On July 22, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (the “Act”). The Act significantly modifies and expands the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 by placing a greater obligation on the federal government to reduce the amount of improper payments made every year. The President estimated that approximately $110 billion was improperly paid by the government last year, including improper payments made to government contractors. The new legislation will now require executive agencies to conduct recovery audits in an effort to reduce this figure by $50 billion by 2012.