National Archives and Records Administration
NARA’s Inspector General concluded that the agency was compliant with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) in the most recent compliance audit. NARA conducts risk assessments for all programs with outlays over $10M on a three year risk assessment cycle. NARA last conducted an improper payment risk assessment in FY 2023 and determined that all programs were not susceptible to significant improper payment and were considered low risk. NARA's program outlays do not have improper payments above the statutory threshold and is classified as Phase 1. NARA's FY 2025 improper payments totaled $270,922.58.
Show full executive summaryRecovery information
Please note: Overpayment amounts recovered are reported in the year they were recovered, not the year they were identified. Therefore it is possible in some years to have a recovery rate greater than 100%.
| Overpayment amount identified through recovery activities | $0.27 M |
| Overpayment amount recovered through recovery activities | $0.22 M |
| Recovery activities recovery rate | 80.07 % |
Why recovery audits are not cost effective in certain programs
The last analysis NARA completed to determine whether recovery audits would be cost effective, they randomly selected several accounting firms located in the DC metro area from the GSA schedule (SIN 520-9). Using the price list, NARA compared the hourly charge for one supervisor, one staff accountant/analyst, and one technician/data entry specialist. NARA's improper payments were divided by the hourly cost for each vendor to determine how many hours could be billed at that rate before the cost of the audit would exceed the yearly improper payments identified. NARA's improper payments are recovered nearly 100% through its standard recovery methods and therefore, it has never proved cost effective for NARA to engage an audit firm to conduct payment recovery audits.
Supplemental Information
NARA's financial shared service provider, the Department of Treasury, Bureau of Fiscal Service, runs weekly checks on disbursed payments against the DNP Working System. Incorrect DNP information is rarely identified and therefore, corrections are rare. However when they are discovered, immediate corrective action is taken. No NARA payments were reported to have been stopped by DNP in FY 2025.
The Working System has not reduced/prevented improper payments:
NARA has not identitied incorrect information in the Working System.
NARA was found compliant during the most recent PIIA compliance review.
Show full list of compliant programs 
Compliant programs:
- Administrative Overhead
- Agency Services
- Legislative Archives, Presidential Libraries, and Museum Services
- National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) Grants
- Office of the Inspector General
- Repairs and Restoration
- Research Services
| Program name | When was the last improper payment risk assessment conducted? | Likely to be susceptible to significant improper payments? | Substantial changes made to the assessment methodology used for the reporting cycle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Administrative Overhead | 2023 |
 No
|
|
| Agency Services | 2023 |
No
|
|
| Legislative Archives, Presidential Libraries, and Museum Services | 2023 |
No
|
|
| National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) Grants | 2020 |
No
|
|
| Office of the Inspector General | 2023 |
No
|
|
| Repairs and Restoration | * | ||
| Research Services | * |
* Assessment year is not displayed because one or more of the following statements is true:
- Not required to conduct a risk assessment under the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019,
- Already assessed for improper payment risk under a different name in a prior reporting period, and/or
- New and planning to perform a risk assessment in the future.