0701 Overview

This chapter establishes the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) financial policies for obligating intra-governmental transactions (IGTs).

0702 Revisions

Section	Revision	Office	Reason for Change	Effective Date
Various	New policy	OFP (047G)	Reorganized volume layout	August 2025

0703 Definitions

Authoritative Intra-governmental Transactions (IGTs) – Transactions that originate from a centralized authoritative agent where a single agency, also referred to as an authoritative source, performs a centralized function on behalf of all other Federal agencies. Authoritative transactions are comprised of Fiscal Service Investments and Borrowings, Federal Financing Bank (FFB) Borrowings, Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) and Unemployment Insurance (UI) transactions with the Department of Labor (DOL), and employee Benefits transactions with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Buy/sell Transaction – Transactions between two Federal entities where goods or services are purchased by one entity from another entity. This arrangement is accomplished through the issuance of a reimbursable agreement (i.e., G-invoicing or Treasury Form 7600(A)(B)) between the two entities. Trading partners should have appropriate statutory authority (e.g., Economy Act) prior to engaging in an agreement for buy/sell transactions.

General Terms and Conditions (GT&C) –The section of an IAA that identifies the buyer and seller involved, the authority for the agreement, required actions, period of performance, and type (i.e., single order or multiple order IAA).

G-Invoicing (GINV) – Treasury’s long-term solution for buy/sell transactions that will allow Federal agencies to initiate payments and manage the receipt and acceptance of GT&C, orders, and performance.

Inter or Intra-Agency Agreement (IAA) – A written agreement entered between Federal agencies (Inter), or major organizational units within the same agency (Intra), establishing a relationship between a buyer and seller, which specifies the goods to be furnished or services to be provided.

Intra-governmental Transactions (IGTs) – These transactions result from business activities conducted between two Federal Government entities. There are two types of IGTs: intra-departmental and intra-governmental. Intra-departmental transactions result from activity between trading partners within the same department. Intra-governmental transactions result from activity between federal entities not within the same department.

Obligation – A legally binding agreement that will result in outlays, immediately or in the future. An obligation is a legal liability of the Government against an available appropriation.

Non-Contractual Obligation – This term encompasses obligations with special statutory authority or other regulatory authority to exempt the obligation from Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and formal acquisition procedures required by FAR. There are instances where these obligations may be generally defined as a contract (agreement between two parties), but these obligations do not follow FAR-based procurement procedures.

Order – Also known as the ordering instrument, is the funding section of an IAA, which includes the goods or services requirements, funding information, and authorized signatures to establish the obligation between the trading partners.

Reimbursable Work Authorizations (RWA) – Formal agreements between the General Services Administration (GSA) and a customer whereby GSA agrees to provide goods or services, and the customer agrees to reimburse GSA’s direct and indirect costs.

Requesting Agency – A Federal entity that requests goods or services from another Federal entity, also referred to as the buyer.

Servicing Agency –A Federal entity responsible for providing goods or services to another Federal entity, also referred to as the seller.

0704 Roles and Responsibilities

Administration and Staff Office Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) are responsible for ensuring the proper processing of intra-governmental transactions in accordance with the guidelines in this policy.

0705 Policies

070501 General Policies

1. An obligation for Authoritative Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) and Unemployment Insurance (UI) transactions will be recorded when the quarterly information is received from the Department of Labor (DOL).
2. An obligation for Buy/sell transactions will be recorded at the time VA enters into an IGT order for the full amount of the monetary obligation incurred. Buy/sell transactions include intra-departmental and intra-governmental.
3. Documentation required for intra-governmental obligations includes the order(e.g., 7600B or GINV documents) or quarterly bill between both parties.
4. Intra-governmental obligations will be issued to a specific vendor; the use of “Miscellaneous Vendor” is not permitted.
5. Obligations pursuant to this policy must follow the requirements for all Government obligations, established in Volume III, Chapter 2 – Obligations.

070502 Authoritative Transactions

1. The FECA/UI programs are the only IGT authoritative processes utilized by VA that are authorized to be paid via non-contractual obligation. Veteran Benefit Administration’s (VBA) IGT authoritative transactions with Treasury/ Federal Financing Bank and Financial Service Center’s (FSC) IGT authoritative transactions with OPM are covered in Volume IX, Chapter 5 – Intra-governmental Transactions.
2. DOL manages the FECA program for all Federal agencies and pays current FECA benefits, which Federal agencies ultimately reimburse through the chargeback process.
3. Quarterly, DOL provides each Federal agency with a report of its employees receiving FECA benefits with an estimate of the cost of these benefits. VA Administrations and Staff Offices record these amounts as obligations.
4. Authoritative transactions will be recorded on the date of the FECA quarterly statement.
5. By August 15 of each year, DOL sends VA a statement of its FECA costs for the preceding period (July 1 through June 30). VA will include this in its subsequent budget request to cover its FECA costs for the previous fiscal year. By October 15, VA must reimburse DOL for the costs of FECA benefits provided to VA employees.
6. Quarterly, DOL provides VA with a report of its former employees/military receiving UI benefits with an estimate of the cost of these benefits. VA Administrations and Staff Offices record these amounts as obligations. Authoritative transactions will be recorded on the date of the UI quarterly statement.
7. FSC will record the quarterly UI entry in VA’s financial reporting system to bring VA’s UI benefits in line with the DOL reported balance. The quarterly UI bill is sent to VA on the 20th day of the second month following the close of the quarter.
8. VA submits payment to DOL via IPAC for the benefit-related expenses that States pay on behalf of VA employees.

070503 Intra-departmental IAAs (Buy/Sell)

1. Intra-departmental IAAs only pertain to buy/sell agreements within VA (i.e., between different VA appropriations/funds.
2. VA intra-departmental IAAs predominately involve transactions with the:
   • Denver Acquisition and Logistics Center Services and Goods;
   • Supply Fund: Strategic Acquisition Center;
   • Supply Fund: Technology Acquisition Center;
   • Supply Fund: National Acquisition Center;
   • One VA Plus Fund;
   • Franchise Fund: Personnel Security Adjudication Center;
   • Franchise Fund: Law Enforcement Training Center;
   • Franchise Fund: Financial Services Center;
   • Franchise Fund: Debt Management Center;
   • Franchise Fund: Information Technology Infrastructure Operations;
   • Franchise Fund: Center for Enterprise Human Resources Information;
   • Franchise Fund: Human Capital Services Center; and
   • Franchise Fund: Internal Controls Support Center.
3. Intra-TAS IAAs only pertain to buy/sell agreements where both the servicer/seller and the requestor/buyer use the same Treasury Account Symbol (TAS). These IAAs are not recorded in G-Invoicing and should only capture buy/sell activity between Working Capital or Revolving Fund entities (e.g., Franchise Fund or Supply Fund).

070504 Intra-governmental IAA (Buy/Sell)

1. Intra-governmental IAAs only pertain to buy/sell agreements between VA and other non-VA Federal entities.
2. The following are examples of intra-governmental IAAs:
   • Federal Telecommunications Services;
   • Standard level user charges: General Services Administration (GSA) (including global stock, vehicle, property leasing, and utilities); U.S. Postal Service; National Archives and Records Administration;
   • Transit benefits administered by the U.S. Department of Transportation;
   • GSA non-standard level usage activities and Treasury Offset Program (TOP) fees; 
   • U.S. Government Publishing Office;
   • VBA Lease Agreement Overtime Charges;
   • Interagency agreements, including sharing agreements between VA and Department of Defense, Indian Health Service, and Tribal Health Program; and
   • Intergovernmental personnel agreements and services, including Cooperative Administrative Support Units.
3. VBA lease agreement overtime charges are obligated differently due to GSA’s unique requirements. Any service/labor outside of the daily operations is paid for by the tenant. Refer to Overtime Utility Customer Guide below. VBA lease agreement overtime charges are intra-governmental buy/sell transactions between VBA and GSA. Federal agencies must use GSA’s external Reimbursable Work Authorization (RWA) Entry and Tracking Application (eRETA) to enter RWA information. Neither Treasury Form 7600A nor Treasury Form 7600B is used for RWAs.
4. VBA has a centralized lease contract with GSA covering most of VBA’s Regional Offices (RO). If there are special services, which are not included in the rent covered by this contract (e.g., utility payment for overtime), they are handled on a reimbursable basis via GSA’s reimbursable work authorization process and paid directly to GSA by the RO.

070505 Integrated Financial and Acquisition Management System (iFAMS)

1. When recording an intra-governmental obligation in iFAMS, a Buyer Enterprise External obligation (OEE) or GINV External Obligation (OEG) must be used.
2. When recording an intra-TAS transaction an Internal Reimbursable Order (ORE) document type must be used.
3. When recording a payment for intra-governmental transaction IPAC Inbound (PIE), IPAC Outbound (POE), and GINV Inbound (PIG) document types can be used.
4. When recording a payment for intra-TAS transactions Internal Voucher (VIE) must be used.
5. Only Franchise Fund and Supply Fund are permitted to execute intra-TAS IAAs using the ORE and VIE.

070506 Financial Management System (FMS)

1. When recording an intra-governmental obligation in FMS, a miscellaneous obligation document (e.g.,1358) must be used.
2. Approved use / authority codes “3”,”4”, or “20” must be used when recording the obligation in FMS, as appropriate. The following chart lists the appropriate sub-authorities:

Authority	Sub-Authority	Approved Use
3		Standardized Obligations
3	A	Federal Telecommunications Services (FTS) 2001
3	B	College of American Pathology/Joint Pathology Center
3	C	Convenience Check Fees
3	D	Denver Acquisition and Logistics Center Services and Supplies
3	E	Supply Fund: Strategic Acquisition Center
3	F	SmartPay (US Bank) and National Patient-Centered Community Care (PC3) Centralized contract administrative fees
3	G	Federal Employees Compensation Program
3	H	SHPS
3	I	Standard Level User Charges/GSA/NARA
3	J	Transit Benefits
3	K	Franchise Fund: Security and Investigations Center
3	L	Franchise Fund: Law Enforcement Training Center
3	M	Franchise Fund: Financial Services Center
3	N	Franchise Fund: Debt Management Center
3	O	Franchise Fund: IT Infrastructure Operations
3	P	Franchise Fund: Records Center and Vault
3	R	Supply Fund: Technology Acquisition Center
4		Standardized Obligations Supply Fund: National Acquisition Center
20		Non-Procurement Obligations
20	A	One VA Plus Fund, Agent Cashier Bank Service Charges, legacy EUL payments, PACT Act Buy-Out of Service Contracts, Witness Fees to Non-Federal Employees, and Overpayment Audit Recoveries, Prize Competitions, Land Acquisitions and Arbitration pursuant to labor union agreements
20	B	Compensated Work Therapy Program
20	C	Internal VA Programs and Agreements
20	D	VA Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program
20	E	Cemetery Grants and other VA Grant Programs
20	F	GSA Activities and TOP Fees
20	G	U.S. Government Publishing Office
20	H	Inter-Agency Sharing Agreements (VA/DOD/IHS/THP Sharing) and Interagency Agreements (USPS)
20	I	Intra-Agency Sharing Agreements (VHA, VBA, NCA, OIT)
20	J	Intergovernmental Personnel Agreements and Services, including CASUs

3. All payment transactions with users in iFAMS will be processed in G-Invoicing. Expenditure transfers to iFAMS must be made via IPAC.

0706 Authorities and References

• United States Code (U.S.C.)
  • 5 U.S.C. § 8102, Compensation for Work Injuries
  • 5 U.S.C. § 8501 – 8508 Unemployment Compensation
  • 31 U.S.C. § 1535, The Economy Act
  • 38 U.S.C. § 8153, Sharing of Health-Care Resources
• Federal Acquisition Regulation
• VA Financial Policy Publications
  • Volume III, Chapter 2 – Obligations
  • Volume III, Chapter 3 – Non-Contractual Obligations
  • Volume III, Chapter 4 – 1358 Obligations
  • Volume IX, Chapter 4 – Reconciliations
  • Volume IX, Chapter 5 – Intra-governmental Transactions
  • Volume IX, Chapter 6 – Buy/Sell Transactions (Paper form)
  • Volume IX, Chapter 7 – Buy/Sell Transactions (G-Invoicing)
• Overtime Utility Customer Guide
• Reimbursable Work Authorizations National Policy Manual
• GSA eRETA RWA Customer Portal

0707 Rescissions

None