Obama: Report Overpayments President Obama has ordered new rules to punish contractors that fail to report significant overpayments from the government. The president’s Nov. 23 executive order says the penalties may include debarment, suspension, fines and public identification of offenders. The order directs the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, the Office of Management and Budget and the Justice Department’s Procurement Fraud Task Force to make recommendations within 180 days. OMB officials said current regulations require contractors to give back an improper payment only if government auditors discover it, and they pay no penalty. ( The contractor provisions are part of a series of steps designed to curb improper payments on government programs. Those payments amounted to 5% of federal outlays in fiscal 2009, for a total of $98 million, according to the White House. But the vast majority of improper payments were made through grant and loan programs, not contracts. Obama ordered agencies to identify the programs that account for the highest dollar volume of improper payments and to designate a high-level official to be accountable for reducing the volume. A public website would track improper payments on those high-priority programs. The president said, “The purpose of this order is to reduce improper payments by intensifying efforts to eliminate payment error, waste, fraud, and abuse in the major programs administered by the Federal Government, while continuing to ensure that Federal programs serve and provide access to their intended beneficiaries.”