Improper Payments Information Act (IPIA) Reporting Details

During FY 2008, the USPTO did not have any erroneous payments that exceeded the ten million dollar threshold. While our erroneous payments were 0.30 percent of total disbursements and primarily related to inaccurate banking information, we plan to further reduce this percentage through our use of the government-wide Central Contractor Registration database maintained by the Department of Defense, which requires all government contractors to maintain current contact and banking information. The USPTO identifies overpayments and erroneous payments by reviewing (1) credit memos and refund checks issued by vendors or customers and (2) undelivered electronic payments returned by financial institutions.

Improper Payment Reduction Outlook (Dollars in millions) Program FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011 Outlays Improper Payment Percent Improper Payment Dollars Outlays Improper Payment Percent Improper Payment Dollars Estimated Outlays Improper Payment Percent Estimated Outlays Improper Payment Percent Estimated Outlays Improper Payment Percent Patent $1,544 0.30% $4.57 $1,634 0.30% $4.88 $1,695 0.00% $1,760 0.00% $1,891 0.00% Trademark    255 0.30%  0.76    190 0.30%  0.57    197 0.00%    205 0.00%    220 0.00% Intellectual Property      —     —     —     44 0.30%  0.13     45 0.00%     47 0.00%     50 0.00% Total $1,799 0.30% $5.33 $1,868 0.30% $5.58 $1,937 0.00% $2,012 0.00% $2,161 0.00%

During FY 2005, the USPTO entered into an agreement with the DOC to use an existing contract for recovery audit services. The audit was limited to closed obligations greater than $0.1 million. Further excluded were grants, travel payments, purchase card transactions, inter-agency agreements, government bills of lading, and gift and bequest transactions.

The audit was completed in FY 2006 and resulted in three invoices that were identified as recoverable improper payments, which are insignificant. The improper payments identified of $0.1 million were recovered during FY 2006. No additional actions were taken in FY 2007 and FY 2008.

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