Agricultural Marketing Service, Specialty Crops Program, Specialty Crops Inspection Division

SCI Division Audit Billing Procedure (June 2018)

SCI Division Inspection Series

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SPECIALTY CROPS INSPECTION (SCI) DIVISION AUDIT BILLING PROCEDURES

This policy document outlines the SCI Division’s audit billing procedures for audits performed by 

SCI Division auditors. These procedures/instructions are primarily for federal auditors and 

reviewers, and do not apply to billing for audits conducted by Fed/State offices except in the 

following situations:

• The State has made arrangements for SCI Division to perform billing for their audit activities, 

or

• State personnel are performing audits for programs that require billing by SCI Division (e.g.,

GroupGAP, Potato Sustainability, etc.).

Contact your immediate supervisor for any information not addressed in this manual.

These procedures/instructions supersede all previously-issued instructions for audit billing,

including emails and bulletins.

This document contains links to various internal and external sources of information. For 

personnel without internet or intranet access, please contact your immediate supervisor to obtain 

hard copies of documents as needed.

Audit Services Branch

The SCI Audit Services Branch (ASB) is based at Headquarters, Washington, DC. All questions 

about these instructions should be sent to: 

Phone: 202-720-5021

Email: SCAudits@ams.usda.gov

Fax: 866-230-9168
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BEFORE AND DURING THE AUDIT

The responsibility for audit billing begins when you receive the request for the audit. The process 

is outlined below for establishing and maintaining the auditee’s account, and for establishing a 

plan for billing.

Responsibility for this part of the process is assigned to the auditor, or the auditor’s office, 

depending on your office’s procedures.

Step 1 – Determine the Region

There are three audit billing offices that establish accounts and process billing and each is 

responsible for a specific geographic area. The billing office that you will contact for any of the 

following procedures will be determined by the location where the audit activity occurs. You 

must first determine the auditee’s site address, and then refer to the chart provided in Appendix II 

- Regional Assignments for Audit Activity to determine the appropriate region and office that will 

be your point of contact.

Step 2 – Establish or Update Billing Account

The applicant is the business entity responsible for paying for the audit service. In some cases, this 

is the same as the auditee; in other cases, the applicant is different than the auditee (i.e., Pro*Act, 

Potato Sustainability, GroupGAP, etc.).

If the applicant is requesting audit service for the first time, you will need to create a new billing 

account for them with SCI Division. This account is only for audit services. If they have an 

existing account for grading, inspection or related services, it cannot be used to bill for audit 

services. Please refer to the Applicant List for the appropriate region, found on the Audit Services 

SharePoint site here (intranet link), to see if an account has been established. If an audit services 

account has not been established, you must:

1. Complete an SC-430, SCI Division Vendor Form, and collect the information from the 

applicant via email or phone. This form provides basic information about the applicant’s 

business including a Tax ID or Social Security number (it is mandatory that we have this in 

order to establish their account). The information that you put in this form should be for 

the applicant’s accounts receivable or business office, and may be different than the contact 

information that you have for the audit.

If the applicant is indicated as a previously delinquent account on the periodic distributions 

from SCI, or the delinquent list maintained on SharePoint (intranet link), mark the SC-430 

showing “COD” for the payment option.
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The information that you enter into the SC-430 is considered Personally Identifiable 

Information (PII) and should be handled according to AMS policies and procedures (See 

AMS Directive 3130.11).

Note: At this time, the SC-430 form has not been approved for direct information 

collection. Do not distribute this form to applicants.

2. Email the completed SC-430 SCI Division Vendor Form to the billing office (see Step 1 –

Determine the Region). The billing staff will assign an account number to the applicant 

and should provide this information back to you, so that you can include it on your billing 

worksheet. The applicant will now have an established account in the Billing and 

Inspection Information System (BIIS).

3. If the applicant has an established account in the BIIS system, you should check the 

Applicant List for the appropriate region (intranet link), to see if the information on file is 

still current. If changes need to be made to their account, you will use the SC-430 to 

document these changes, submitting the form to the billing office for input into the billing 

system.

Step 3 - Establish Plan for Collecting the Audit Charges

Once the billing account has been established, the next step is to determine how the audit fee is to 

be collected. The options are to have the National Finance Center (NFC) bill the applicant for 

services or to require the applicant to pay in advance of the service delivery. You must

communicate the billing options to the applicant, prior to delivery of any audit services.

1. The Division’s preferred payment method is through “Pay.Gov” (see Payment Options). 

The default billing method is for the applicant to be billed by NFC after delivery of the 

audit service.

2. An applicant will be required to pay in advance if, at time of service, the applicant has an 

existing account with SCI Division, but it is in a delinquent status. A list of delinquent 

accounts (intranet link) is maintained on the ASB SharePoint site under Audit Billing, and 

will be communicated to all audit offices. See Advance Payment for Service, below.

Step 4 - Advance Payment for Service

If advance payment is required:
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1. Estimate the cost for the audit service and present it to the applicant prior to the audit. 

Additional guidance on this will be provided in the SCI Division Auditor Manual (in 

development).

2. Communicate to the auditee that they must make payment based on the audit cost estimate. 

Their options for payment are outlined below, under Payment Options.

3. Before performing the audit and/or releasing the audit report and certificate, confirm with 

ASB via an email to SCAudits@ams.usda.gov or the appropriate program manager that 

payment has been received.

4. After the audit has been performed, complete the Audit Services Billing Worksheet, 

following the instructions in After the Audit.

AFTER THE AUDIT

Responsibility for this part of the process is assigned to the auditor, unless otherwise indicated.

Initiate the Bill

Upon completion of audit services (and prior to the audit, if appropriate – see Before and During 

the Audit, Step 4 - Advance Payment for Service), tabulate all of the expenses associated with the 

audit using the Audit Services Billing Worksheet (see Appendix I), and send the completed billing 

worksheet with the audit report for review, following the procedures established for the specific 

audit service.

The Audit Reviewer will review the billing worksheet, contact you if any changes are needed, and 

return the approved billing worksheet to you with the final audit report. This copy is for your files; 

the ASB office is responsible for submitting the approved billing worksheet to the billing office for 

processing so the applicant can be billed. The billing office will generate a billing report statement 

providing a detailed description of the charges (Explanation of Services & Itemized Charges) and 

send it to the applicant. NFC will send the applicant the official bill.

Please note that, if the auditee was billed in advance for the audit service, their account credit will 

be used to pay the resulting bill.
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PAYMENT OPTIONS

1. Pay.gov: Credit card or electronic payments can be made on the www.pay.gov website. 

Please contact the audit billing office for the current instructions for use of this website for 

payments.

Please note that this is the preferred method of payment for any service provided by SCI 

Division. The next two choices should be used only if Pay.Gov is not accessible to the 

applicant.

2. Automatic credit card (MasterCard, Visa, or American Express) or electronic payment: 

Arrangements can be made for payments to be processed by the audit billing office, upon 

issuance of the bill. You will need to provide a copy of the SC-387 Alternative Payment 

Application to the applicant. The applicant is required to complete the Alternate Payment 

Application and submit it directly to the office indicated at the bottom of the worksheet, 

prior to delivery of the audit service. 

Copies of SC-387’s for each audit billing office are available from the office assignment 

contact, and on the ASB SharePoint site in the Audit Billing library (intranet link). Due to 

privacy/security reasons, you should not offer to receive or handle the Alternate Payment 

worksheet.

3. Check payment: The auditee may contact the audit billing office and make arrangements 

to send a check for payment of the bill.
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APPENDIX I - AUDIT SERVICES BILLING WORKSHEET

Electronic working copy of the Audit Services Billing Worksheet.

Audit Services Billing Worksheet

Auditee Information

BIIS Account Number: Step 1 (see instructions, below)

Applicant Name: Step 2

Applicant/Billing Street 

Address: Step 3

Applicant/Billing City, 

State, Zip: Step 4

Audited Site Name: Step 5

Audited Site Street 

Address: Step 6

Audited Site City, State, 

Zip: Step 7

Payment Method: Step 8

Audit Information

Audit Type: Step 9

Bill Date: Step 10

Audit 

Scope/Description/ID: Step 11

Billable

Category Auditor 

1

Auditor 

2 Auditor 3 Coordinator/Reviewer Other

Total 

for 

Billing

Name Step 

12

Audit Time** Step 

13 0.00

Preparatory Time** Step 

14 0.00

Paperwork Time** Step 

15 0.00

Administrative Time** Step 

16 0.00

Travel Time** Step 

17 0.00

Other Time** Step 

18 0.00
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Audit Services Billing Worksheet

Total Hours 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00

Other Expenses Step 

19 $0.00

Total Travel Expense $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

**All time stated in hours, with partial hours rounded to the quarter hour.

Remarks: Step 21

Travel Expense Airfare

Car 

Rental/

Fuel

Mileage Mailing

Lodging/ 

Per 

Diem

Misc.

Auditor 1 Step 

20

Auditor 2

Auditor 3

Other

Total $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

Remarks: Step 21

Coordinator/Reviewer 

Approval:

(indicated by signature)

Step 22

Review 

Time 

(hrs.):

Step 

23

Audit Services Billing Worksheet Completion Instructions:

1. BIIS Account Number – This is the Applicant's BIIS account number. You can obtain this 

from the administrative support staff at the regional billing office.

2. Applicant Name – Business name that should match with the BIIS account name.

3. Applicant/Billing Street Address – Business location or mailing address.

4. Applicant/Billing City, State, Zip – Self-explanatory.

5. Audited Site Name – Name that matches with the auditee's name on the audit report.

6. Audited Site Address – Self-explanatory.

7. Audited Site City, State, Zip – Self-explanatory.
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8. Payment method – If known, select the method that your customer plans to use to pay their 

bill – either Pay.Gov, automatic credit card/electronic payment, or check. See Payment 

Options, above.

9. Audit Type – Select the audit service that was used to complete the audit. The choices are:

a. Central BIQMS Audit

b. Domestic Origin Verification Audit

c. Export Certification Audit

d. Identity Preservation Audit

e. Northeast BIQMS Audit

f. Northwest BIQMS Audit

g. Qualified Through Verification Audit

h. Plant Systems Audit 

i. Southeast BIQMS Audit

j. Sustainability Audit

k. Training (This is used for any training provided directly by ASB)

l. Unprocessed FV Pilot Audit (System audits performed at the direction of 

Commodity Procurement)

m. USAID Audit

n. USDA GAP & GHP Audit (Includes non-BIQMS performed USDA GAP&GHP, 

Harmonized GAP, MGAP, TGAP, or GroupGAP audits.)

o. West BIQMS Audit

10. Billing Date – Leave this blank.

11. Audit Scope/Description/ID – Anything entered here will be placed in the Remarks area of 

the Explanation of Services. Please describe the audit activity so that the applicant will 

understand what the bill is for, including the Audit Type, the auditor’s name, and the date 

range for the audit activity.

12. Name – The person’s name that filled this role. 

13. Audit Time – The number of hours for the on-site audit activity, including fractions of an 

hour to the nearest 15 minutes (this applies to all time entries). For example, if you worked 

2 hours and 20 minutes, this would be 2.25 hours. If you worked 2 hours and 40 minutes, 

this would be 2.75 hours.

14. Preparatory Time – The number of hours for the pre-audit activity. This would include 

time spent to develop the audit plan, and to review any food safety plan information 

provided by the auditee before the audit site visit.

15. Paperwork Time – The number of hours for the post-audit activity. This would include the 

time that it takes you to draft the audit report.
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Note: It should typically take no longer than 2 hours to finalize a GAP audit report, and up 

to 4 hours to complete a more complicated system audit report. Additional guidance on this 

will be provided in the SCI Division Auditor Manual (in development).

16. Administrative Time – The number of hours to review the audit report, to issue and mail 

the audit certification, and to perform billing and document retention activities. This may 

be a set number of hours, depending on the audit service that was provided. 

17. Travel Time – The number of hours for travel associated with the on-site audit activity, 

including time for driving and air travel.

18. Other Time – This where you would put any other charges that are based on time. This 

would include the GroupGAP application and annual renewal fees, and time spent on 

follow-up activities.

19. Other Expenses – This is where you can list a charge for a non-time related expense, such 

as fees for an audit upload or duplicate certificate, a set administrative charge (not based on 

time), etc.

20. Travel Expenses – Please complete the fields so that it reflects travel costs that need to be 

charged to the applicant.

a. For domestic audits, bill an applicant for airfare associated with the audit trip, 

unless an exception has been allowed by the ASB Chief or Assistant Chief.

b. For non-domestic audits, bill an applicant for all travel costs associated with the 

audit trip, unless an exception has been allowed by the Audit Services Branch Chief 

or Assistant Chief.

c. Include a copy of the travel voucher, ticket receipt, or approved authorization with 

the billing worksheet submittal.

21. Remarks – Add any details needed to explain what has been entered in the section 

immediately above this block.

22. Coordinator/Reviewer Approval – This is where the Audit Reviewer will indicate 

acceptance of the billing worksheet with their signature.

23. Review Time (hrs.) – This is where the Audit Reviewer will indicate the actual time spent 

for reviewing and approving the audit report (for internal tracking purposes).
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APPENDIX II - REGIONAL ASSIGNMENTS FOR AUDIT ACTIVITY

Please use the following guide to determine the appropriate Region associated with your audit

activity. This will help to determine the FMMI code to use for billing, your T&A, and travel 

expenses, as well as the audit billing office that will handle your billing.

Region – SCI Division Audit Billing Office 

Assignment

States; U.S. Territory or Country

Central

Audit Services Branch – HQ

Billing Contact: Tanya Wilks

SCReimbursement@ams.usda.gov

Phone: 202-720-5021

Fax: 866-230-9168

Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, 

Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, 

Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, 

Ohio, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, 

South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin; 

Canada

Eastern

Winter Haven, Florida

Billing Contact: Austin Powell or Ruth 

Tirado

Austin.Powell@ams.usda.gov

Ruth.Tirado@ams.usda.gov

Phone: 863-294-7416 

Fax: 863-294-4219 

Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, 

Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, 

New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, 

North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, 

South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, West 

Virginia; Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands

Western

Fresno, California

Billing Contact: Jacqueline Beck

Jacqueline.Beck@ams.usda.gov

Phone: 559-487-5210

Fax: 559-485-5914

Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, 

Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New 

Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, 

Wyoming; American Samoa
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