E8-14769. Prompt Payment Interest Rate; Contract Disputes Act

AGENCY:

Bureau of the Public Debt, Fiscal Service, Treasury.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

For the period beginning July 1, 2008, and ending on December 31, 2008, the prompt payment interest rate is 51/8 per centum per annum.

ADDRESSES:

Comments or inquiries may be mailed to Milissia S. Morris, Team Leader, Borrowings Accounting Team, Division of Accounting Operations, Office of Public Debt Accounting, Bureau of the Public Debt, Parkersburg, West Virginia, 26106-1328. A copy of this Notice is available at http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov.

DATES:

Effective July 1, 2008, to December 31, 2008.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mike Linder, Acting Director, Division of Accounting Operations, Office of Public Debt Accounting, Bureau of the Public Debt, Parkersburg, West Virginia, 26106-1328, [phone]; Milissia S. Morris, Team Leader, Borrowings Accounting Team, Division of Accounting Operations, Office of Public Debt Accounting, Bureau of the Public Debt, Parkersburg, West Virginia, 26106-1328, [phone]; Amy Mertz Brown, Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of the Chief Counsel, Bureau of the Public Debt, [phone]; or Brenda L. Hoffman, Attorney-Adviser, Office of the Chief Counsel, Bureau of the Public Debt, [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

An agency acquiring property or services from a business concern that fails to pay for the complete delivery of property or service by the required payment date shall pay the business concern an interest penalty. 31 U.S.C. 3902(a) (2003). The Contract Disputes Act of 1978, Section 12, Public Law 95-563, 92 Stat. 2389, and, indirectly, the Prompt Payment Act of 1982, 31 U.S.C. 3902(a), provide for the calculation of interest due on claims at the rate established by the Secretary of the Treasury.

The Secretary of the Treasury has the authority to specify the Prompt Payment Interest Rate by which the interest shall be computed for interest payments under § 12 of the Contract Disputes Act of 1978. 31 U.S.C. 3902(a) (2003). Agencies must pay the interest penalty calculated with the interest rate which is in effect at the time the agency accrues the obligation to pay a late payment interest penalty. Id. “The interest penalty shall be paid for the period beginning on the date after the required payment date and ending on the date on which the payment is made.” 31 U.S.C. 3902(b) (2003). If an interest penalty is owed to a business concern, the penalty shall be paid regardless of whether the business concern requested payment of money.

Therefore, notice is given that the Secretary of the Treasury has determined that the rate of interest applicable for the period beginning July 1, 2008, and ending on December 31, 2008, is 51/8 per centum per annum.

Kenneth E. Carfine,

Fiscal Assistant Secretary.