How to get Money for your FSA Projects 101 Richard Lucas and Lauren Bloom

Today’s Agenda 2 Introductions The Purpose of a Budget Types of Funding Budget Phases Monitoring and Reporting Year-End Closeout

The Purpose of a Budget 3 It is a living document which sets forth: Priorities Levels of spending Financing options Methods for managing funds

Budget Support Division 4 right fundingright place right time Our basic objective – Ensure the right funding is in the right place at the right time.

Session Topics 5 The Purpose of a Budget Types of Funding Types of Funding Budget Phases Monitoring and Reporting Year-End Closeout

Types of Funding 6 Congress provides discretionary funding for Student Aid Administration through annual appropriation. Category 1&2 - Basic Baseline Operations and Support Category 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 Topics 7 The Purpose of a Budget Types of Funding Budget Phases Budget Phases Monitoring and Reporting Year-End Closeout

FSA Budget Phases 8 Phase I: Formulation/Justification/Presentation Phase 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: Formulation/Justification/Presentation 9 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 10 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 11 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 12 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 13 IRB Reviews BPC Recommendation IRB: Deliberates Accepts recommendation Rejects recommendation Modifies

Prepares Written Justification 14 BSD Works with ED to determine approach for justification Uses information in IRs to prepare written justification. Presents justification to FSA-CFO

Phase I: Formulation/Justification/Presentation 15 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 II: Budget Execution 16 How Federal Student Aid receives funding 1. 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 II: Phase II: Budget Execution 17 How Federal Student Aid uses the funds 1.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 II: Phase II: Budget Execution 18 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 Expenditures Track commitments through obligation

A Closer Look:Approval Process A Closer Look: Approval Process 19 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 Topics 20 The Purpose of a Budget Types of Funding Budget Phases Monitoring and Reporting Monitoring and Reporting Year-End Closeout

Monitoring and Reporting 21 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 Reporting 22 Examples of System Reports (EDCAPS) Commitments Unobligated GL Report Award Financial History Report Obligation Detail Report Status of Funds Transaction History

Monitoring and Reporting 23 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: Status of Funds 24 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: Requisition Aging Schedule 25 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: Invoice Aging Schedule 26 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: Prompt Payment Interest 27 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 28 What is it? Identifies unexpended obligations of prior year funds Why? To recover unexpended funds available to support Federal Student Aid priorities

Session Topics 29 The Purpose of a Budget Types of Funding Budget Phases Monitoring and Reporting Year-End Closeout Year-End Closeout

Year-End Closeout 30 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