FUND STRUCTURE
Sections
8.02.05 Delegations of Authority
Appendix A - Project Funding Structure
Appendix B - Explanation of Project Funding Structure
Appendix C - NIST Budget/Program Structure
Appendix D - National Science Foundation
and Field of Science Codes
8.02.01
PURPOSE
This subchapter describes the funding structure of the National Institute
of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the appropriate use of and procedures
for establishing and coding projects.
8.02.02
SCOPE
This subchapter applies to NIST-Gaithersburg and NIST-Boulder.
8.02.03
LEGAL AUTHORITY
Title 31 of the United States Code (Money and Finance), specifically:
--Sections 1301, 1341-1342, 1349-1351, 1511-1519
--Sections 1101, 1104-1108, 1112, 3324
--Sections 1501-1502
Federal Managers’ Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) of 1982
OMB Circular A-11
OMB Circular A-123
DoC Accounting
Principles and Standards Handbook
DoC
Budget and Program Analysis Handbook
8.02.04
POLICY
NIST costs associated with a particular function must be accurately
charged to the funding provided for that purpose. Costs are collected
and recorded in approved projects in the Commerce Business System (CBS).
8.02.05
DELEGATIONS OF AUTHORITY
a.The Director has delegated administrative control of NIST appropriated
funds to the NIST CFO, who has re-delegated to the Chief of the Budget
Division and to the Chief of the Finance Division respectively the following
duties:
(1) Developing financial management systems and procedures consistent with the requirements of the DoC Budget and Program Analysis HandbookIn addition, the CFO has re-delegated to the Chief of the Budget Division the following duties:
(http://www.osec.doc.gov/bmi/budget/Budget%20Handbook.htm) and DoC Accounting Principles and Standards Handbook (http://www.osec.doc.gov/ofm/Accounting/cover.html).
(2) Allocating funds to heads of Operating Units (OUs);b. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO), in cooperation with the Chief of the Budget Division and the Chiefs of the Finance Division and Business Systems Division, is responsible for developing procedures to provide financial and employment data needed for administrative control and reporting requirements and for maintaining liaison with the DoC Office of Budget and the Office of Financial Management on resolution of problems.(3) Ensuring that operations are maintained within the limits of approved apportionments, financial plans, and operating budgets; and
(4) Providing notification to appropriations committees and obtaining proper clearances prior to proceeding with reprogramming actions.
(1) Specific responsibilities of the Chief of the Budget Division are as follows:c. The NIST Director has delegated authority to the OU Directors and Chief Officers to establish division operating budgets and project authorizations and to ensure that operations are maintained within limits of allocations issued by the Budget Division.(a) Preparation of apportionment and reapportionment requests and supporting documentation, and periodic reports and other required data;(2) Specific responsibilities of the Chief of the Finance Division are as follows:(b) Allocation of budgetary resources to OUs in support of the programmatic distribution of funds appropriated by Congress, apportionments approved by OMB, and decisions by the NIST Director;
(c) Issuance of operating budget reports to OUs and divisions reflecting the programmatic distribution of funds appropriated by Congress; and
(d) Clearance and/or preparation and release of financial data from official records in response to miscellaneous external requests for information.
(a) Organizing, planning, developing, coordinating, and managing a comprehensive accounting/finance program for NIST; and(3) The Director has delegated administrative control of maintaining a financial management system to the NIST CFO, who has redelegated to the Chief Business Systems Division who delegated responsibility for maintaining a financial management system that produces reports which show accrued costs, total obligations, unobligated balances, and total budgetary resources available to NIST.(b) Certifying the accuracy of official accounting records and reports.
8.02.06
DEFINITIONS
a. Projects/Tasks – Projects are the building blocks in the
Commerce Business System (CBS). Obligation and accrued cost transactions
are charged to projects, which are the lowest level at which costs incurred
are systematically recorded. A project is a seven digit account that
records all of the funding structure elements associated with an activity.
The funding structure elements are project code, task code, project type,
fund code, program code, NSF code, Field of Science (FoS) code, project
leader, created by organization, work site, and budget initiative number.
The first three digits of the project code identify the owning organization
of the project. The fourth digit of the project code is an optional
designator for use by the OU. The last three digits of the project
code identify the source of funding that supports the work. Each
distinct seven digit project also has an adjunctive three digit alpha-numeric
field that represents an activity related to the project code called the
task. The task allows information to be broken down to a finer level
of detail. All projects must have at least one task, and the default
is 000. New project-tasks and changes to existing project-tasks are
made on the CM004, Project Code Maintenance Screen. The latest procedure
detail and the schedule to be followed in the establishment of projects
in the Project Code Maintenance Screen can be found in the Finance Administrative
Bulletin issued annually at http://www-i.nist.gov/admin/mo/08-03.pdf.
Step by step instructions for the CM004 can be found in the online User
Procedures available on the CBS Portal at https://portal.cbs.nist.gov/portal/page?_pageid=276,275371&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL.
b. Project Authorization – Budget Operating Plan (BOP) (FM066)
To request project authorization after the start of a fiscal year or to
request a change to the project, a requesting OU prepares a Budget Operating
Plan (BOP) that is established in the CBS system to authorize the spending
of project dollars at specified quarterly levels. A BOP is sent by
the OU Administrative Officer to the Budget Division through the OU Senior
Management Advisor (SMA), except for federal government, non-federal sponsors,
CRADA, and gifts and bequests projects. For these excepted projects,
the SMA approves the BOP based on firm financial backing information for
the project received from the Finance Division. New BOPs and changes
to existing BOPs are made on the FM066, Budget Operating Plan Screen.
Instructions for completing a BOP are given in Appendix C. The latest
procedure detail and the schedule to be followed in requesting authorization
of projects for the start of the fiscal year is found in the Finance Administrative
Bulletin issued annually at http://www-i.nist.gov/admin/mo/08-03.pdf.
8.02.07
RESPONSIBILITIES
a. The Business Systems Division is responsible for establishing and
modifying a project funding structure that meets NIST's needs and requirements.
b. The Budget Division is responsible for requesting the four digit establishment of fund codes.and for establishing budgetary resources in the Budget Execution Modules in the CBS for all sources of financing with the exception of federal government, non-federal government, gifts and bequests, and Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs).
c. The Finance Division’s Receivables Group is responsible for the review and approval of projects used for federal government and non-federal government-sponsored work, as well as CRADAs.
d. Operating Units (OUs) are responsible for establishing and properly
coding projects.
8.02.08
PROCEDURES
a. Establishment of Projects - Project Code Maintenance Screen
(CM004)
(1) New project-tasks and changes to existing projects are made on the CM004, Project Code Maintenance Screen. Access to the CM004 is via the Core Financial System (CFS). The CM004 contains the following fields: Project Code, (Project) Title, (Project) Type, Fund Code, Program (Code), Field of Science Code, NSF Code, Goal Code, Project Leader, and Budget Initiative No. This screen establishes all of the accounting elements necessary for the project to become a data element in the CBS system.b. Authorization of Projects – Budget Operating Plans (BOPs) (FM066)(2) The steps to updating the CM004 are as follows:
(a) The user (usually the Administrative Officer (AO)) enters the project and task information on the CM004.(3) Key CM004 Points:(b) For all fund codes (FCs) except FC 0008 Advances and Reimbursements, the user approves the project on the CM004. All new FC 0008 Advances and Reimbursements projects must be approved by the Finance Division, Receivables Group.
(c) For all fund codes except FC 0008 Advances and Reimbursements, the SMA activates the projects on the CM004. All new fund code 08 projects must be activated by the Finance Division, Receivables Group.
(a) Projects are for all years and should remain active.(4) Important startup procedures and information related to Project and Budgetary Set-Up for the current Fiscal Year and all future fiscal years can be found at http://www-i.nist.gov/admin/mo/08-03.pdf in the NIST Administrative Bulletin.(b) For Fund Code 08 projects, the Sponsor Code should be entered in the Budget Initiative Number field.
(c) Once all data elements have been entered, save the project by using the save icon on the toolbar.
(d) The Finance Division, Reimbursables Group approves and activates all Fund Code 08 projects.
(e) The rights to approve and activate the CM004 are requested by the SMA for his/her OU from the Budget Division.
(5) Seven (7) fields cannot be changed on the CM004 after the project has been approved. These are Bureau Code, Project Code, Fund Code, Program Code, D/R Flag, Effective Date (Beginning), and Approved By and Date.
(6) Information on each of these fields on the CM004 can be found in the User Procedures found on the CBS Portal.
(1) The procedure and schedule to be followed for requesting authorization of projects for the start of the fiscal year is explained in the Administrative Bulletin issued annually.
(2) To request authorization of a project after the start of the fiscal year or to request a change, termination, or deletion of a project, the requesting OU prepares a CBS FM066 screen (Budget Operating Plan) known as a BOP through the CBS Portal. An authorization is established on the FM066 – Budget Operating Plan (BOP) Transaction Screen accessed through CBS. The system does not require that a BOP be created in order to charge a project-task. The FM066 screen consists of two data entry tabs and two lookup tabs. The Budget Control Tab allows the user to enter the Accounting Code Classification System information for the quarterly authorization amount for a transaction. Additional information about the BOP can also be entered in the Notes section of this screen. Changes to approved BOPs are made by selecting Change and entering a code or reason for the change. The Budget Detail tab enables the user to enter the distribution of the authorization amount by effective date, amount, and object class. The quarterly transaction amounts on the Budget Detail must match the quarterly amounts on the Budget Control. The available allotment pool for the program code and quarter can be viewed on the Budget Detail. The Summary by Details tab summarizes the information entered on the Budget Detail tab. This information can be viewed for the entire Budget Operating Plan or just the current transaction. This tab is for viewing only and requires no data input from the user. The Summary by Objects tab summarizes the information entered on the Budget Detail tab by object class. This information can be viewed for the entire Budget Operating Plan or just the current transaction. This tab is also view only and requires no input from the user.c. Key FM066 Points(3) Step by step instructions for each field on each of the tabs mentioned above can be found in the FM066 User Procedures found on the CBS Portal. This includes instructions for both a newly established BOP and a modification or CHANGE BOP.
(4) Important new procedures and information related to Project and Budgetary Set-Up for Fiscal Year 2010 and all future fiscal years can be found at http://www-i.nist.gov/admin/mo/08-03.pdf in the NIST Administrative Bulletin.
(1) If a project is not showing up in the ACCS List of Values when entering a BOP, the project and/or task may not be approved and/or activated on the CM004. Another cause could be that no allotment pool has been recorded by the Budget Division for the program code associated with the project-task.d. Additional CM004 and FM066 Resources(2) If you receive the message that no pool is available, this indicates that no allotment pool has been recorded for the program code associated with the project-task. Users should contact their Budget Analyst to assist with this situation.
(3) Two (2) start of year reports are available to compare with the allocation memos distributed from the Budget Division:
Start of Year: NSTBOP (CBS) – BOP Listing Report
Start of Year: NSTPROJD (CBS) – Project Listing Report
Additional Resources for the CM004 and the FM066 include the Customer Interaction Center (CIC) available for assistance Monday-Friday from 8:30 AM – 6:00 P.M. via phone at 301-975-5375 or by email at cic@nist.gov. CM004 and FM066 User Procedures are available on the CBS Portal Home Page for step by step instructions at https://portal.cbs.nist.gov/portal/page?_pageid=276,275371&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL.
(1) New procedures and information related to Project and Budgetary Set-Up for Fiscal Year 2010 can be found at http://www-i.nist.gov/admin/mo/08-03.pdf in the NIST Administrative Bulletin.(2) Specific training requests for CM004 and/or FM066 may be made through the CIC. Specific system input instructions for both the CM004 and FM066 input screens are contained on the CBS Portal User Procedures Budget Execution website at: https://portal.cbs.nist.gov/portal/page?_pageid=276,275371&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL.
8.02.09
CONTENT OWNER
The Content Owner of Chapter 8.02 is the NIST Budget Division.
8.02.10
EFFECTIVE DATES
September 10, 2009.