The passage of The Travel and Transportation Reform Act of 1998, Public Law 105-264, ushered in major changes to the payment of transportation and related services, shifting the emphasis from a postpayment audit environment to a prepayment audit environment.

All agencies must determine the validity, propriety and conformity of transportation and related services with tariffs, quotations, agreements or tenders prior to the payment of any transportation service provider's invoice. For an explanation of the prepayment audit plan please refer to the Transportation Payment and Audit regulations, 41 CFR 102-118.

The deadline for agencies to comply with the prepayment audit regulation was May 20, 2000. Agencies must develop a prepayment audit plan and have it approved by the GSA Audit Division or obtain a waiver from the Office of Governmentwide Policy.

Approved plans will consist of agencies demonstrating how they will either perform the prepayment audit in-house with standard audit methodologies, hire a GSA prepayment audit contractor from the multiple award schedule, or hire their own contractor and with approval by GSA Audit Division.

To assist agencies in determining their prepayment audit methods, GSA has developed a guide with a series of questions to help frame decisions, please refer to the offering How to Make a Prepayment Audit Choice or refer to the regulation.