Flexibilities of the Working Capital Fund Date: Fri, 02 Jul 1999 16:32:53 -0400 To: "B - Branch Chiefs and Offices", "DC - All District Chiefs" From: "Alice A. Sabatini, Division Administrative Officer, WRD" Subject: Flexibilities of the Working Capital Fund Cc: "AO - All Administrative Officers", "A - Division Chief and Staff", "Jackie Johnson, Financial & Budget Specialist, Reston, VA" , "Kelly L Bradley, Chief, FORS, Reston, VA" In Reply Refer to: Mail Stop 442 MEMORANDUM July 2, 1999 To: District Chiefs and Branch Chiefs From: Alice A. Sabatini Administrative Officer, Water Resources Division Subject: Flexibilities of the Working Capital Fund The purpose of this memorandum is to inform management of the many uses and flexibilities associated with the Working Capital Fund (WCF). The following are some commonly asked questions and the respective answers regarding what is permissible when using the WCF. Question: Can the contributions for an existing investment be moved to a new investment that has a completely different purpose (e.g., the original investment is for computers and you would like to move the investment to purchase gaging station equipment)? Answer: Yes, with approval of the Chief Hydrologist, contributions can be redirected from one investment plan (IP) with one purpose to another IP with a completely different purpose. Question: Is there a 4th quarter limitation for end of year contributions? Answer: Current USGS policy states that after July 15, new investments exceeding $100,000 per investment component in a division or $200,000 for the sum of all investment components in a division must be approved by the Associate Director for Operations. The Water Resources Division (WRD) requires that new investment plans must be submitted to the Financial Operations and Reporting Section (FORS) by April 30. This enables FORS to forecast the Division's total planned contributions for each quarter as well as ensure that contributions do not exceed these maximum requirements. While we request that cost centers submit their IP's by the April 30 deadline, if for some reason there is financial hardship and the contributions cannot be made as scheduled, the plan can be modified to reduce or eliminate the contribution. Likewise, IP's can be amended to increase the scheduled contribution. Question: Can IP contributions be withdrawn from the WCF? Answer: Yes, with the approval of the Chief Hydrologist, current year contributions can be withdrawn from the WCF. Prior year contributions cannot be withdrawn but may be redirected to an existing or new IP. Question: Can Districts deviate from scheduled contributions on an IP? Answer: Yes, revisions to existing IP's can be made at any time in the fiscal year (FY). Question: Can prepayments be made for out year services for lab analysis, rental of equipment or training? Answer: There are several fee-for-service components in the WRD. Districts can prepay for services to be received early in the next fiscal year from the Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF), the National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) and the National Training Center (NTC). Check with these organizational units for more information on time frames. Question: What documentation is available for the WCF? Answer: The following are several reference materials available for use: Survey Manual 335.6.1. Working Capital Fund WRD Survey Manual Supplement to Survey Manual 335.6, Release 241. Investment Components WRD Survey Manual Supplement to Survey Manual 335.6, Release 245. Fee-For-Service Components Soon to be issued: Revised Working Capital Fund Handbook--This new handbook will supersede the 1995 WCF Handbook. Each office will receive one hard copy handbook. The handbook will also be available on the USGS Intranet. We hope that you will find this information useful. If you have further questions pertaining to the WCF, please feel free to contact Kelly Bradley at (703) 648-5040 or Jackie Johnson at (703) 648-5477. Copy to: Administrative Officers WRD Senior Staff