W128: Modernizing Payment Integrity — How Federal Agencies Are Reducing Improper Payments Through Automation and Data Analytics
- Room: 202A
- Session Number:W128
Wednesday, July 22, 2026: 4:05 PM - 4:55 PM
Speaker(s)
Description
Since 2003, improper payments have reached approximately $2.8 trillion, with fiscal year 2024 contributing almost $162 billion alone. Join this session to see how the U.S. Treasury’s tackling this problem, from its Do Not Pay system to its embrace of analytics to prevent, detect and recover, and explore case studies on automated vendor validation and moving from checks to electronic payments. Panelists will note pitfalls — data silos, manual reconciliation, resistance to automation — and end with an assessment and checklist aligned with current mandates.
Key Takeaways
• A control-first playbook to prevent and detect improper payments using automation and analytics, clearly mapped to the payment lifecycle.
• An actionable assessment and red-flags checklist aligned with Treasury/Bureau of the Fiscal Service guidance and mandates to prioritize high-impact fixes.
• A 90-day pilot and 12-month roadmap with KPIs and audit-ready documentation.
• Practical strategies to overcome common pitfalls using governance and change management.
Learning Objectives
Learn how to identify high-risk points in the payment lifecycle and link them to specific automation/analytics controls. Design a control-aware approach for vendor validation, duplicate detection and check-to-electronic migration with auditability. Apply governance safeguards (identity verification, fraud screening, privacy, documentation, explainability) to strengthen integrity. Define key performance indicators (KPIs) and dashboards to track exception reduction, cycle-time gains and improper-payment decreases. Explore how to anticipate and mitigate pitfalls with change-management strategies.