October 20, 1999 Web posted at: 10:43 a.m. EDT (1443 GMT) by Colleen O'Hara

From...

(IDG) -- Agencies continue to make progress in converting most paper-based government financial payments to electronic funds transfer, according to Fay Rurup, a financial program specialist working for the Treasury Department's Financial Management Service.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE
	IDG.net home page
Federal Computer Week home page
7 important things to keep in mind when you bank online
More details on the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996
Agencies miss the Jan. 1 deadline for all government checks to be delivered via electronic funds transfer
Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net
Tests, technology have smart cards poised for broad acceptance by feds
IDG.net's products pages
IDG.net's personal news page
Federal Computer Week's Y2K resource page
Year 2000 World
Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you
Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletters
Search IDG.net in 12 languages
News Radio
	Fusion audio primers
	Computerworld Minute

As of June 30, 1999, the percentage of nontax government financial payments made electronically rose from 68 percent at the end of fiscal 1998 to 73 percent, according to Rurup, who spoke last week at the EFT '99 conference, sponsored by the Fairfax Electronic Commerce Resource Center. The statistics also show that while 96 percent of federal salaries are paid via EFT, only one-half of all vendor payments are made electronically.

The Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 mandated that by Jan. 1, 1999, government payments to federal employees, contractors and beneficiaries of federal programs -- with the exception of tax refunds -- be paid via EFT instead of by paper checks. FMS, which is the government's primary check writer, is responsible for helping agencies convert most of their payments to EFT.

To date, converting to EFT has saved the government at least $13 million by reducing the number of forged, altered and counterfeited checks, Rurup said. EFT also is more reliable than sending checks through the mail. "We have never lost an EFT payment," she said. "Sometimes it gets redirected, but never lost."