPs and then is later reimbursed by the government. Therefore a government shutdown will not stop payments from being made to TSP for invoices that have been approved.

Getting those invoices approved for payment may be the problem. If the PPSO employees who perform the invoice approvals are among those government workers that are furloughed by the shutdown, then there may not be anyone working to approve the invoices. (Or for that matter, do any work in the DPS computer system such as pre-approvals and handling SIT requests.)

The issue will vary from service to service, so during the recent PPF, a couple of service representatives in attendance were asked to comment on their plans. The Army is still determining which PPSO employees would be considered “essential” and therefore would not be furloughed.  Air Force uses enlisted personnel and other employees who would not be affected by the shutdown to approve invoices, so their representatives seemed confident they would be able to continue without too much disruption.

There is still a lot of uncertainty about the effect of the shutdown on the invoicing approval process, but TSPs may want to prepare for a slowdown in payments if the governement shuts down at midnight on Friday. If it is a short-lived shutdown, then the effect will probably be very minimal. However, if the federal government is “closed” for more than a few days, then there is a chance that invoice payments will be delayed unless the services can find personnel to do those invoice approvals.

If you have any other questions  or opinions about the effect of the government shutdown, please feel free to use the comments below.

Related Posts

1. Transmission Issues Continue to Plague Invoicing Process - March 16th, 2011
2. Update on DFAS EDI Shutdown - May 5th, 2009
3. TOPS Shutdown Means a Return to Paper Invoices - December 2nd, 2008