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Vendor Express is the U.S. Treasury's program for electronic payment of the Government's bills. A large proportion of the money paid to vendors goes out electronically, but, as Marilyn N. Feingold, Senior Analyst with the Treasury's Financial Management Service (FMS), explained to a White Papers Conference in May, the percentage of payments made electronically is far from 100%.
Vendor Express doesn't just pay business corporations. Schools and colleges, charitable corporations, state and local governments, anyone who provides goods or services for the U.S. can get paid through Vendor Express, provided the agency it deals has the capability.
Congress, in an amendment to the Electronic Funds Transfer Act passed this year, set forth as a requirement that every eligible payee be paid electronically next year, though waivers may be granted by the Secretary of the Treasury.
It will undoubtedly be necessary to grant many waivers. Ms. Feingold explained some of the obstacles Vendor Express has faced, and many of these it will need some time to overcome. But the Financial Management Service is working on the government's shortcomings.
As she told the audience, a vendor that had many contracts with U.S. agencies couldn't enroll just once to get paid electronically for all its contracts; it had to enroll for each one separately....