Correspondence and Newsletters:
Judgment Fund Journal Winter 2002

We wish all of our customer agencies a Happy New Year. The past year has been an extremely busy and rewarding year for the Judgment Fund. You have been very patient as we migrated from the old database to the new. We hope this year will be even better.

The FMS Forms 194-197A are available on the Judgment Fund home page. You may download the forms and reproduce them as needed. It is imperative that you complete the forms in their entirety. In the past, we have not returned incomplete submissions. We opted to call the agency and request the additional documentation or corrected forms. We would like to continue to do this but it is more important to submit the forms correctly the first time. FMS Form 194 or 195 are the cover sheets. This form is essential for classifying claims as either a Litigative or Administrative Award. (Please see the FAQ's on the web site).

This form also has the date the agency submitted the claim. This is also a gauge to determine the time it takes for a claim to reach the Judgment Fund office. FMS Form 196 is the Judgment Fund Award Data Sheet. This form assists the Analysts in determining the validity of the claim. You must complete all sections. You may place NA, Not Applicable, in sections that do not pertain to a specific case or submission. The proper Submitting and Subject Agency information ensures that the proper booking of liabilities is recorded. The Judgment Fund Web site extracts the data from the Judgment Fund database and places the data on the Web site under the Subject agency. Submitting agencies should advise the Subject agency of any claims submission and all other required data. The Submitting and Subject agencies can view the data on the web site. Submitting agencies should provide an agency file number.

This number, when provided, is displayed on the web site. The second page of the FMS Form 196 classifies the payment as principal, attorney fees, costs, interest and any deductions required. If the claim requires deductions, the Submitting agency must complete the section for deductions and if payments are to be made to other agencies for credit, FMS Form 197A must be completed with the Agency Location Code (ALC) of the recipient agency. The payee information from the FMS Form 197 or 197A must be the same as the payee information on the FMS Form 196. If the payment is to be wired to the bank, (ACH), please type the bank information on the FMS Form 197 clearly.

Transactions that require for further credit to another bank or account number are designated as FEDWIRE payments and banks often charge for the transaction. It is your responsibility to ascertain how the payment should be transacted. If there are attachments or settlement agreements that state to whom payment should be made and the amount, this information should be reflected on the 196 and 197 forms. Hand written submissions are acceptable but typed forms are easier to read and the data can be encoded into the Judgment Fund database faster. Please place messages in large bold letters on the cover sheet if a case is time sensitive and must be paid by a certain date. Please advise us of how the forms may be improved. Judgment.Fund@fms.treas.gov Web site:www.fms.treas.gov/judgefund

Contract Disputes Act

We are now entering the second quarter of fiscal year 2002. Thank you to all agencies that have reimbursed the Judgment Fund. The Financial Management Service has a new method of transferring funds from one agency to another. The IPAC (Intra-governmental Payment and Collection) system replaces the OPAC (On Line Payment and Collection) system. If you are not enrolled in IPAC and want to be, you should contact the GOALS Customer Support Staff (202) 874-8270 or fax (202) 874-9522.

It is very important that all Contract Disputes Act claims submissions have a Reimbursable Agency, Contract Number, Contact Name, telephone number and reimbursable address. This information is essential in tracking and maintaining records and collecting data. For Court of Federal Claims cases, we require the court document with the raised seal of the court. ASBCA claims must be submitted with Certificates of Finality signed by the agency official and the claimant or claimant's legal representative. We are considering possible changes in the forms to meet the special requirements of Contract Disputes Act claims submissions. We will update you on these efforts in the next newsletter.

Need Status?

The Judgment Fund Staff has implemented the last phase of the enhancements to the web site. The Web site now provides an agency with the paid date of a claim in a more timely manner. If an agency needs to ascertain the status of a claim, that information can be obtained by going to http://www.fms.treas.gov/judgefund select "Search Judgment Fund Transactions by Agency". Information can be found on the Web site by entering the agency, which is a required field, and either the agency reference number, received date, Judgment Fund ID number or payment amount. The Web site should provide agencies with a quick and easy way to check a status. However, an agency can continue to call (202) 874-6664 for status.

"The Check is in the Mail"

The Judgment Fund Staff relies on the Postal Service to deliver check payments to the recipient. In light of the recent world events, the check sometimes stays in the mail system and is held by the Postal Service. We have received a tremendous number of requests for check payments to be reissued electronically. We would like to take this opportunity to request that you encourage payees to consider receiving their payments electronically. If you ever have a need to request that a payment be reissued, please advise our office in writing. We will need to know the claimant's name and new payment instructions. We thank you in advance for your patience and continued support as we try to ensure that payments are made in an efficient and timely manner.

JUDGMENT FUND JOURNAL
Wayne Penn Jones - Editor-in-Chief
Mary C. Morris - Asst. Editor
Allen Lehrer- Asst. Editor
Phyllis White - Asst. Editor
Department of the Treasury - FMS
Judgment Fund Staff
Manager, Vacant
3700 East-West Highway - Rm. 6F03
Hyattsville, MD 20782
(202) 874-6664
Fax (202) 874-9522