How to get Money for your

FSA Projects 101

Richard Lucas and Lauren Bloom

Today’s AgendaToday’s Agenda

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• Introductions• The Purpose of a Budget• Types of Funding• Budget Phases• Monitoring and Reporting • Year-End Closeout

The Purpose of a BudgetThe Purpose of a Budget

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• It is a living document which sets forth:• Priorities• Levels of spending• Financing options• Methods for managing funds

Budget Support DivisionBudget Support Division

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Our basic objective – Ensure the right right fundingfunding is in the right placeright place at the right timeright time.

Session TopicsSession Topics

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• The Purpose of a Budget• Types of FundingTypes of Funding• Budget Phases• Monitoring and Reporting• Year-End Closeout

Types of FundingTypes of Funding

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Congress provides discretionary funding for Student Aid Administration through annual appropriation. Category 1&2 - Basic Baseline Operations and SupportCategory 3-5

• Initiatives in response to GAO and OIG audits and new laws and regulations

• Re-engineering projects• Re-competes

Congress

Federal Student Aid

Session TopicsSession Topics

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• The Purpose of a Budget• Types of Funding• Budget PhasesBudget Phases• Monitoring and Reporting• Year-End Closeout

FSA Budget PhasesFSA Budget Phases

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Phase I: Formulation/Justification/PresentationPhase II: Budget Execution

• How Federal Student Aid receives funding• Appropriation• Apportionment• Allotments• Sub-allotments

• How Federal Student Aid uses funding• Commitments• Obligations• Expenditures

Phase I:Phase I: Formulation/Justification/PresentationFormulation/Justification/Presentation

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Formulation/Justification• IMG - Call for Investment Requests (IRs)• IMG, BSD, BPC - Reviews/Analyzes• BPC - Prepares budget priorities recommendation• IRB - Reviews and approves budget request• BSD - Prepares written justification

Call for Investment Requests

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Investment Request (IR): All operational programs, projects, or initiatives requesting authority to execute are required to enter IR into the EPPM tool – Jan-Feb

Reviews/Analyzes

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Review/Analyze IR’s for:•Completeness•Sufficiency of Justification•Impact Statements•Budget Requests

• Large increases • New line items • Increases in Category 3-5• Timing of when funds are needed

Prepares Budget Priorities Recommendation

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BPC• Reviews IRs to ensure consistency • Uses the EPPM tool to optimize the portfolio• Develop assumptions around funding

recommendations• Submit priority recommendation to IRB

Reviews and Approves Budget Request

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IRB• Reviews BPC Recommendation• IRB:

• Deliberates• Accepts recommendation• Rejects recommendation• Modifies

Prepares Written Justification

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BSD •Works with ED to determine approach for justification•Uses information in IRs to prepare written justification.•Presents justification to FSA-CFO

Phase I:Phase I: Formulation/Justification/PresentationFormulation/Justification/Presentation

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Presentation• Submit budget request and justification to ED- June• Coordinates responses to ED – July/Aug• ED submits request to OMB - Sept• OMB hearings-Oct• OMB Passback- Nov• President submits budget to Congress-Feb

Phase IIPhase II: : Budget ExecutionBudget Execution

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How Federal Student Aid receives funding1. Appropriation - Congress passes funding bill

2. Apportionment• Federal Student Aid submits an operating plan to ED• ED reviews and adjusts funding to support operating plan• OMB apportions funding to ED (quarterly)

3. Allotment• Federal Student Aid requests funding for allotment period (CR period or Quarterly)• ED allots funding to Federal Student Aid • Budget Support Division suballots to activity code • Changes to funding levels may require a reapportionment by OMB

Phase IIPhase II: : Budget Execution

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How Federal Student Aid uses the funds1. Commitments:• Receive requisition from COR/Budget Contact• Conduct pre-commitment research:• Review content of requisition:• Budget line item titles• Budget line item category number• Contract title• Funding period• Estimated date of obligation• Contracting officer name• Contract Specialist name• Contracting Officer Representative name• Investment managers name

Phase IIPhase II: : Budget Execution

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How Federal Student Aid uses the funds• Verify approvals

• Governance approval for category 3-5• FSA Acquisitions approval on all requisitions

• Verify funding• Commit funds• Submit requisitions to FSA Acquisitions or CAM

2. Obligations and ExpendituresTrack commitments through obligation

A Closer Look:A Closer Look: Approval ProcessApproval Process

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Federal Student Aid Level• IRB must approve Business Unit budget plans• Budget changes - OOCFR

• Notify IMG/Budget Support Division by entering an Out of Cycle Funding Request into the EPPM tool

• If the OOCFR is under $50K, BSD will present the request to the CFO for review/decision

• If the OOCFR is over $50K the BPC will review/prioritize and make a recommendation to the IRB for review/decision

Session TopicsSession Topics

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• The Purpose of a Budget• Types of Funding• Budget Phases• Monitoring and Reporting Monitoring and Reporting • Year-End Closeout

Monitoring and ReportingMonitoring and Reporting

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The Budget Group provides monthly reports on the execution of our administrative budget• System Reports • Internal Management Reports developed over time to

meet the needs/requirements of IRB, Budget Contacts, Contracting Officers, CORs, etc.

Monitoring and ReportingMonitoring and Reporting

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Examples of System Reports (EDCAPS)• Commitments Unobligated GL Report• Award Financial History Report• Obligation Detail Report• Status of Funds• Transaction History

Monitoring and ReportingMonitoring and Reporting

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Federal Student Aid internal management reports:

• Status of Funds Report• Requisition Aging Schedule Report• Invoice Aging Schedule Report• Prompt Payment Interest Report• Unliquidated Obligation Report

A Closer Look: A Closer Look: Status of FundsStatus of Funds

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What is it?• Cumulative monthly spending plan and report of

commitments, obligations, and expenditures against allocation

Why?• To monitor spending rates• To analyze planned vs. actual spending

A Closer Look: A Closer Look: Requisition Aging ScheduleRequisition Aging Schedule

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What is it?• Reports funds committed, but not yet

obligated

Why?• To plan for remainder of year and impact on

future years• To track outstanding commitments

A Closer Look: A Closer Look: Invoice Aging ScheduleInvoice Aging Schedule

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What is it?• Reports invoices received, but not yet

receipted

Why?• To ensure compliance with current

regulations• To identify opportunities to avoid prompt pay

interest

A Closer Look: A Closer Look: Prompt Payment InterestPrompt Payment Interest

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What is it?• Reports interest payments

Why?• To report interest paid to a vendor due to late

payments on an invoice

A Closer Look: A Closer Look: Unliquidated Obligation Report

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What is it?• Identifies unexpended obligations of prior year funds

Why?• To recover unexpended funds available to support Federal

Student Aid priorities

Session TopicsSession Topics

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• The Purpose of a Budget• Types of Funding• Budget Phases• Monitoring and Reporting • Year-End CloseoutYear-End Closeout

Year-End CloseoutYear-End Closeout

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• Notify Business Units of procedures/schedule• Send final year-end projection request to Business

Units to determine final budgetary needs• Monitor closeout through September 26, 2014• Utilize funds to support Federal Student Aid

priorities as directed by CFO and IRB• Prepare and submit 1st quarter apportionment

request