Bureau of the Public Debt
Agency overview
Formed	1940
Preceding Agency	Public Debt Service
Jurisdiction	U.S. Federal Government
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Employees	1,950 (2009)
Agency executive	Van Zeck, Commissioner of the Public Debt
Parent Agency	Department of the Treasury
Website
www.treasurydirect.gov www.publicdebt.treas.gov

The Bureau of the Public Debt is an agency within the Fiscal Service of the United States Department of the Treasury. Under authority derived from Article I, section 8 of the Constitution, Public Debt is responsible for borrowing the money needed to operate the federal government, and is where donations to reduce the debt can be made.

It also accounts for the resulting debt and more recently, provides administrative and IT services to federal agencies. Principal operations are conducted in Washington, D.C. and Parkersburg, West Virginia. Additionally, Federal Reserve Banks, acting as Treasury’s fiscal agents, operate critical systems in support of Public Debt Programs and perform a variety of processing and customer service functions in marketable and savings securities.

Financing the federal government is accomplished by selling Treasury bills, notes, bonds, Treasury inflation-protected securities, and U.S. Savings Bonds.

The Bureau also provides reimbursable administrative and information technology services to other government agencies through the Administrative Resource Center (ARC). Public Debt fulfills its mission through five different programs: Wholesale Securities Services, Government Agency Investment Services, Retail Securities Services, Summary Debt Accounting, and Franchise Services. Public Debt’s vision is "Leading the way for responsible, effective government through commitment to service, efficient operations, openness to change, and values-based behavior".

Values-based organization
Public Debt has identified five core values which serve as reminders of the bureau's expectations of its employees: Information Sharing, Informality, Integrity, Inclusion, and Individual Respect. Public Debt's goal in building a values-based culture is to increase accountability, improve productivity and results, and contribute to employee morale. In 2009, Public Debt was ranked 4th best place to work in the federal government based on a survey of civil servants conducted by the Office of Personnel Management across 216 federal agency subcomponents.