Term
Prompt Payment Act
The law that requires the government to pay a proper invoice on time, generally within about 30 days, and to pay interest when it does not.
The Prompt Payment Act sets the clock the government has to pay you on, generally about 30 days from a proper invoice and acceptance of the work, though the exact timing can shift depending on the contract and how the invoice was submitted. If the government misses that window, interest accrues automatically; you should not have to fight for it. Late payment is usually a paperwork or routing problem rather than a refusal to pay, so the fastest fix is often just tracking down where the invoice actually got stuck.
In a sentence
"Payment is due within 30 days of receipt of a proper invoice." That clock is a legal deadline, not a courtesy, so if it passes with no payment, interest should already be building even before you have to ask.
Also called
- prompt payment interest
- 30-day payment rule
- prompt payment clause
Terms like this show up in every federal notice. We translate them in place, on every notice in your trade.