IGs warn of potential threats to all inspectors general

Inspectors general from 47 agencies are backing three fellow auditors from the Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Peace Corps over what they say are limits on access to information put on them by agency senior officials.

In a letter to the leaders of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the IGs say auditors from those three agencies recently faced restrictions on their access to certain records.

"In each of these instances, we understand that lawyers in these agencies construed other statutes and law applicable to privilege in a manner that would override the express authorization contained in the IG Act," the IGs wrote. "These restrictive readings of the IG Act represent potentially serious challenges to the authority of every Inspector General and our ability to conduct our work thoroughly, independently, and in a timely manner."

In the letter to the oversight committees, the IGs detail their concerns for each of the three agencies.

The IGs asked for members of Congress to provide a strong reaffirmation of the powers granted them under the IG Act.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) released the letter as part of his long-standing support of IG independence.

Congress has sought to empower IGs even more over the last few years. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) is drafting a bill to give small agency auditors more power.

At a hearing January before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, three agency IGs &mash; Justice, Peace Corps and the Small Business Administration — told lawmakers that slashed budgets and dwindling staff sizes are hindering their ability to conduct robust oversight.

Additionally, the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) wants Congress to give IGs more authority to use computer matching programs to root out waste, fraud and abuse.

IGs as a group last received a boost in 2008 when Congress passed and then- President George W. Bush signed into law the Inspectors General Reform Act.

-Jason Miller, FederalNewsRadio.com
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EPA plagued with poor budgetary and workforce organization, GAO reports

The Environmental Protection Agency has struggled to produce accurate budget reports and deploy its workforce in an efficient manner, the Government Accountability Office reported this week.


In studies conducted from 2009 to 2011, EPA "has struggled for years to identify its human resource needs and to deploy its staff throughout the agency in a manner that would do the most good," stated the GAO report released Wednesday. The government watchdog also found the department consistently failed to provide detailed budget justifications to Congress and did not make proper use of "unliquidated balances," or funds that were appropriated to EPA but not spent.

-Andrew Lapin, GovExec.com
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OMB cuts back financial management programs

The Office of Management and Budget canceled two federal financial management programs and significantly reduced the scope of five others following a broad review that was launched over the summer.


According to Jeffrey Zients, federal chief performance officer, the OMB canceled systems under development for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Small Business Administration, saving more than $500 million.

Three financial management programs at the Department of Health and Human Services as well as one at the Department of Homeland Security and one at the Justice Department will proceed with a narrowed scope. The government said the changes will save $680 million.

This summer, the OMB halted new spending on selected federal agencies' financial management systems, requiring reviews before the projects could continue. The agency cited the typical sluggishness and high cost of the projects.

With the review now complete, Zients said about half of the 20 identified programs are on track.

Besides the two cancellations and five scaled-down projects, the OMB has accelerated the most useful parts of the programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency, according to Zients.

Additionally, the OMB said it has made another $200 million in budget reductions in various agencies.


-Marjorie Censer, WashingtonPost.com
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OMB claims two cancellations, two re-scopings in financial management IT reviews

Office of Management and Budget-led reviews of agency financial management systems have resulted in the cancellation of two such efforts and a significant paring of two others, said Controller Danny Werfel during a Sept. 15 call with reporters.


Specifically, the Small Business Administration has canceled its planned Loan Management and Accounting System and the Veterans Affairs Department scratched the financial management portion of its Financial and Logistics Integrated Enterprise project. Those agencies would have spent $113 million and $423 million on the demised projects, respectively, according to federal officials.

Also, the Environmental Protection Agency has cut $180 million worth of future planned spending on its Financial System Modernization Project while the Department of Housing and Urban Development has taken a red pencil to $44 million of planned spending for its HUD Integrated Financial Management Improvement Project.

OMB told agencies in June to freeze spending on financial management systems worth more than $20 million until OMB has reviewed them; the reviews on all 20 affected systems should be complete by mid October, Werfel said.

Which projects are scuppered or re-scoped isn't necessarily function of how badly managed they may be, Werfel added.


Competing priorities or changing technology needs with a federal agency might mean that money meant for a financial management system could be better reallocated elsewhere, Werfel said.


At the very least, that's what happened with the SBA project, Werfel said. As for whether the functionality and anticipated funding removed from the EPA and HUD projects is restored, that depends on agency and agency contractor performance in the meantime, he added.

For more:

- listen to audio of the Sept. 15 press call with Danny Werfel; also briefly on the call was Jeffery Zients, deputy director for management and OMB.

- read a Sept. 15 blog post by Zients on the reviews

-David Perera, FierceGovernmentIT.com
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Federal agencies cutting, revising $337 million worth of IT contracts

The Office of Management and Budget on Wednesday plans to announce the cancellation or restructuring of three multiyear information technology contracts totaling $337 million, according to senior administration officials.


The changes are part of the Obama administration's budgetary and management reforms designed to cut billions of dollars in wasteful and no-bid government programs and contracts.

According to the OMB, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to save $180 million and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will pocket about $44 million by restructuring two long-term IT contracts. The Small Business Administration should save $113 million by canceling a contract.

The Department of Veterans Affairs in July canceled a similar multiyear IT project slated to cost as much as $300 million. Other agencies may cancel or rewrite similar deals in the coming months, the OMB said.

The cuts announced Tuesday are "a classic outcome of what we expected when we looked more closely at these projects," said OMB Controller Danny Werfel. Though they amount to a small fraction of the $80 billion in annual federal IT costs, they are part of a series of reforms announced since the spring that administration officials hope demonstrate the White House's resolve to curtail government spending as deficit concerns dominate midterm election campaigns.

The cuts - and their impact on several Washington-area contracting firms - come as the Senate plans to pass a multibillion-dollar package of loans and tax relief for small businesses. They also add to growing fears that the Washington region could face significant layoffs as the government slashes billions in contracting deals.

In an interview Tuesday, OMB Deputy Director Jeffrey Zients said: "Our job is to focus on making sure every taxpayer dollar is well spent. There are plenty of opportunities for us to spend dollars on IT projects that have very high returns for taxpayers. We're going to make sure that the dollars are spent on high-return projects."

By Ed O'Keefe and Marjorie Censer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 14, 2010; 10:35 PM

ed.okeefe@washingtonpost.comcenserm@washpost.com Staff writer Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report.

Find More:

Obama administration's IT Dashboard, a public Web site that compiles data on federal agencies' IT programs.

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EPA seeks Director of the Financial Policy & Planning Staff (FPPS)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for cleanliness of the nation's air, water, and land. In more than 37 years since EPA has existed, it has established a strong record of environmental progress. Additionally, in Fiscal Year 2008, for the ninth consecutive year, EPA earned an unqualified, or clean, opinion on its audited financial statements.

The EPA's Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) is seeking a qualified individual to join its professional staff as Director of the Financial Policy & Planning Staff (FPPS) within its Office of Financial Management (OFM). The position is a GS-501-15 (salary range $120,830 - $153,200). To apply for the position, visit http://www.usajobs.gov. The announcement numbers are RTP-MP-2009-0242 (Merit Promotion)and RTP-DE-2009-0117 (Delegated Examining Unit).

The OFM provides policy,training, reports, and oversight essential for financial operations of EPA.

The FPPS responsibilities include, but are not limited to, issuing financial policies, managing the Agency FMFIA and A-123 activities, and coordinating responses to financial audits.

The incumbent directs the formulation and issuance of policies, procedures, and accounting structures governing the fiscal aspects of Agency Activities. He or she also serves as the principal advisor to the OFM Director and other Agency Officials on interpretation of fiscal policies, and represents OFM on various Internal EPA and Inter-governmental committees and task forces.

Skill requirements include, but are not limited to, the ability to lead, manage, and coach; ability to develop Agency policy and procedures; knowledge of federal government legislation, regulations, and directives; skill in collaborative problem solving; and skill as a representative on internal and/or inter-governmental committees.

Detailed instructions on applying for the position are included in the vacancy announcement. Please follow the instructions carefully to ensure your application receives our full consideration. For questions about this job or the application process, please contact Angela Downs at 800-433-9633, fax 919-541-2186, Email: downs.angela@epa.gov

Recent Contract Awards

Recent awards around financial system modernizations heard on the street:

EPA Financial System Modernization Program (FSMP) Program Management Office - Multiple Award BPA to Grant Thornton, LLP; Booz Allen Hamilton; Alon, and Savantage

HHS PSC Unified Financial Management System (UFMS) Enterprise Operations & Maintenance Core Services - Single Award to Deloitte

VA Financial and Logistics Integrated Technology Enterprise (FLITE) Program Management Office Support (PMOS) - Single Award to Booz Allen Hamilton

VA Financial and Logistics Integrated Technology Enterprise (FLITE) Strategic Asset Management System (SAM) - Single Award to General Dynamics

CGI to upgrade FCC financial systems

CGI Federal Inc. will provide new financial management software and other services to the Federal Communications Commission under a 10-year award worth about $25 million.
CGI will replace its existing Federal Financial System software with its Momentum financial management software and Financial Management Line of Business hosting solution. The upgrade is part of FCC’s Core Financial System Replacement initiative.

The contractor will install the Momentum Financials software suite, including Momentum Performance Budgeting and Momentum Data Warehouse. CGI will perform all integration and implementation activities, hosting, application management and ongoing operations and maintenance, company officials said. The financial system application will be housed at CGI’s Phoenix data center.

In addition to providing full financial management services, CGI’s solution has the added benefit of managing FCC’s annual regulatory and application processing fees. The company’s fee calculation, billing, collecting and reporting functions will help the regulatory agency comply with federal financial and regulatory rules as well as improve customer service through consolidated licensee management.

FCC joins the General Services Administration, U.S. Courts, Environmental Protection Agency, National Transportation Safety Board, Broadcasting Board of Governors and the Corporation for National and Community Service, whose financial systems applications are hosted by CGI, company officials said.

Grades on management score card fall

Many federal agencies have taken a step backward on the Bush administration's five major management initiatives, according to quarterly grades released on Thursday by the Office of Management and Budget.

There were 14 downgrades on the status section of OMB's management score card for the third quarter of 2008, which ended June 30. And there were only six instances in which grades improved.

The problems were limited to two areas of the President's Management Agenda: human capital and electronic government.

Eight agencies' e-government scores declined on the traffic-light-style system, with seven dropping to red, signifying unsatisfactory performance. Only two agencies improved their grades in that area.

Meanwhile, six of the 26 agencies that are evaluated by OMB had their human capital score drop a notch, generally from green to yellow; one agency moved up a level.

OMB did recognize slight upticks in the scores on commercial services management -- previously called competitive sourcing -- and in the category of performance improvement. Scores did not change in the financial management category.

The Environmental Protection Agency, Social Security Administration and Labor Department each earned perfect scores of green in all five categories. The Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs departments had the worst scores, with three categories in the red.

As in most quarters, the scores were generally much higher on a separate chart that mapped the progress agencies had shown in implementing the goals of the PMA.

On the second quarter score card, OMB credited agencies with seven improvements and five declines. And, on the first quarter score card, agencies moved up 12 times compared to only three declines.

-Robert Brodsky, GovExec.com
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Agencies choose vendors for financial systems

Agencies are increasingly choosing contractors as shared service providers for their modernized financial management systems over federal agencies that provide the same services. The first three large agencies to move to a shared service provider under the Financial Management Line of Business have selected contractors.

In the latest example, the Labor Department awarded a $50.4 million contract to Global Computer Enterprises on June 26 to develop and host a core financial management system to replace its mainframe accounting system The vendor will implement Oracle Federal Financial software for the department.

Agencies must use a public or private shared-services provider when they upgrade their financial management systems under the Office of Management and Budget’s Financial Management Line of Business consolidation initiative.

Meanwhile, two other agencies have chosen contractors to upgrade their financial systems over the federal agencies that act as shared service providers. The Environmental Protection Agency upheld its choice of CGI Federal in April to host its financial management software, after IBM protested the original award in February 2007. The Agriculture Department selected Accenture in September to modernize its financial systems.

The four agencies that provide financial management shared services are the Treasury Department’s Bureau of Public Debt, the Interior Department’s National Business Center, the Transportation Department and the General Services Administration.

Labor said it followed OMB's guidance for a competitive framework for the financial management effort and migration planning from GSA’s Financial Systems Integration Office.

-Mary Mosquera, FCW.com

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OMB still wants agencies to be proud in 2009, 2010

The Office of Management and Budget is changing more than competitive sourcing under the President's Management Agenda.

Clay Johnson, OMB's deputy director for management, sent a memo, obtained by FederalNewsRadio, to agency deputy secretaries May 22 detailing the administration's new expectations for e-government, human capital management, improper payments and other functions.

OMB wants agencies to submit where they expect to be under each initiative as of July 2009, and provide a brief explanation of the goals they want to achieve by July, 2010.

Agencies must do these two things and provide OMB with the name and contact information of a senior official responsible for the PMA beyond January 2009, when this administration leaves office.

Beyond the new requirements under the Commercial Services Management area (what used to be competitive sourcing) OMB is asking agencies to reduce by at least 50 percent their improper payments on high risk programs, and reduce improper payments for all programs within three years to 2.5 percent.

"[The Environmental Protection Agency] and [the National Science Foundation] have documented two years of minimal improper payments and have received relief from annual reporting per the guidelines established in Appendix C of OMB Circular A-123," the memo states.

OMB - Proud to Be Memo
OMB - Memo: Attachment 1
OMB - Memo: Attachment 2

-Jason Miller, FederalNewsRadio.com

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Environmental Protection Agency Vacancy

Director, Financial Policy and Planning Staff, Office of Financial Management

OPEN PERIOD: May 6, 2008 to May 26, 2008

This position is located in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Office of Financial Management (OFM). As the Director, Financial Policy and Planning Staff, the incumbent directs the formulation and issuance of policies, procedures, and accounting structures governing the fiscal aspects of the Agency's activities, needed to implement Federal law, to carry out regulations and directives issued by GSA, GAO, OMB, the Department of Treasury or to achieve other fiscal objectives determined by Agency management. The incumbent also serves as the principal advisor to the Director, OFM, and other Agency officials on financial management policy and represents OCFO on various internal EPA workgroups and external inter-agency committees and task forces.

This announcement can be found using the following link:
http://jobsearch.usajobs.gov/ftva.asp?seeker=1&JobID=71523878

Agencies improve PMA scorecards

Agencies are improving their compliance with the President's Management Agenda, according to the latest quarterly scorecard.

The Office of Management and Budget's scorecard for the second quarter of fiscal 2008 shows that almost half of the agency status scores were green, the highest possible, on their current status. More than 75 percent of the progress scores were green.

The Labor department, Social Security Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency maintained green scores for both status and progress on all five governmentwide initiatives.

The fine initiatives are human capital management, competitive sourcing, financial performance, e-government and performance improvement.

-Michael Hardy, FCW.com
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U.S. suspends IBM from seeking new federal contracts

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM is under investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over an $80 million bid it made in 2006 to modernize EPA financial systems and has been suspended from seeking new contracts with all U.S. agencies, the company said on Monday.

In addition, IBM said the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia had served IBM and certain employees with grand jury subpoenas requesting testimony and documents on interactions between the EPA and IBM employees.

The temporary suspension applies to all federal agencies and IBM business units. IBM may continue work on existing contracts as of the date of the suspension, unless a particular agency directs otherwise, the company said in a statement.

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EPA, SSA get all greens on score card

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Social Security Administration joined the Labor Department as the only agencies to achieve green scores in all five areas of the President’s Management Agenda.

EPA improved its score in the human capital area, while SSA jumped from red to green in e-government in the latest score card, which the Office of Management and Budget released today.

Labor has been green in all five areas — human capital, competitive sourcing, financial performance, e-government and performance improvement — for nine of the past 10 score cards.

In the other areas of the President’s Management Agenda, Robert Shea, OMB’s associate director for management, said only 22 percent of agency programs now rate as ineffective under the performance improvement initiative.

He said every agency has designated a performance improvement officer, as required by an executive order issued in November 2007.

-Jason Miller, FCW.com
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FederalNewsRadio - Ask the CFO - Lyons Gray (EPA)

Environmental Protection Agency

Lyons Gray - Chief Financial Officer

There is green, as in money, and there is green, as in environmentally friendly. At the EPA the two are no longer that different. Gray says it starts with powering up and that all the energy that is required to run the department comes from green sources. He says this type of green thinking also factors into the business decisions at EPA, whether it is consolidation or its one-stop shop for relocating employees, called eRelocate. Gray says this lead-by-example approach is serious from top to bottom, whether it means making sure that the office of the chief financial office and the department's IT staff are joined at the hip or being better about turning off lights that are not being used. Finally, Gray talks about making his office more of a resource by making sure that the financial metrics are communicated in English.

Listen Here

SAP makes a grab for Business Objects

SAP will acquire Business Objects for $6 billion (4.8 billion euros) in a move that will enable it to offer organizations more advanced business intelligence and decision-making solutions. The companies expect to close the deal in the first quarter of 2008.

Walldorf, Germany-based SAP is a leading supplier of business software, such as customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning and supply change management applications, with more than 41,200 customers in some 120 countries.

Business Objects, headquartered in Paris, France, is a provider of business intelligence software with solutions spanning the information discovery and delivery, information management, analysis and performance management categories for more than 44,000 customers worldwide.

The acquisition will allow SAP to significantly increase its revenues from new products, including addressing the growing demands of business users, company officials said.

Both companies count numerous U.S. federal, state and local government agencies as customers. For example, SAP software has been deployed by the Defense Logistics Agency, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, Naval Supply System Command, North Carolina and Erie County, N.Y.

Meanwhile, Business Objects has provided data warehouse and business intelligence solutions to the Defense Department, performance management software to the Environmental Protection Agency and a data warehouse support system to Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services.

Business Objects will operate as a stand-alone business within the SAP Group. Business Objects customers will continue to benefit from open, broad and integrated business intelligence solutions — independent of databases and applications — while also gaining the advantage of application alignment for business analytics, officials from both companies said.

Better Financial Reporting Is Her Bottom Line

In recent years, Nov. 15 has been a big day for Linda M. Combs, the controller at the Office of Management and Budget. She and her deputy, Danny Werfel, have waited late into the night, sometimes to midnight, for agencies to file their annual performance and accountability reports and financial statements.

The reports summarize program, management and financial performance information, and basically show taxpayers what they are getting for their bucks. The Nov. 15 deadline is 45 days after the close of the fiscal year.

But those annual sessions are coming to an end for Combs, one of the key players in the government's efforts to improve its financial management and help federal agencies obtain clean audit opinions. She is retiring Aug. 10 and returning to her home state, North Carolina.

Combs has served in three Republican administrations (Reagan and both Bushes) and held five Senate-confirmed appointments, stringing together a career in federal management that has spanned more than 25 years.

Since 2001, she has worked in the current administration as chief financial officer at the Environmental Protection Agency, chief financial officer at the Transportation Department and controller at the OMB, in charge of government-wide financial management policies.

On her watch as controller, Combs has worked with agencies to reduce improper payments by more than $8 billion, produced the first complete government-wide real property inventory in modern times, and issued new financial-control guidelines so that federal agencies can meet the equivalent of the Sarbanes-Oxley rules for the private sector.

At the OMB, Combs cut the time for agencies to submit their annual audit reports from five months to 45 days. She also has seen the number of federal agencies receiving clean audit opinions increase from six in 1996 to 19 in 2006.

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OMB controller to retire

Linda Combs, controller at the Office of Management and Budget and head of its Office of Federal Financial Management, has resigned effective Aug. 10. She plans to retire and return to North Carolina. She has sought to make agencies more accountable and improve their financial management since taking the position in May 2005.

Danny Werfel, OMB’s deputy controller, will be acting controller, an OMB spokeswoman said.

Under Combs’ guidance, agencies reduced their improper payments by $8 billion, increased the number of clean audits and shortened the reporting time from five months to 45 days to produce their annual financial statements. OMB also produced the first governmentwide inventory of real property, he said.

Agencies also must follow guidance to certify that they have put in place internal controls for financial reporting under OMB’s Circular A-123, which is similar to the requirement in the private sector mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley law.

Linda Combs’ experience in government spans three presidential administrations. She previously was chief financial offer at the Transportation Department and the Environmental Protection Agency. She also had various oversight and executive-level management positions at the departments of Education, Veterans Affairs and Treasury during the Reagan and Bush administrations.

-Mary Mosquera, FCW.com

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GAO Sustains IBM Protest of EPA Financial System Modernization Program to CGI

The Government Accountability Office sustained IBM’s protest of the Environmental Protection Agency’s $84 million award to CGI-Federal to upgrade the agency’s financial-management system. The decision remains under protective order, but Mike Golden, GAO’s associate general counsel, said the agency found fault with EPA’s price and cost evaluations.

Golden would not say what recommendations GAO offered EPA to fix the procurement.

EPA has until Aug. 3 to decide how it will proceed.

-Jason Miller, FCW.com