July 6, 2011

The Honorable Darrell E. Issa

Chainnan
Committee on Oversight and
Government Refonn
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chainnan Issa:
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Chief Financial Officer
Assistant Secretary for Administration
Washington, D.C, 20230
Thank you for your letter of March 8, 2011, regarding oversight of agency financial
management.
The Department of Commerce is committed to sound fmancial management and has created an
environment that complies with federal laws and regulations; provides its executives with timely,
accurate financial and perfonnance infonnation; and ensures strong internal controls remain a
priority. This is evidenced by the Department's continuing compliance with the Federal
Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA), maintaining a single integrated financial
system, and achieving clean audit opinions. Fiscal year (FY) 2010 marked our twelfth
consecutive clean opinion as detennined by an independent auditor.
Enclosed are details regarding the Department's financial management systems used to support
business and accounting functions; grants and loans management; contracts management; and
reporting to government-wide systems.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to call the Office of Legislative and
Intergovernmental Affairs at 202-482-3663.
Sincerely,
Lisa Casias
Director for Financial Management and
Deputy Chief Financial Officer
cc: The Honorable Elijah Cummings
Ranking Member
Committee on Oversight and
Government Refonn
Enclosure
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Financial Management Systems
The Department's Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA)-compliant
fmancial management system is the Commerce Business Systems (CBS). The financial
information from CBS is integrated in the Corporate Database for financial
reporting, resulting in a single integrated financial management system.
CBS consists of a Core Financial System (CPS), which includes the Commerce Purchase Card
System (CPCS) and the Budget and Execution Data Warehouse. CBS is interfaced with the
Commerce Standard Acquisition and Reporting System (CSTARS), the National Finance Center
Payroll System, and the Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP). CBS provides
reliable, timely information within a sophisticated security infrastructure. The system is capable
of producing both financial and budget reports from information generated within the financial
management system.
CBS is the financial management system of record for the Office ofthe Secretary (OS), the
Census Bureau (Census), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the Economic Development
Administration (EDA), the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), the Economics
and Statistics Administration (ESA), the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS),
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Telecommunication and
Information Administration (NTIA), and the International Trade Administration (ITA). The
Department's remaining two bureaus-the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) and
the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO}-use different financial management
systems. Details of these two systems follow the information regarding CBS.
CBS is fully integrated with all its feeder systems through an enterprise application interface or
automated feeds. Information generated from the integrated financial management system and
those of NTIS and USPTO is consolidated and submitted to various government-wide
accounting systems maintained by the Treasury Department. The consolidated closing package
data (fmancial statements, notes, and other data reclassified into Financial Management Service
[FMS] specific format) are submitted,annually by the Department through a combination of
manual and electronic means to the government-wide financial report system (GFRS).
Consolidated pre-closing adjusted trial balances using the United States standard general ledger
(SGL) proprietary accounts are submitted electronically by the Department to the Federal
Agencies' Centralized Trial Balance System I (FACTSI) on a quarterly basis. Budgetary
accounting data required for the Report on Budget Execution and Budgetary Resources (SF-133)
are submitted using a combination of manual entry and file upload to the F ACTSII system by
each respective reporting entity (bureau) on a quarterly basis. Consolidated SGL proprietary
fiduciary account balances relating to any investments with the Bureau of the Public Debt
(BPD), borrowing from BPD or the Federal Financing Bank, Federal Employees' Compensation
Act transactions with the Department of Labor, and Employee Benefit Program transactions with
the Office of Personnel Management are submitted manually into the intragovernmental
fiduciary (IFCS) by the Department on a quarterly basis.
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Information from CBS is manually entered into the F ACTSII Treasury system used in December
and January of each year to help generate the prior year's amounts which are updated and
submitted to the President's Budget Request in the MAX system. Several line entries are
automated in the MAX system and pull from FACTSI!. A few detailed line entries, however,
must be entered manually. In addition, information generated from the Department's integrated
financial management system is consolidated into quarterly and annual financial statements and
submitted to OMB electronically using the MAX federal community.
The Department's consolidated financial statements are published annually in the Department's
Performance and Accountability Report and online on the Department's website for public
vIewmg.
The Department is conducting the future financial and administrative planning business analysis
and will use this data to examine the Department's financial and administrative environment
(acquisition, grants, property, travel, and webTA) to determine the long-term viability of the
CBS platform and to evaluate CBS against other potential options to support Commerce's
financial management environment.
All bureaus except NIST, Census, and USPTO use Sunflower Assets as an enterprise Personal
Property Management System (PPMS): NIST uses Oracle Assets; Census, Automated Property
Management System; and USPTO, Enterprise Asset Management System.
All bureaus use Kronos webTA for recording time and attendance. USPTO, EDA, and MBDA
use the government-wide COTS software product, Hewlett Packard's FedTraveler, for travel
management. Both NIST and NOAA use a COTS software product (Travel Manager) and
Census uses an internally-developed travel management system (Travel Management
Information System) for travel management.
NTIS uses the budget and accounting purchase system (BAPS) as its financial management
system. BAPS' functions include general ledger, budget execution, accounts payable,
disbursement, accounts receivable, cost accumulation, planning, training, travel, procurement,
inventory, personal property management, and real property management. Transactions feed
electronically or manually between the various functions.
As with bureaus that use CBS, information generated from BAPS is consolidated into quarterly
and annual financial statements and are submitted to OMB electronically using the MAX Federal
Community. The Department's consolidated financial statements, including those of NTIS, are
published annually in the Department's Performance and Accountability Report which is also
published on the Department's website for public viewing. No migration or modernization
projects are planned for BAPS.
USPTO uses CGI's off-the-shelf (COTS) software product, Momentum Financials, for financial
management, financial management reporting, acquisition, and travel accounting. Momentum is
fully integrated with a real-time integration between Momentum financials and FedTraveler to
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record the financial impact oftravel authorization and voucher transactions. Momentum has no
interaction with Remedy or webTA.
As with bureaus that use CBS, information generated from Momentum Financials is
consolidated into quarterly and annual financial statements which are submitted to OMB
electronically using the MAX Federal Community. The Department's consolidated financial
statements, including those ofUSPTO, are published annually in the Department's Performance
and Accountability Report which is also published on the Department's website for public
viewing. As a PBO, USPTO also publishes a separate audited financial statement in its
Performance and Accountability Report (PAR).
The budgetary data from Momentum Financials' SF-133s is periodically submitted to OMB
when the Department completes apportionment requests in MAX (data is manually entered and
submitted through the automated MAX Apportionment application) and when submitting data
required by OMB Circular A-II to prepare the President's budget in MAX (data is manually
entered and submitted into the MAX data entry system). The budgetary general ledger account
information, which is input into F ACTSII on a quarterly basis, feeds the MAX system based on
actions by the Treasury staff. An upgrade to Momentum version 6.4.1 was completed in July,
2010, and there are no plans for additional upgrades. USPTO is activating the revenue
subsidiary functionality in Momentum Financials to replace the USPTO legacy custom fee
collection system. As noted above, USPTO uses Enterprise Asset Management System as its
PPMS; an update from version 6.3 to 7.6 is ongoing.
Systems For Managing Grants, Direct Loans and/or Loan Guarantees
The Office of Acquisition Management (OAM) is responsible for the Department's enterprise-
wide grants management policy, projects, and oversight. The Department's focus is to
standardize policy and procedures for its grant and cooperative agreement programs in order to
strengthen compliance, work toward a single automated grants management system, and enhance
and formalize workforce education. Targeted efforts continue to transform the decentralized
Department grants management community into an effective and efficient partnership. The
sharing of resources and responsibilities to accomplish enterprise goals is a recurring theme
throughout the partnership effort.
Integral to the Department's effort to migrate to electronic grants is the continued use of
NOAA's Grants-Online system, a back-office solution to the Grants.gov storefront. The system
is designed to facilitate efficiencies through standardized business processes and provide a direct
interface with other Department systems with grant recipients. Grants Online continues to
demonstrate significant success in reducing paperwork, increasing accountability, and
simplifying the post-award process. The Grants Online system has also been identified as the
solution to standardizing grants procedures in the Department. It is a paperless electronic grants
management system that has gained department-wide recognition for streamlining and
accelerating the grant application process. This standardization effort is successfully aligning
internal processes to allow for consolidation of systems in line with government-wide efforts to
increase operational efficiency.
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The Department currently uses the following system to manage our grants:
Grants.gov - A government-wide web portal used for Federal Funding Opportunity
(FFO) notices with corresponding application packages to manage initial grant
applications. This web portal allows members of the public to find any government-wide
grant opportunity and apply for it.
Grants Online - As described above, this is NOAA's back-end system to Grants.gov
which supports the evaluation, award, and business processes for grant management.
Grants Online manages NOAA, ITA, MBDA, and OS grant reporting. It has a "public
search" link where the general public can find information and provides a searchable
database of awards that have been made.
Operations, Planning and Control System (OPCS) - This is EDA's back-end system to
Grants.gov and is used to support the evaluation, award, and business processes for grant
management.
Grants Management Information System (GMIS) - NIST's back-end system to
Grants.gov and is used as a means of supporting the evaluation, award, and business
processes for grant management.
Loan Billing and Management System (LBMS) - System of record used by EDA to
manage, monitor, and administer its outstanding Pre-Credit Reform Act loans. As EDA
does not have lending authority, LBMS is used solely to record loan payments and track
any delinquency.
LBMS does not interface with any of the Department's business or accounting systems.
Grants.gov interfaces with Grants Online, OPCS, and GMIS but does not interface with CBS,
BAPS, or Momentum Financials. Grants Online will interface with CBS in mid-October, 2011,
and currently interfaces with the Management Analysis and Reporting System (MARS). CBS
refreshes into OPCS nightly so that all transactions in CBS are identical with those in OPCS.
OPCS does not interface with any of the Department's other financial systems. GMIS interfaces
with CBS but does not interface with Hyperion; CSTARS; Oracle Assets; Travel Manager;
Automated Classification System (ACS), the human resources system used by NIST; or with
CBS, BAPS, or Momentum Financials.
None of these systems maintain data that is submitted to the Catalogue of Federal Domestic
Assistance (CFDA).
Grants Online, OPCS, and GMIS interface with USASpending.gov (where Federal Assistance
Awards Data System [F AADS] PLUS data is submitted) for monthly submittals and use the Data
System Validation Tool (DSVT) to upload data; FAADS reporting is no longer required per
OMB memo dated February 10,2011. Grants.gov does not have data that is submitted to any of
the reporting systems; LBMS doesn't interface with USASpending.gov. The Department's
grants offices use FederalReporting.gov and Recovery.gov to interface with grantees. However,
FedReporting.gov and Recovery.gov are not interactive with the Department's grants systems
named above and are, therefore, a manual process. Bureaus are able to go into the systems and
update when appropriate. .
There are no recent, current, or planned migration or modernization projects for Grants.gov,
GMIS, or LBMS. Within the past two years, Grants Online had migration of grants data for OS,
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ITA, and MBDA to its system. The Department is exploring the feasibility of migrating EDA
and NIST grants data into NOAA's Grants Online system. The first step in the process is to
conduct the Gap Analysis with NOAA Grants Online. The MOU is being finalized and the Gap
Analysis is planned for completion by September 30,2012.
The Department currently operates the following direct loan and loan guarantee programs:
NOAA Direct Loan and Loan Guarantee Programs; EDA Direct Loan and Loan Guarantee
Programs; and the Emergency Steel Loan Guarantee Program. EDA does not issue any new
direct loans or loan guarantees. Its loan portfolio consists of pre-~ y 1992 Drought Loan
Portfolio direct loans and Economic Development Revolving Fund direct loans. The Emergency
Steel Loan Guarantee Program does not have any receivables, nor are there any outstanding non-
acquired guaranteed loans. The program has the authority to issue loan guarantees until
December 31, 2011.
NOAA has many direct loan program receivables, including Fisheries Finance Traditional
Loans, Crab Buyback Loans, and Bering Sea Pollock Fishery Buyback loans. NOAA also
operates the Fishing Vessel Obligation Guarantee Program (loan guarantees). NOAA uses the
following systems to calculate loans:
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Program Office developed and maintains
a database system known as SHARK. The financial data in this system is maintained by
NOAA Finance/Accounting Operations Division (AOD).
NOAA Finance/General Ledger Reporting Branch (GLRB) uses sophisticated Microsoft
Excel cash flow templates to financially manage the direct and guaranteed loan programs.
NOAA Finance (AOD and GLRB) use CBS to manage direct and guaranteed loan
programs.
NOAA Finance (GLRB) uses Oracle Discoverer database queries to manage the direct
and guaranteed loan programs.
NOAA Finance (GLRB) uses OMB CSC2 calculator and R.Summary systems to manage
the direct and guaranteed loan programs.
None ofthe information in the loan systems identified above is submitted to CFDA, nor do any
of these systems contain data that is submitted to any of the government-wide management and
reporting systems. Loan data is updated in USASpending.gov via manual entry. Pertinent data
from SHARK and from the NOAA Finance GLRB systems is extrapolated and manually entered
into CBS. There have been no recent, current, or planned migration or modernization projects
for any of these systems.
Interactions for NOAA's loan systems are that SHARK (NMFS Program Office and NOAA
Finance AOD), NOAA Finance GRLB (Excel cash flow templates and OMB CSC2 calculator
and R.Summary) all have pertinent data extrapolated and manually entered into CBS. CBS is the
system utilized to store data that has been manually entered in the aforementioned systems for
the NOAA Finance (AOD and GLRB) CBS system. The NOAA Finance (GLRB) Oracle
Discoverer database queries are an output and data source derived from the data manually
entered into CBS.
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Systems for Managing Contracts
The Office of Acquisition Management is responsible for the Department's enterprise-wide
acquisition management policy, projects, and oversight. The Department's focus is
standardizing acquisition policy and procedures in order to. strengthen compliance, work towards
a web-based contract-writing system, and enhance workforce education. Efforts continue to
transform the decentralized Department acquisition community into an effective, efficient
partnership through sharing of resources and responsibilities to better achieve acquisition
savings, meet program requirements, and manage risks.
The Department and its bureaus utilize Comprizon.Buy (C.Buy), Momentum Acquisition,
Comprizon.Request (C.Request), and the Forecasting and Advance Acquisition Planning System
(F AAPS) to conduct acquisition forecasting and planning, prepare requisitions, and write
contracts, purchase orders, delivery orders, and modifications.
C.Buy is a COTS web-based acquisition management and contract-writing system which
processes contract awards and is used by OS, Census, NIST, and NOAA. These bureaus provide
acquisition services to other, smaller bureaus. This system provides commitment and obligation
data to the Department's C.Request system, the Commerce Financial System (CFS), and contract
data to the NIST portal. C.Buy interfaces with FPDS-NG with data electronically submitted in
real-time. There is a planned upgrade to a modern, web-based product, Comprizon.Award,
scheduled for December, 2011.
USPTO uses Momentum Acquisition, a COTS web-based acquisition management and contract-
writing system, to process contract awards. Momentum Financial integrates with Momentum
Acquisition and directly records commitments and obligations. Momentum Acquisition also
interfaces with FPDN-NG with electronically submitted data in real time. There are no
migration or modernization projects planned.
OS, Census, NIST, and NOAA use C.Request, a COTS web-based requisition management
solution that processes requisitions. C.Request interfaces with both C.Buy and CFS. There are
no migration!modernization plans at this time for C.Request.
F AAPS, a web-based advance acquisition planning system for identifying forecasts for
requirements above the simplified acquisition threshold, is used by OS, Census, NIST, and
NOAA. F AAPS does not interface with any system, and there are no migration! modernization
plans.
The Department does not provide to the public the information it submits to the government-
wide contract management and reporting systems.
For data submitted to USASpending.gov, Department acquisition offices perform monthly
reconciliations of actions submitted and housed in the contract-writing systems against actions
reported as final in FPDS-NG. Differences are investigated, necessary corrections made, and the
two databases are regularly balanced. During this review, spot checks are made for data element
anomalies. If anomalies are found, they are researched and any required corrective action is
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taken. In addition, acquisition, offices utilize the "Status of Actions" and "Draft and Error"
FPDS-NG reports to audit contract entry and erroneous data. All contract data provided to
USASpending.gov is submitted through government-wide systems that feed into
USASpending.gov.
There were 26,405 total transactions recorded in FPDS for the Department during FY 2010 with
a total dollar value of $3,938,195,964. Through a random sample of contract action reports, the
Department has certified an overall accuracy rate of98% for FY 2010.
As all data required under FF AT A interfaces with data submitted through existing government-
wide systems (Le., FDPS-NG and USASpending.gov), the Department does not incur an
additional burden in fulfilling FFATA reporting obligations.
In compliance with the "Open Government Directive - Framework for the Quality of Federal
Spending Information" memorandum issued by OMB on February 8, 2010, the Department
developed a Data Quality Plan that established' a framework for implementing internal controls
and strategies to improve the quality and integrity of Federal spending information that is
disseminated through such public venues as USAspending.gov. The Data Quality Plan includes
developing an oversight process through Acquisition Management Reviews and Grants
Management Reviews to evaluate efficiency, effectiveness, data quality, and to ensure
transparency. The Plan also requires annual reporting on fulfillment of action items aligned with
OMB's data quality metrics.
Scott Quehl, Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration, serves as the
Department's senior accountable official over federal spending data quality.
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