Work for OFA during Furlough To: "A - Division Chief and Staff", "B - Branch Chiefs and Offices", "DC - All District Chiefs" cc: furlough@qvarsx.er.usgs.gov Subject: Work for OFA during Furlough Date: Wed, 03 Jan 1996 14:04:22 -0500 From: "Alice A Sabatini, Administrative Officer, Reston, VA" In Reply Refer To: Mail Stop 442 January 3, 1996 MEMORANDUM To: District Chiefs From: Alice A. Sabatini Administrative Officer, Water Resources Division Subject: Work for Other Federal Agencies During the Absence of an Appropriation or Continuing Resolution The following memorandum from the Director provides guidance that allows work for other Federal Agencies (OFA) during the absence of an appropriation or a continuing resolution. The guidance states that work for OFA may be undertaken provided the funds have been collected in advance and prior approval is obtained from the Division Chief and the Director. The guidance does not authorize work on Joint Funding Agreements (JFA), either matched or unmatched. This authorization is being made following the precedent established by the National Park Service with the Grand Canyon where the park was reopened only after monies were received from the State of Arizona. At present, we have collected $6 million from OFA sources for work to be performed in fiscal year (FY) 1996. These funds are made up of the following: the carryover funds from the Corps of Engineers Collaborative Streamgaging Program for FY 1995; the advances collected from the FERC permittees; and funds from the United Arab Emirates. We have $34 million in other signed OFA agreements that has not yet been collected. In order to undertake work on these signed agreements, the agencies must agree to pay their bills in advance. Some agencies will be able to make these advanced payments; others will not because of internal regulations. You should contact agencies directly to determine their ability to make payments in advance. If an agency provides verbal assurance that funds can be paid in advance, the request for approval may be generated. The request will be approved conditional on receipt of the funds. Work may begin when account numbers and evidence of collection are provided to the Division Chief through the Division Administrative Officer. Attachment 2 has been prepared as a recommended format to use to request approval. We will process requests as quickly as possible. The guidance indicates that careful records should be maintained by cost centers to show how funds were expended. This does not mean that separate accounts need to be established. It does mean that offices should ensure that charges are made only to accounts funded by the approved agreements. You are permitted to recall one administrative employee to assist with accounting and billing issues as necessary. After approval, administrative personnel may be recalled as necessary to support the reimbursable work. I will be available to provide assistance with billing or information on agreements that have already been collected and can be reached on (703) 648-5027. Attachments Attachment 1 January 3, 1996 MEMORANDUM To: Division Chiefs From: Director Subject: Work for other Federal Agencies (OFAs) in the absence of an appropriation or Continuing Resolution This memorandum provides guidance regarding employment of the workforce during times when neither an annual appropriations bill nor a continuing resolution has been signed by the President. In those cases, the absence of authorization to expend funds can necessitate a furlough for the portion of our workforce not required for the immediate protection of life and property. For some activities, however, funds are available from other Federal agencies. We are authorized to do this work for other agencies during a furlough period provided that we receive payment from the other agency prior to undertaking the work. The underlying principle behind this policy is that the work should not, in any way, create any possible obligation against future USGS appropriations. This means that there must be a signed agreement between the USGS and the other agency and the funds must be collected before the work can be done. If the terms of the signed agreement depend on the availability of USGS appropriations then it MAY NOT BE UNDERTAKEN (this prohibition would apply to the Federal-State Cooperative Programs in the National Mapping and Water Resources Divisions). We are not authorized to spend USGS appropriated funds pending reimbursement by the other agency. The key issue is that the funds must be in USGS accounts before the work can begin. This is atypical of the kind of funding arrangement we usually follow where a bill is sent to the funding agency after the work is performed. For the work to be undertaken it will be necessary for us to request that the other agency provide reimbursement in advance of work. Requests to undertake such work should be made by the chief of the cost center and must be approved by the Division Chief and the Director's Office. Determination of which employees will accomplish the work will be made by the cost center chief. In making requests, cost center chiefs must describe the following in writing: the project on which work is to be accomplished and the source and amount of funds to be used in accomplishing the work including reference to the document that assures the availability of reimbursable funds. In the interest of timeliness, requests can be made before the funds are actually collected and approval can be granted conditional on the receipt of the funds. Work may begin following notification of Division Chiefs of account numbers and amounts actually collected. Careful records must be maintained by cost centers to demonstrate how funds are expended. Normal overhead rates should be charged to these accounts to cover common services. The total effort expended under common services accounts must not exceed the overhead burden charged to the activity. Questions about this new policy should be directed to Division Chiefs and their staffs. Employees brought back to work under this policy are in addition to those whose absence would "imminently threaten the safety of human life or protection of property" (31 USC 1342). As always, careful record keeping for reimbursable activities is critical. For any given OFA-funded activity there are advantages and disadvantages associated with undertaking the work during a shut-down period. The advantages include the avoidance of a costly backlog of work when the furlough ends and the demonstration of our commitment to fulfill obligations to a USGS partner. The disadvantages include the complexity of the requirements described in this memorandum and the potential morale issues of having some portion of the staff working while others are not. Individual managers must weigh these advantages and disadvantages as they decide whether or not to seek the advance payment and request approval to proceed with the work. Attachment 2 The following format should be used to request permission to perform work funded by another Federal Agency during the furlough. Permission will be granted only when the agreement has been collected in advance. 1. Name of the other Federal Agency. 2. Number USGS has assigned to the agreement. 3. Date agreement signed and accepted by USGS. 4. Project on which work is to be accomplished. 5. Account number(s) funded by the agreement. 6. Amount of agreement. 7. Collected amount. Provide date of check or On-line Payment and Collection (OPAC) transfer. Indicate the amount that is for work to be performed during FY 1996. Requested by: Date: Division Chief Approval: Date: Director Approval: Date: