BFA Updates
Tom Cooley
NSF CFO & BFA Director
NSF Advisory Committee for Budget and Operations
November 8-9, 2006
BFA Updates
 B&O Committee News
 BFA News
 NSF Updates
 Government-wide Issues
2
B&O Committee News
Changes in the Committee
• New member terms (calendar year)
• Last meeting for some members
• Recruiting new members
• Committee Co-chairs
3
BFA News
 Karen Tiplady, DGA Director (10/1/06)
 David Elizalde, DACS Director (7/23/06)
 Michael Sieverts, Acting Budget Director
 DGA staff visits Katrina-damaged institutions
• Visits made in August 2006 to provide business assistance
• Institutions visited: Xavier, Dillard, Baton Rouge Community College, and
Southern University of New Orleans
4
NSF Strategic Plan ~ FY 2006-2011
Investing in America’s Future
• Formally submitted to Congress in September 2006
• NSF All-hands meeting held by Dr. Bement on November
2, 2006
• Widely distributed and available on website
(copy provided in notebooks)
5
Budget Update
 FY 2007
• Continuing resolution through November 17th – working
under FY06 current plan level of $5.58 billion
• Budget Request of $6.02 billion (7.9% increase over FY06 plan)
• Status of appropriations bill in Congress
− Full request passed by House in late June
− Senate Committee approved their version ($5.99 billion) in
July with no action yet from the full Senate
6
NSF FY 2007 Congressional Marks
(Dollars in Millions)
Change over
Account
R&RA
FY 2007
Request
Change over
FY 2007
Request
FY 2007
Request
House Mark Amount Percent Senate Mark Amount Percent
$4,665.95
$4,665.95
$0.00
0.0%
EHR
$816.22
$832.43
$16.21
2.0%
$835.75
$19.53
MREFC
$240.45
$237.25
($3.20)
-1.3%
$237.25
($3.20)
-1.3%
S&E
$281.82
$268.61 ($13.21)
-4.7%
$256.50 ($25.32)
-9.0%
NSB
OIG
$3.91
$11.86
$3.91
$11.86
$6,020.21
$6,020.01
NSF Total
$0.00
0.0%
$0.00
0.0%
($0.20)
0.0%
$4,646.42 ($19.53)
$3.91
$11.86
-0.4%
2.4%
$0.00
0.0%
$0.00
0.0%
$5,991.69 ($28.52)
-0.5%
7
Large Facilities Office
 Total Business Systems Review (TBSR)
• Purpose
−Align the business practices of awardee institutions with
NSF expectations for best practices
−Make sure there are no surprises should an audit be
conducted
−Applies to awardee institutions that provide the business
framework for NSF-funded large facilities
8
Total Business Systems Reviews
 Status
• New process for NSF
−BFA has conducted 3 TBSRs in the preceding 14 months:
NAIC, NOAO, NEES
−Draft TBSR Guide has been written that describes the
detailed objectives and process for conducting TBSRs
• BFA wants to ensure that the TBSR process maximizes
mutual benefit to NSF and awardees
9
TBSR ad hoc Review Subcommittee
 BFA requests the Business and Operations Advisory
Committee approve formation of an ad hoc subcommittee
to review and comment on the TBSR Guide
• Does if focus on the most important topics?
• Does the review process ask the right questions?
• Is the follow-up to the review effective?
 TBSR subcommittee would convene and provide a written
report to the B&O AC prior to the next meeting
− (copy of Charter provided in notebooks)
10
Government-wide Initiatives
 Coburn-Obama Transparency Bill
• Creates a public search website for all Federal spending
• NSF is exploring possibilities with OMB
• Unknown impact of reporting requirements on Grantees
 Grants Policy Committee Updates
11
Grant Payment Systems
 2006 Survey of CFO Agencies
10 active civilian systems serving 23 CFO agencies
− PMS Users (9 agencies)
− ASAP Users (6 agencies)
− Other agency-specific systems (8 agencies including NSF)
 Recommendation to the CFO Council
• Only 5 or 6 systems approved through OMB’s GM or FM LoB
(PMS, ASAP, NSF, Education, plus one or two others)
• Work Group for standardization of screens, terminology, processes, etc.
• Goal is a common access portal
12
Federal Financial Report (FFR)
Consolidation of SF-269 and SF-272
• To provide Federal agencies and grant recipients with a standard format and
consistent reporting requirements
• FFR demonstrations by HHS using the Payment Management System (PMS) and
NSF through FastLane
• Results of NSF’s demonstration project for the FFR
− Grantees generally had no problems understanding or using the forms
− Grantees wanted to insure that the FFR included the following features:
o Excel or file upload options
o Adjustments to closed awards
o Schedule of payments/remittances and of purged awards
13
NSF FFR Development Project
 Phase I
Dual FFR / FCTR
− September 2006 through September 2007
− Development of the FFR and retention of the FCTR functionality
 Phase II
FFR Implementation
− October 2007
− Full implementation of FFR for NSF grantees
14