Financial Management Policy
Pursuant to the Chief Financial Officer’s Act, an Agency CFO is statutorily empowered to “direct, manage and provide policy guidance and oversight of agency financial management personnel, operations and activities” of their agencies. See 31 U.S.C. §902. NASA’s CFO has promulgated its agency-level financial management policies within the NASA Directives hierarchy, as more fully described in NASA Policy Directive (NPD) 9010.2, “Financial Management” and NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) 1400.1G, “NASA Directives and Charters Procedural Requirements.” All agencywide financial management policies—NPDs, NPRs, and NASA Interim Directives (NIDs)—are accessible from the NASA Online Directives Information System (NODIS) Document Library at the 9000 series webpage.
These NPDs, NPRs and NIDs constitute the key Agency financial management policies. Areas covered range from budget formulation and execution, to internal controls and travel, to accounting. These directives are the key policy component of the financial management guidance structure provided to all NASA personnel.
In addition to this key agency-wide policy, NASA is regularly enhancing its financial management through various guidance, implementation instructions, systems instructions, and written procedures at both agency and center levels. All of this guidance is subordinate in hierarchy and must comply with Agency-level directives. This involves integrating federal financial laws and regulatory requirements into NASA’s financial management operational and systems framework to support NASA’s missions—fully complying with all external requirements while “delivering complete, reliable, consistent, and timely information … which is responsive to the financial information needs of agency management.” This guidance structure is designed to provide resources to assist NASA’s financial management community in the broad variety of their day-to-day activities, promote consistency among financial processes, procedures, data management and systems, and facilitate communication with NASA stakeholders.
Acquisition Funding
When acquiring goods or services for the agency, there are specific requirements concerning the funding and obligation requirements. For that reason, the Agency has developed guidance to help NASA personnel in making these Bona Fide Need funding decisions.
The following materials provide guidance on the obligation and funding requirements. For example, severable services must be funded by an appropriation current at the time the services are performed, whereas nonseverable services must be fully funded by an appropriation current at the time the contract is awarded.
Reference Materials:
Acquisition Funding – Terminology and Requirements (with citations) (without citations)
OCFO Decision Memo 12-02: Funding for R&D and Technology Development Contracts
Bona Fide Need Decision Matrix
Economy Act Deobligation Requirements
HQ Procurement Library (NASA Internal)
GAO’s Redbook, Chapter 5.B., “The Bona Fide Needs Rule”
Expiring Acquisitions:
It is often more difficult or time consuming to determine how to appropriately fund acquisitions when an appropriation is expiring but the need will extend into the next fiscal year. For that reason, the Agency also has guidance to help personnel in making funding decisions when using an expiring appropriation. Although some of this guidance was originally developed for Cross-Agency Support, the principles are applicable to any expiring appropriation.
Funding Common Cross-Agency Support Acquisitions
System Availability and Funds Distribution Actions for Fiscal Year Startup of NASA’s Cross-Agency Support (CAS) Appropriation
Travel – Detailed Procedures for Using Expiring Appropriations to Fund Travel
Special Note: Although the reference documents provide general guidance on the acquisition funding requirements and application of the Bona Fide Needs Rule, you should still review your specific circumstances with local procurement, finance, and legal specialists. GAO has repeatedly emphasized that what constitutes a bona fide need of a particular fiscal year depends largely on the facts and circumstances of each particular case.