§20.19. Purpose and scope.

The regulations in this subpart establish procedures to implement section 10 of the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97-365), 31 U.S.C. 3716(d). Among other things, this statute authorizes the head of each agency to collect a claim arising under an agency program by means of administrative offset, except that no claim may be collected by such means if outstanding for more than 10 years after the agency's right to collect the debt first accrued, unless facts material to the Government's right to collect the debt were not known and could not reasonably have been known by the official or officials of the government who were charged with the responsibility to discover and collect such debts. This subpart specifies the agency procedures that will be followed by the Department of Labor for an administrative offset.