URGENT NOTICE TO FEDERAL AGENCIES: 

TEMPORARY ADJUSTMENT IN PUBLIC 

FUNDS DEPOSIT TIMEFRAME

What’s New w/General Lockbox Network 1

Updates with OTCnet 2

Pay.gov Forms Service Getting a New Look and Feel 4

2020 OTCnet Annual Survey 6

RCM Program Release Schedules for Agency Partners 8

Decommissioning of Pay.gov OCI-I Service 9

Important ECP User Training Dates 10

CAS Webinar Series Sign Up 11

Revenue 

Collections 

Management

May 2020

The technological advances transforming the 

banking industry hold great promise for government 

and the lockbox program. As a central service 

provider, Treasury plans to take full advantage 

of these new technologies by applying them to 

high-volume financial operations and utilizing 

common processes of collections, reporting, and 

administrative operations through standardization, 

consolidation, and automation. 

It is more expensive to collect federal payments 

using lockboxes than through the electronic options 

that are currently available from the Fiscal Service. 

The cost of lockbox processing is steadily rising 

and unsustainable. Paper-based processes require 

a large labor force and utilize multiple facilities to 

provide redundancy. 

Furthermore, we are witnessing the banking industry 

rapidly transition away from the lockbox business 

due to risks, expenses, and because paper-intensive 

ventures are not part of their corporate vision or 

strategic priorities. The evidence is clear. Change 

is needed. We owe the American taxpayer our best 

effort to implement electronic options that are 

less expensive and more efficient than paper-based 

processes. 

We have recently performed extensive cashflow 

research, data analysis, and demographic and 

segment identification while identifying historical 

trends and patterns by agency customer. This effort 

provided the tools and tactics to transition lockboxes 

to electronic collection options. A heightened level 

of focus and cooperation is required from agency 

customers to eliminate lockboxes and meet taxpayer 

expectations for a modern, efficient government that 

is innovating and adopting new technologies. 

As a general guideline, the GLN recommends 

expanding the use of Pay.gov and adoption of other 

e-Commerce Solutions such as Online Bill Payment 

and Mobile. The benefits are convenience, simplicity, 

an enhanced customer experience, and 

increased efficiency.

Final Words: Retire the Lockbox Replace the 

manual, costly, paper-based lockbox services with 

more economical digital solutions offered through 

the Fiscal Service. Join us and do your part to help 

transform federal finanvcial management! 

For question about the General Lockbox Network 

and increasing your electronic collection methods 

please contact:

Agency Relationship Management Division

arm@fiscal.treasury.gov

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GENERAL LOCKBOX NETWORK(GLN) UPDATES

Reduce Revenue 

Collection Lockboxes & 

Increase Digitization
Expand Your Options with Google Chrome

Now available for OTCnet, Google Chrome offers 

agencies the flexibility of having two browsers for 

Check Processing. The OTCnet Team is working 

to support functionality for Deposit Processing in 

Google Chrome in a future release. Chrome brings 

several benefits to agencies and users, specifically 

by minimizing system, browser, and security 

configuration requirements, as well as offering the 

flexibility of two browsers.

Google Chrome also offers a fast, secure, and 

user-friendly browsing experience, providing quicker 

updates to ensure these advantages are maintained. 

To use Google Chrome with OTCnet, a new version 

of the OTCnet Local Bridge (OLB) will be required, 

version 1.3.0. For this version, the OLB certificate will 

not need to be separately installed, as the certificate 

is automatically installed with the OLB. 

Click HERE to learn more about using OTCnet with 

Google Chrome.

Get Started with OTCnet Card Processing

OTCnet now offers an Integrated Solution for Card 

Processing to enable agencies to accept Visa, 

Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. 

The Integrated Solution enables the Fiscal Service 

to offer a one stop shop for agency over-the-counter 

collection needs by seamlessly offering cash, check, 

and card processing without needing to access 

multiple applications.

By offering the Integrated Solution, Fiscal Service 

enables agencies to increase their collection 

potential by reaching more customers, more 

efficiently. Agencies also have access to 24/7 

customer support and an extensive training library. 

To learn more, visit the new ‘Card Processing Getting 

Started’ page HERE.

Skip the Lines with the Self-Service Kiosk!

Offer your customers flexibility in how, where, 

and when they pay with the Self-Service Kiosk 

Webservice. The Kiosk Webservice allows agencies 

to use a customizable Point-of-Sale (POS) system to 

collect cash, check, and credit/debit card payments 

independently of the cashier counter and reconcile 

these payments in OTCnet.

Add Card Processing to the OTCnet Kiosk Tablet

Coming this summer, agencies can now add the 

acceptance of credit/debit and gift card payments 

utilizing the OTCnet Kiosk Tablet. 

The tablet offers a lightweight (Microsoft Surface 

Pro Tablet) and cost-effective solution for over-thecounter check and card payments, enabling smaller 

agency locations to benefit from a self-assisted 

payment option.

Click HERE to learn more about the 

Self-Service Kiosk and Kiosk Tablet!

If you are interested in adding the 

Self-Service Kiosk, Kiosk Tablet, or Card Processing 

to your existing payment portfolio, please contact the 

OTCnet Deployment Team at 703-377-5586 or 

fiscalservice.otcdeployment@citi.com

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Updates with OTCnet 
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Take the 2020 OTCnet Annual Survey

Have you taken the 2020 OTCnet Annual Survey yet? 

Make sure to take the survey by April 3, 2020 to help 

us enhance your OTCnet experience. The survey is a 

very quick, multiple choice questionnaire. Click HERE 

to take the survey today!

OTCnet Domain Migration 

Planned for December 2020

As part of the Department of the Treasury domain 

migration initiative, Fiscal Service is updating the 

OTCnet domain from otcnet.fms.treas.gov to 

otcnet.for.fiscal.treasury.gov in December 2020. 

This initiative will be referred to as Domain Migration.

To ensure continued and uninterrupted OTCnet 

check capture functionality, OTCnet online agencies 

using Microsoft Internet Explorer must add the new 

domain to their Local Intranet Zone site list for all 

workstations by December 2020. Agencies that elect 

to use Google Chrome as their OTCnet online internet 

browser are not required to make this configuration 

update but will require version 1.3.0 or higher of the 

OTCnet Local Bridge (OLB).

Agencies using Internet Explorer and requiring 

access to OTCnet check capture in the QA 

environment will need to implement the Local 

Intranet Zone site list update by September 2020. 

The change involves adding the new domain to 

the Local Intranet Zone site list, ensuring that 

the asterisk wildcard is used (*.otcnet.fms.fiscal.

treasury.gov). If your agency prohibits the use of 

asterisk wildcards, the fully qualified domain name 

must be added for each environment requiring 

access (e.g. www.otcnet.fms.fiscal.treasury.gov

and/or qae.otcnet.fms.fiscal.treasury.gov).

Please work with your IT Department as needed 

to implement these updates as soon as possible 

to ensure uninterrupted OTCnet check capture 

functionality after domain migration completes 

in December 2020. Note that deposit processing 

and reporting will not be impacted by the domain 

migration; agencies only using OTCnet for deposit 

processing and reporting will not be affected.

Please Note: OTCnet Online check capture, OTCnet 

Offline, and Client Web Methods (OTCnet web 

service) users will all be uniquely impacted by the 

migration efforts. Separate transition plans will be 

provided for each user group.

OTCnet Quick Tips and Reminders

• Creating an OLB Profile and Importing OLB

Credentials

Creating an OLB profile and importing OLB

credentials applies to OTCnet Online check

capture, check processing, and card processing

users.

For more information and step by step

instructions, please refer to the following

training resources: 

• General Tip for Internet Explorer User

If you or any users are experiencing any issues

within OTCnet, we recommend clearing your

Internet Explorer temporary files as a first step.

To do so, simply follow these steps:

1. Exit Internet Explorer.

2. Exit any instances of

Windows Explorer.
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An exciting modernization project 

is underway at Pay.gov!

Upgrades are coming to the Pay.gov collection Forms 

service found on www.pay.gov. Pay.gov is updating 

the underlying technology of the Forms Service that 

will bring an enhanced experience to customers that 

make payments to your agency. When citizens pay 

a program or fee or receive a federal benefit, the 

transaction should be modern, seamless, and secure 

– that is, no different than their experience with 

commercial services. Upgrading form technologies 

helps to ensure that Pay.gov can offer services that 

are on par with similar commercial services from 

the private sector. But we need YOU to make this 

a successful transition! While Pay.gov teams are 

doing all the heavy lifting to move to the new service, 

agency staff will be asked to participate in order to 

guarantee a transparent migration. We would like 

to thank you in advance for your cooperation and 

partnership in this effort.

What is happening?

Pay.gov is upgrading the Forms Service infrastructure 

to better serve our agencies and their customers. 

The new technology provides enhanced functionality 

and a modern user interface on your revenue 

collection forms hosted on Pay.gov.

• Enhanced functionality. On the surface you and 

your customers will see simple upgrades to the 

forms interface. Improvements to the interface 

include modern functions you are accustomed to 

seeing in electronic forms. These include pop-up 

calendars for entering dates on forms, improved 

inline messaging to ensure valid data entry, and 

updated design features.

• A modern user interface. The update to the 

Forms service will provide more flexibility for 

designing and formatting forms. All the forms 

will dynamically format according to the screen 

type of your customer. Whether it’s a PC, mobile 

device, or tablet, customers will have a superior 

experience while completing forms online.

• Improved agency experience. Behind the scenes, 

the new forms engine brings more stability and 

performance to your customers. New forms 

design tools allow our technicians to develop 

Pay.gov Forms Service 

A New Look & Feel!
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forms and make changes to existing forms 

more efficiently so you can get your collections 

online quickly.

When is it happening?

Over the coming weeks and months, the Pay.gov 

team will be reaching out to you via phone and 

email to discuss the impact on your form(s) and a 

transition plan to the new service.

We expect the new service to go live in late 2020. 

The transition of your forms to the new service 

is a large effort and will continue through 2021. 

However, the preparation begins now, and our 

teams will be contacting you soon with more 

information about how and when your forms will be 

migrated to the new service.

What is the impact to you?

We anticipate minimal impact to your agency 

because the transition work is performed by our 

Pay.gov technical teams. Most importantly, there 

will be NO disruption to your revenue collections.

You and your agency’s staff play a key role in 

ensuring this transition proceeds as seamlessly as 

possible. Just a few simple steps are required:

1. Look for an email.

• The Pay.gov team will be sending 

communications regarding the transition of 

your form(s).

2. Test your updated form.

• The upgrade to our forms necessitates a 

transition to a new form with enhanced 

functionality. You may need to update any 

instructions you provide for your internal teams 

and agency customers.

3. Prepare for your fixed cutover date.

• As part of this transition, we are setting the 

date that your updated form(s) will be deployed 

live in production. Our transition team will 

contact you soon to let you know when this 

is happening.

The Pay.gov teams will make every effort to partner 

with you during this change.

What do you need to do right now?

No action is required at this time. In preparation 

for this project, you can begin to align resources for 

testing the new form and your reconciliation data 

from Pay.gov. This testing will be key to a smooth 

migration. Look for more information about this 

project in future newsletter articles.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this 

important modernization on Pay.gov!

Questions can be addressed to 

Pay.gov@fiscal.treasury.gov
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The affected systems/services are: ACH Credit Gateway, ECP* (only releases that affect agencies, not banking or 

internal partners), Debit Gateway, CIR, Pay.gov, OTCnet, and others.

• ACH Credit Gateway

- At this time the Credit Gateway does not have any releases planned for CY 2020.

• Debit Gateway

• ECP

RELEASE SCOPE DATE AGENCY TESTING

3.2 Introduced support of a new web browser: Google Chrome

Internet Explorer 11 is the only version of Internet Explorer 

supported by ECP after release 3.2

7/11/20 4/27/20 to 7/3/20

For questions related to the ECP application, contact the 

ECP Customer Support team at (866) 855-5735 or via email at FiscalService.ECP@CITI.COM

RCM Program 

release schedule:

RELEASE SCOPE DATE AGENCY TESTING

2.9 • For the User Interface (UI) upgrade – Expose to the Thin Client the 

remaining Originations and Returns processing functionality.

• Begin to incorporate new UI design based on user experience testing. 

• The release will upgrade Debit Gateway to Oracle 19c, Quartz, Jasper 

Reports, and iBatis. 

• It will also correct various backlogged issues.

5/09/20
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RELEASE SCOPE DATE AGENCY TESTING

7.12 • Continued work on modernization of the Forms Service

• Enhancements to the Company Profile Picture

• Security enhancements on the public website

• Fraud enhancements to recurring ACH payment features 

eBilling enhancements

• Added authentication to Mastercard transactions

• Infrastructure upgrades

5/16/20 3/30/20 to 4/10/20

7.13 • Continued work on modernization of the Forms Service

• Security enhancements on the Agency website

• Continued work on modernization of the Forms Service

• Finalized transition of Agency site US Web Design Standards 

for Navigation

7/25/20 6/29/20 to 7/12/20

7.14 • First phase of improving security for Pay.gov site login

• Early stage work on cloud integration

• Updates to ACH process to comply with NACHA rule changes

• Updates to the ‘My Account’ feature on public website

10/24/20 9/28/20 to 10/9/20

• Pay.gov

Helpdesk Information

Phone: (800) 624-1373

Email: pay.gov.clev@clev.frb.org

• CIR

RELEASE SCOPE DATE AGENCY TESTING

6.2 New user interface screens for operations team

New feature to view a sample of a data extract before it is created

Improved capabilities to re-generate extract files

Additional data fields on the file provided to CashTrack

Minor enhancements and bug fixes

7/11/20 4/27/20 to 7/3/20

6.3 New file for the Bank Management Service

New data mart for the Credit Gateway

8/8/20

6.4 Upgrade to the reporting tool 10/24/20 8/31/20 to 10/16/20
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Release 3.2: Introducing Credit and Debit Card 

Support for OTCnet Kiosk Tablet

Agency Testing Dates: March 16-April 9, 2020

Release Date: May 16, 2020

The Over the Counter Channel (OTCnet) Application 

Release 3.2 enhances the existing OTCnet Kiosk 

Tablet by adding Card Processing as a payment 

option. Customers using the OTC Kiosk Tablet will 

have the option to pay using credit, debit, or gift 

cards and will be able to receive printed receipts for 

approved, declined, and canceled card transactions. 

Card Processing for the Kiosk Tablet is supported 

by the Verifone MX 925 terminal, the same terminal 

currently used for OTCnet Online Card Processing. 

With the Verifone MX925 terminal, customers can 

swipe, insert, or tap their cards when paying, just like 

at any retail store. Using OTCnet for your in-person 

card transactions streamlines your collections and 

makes OTCnet your one stop shop, eliminating the 

need to switch applications.

Release 3.3: Introducing Chrome Support for OTCnet 

Administration, Reporting and Deposit Processing 

Modules

Agency Testing Dates: August 11-31, 2020

Release Date: September 26, 2020

In November 2019, OTCnet introduced Chrome 

support for Check Processing. Release 3.3 expands 

browser support to all OTCnet application modules, 

including Administration, Reporting, and Deposit 

Processing. This release also consists of application 

changes to enhance customer security, including a 

systematic review that will be conducted on OTCnet 

Check Processing forms to evaluate where agencies 

can eliminate or reduce Social Security Number 

reliance. Additionally, informational messages will 

be added to the Create Deposit and Card Processing 

screens to discourage PII entry. Regarding usability, 

OTCnet Card Administrators will also notice the 

Download OTCnet Local Bridge function currently 

accessed under the Manage Card Processing tab 

will have its own stand-alone section under the 

Administration tab. Check Capture Administrators 

will notice that the Manage Centralized Deployment 

function currently accessed under the 

Manage Check Processing tab will also have its own 

stand-alone section under the Administration tab.

For more information or questions regarding OTCnet, 

please contact the Treasury OTC Support Center:

Treasury OTC Support Center

Toll free phone: 866-945-7920

DSN phone: 510-428-6824, Options 1, 3, 4

Email: FiscalService.OTCChannel@citi.com
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NOTICE:

Pay.gov’s Open Collections Interface Interactive 

Service will be decommissioned effective 

December 2020

Decommissioning

of the Pay.gov OCI-I Service

In an effort to modernize collections, Pay.gov is

decommissioning the Open Collections Interface 

Interactive Service (OCI-I). All agencies with 

applications running on OCI-I must begin evaluating 

a plan to implement an alternative Pay.gov service 

to replace OCI-I, and plan for adequate resources to 

complete this critical conversion project. Pay.gov will 

provide regular communications containing valuable 

information such as timelines, pending product 

changes, and other helpful conversion guidance.

All agencies using OCI-I should plan a transition to 

another Pay.gov service no later than December 

2020. Pay.gov’s Recommendation – Hosted 

Collection Page Service Although Pay.gov offers 

several alternative collections services, the Hosted 

Collection Page (HCP) service provides similar 

functionality, and is the most comparable

Pay.gov service to OCI-I. OCI-I and HCP can run 

parallel until final conversion of the OCI-I service

 is completed.

• The Hosted Collection Page service leverages

modern technologies and offers many 

enhanced benefits, including industrystandard methods for user authentication and 

connectivity that make it easier for developers 

to interface agency applications with Pay.gov.

• The Hosted Collection Page service processes 

transactions through web services technology 

that establishes a secured session utilizing 

certificate-based authentication. With the 

elimination of the OCI triple handshake, HCP 

offers faster throughput with less coding and 

less maintenance.

• The Hosted Collection Page service allows 

agencies to offer additional payment options 

found in our Digital Wallet, including PayPal and 

Amazon Pay.

Agency Next Steps

• Contact your Pay.gov Agency Implementation 

Liaison to discuss your options

• Select the Pay.gov service that best fits your 

agency’s business needs

• Work with Pay.gov to develop an 

implementation project plan

• Request or allocate resources 

to staff this project

Contacts

Fiscal Service Pay.gov Team:

Pay.gov@fiscal.treasury.gov

Pay.gov Agency Implementation Team:

CLEV.eGov.PG.Agency.Implementation@clev.frb.org
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Electronic Check Processing (ECP) 

Training – Take Advantage of this 

Opportunity!

The ECP Customer Support Team hosts ECP Training 

Webinars quarterly. The webinar covers several 

topics, including a demonstration on how to navigate 

through the ECP website, how to perform research 

queries and generate a variety of reports, as well as 

where to find useful resource documents. We highly 

recommend that new users of the ECP application 

attend this training.

ECP Customer Service invites you to the upcoming 

quarterly ECP User Training scheduled on the 

following dates in calendar year 2020:

Quarter 2: 6/17/20

Quarter 3: 9/16/20

Quarter 4: 12/16/20

If you have not yet signed up for ECP access or need 

to add additional users, please reach out to ECP 

Customer Service to initiate the process.

ECP Customer Support Team 

Toll free phone: 866-855-5735 

Email: FiscalService.ECP@citi.com

What are the benefits of ECP?

• Accelerates deposits and reduces 

collection costs

• Improves data capture, accuracy, timing, 

and provides detailed information regarding 

remittance and accounting data

• Offers a total of 13 different reports

• Provides direct access to agency users on the 

status of every item being processed from the 

moment it is received in ECP

• For more information about ECP please 

click here.

Updates with Electronic 

Check Processing

ECP User Training Dates

Did you know

ECP Customer Statistics

# of Total Agencies in ECP 71 

# of Total Cash Flows in ECP 326

# of Active Users in ECP 1201
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CONTACT US

For information about RCM’s programs and services, please contact your Agency Relationship Manager or the Agency Relationship 

Management (ARM) Division via the ARM inbox: arm@fiscal.treasury.gov. 

For a complete listing of Revenue Collections Management programs and services, please click HERE!

@FiscalService

@FiscalService

Fiscal Service

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Card Acquiring 

Service Updates

Keeping up with CAS

CAS Webinar Series – Do you understand CAS 

participation policies?

CAS plans to host a series of webinars to discuss 

various topics around CAS participation policies. 

The purpose of these webinars is to provide 

education and training to our agency partners 

who utilize services provided by CAS. Mandatory 

employee training credit opportunities will be 

available for Fiscal Service employees and partner 

agency participants. Regarding the latter group, 

partner agencies must work with their internal 

Training Coordinator to receive credit for training 

courses completed. These are exciting opportunities 

for agencies to learn more about CAS and 

its processes.

Look for information on registration, times, and 

topics on the ARM and CAS websites. If you 

have any card rule related topics or questions 

that you would like discussed during the series, 

please contact the CAS Agency Outreach mailbox, 

CardAcquiringService@fiscal.treasury.gov.