cncs response

8/4/2019 CNCS Response

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March 22, 20 IIThe Honorable Darrell IssaChairman

NATldNAL&COMMUNITYSERVICEtut

Committee on Oversight and Government ReformHouse ofRepresentatives2157 Rayburn House Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20515Dear Chairman Issa :

In a March 8, 201 1, letter yo u requested information related to the electronic systemsin use at the Corporation for Nat ional and Community Service (CNCS) to support businessand accounting function s; grants and loan management; contracts management; and reportingto govermnent-wide systems such as USAS pending.gov and Recove ry.gov to assist yo u inyour oversight ef f0l1 s. I have attached the information requested as questions and answersfollowing the format used in yo ur letter. The data covers CNCS' accounting, grant s, andcontracts management system s. CNCS does not provide loans or have any loan activity.

If you have any questions or require further information, please do not hesitate to callme at (202) 606-6980.Sincerely,

William AndersonChiefFinancial OfficerCo rporation /o r Na tional and Community Service

cc: The Honorable Elijah Cummings, Ranking MemberCommittee on Oversight and Government Reform

AttaclU11ent

1201 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20525202-606-5000 www.nationaiservice.org

Senior Corps AmeriCorp s Learn and Serve America


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i. identifj, and briefly describe each o[your agency's business and accounting systems. i[separa te divisions. bureaus, or o[flces o[your agency use separate systems, identifywhich divisions, bureaus, or o./fices use each system.CNCS opera tions are carried out through the following business and accounting systems,A ll unit s w ithin CNCS utili ze these systems. There are no separate division, bureau, oroffice business and accounting systems in use.CNCS SYSTEMSMomentum FinancialsMomentum Financials is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) system used to carry outC lCS ' accounting and acq ui sition processes in a completely integrated maTmer.Momentum performs core federa l financia l system fu nctions and is certified on extens ivefedera l financial system requ irements. Momentum app lies open Web technologystandards to simp li ty system deployment and enab le interoperabi lity with ex ternalsystems and is portable across hardware platforms, operating and database managementsystem s, and communica tions infrastructures, Momentum meets the strictest federalsec urity requirements with built-in app lica tion securi ty best practices for identifica tion,authen tication, author iza tion, privacy, integrity, non- repudia tion, monitoring andconfigurabl e securit y bus iness ru les . The acquisitions module is fully integ rated andincludes purchase order management, contract admini stration, procurement cards, vendorself'service , so licitation management, and strateg ic sourcing, CNCS ' app lication ishosted by an approved shared serv ice provider that services CNCS and seven otherfedera l agencies.eGrants/eSPANSystemThe eGrants/eS PAN system, deve loped by CNCS, hand les both grants management andmember management processes, It consists of four integrated modu les:eGrants I I - eGrants II is a Web-enabled external grantee appl ica tion andmanagementireporting system. It a llows grantees and sub-grantees to app ly, amend, andsubmit their app lications based on Notices of Funds Avai lab ili ty (NO FA). Grantees usethe system to enter and submit their Federal Financia l Reports (FFRs), Program Prog ressReports (PPRs), as we ll as program spec ific reporting.eGrants Classic - eGrants Class ic in an in ternal staff appl ication used to manage thegrantee appl ica tion process fro m submission, rev iew, awa rd, perfo rmance and closeo ut.Other processes that are managed through eGrants Class ic include state profile repo rtgeneration for Congress and the monitoring and oversight of grants.eSPAN - eSPAN is the central appl ication used to manage AmeriCorps members dur in gtheir service, payro ll for VrSTA and NCCC members, stipend payments and post-servicebenefits (education awards).MI'A mel'iCol'ps POl'ta llTl'ust POl'ta l - The My AmeriCorps Portal is a se lf-se rvice,centra l location fo r app lications, candidates, members, and alumni to go for programin fo rm ation, get answers to ques tions, fill ou t form s, access benefits and contact other


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members and alumni. It pro vides a streamlined system of processes touching on a llaspec ts of the memb er li fecycle , from rec ruitment through enrollment, service , close ofserv ice, and alumni support. In addition, it pro vides Corporati on staff, as we ll as Projec tSponso rs and Grantees. with a consistent interface for gathering necessary data from andabout members, run standard reports and maintains an audit tra il.IBudgetIBudge t is a co mm ercial off-the-shelf system fo r Performance Budget preparation andexecution.Salary J1allagemellt SystemSalary Management System (SMS) is a sa lary management and forecastin g tool used toanalyze payroll trends and activity.

EXTERNAL SYSTEMSDepartmellt ofHealth alld Humall Services, Paymellt Mallagemellt SystemCNCS grantee s are paid tlHough the Departm ent of Health and Hum an Services'Payment Management Sys tem (HHS PMS). HHS PMS is a government-w ide systemwh ich allows grantees to draw funding and report expenses.Gelleral Services Admillistratioll, e2 Travel SystemThe e2 Travel System is a web-based integrated travel servic e tool. It integrates trave lauthorization wit h se lf-serv ice reservation and voucher systems, allowing end-to-endtravel management including plalming, authorizing, arranging, and process ing officialFederal trave l on-line. The e2 Travel Sys tem is a GS A contracted, governmen t- widesystem administered by Ca rl son Wago nlit.Departmellt ofAgriculture, Natiollal Fillallce Cellter, Payroll SystemThe Department of Ag ricu lture, National Finance Center's (NFC) payroll systempro vides benefits process ing, payroll , payroll accounting, tax reporting, employee debtmanagement, and standard and ad-hoc reporting services . The Entr y Processing Inquiryand Co rrec tion (EP IC) module is used to process personnel ac tions, benefits, and payrollrelated documents.Departmellt of TreaSIll)I, Bureau ofPublic Debt, Web TA SystemWebTA is a Web-based time and anendance (T&A) software app lication designed tocapture hours wo rked, leave used and accounting information on a bi wee kl y basis. PublicDebt, Ad mini strati ve Reso urce Ce nter (A RC) is a Shared Service Prov ider (SS P) andhosts WebTA for Public Debt and franchi se customers.

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2. Explain holl' the bllsiness and accollnting systellls identified in/'esponse to Reqllest No. jinteract with each othe/'.Momelltum FillallcialsMomentum Financials (Momentum) is the centra l business and accounting system and isthe system of reco rd for CNCS. The eS PAN/eGrants system feeds data into theMomentum Financials app lication through a near real- ti me electronic interface . TheI-IH S PMS system, the NFC Payroll system. and the e2 Travel System feed data toMomentum via electronic data file transfers. IBudget data is loaded into Momentummanually.eGrallts/eSPAN SystemThe eGrants/eS PAN sys tem electronica lly updates the Momentum system for Trustpayments made to in stituti ons on behal f of members who have earned educa tion awards.The eGrants/eSPAN sys tem is linked to Momentum Financial s with a rea l-t ime interfacefor recording commitments and obligations in Momentum as grant ac ti vity occurs ineGrants/eS PAN. A ll commitment, ob ligation or expense in forma tion for grants that isdi spl ayed within eG rants/eSPAN is queried direct ly from Momentum in real time.IBudgetThe lBudget in formation is used to prepare the approp riated budget for use in theMomentum system . Gudget data is transferred manually from lI3udget into theMomentum upon rece ipt of an apporti onment fro m OMB.SMSSMS is a salary management and fo recast in g too l used to ana lyze payro ll trends andact ivity. Data ti'om the 'FC Payroll system is entered via electroni c fil e transfer weekly.

HHS Paymellt Mallagemellt SystemCNCS grantees are paid through the Department of Heal th and Human Services'Payment Management System. New grant awa rd s are loaded into HHS PMS fromMomentum daily via electronic fil e transfer. Grantee draw do wns of funds are loadedin to Momentum from HHS PMS da ily via electronic fil e transfe r. Grantee reports ofexpendi tures are loaded into Momentum twice monthly via electroni c file transfer.e2 Travel SystemThe e2 Trave l sys tem updates Momentum with travel vouchers for employee trave lthrough a nea r real-time e lec tronic in terface. The vouchers include the nature of the costsand the vendor to be paid. Voucher payments are spl it between the employee and thetravel card company.

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NFC Payroll SystemData files from the NFCs Payroll System are loaded wee kl y through elec tron ic fi letransfer into the Momentum System to capture payro ll costs.ARC WebTA SystemThe attendance and accoun ting data from the WebTA sys tem is loaded through abiweek ly electronic file transfe r into FCs Payroll sys tem as the bas is fo r pay ingemployee payroll.

3. For each system identified in response fO Request No. I. s fat e whether in/onnationfoundinthm system is regularly or periodically submilled to any of he government-wideaccounting .systems maintained by the Department of he TreaslllY. e.g. GFRS FACTS 1.FACTS II. IFCS, etc . and e>plain how and at what intervals those submissions occur.including descriptions ofboth manual and automated processes.Momentum is CNCS ' sys tem of record fo r the general ledger and is used to provide datafor FACTS I, FACTS II , and GFRS. Grant, travel, award and other CNCS data fromsubsidiary systems is integrated in Momentum for reporting purposes and reported togovernm ent- wide systems as follows:FACTS I - CNCS prov ides information to FACTS I on an ann ual basis. In the past wehave entered a ll FACTS I information man ua lly based on a se ries of qu eries run aga instMomentum. For fi scal 20 II an automated sc ript has been deve loped that creates a file toload the financial information to FACTS I direc tly through electronic fil e transfer. Thenar rat ive in formation is still en tered to FACTS I manua lly.FACTS II - CNCS provides information to FACTS II on a quarterly basis. CNCS runs asc ript wh ich creates a fi le to load the financia l information directly to FACTS II v iaelectronic file transfer. If there are any edi t pro blems once the file is loaded, thenecessary adjustments are entered to Momentum. ew trial balances are generated fromMomentum. Adjustmen ts to FACTS II after the ini tial fi le transfe r are pos ted manua llyfrom the upd ated tria l balances.GFRS - CNCS provides information to GFRS on a monthly basis by su bmitting theStatement of Transactions (SF-224). CNCS runs a script against Momentum whi chgenerates a se ries of fi les properly fo rmatted to load direc tly to GFRS via electroni c fi letransfe r. Thi s ensures co nsistency be tween C CS' general ledger and the activ itysubmitted on its monthl y Statement of Trans ac tions.IFCS - CNCS per fo rms a quarterly reconci liation of investment activi ty recorded inMomentum with the investment activity reported by the Bureau of Public Debt in IFCS.CNCS deve loped reports correspondi ng to the required information fo r agencies to enterinto IFCS to assist with th e reconc ili ations. CNCS uses the se reports to iden ti fY thenecessa ry in formation for IFCS and the n manua lly enters the results into IFCS.

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-I. For each 5ystem identified in response to Request No. I. state whether in{ormalion{oundin that system is regularly 01' periodically submitted to the Office a/Management andBudget's ("OivIB ") MAX In/ormation System. and explain how and at what il1lervalsthose submissions occur. including descriptions o{both automated and manualprocesses.Momentum is CNCS' system of record for the ge neral ledger and is used to provide datato the MAX sys tem at va rious tim es during the fi sca l year in accorda nce with OMB' sschedul e.MAX Scltedules - Various agency port ions of MAX schedul es are entered manua lly intoMAX by the bud get office on an an nual basis. There are a series of reports that have beendeveloped to run aga inst Momentum to provide the necessary information.Fillallcial Statemellts - Financial Statemen ts are loaded into MAX each qu arter via anelectronic fil e transfe r. Momentum is the source of financial data for a ll of our principalsta tements .MAX Validatioll - Mo men tum is used to provide va lida tion da ta to MAX through theFACTS submi ssions to Treasury described in the respo nse to question 3.

5. For each .Iystem idel1lified in response to Request No . I, describe recent. current. andplanned migration 01' modernization projects.CNCS SYSTEMSMo melltum Fil/{/IlcialsMo mentum Financia ls is a commercial off-the-shelf product. We are currently migratingfrom Momen tum Version 6.1.5 to Momentum Vers ion 6.5. 1. This upgrade is scheduledto be completed in August of201 1 and wi ll not invo lve deve lopment. The Vers ion 6.5 .1impl ementation will be strictl y off-the-s helf.eGml/fs/eSPAN SystemCNCS has initi ated a rev iew to stream line work flows and pro vide recommendations onbusiness processes. Thi s proj ec t seeks to docum ent at a hi gh level the current "as-is"technology and pro vide recom menda tions on a future business process and tec hni ca lin frastructure to support it. Thi s business process redesign will poten tia lly lead to newrequirements fo r the eG rants/eS PAN system . The re-engineering stud y andrecommendations are du e to be comp leted in May 20 I I with the re-designimpl emen tation phase to start in 20 12.IBudgetT he Departm ent of Treasury created a Budget Formula tion and Executio n Management(BFEM) tool linking budget plann ing. formu lat ion and execution information and hasmade it ava ilab le to other agencies unde r the line of business effort. CNCS isimp lementi ng BFEM in fi sca l 20 II and will retire the IBudge t appl ica tion .

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SMSSMS is a commercial off-the-shelf product used to provide in formation on salary trend s.CNCS has no plans to upgrade this system.EXTERNAL SYSTEMSCNCS does not control the government-wide ex ternal systems that we use as a customer.In each case, the other agencies can be contacted for upgrade, modernization, andmigration information .

6. /n addilion 10 your agency 's submissions 10 governmenl-wide accounling syslemsmainlained by Ihe Deparlmenl oflhe Treaswy and OMB, as described in response 10Requesls Nos. 3 and 4, does your agency publish any of lhe same informal ion online forpublic viewing? If o, describe how and in what fo rmal lhal informal ion is publishedOn Dece mber 8, 2009, the White House issued the Open Governmenl Direclive whichrequired federa l agencies to take immediate, specific steps to achi eve key milestones intransparency, pm1icipat ion, and co ll aboration. The goal of the transparency plan is topublish data about our ongoing operations and projects to help the public understandCNCS and our act ivities. Over the past year, we established a plan with concretemilestones for achievin g greater transparency.That plan requires us to publish data on all aspects of our operations including grants,member statistics, contract costs, and other operational costs. As pm of that pl an,informat ion from the Momentum system, eGrants/eSPAN System and other subsidiarysystems are publi shed in many locations, including CNCS ' program web pages, CNCS'Recovery Act web page, Recovery.Gov, and Grants.Gov. For example, as part of oureffort to help the pub li c understand th e nature and breadth of our programs we make: State Profile informat ion avai lable on the CNCS website athttp://www.nati onalservice.gov/about/ro le impact/state profi les.asp . Information on grant awards can be found athttp://www .nationalservice.gov/about/openlindex .asp . Information regarding CNCS ' Recovery Act activities can be found at

http: //recovery.nationalservice.gov/overview.asp and athttp://www.nationalservice.gov/about/openlindex.asp .These data sets are published in Excel or as pdfs as appropriate.

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7. Identify and briefly describe each ')lstem that your agency uses to manage grants, directloans, and/or loan guarantees. I{separate divisions. bureaus. or o.ffices o.{your agencyuse separate systellls, identify II'hich divisions, bureaus, or oJfices use each system.eGrallts/eSPAN SystemCNCS does not provide loans or have any loan activity, The eGrants/eS PAN systemdesc ri bed in the response to question I is used fo r grants management. The systemaccepts grant proposa ls. manages the peer rev iew process, awa rd s grants, manages grantmonitori ng, and enab les grant close-out. There are no separate division, bureau, or officesystems in use .

8. For each system identified in response to Request No. 7. explain holl' it interacts lVith anybusiness or accounting ')lstem identified in response to request No. I.eGrallts/eSPAN SystemThe eGrants/eSPAN system electroni ca lly submits financial ac ti v ity transac tions(commitment and ob liga tion) and receives a return code indicating whether or not thetransaction was successfu lly processed in Momentum. The ful l range of ed its inMomentum Financials is app lied to any transactions initiated from eGrants/eSPAN . A llcommi tment, ob ligat ion and expense data sc reens di splayed in eGrants/eSPA 1 areprovided by rea l time queries into Momentum .

9. For each ,ystem identified in re,ponse to Request NO. 7. state II'hether il1{ormation foundin that system is regularly or periodically sublllilled to the Catalogue o{FederalDomestic Assistance (CFDA). and describe how and at what intervals those submissionsoccur, including descriptions o{both automated and manual processes.Program information fro m the eG ran ts/eSPAN system is loaded into the CFDA thro ughelectroni c file transfer. The information includes program name, program objecti ve, andTreasury symbol. The in formation is confirmed manually via a websi te. Programinformation is loaded annually.

10. For each ,ystem identified in response to Request No. 7, state II'hether in{ormationfoundin that system is regularly or periodically submilled to any of he government-lI'ide grantsmanagement and reporting .1y.S1ems. e.g., FAADS, FAADS PLUS, etc., and describe holl'and atll'hat intervals those submissions occur. including descriptions o{both manual andautomated processes.Information contained in the eG rants/eS PAN and Momentum is loaded into theUSAS pending.gov system in the FAADS-Plus format. The FAA DS system ceasedaccepting new data inputs in February of20 11 . The data is loaded intoUSAS pending.gov by elect ronic file transfer within thirty days of award.

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II. For each .system identified in response to Request No. 7. describe recent. current. andplanned migration or modernization projects.As discussed in the response to question 5, CNCS has initiated a review to streamlinework flows and provide recommendations on business processes. This project seeks todocument at a hi gh level the current "as-is" technology and prov ide recommenda tions ona future business process and techni cal in fras tructure to support it. Thi s busin ess processredesign will potential ly lead to new requirements for the eGrants/eSPAN system. There-engineering study and recommenda tions are due to be completed in May 20 II with there-design implementation phase to start in 20 12.

I2. In addition to your agency's submissions to governmeJ1l-wide grams management andreporting systems described in response to Requests Nos. 9 and 10. does your agencypublish any oflhe same informalion online /or public viewing? Ifso. describe holV andwhal in/ormalion is published.See respon se to question 6.

I3. Identifj' and briefly describe each syslem that yo ur agency uses 10 manage conlracts. Ifseparate divisions. bureaus. or offices o/your agency use separate syslems, identifywhich divisions. bureaus, or offices use each syslem.As di scussed in the response to q ues tion I. C CS manages contracts thro ugh theacqui sitions module of Momentum. The acqui sitions module is nIll y integrated andincludes purchase order management, contract admini stration , procurement cards, vendorse lf service, so licitation management, and strategic sourcing.

I -I. For each system identified in re .sjJonse 10 Request No. 13. explain how il inleracts wilhany business or accounting syslem idenlified in response 10 request No. I.As discussed in the response to question I. the acquisitions modu le is full y integratedwith Momentum .

15. For each system idemified in response 10 Request No. 13. slale whether informationfo und in that system is regularly or periodically submifled 10 any o/the governll1eJ1l-wideCOJ1lraClll1anagelllent and reponing syslems. e.g. . FPDS. FPDS-NG. FAPIIS. etc . anddescribe how and al whal intervals those submissions occur. including descriptions 0/both manual and aulomated processes.Contract information is submitted to the FPDS/FPDS-NG system within three days ofawa rd. Currently, the procurement officer signs into the FPDS website to manua llysubm it the in fo rmation. FPD S da ta is automatically moved in to the USASpending.govwebsite.

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16. For each ,ys/elll idemifled in response /0 Reques/ No. 13, describe recem. curren/, andplanned lI1igra/ion 01' moderniza/ion projec/s.We are currentl y migrating from Momentum Version 6.1.5 to Momentum Version 6.5 .1.This upgrade is schedu led to be comp leted in August of20 11 and will not involvedeve lop men t. The version 6,5, I implementation wi ll be strict ly off-the-she lf

17. [n addi/ion /0 your agency's submissions /0 governmem-wide gran/s managemen/ andrepor/ing sys/ell1s described in response /0 Reques/s Nos. 15, does your agency publishany of / he same in(orma/ion online for public viewing? [(so, describe how and wha/in(orma/ ion is publishedSee re spo nse to question 6,

18. Briefly describe your agency's e,[(or/s /0 comply wi/h OMB '.I' memorandum on/he OpenGovernmen/ Direc/ive - Federal Spending Transparency, dated April 6, 2010, 1npar/icu1ar, describe ",he/her and how your agency has begun/o co llec/ and repor/ subaward da/a, as required by /h e memorandum, and describe how your agency's reports onOMB .I' da/a quali/y me/rics, as required by /he memorandum are genera/edSince October 20 I0, CNCS ' subaward information is co llected via the A ll -Governmen tFFATA Subaward Repo rt ing System (FS RS) in compl iance with the Open Government -Federal Spend ing Transparency memorandu m of Apr il 6, 20 IO. USASpending.govreports on the time liness, completeness, and acc uracy of da ta fo r a ll agencies.

19. [(YOUI' agency interacts direc/ly with USASpending.gov. in addi/ion/o submillingin(orma/ion/o the .Iys /ems fha/ feed USASpending.gov. describe /h e na/ure,jiequency.and purposes o( /ha/ in/erac/ion.CNCS subm it s grant data via electron ic fil e transfer to USASpending.gov in the FAADSPlus fo nnat within thirty days of grant award.

20. Describe the data quali/y con/ro1s and procedures thai your agency has implemen/edforin(orma/ion /ha/ is submilled /0 USASpending.gov. including in(ol'lna/ion submilleddirec /ly and in(orma/ion submilled /0 one o( / he ,ys/ems /hat feed USASpending.gov.Data submitted to USASpending.gov is generated direct ly from our grants and financialsystems. The da ta is subjected to extens ive automated edi ts to check fo r internalconsistency and completeness. The generated fil e is reviewed by mu ltiple personnel toassu re that errors are ident itied and e li minated both in the fil e and the or iginati ng systemprior to submiss ion.

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21. State whether all olyour agency's current grants. contracts, and loans are accuratelyr ~ f l e c t e d on USASpending go v, and ilnot. estimate the percentage ofcurrent grants,contracts, and loans that are not accurately reflected. using both the number oftransact ions and dollarfigures.A ll ofCNCS ' cu rrent grants and co ntracts are accurately re flec ted in USASpending.gov.CNCS does not provide loa ns or have any loa n activity.

22. State whether your agency incurs any reporting burdens or costs as a result o.l itsobligations under the Federal Financial Assistance Tl'Onsparency Act (" FFATA '') that itdoes not incur as a result o.lother reporting obligation s. and estimate those burdens andcosts in worker-hours and dollars.CNCS has ac hi eved thi s reporti ng goa l using current personnel with no add iti onal costs,

23. 1denti/jl the individual(s) II'ho servers) as Senior Accountable Oflicial(s) (" SAO ") overfederal spending data qualityfor yo/ll' agency, as defined by OlvlB.The Sen ior Accountable Official over federal spending data quality is Wi lliam Anderso n,Chi ef Financial Officer.

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