HHS Response

8/4/2019 HHS Response

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH &. HUMAN SERVICES

The Honorable Darrell Issa

Chairman

APR 0 3 2011

Committee on Oversight and Government ReformU.S. House ofRepresentatives

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Issa:

Office of the Secretary

WashIngton , D,C 20201

Thank you for your letter ofMarch 8, 2011, requesting information relating to the electronic

systems the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) uses to support business and

accounting functions, grants and loans management, contracts management, and reporting to

government-wide systems such as USASpending.gov and Recovery.gov.

HHS is committed to ensuring that federal funds are spent wisely and efficiently. We haveworked hard to ensure that our systems provide transparency and interoperability and facilitate

effective business operations and results.

Your letter requested information from across our business, financial, and reporting systems.

HHS is pleased to present our findings and responses to your questions in the attached document.

We trust that the information provided is helpful to the Committee. If you have additional

questions, we would be happy to brief you or your staff on these issues. HHS takes seriously its

role as a steward of public funds, and we are committed to utilizing effective and efficient

business practices to deliver meaningful outcomes to the American people.

Ellen G. Murray

Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources

cc: The Honorable Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

Identical letters were sent to Chairman Todd R. Platts, Chairman Jim Jordan, and Chairman

James Lankford.



DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)

Response to Questions by


(1) Identify and briefly describe each o/your agency's business and accountingsystems. 1/ separate divisions, bureaus, or offices 0/your agency use separate systems,

identify which divisions, bureaus, or offices use each system.

Our financial system is a web-based, commercial off-the-shelf product that serves as the

foundation for integrated financial management across our organization. The system

requires a unified approach for enhancing financial management performance by

eliminating duplication, streamlining processes, producing consolidated reports, and

establishing a common IT infrastructure across the enterprise.

Our current financial system replaced various legacy accounting systems with one modern

technology system with three major components:

• the Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System (HIGLAS), supportingthe Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS);

• the National Institutes of Health Business System (NBS) supporting the National

Institutes of Health (NIH); and

• Unified Financial Management System (UFMS) serving the rest of the Department.

Additional information is available at the following URL: http://www.hhs.gov afr I.

(2) Explain how the business and accounting systems identified in response to RequestNo.1 interact with one another.

The Department established the Financial Management System Program (FMSP) to providecentral management, direction, and oversight of financial management systems across the

Department. The Department also facilitates collaboration between business owners and

information technology professionals to maximize our investments and reduce

redundancies.

The Department integrated the component reporting into a Consolidated Financial

Reporting System (CFRS), which has enhanced our financial reporting capabilities andstrengthened our internal controls.

Additional information is available at the following URL: http://www.hhs.gov afr

(3) For each system identified in response to Request No. I, state whether in/ormationfound in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any o/the government-wide accounting systems maintained by the Department 0/ he Treasury, e.g., GFRS,FACTS I, FACTS II, IFCS, etc., and explain how and at what intervals those submissionsoccur, including descriptions 0/both manual and automated processes.

Please see Attachment 1.

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(4) For each system identified in response to Request No.1, state whether informationfound in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to the Office ofManagement

and Budget's ("OMB'') MAX Information System, and explain how and at what intervalsthose submissions occur, including descriptions ofboth automated and manualprocesses.

Information found in HHS' financial management systems (UFMS, HIGLAS, NBS) enters

OMB's MAX system via Treasury, to which HHS electronically t ransmits information at

quarter-end and year-end. In addition, to develop information displayed in each year's

Appendix to the President's Budget, HHS staff use reports from UFMS, HIGLAS, and NBS to

manually enter detailed data into the MAX system - such as breaking out total obligations

of an appropriations account by object class (grants, contracts, salaries, etc.).

(5) For each system identified in response to Request No.1, describe recenti current,and planned migration or modernization projects.

Planned Modernization Program and Component Projects: The UFMS modernization

program currently consists of plans to implement three projects focused on meeting the

most immediate needs of the UFMS user community.

• Expansion ofBudget Tools: This project will leverage the already-complete

implementation of budget tools at Food and Drug A d m i n i ~ t r a t i o n (FDA) with a roll

out to benefit all the agencies within HHS. The project will include incorporating

additional functionality in the system that supports the lifecycle management of

budgets from formulation through execution.• Dashboard and Business Intelligence: The Dashboard and Business Intelligence

project addresses a gap identified during an assessment to improve reporting and

decision support across HHS' agencies. This is a key short term, high impact

recommendation to improve the current system environment.

• Data Management/Data Archive and RetrievalProject: This project is intended to

provide sufficient history to meet Federal standards around the retention of

documents, to retrieve information from the archives as necessary, and to restore

and reprocess data as required. Data Archive is designed to help cost-effectively

manage growing data volumes thereby improving work flow efficiencies throughout

HHS.

Current Administrative Program Accounting (APA): The HIGLAS APA solution will consist

of Oracle Public Sector Financials modules. HIGLAS will leverage the Oracle Workflow

functionality to eliminate many of the manual processes and user maintained records that

currently exist. Overall, HIGLAS APA will interface with the existing CMS and non-CMS

systems to replace the current Financial Accounting and Control System (FACS)

functionality.

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(6) In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide accounting systemsmaintainedby the Department of he Treasury and OMB, as described in response to

Requests Nos. 3 and 4, does your agency publish any of he same information online forpublic viewing? Ifso, describe how and in whatformat that information is published.

The Agency Financial Report (AFR) is published on the HHS homepage and contains the

information required by OMB. Additional information is available at the following URL:

http://www.hhs.gov afr I.HHS also provides American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) information to the

Recovery.Gov website. This financial data is exported from the Financial Management and

Payment Management System (PMS) into a Data Management System database to produce

the weekly Financial and Activity Report (FAR). This FAR report is e-mailed to

'[email protected]' every Tuesday, as required, and posted on the HHS' website athttp://www.hhs.goy/.

As described below, HHS provides financial information on federal contracts and federal

financial assistance mechanisms to USASpending.Gov.

(7) Identify and briefly describe each system thatyour agency uses to manage grants,direct loans, and/or loan guarantees. Ifseparate divisions, bureaus or offices ofyour

agency use separate systems, identify which divisions, bureaus or office use eachsystem.

HHS uses, and is the managing partner for, Grants.gov, the federal-wide system to "find andapply" for federal grant opportunities.

Two HHS Centers of Excellence (COEs) provide grant management system services for the

majority of HHS grant programs as follows:

• The Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) COE operates the

GATES/GrantSolutions system. ACF's system includes Online Data Collection for

grantee reporting.

• The National Insti tutes of Health's (NIH) COE operates the eRA/IMPACII system.

NIH's system provides for online interfacing with grantees and the research

community.

Users of the ACF COE include: ACF, the Health Resources and Services Administration

(HRSA), the Indian Health Service (IHS), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for

Preparedness and Response (ASPR), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH),

Administration on Aging (AOA), Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC),

CMS (for discretionary programs), and the Office of Global Health Affairs (OGHA).

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DEPARTMENT OF REALm AND HUMAN SERVICES (IllIS)



Users of the NIH COE include: NIH, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

(AHRQ), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Toxic

Substances and Disease Registry (ATDR), and the Substance Abuse and Mental HealthServices Administration (SAMHSA).

HHS does not have a central system to manage loans as very few of its agencies issue loans.

(8) For each system identified in response to Request No. 7, explain how it interactswith any business or accounting system identified in Request No.1.

Both COEs exchange data electronically with HHS' financial management systems. ACF's

system exchanges financial data and has a direct interface with the Department's UFMS.

NIH's system exchanges financial data and has a direct interface with the NBS.

Both the ACF and NIH COEs interface with the Payment Management System (PMS), the key

system HHS uses for disbursing grant funds. PMS provides web based access to grantees to

request grant fund disbursements and transmits those funds electronically to grantees. It

also provides real time account information to grantee and Federal grant awarding

agencies. PMS has a direct interface with UFMS, HIGLAS and NBS, described in response to

Question 1. NIH's system also interfaces with UFMS to provide obligation information for

CDC.

(9) For each system identified in response to Request No. 7, state whether informationfound in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to the Catalog ofFederal

Domestic Assistance (CFDA), and describe how and at what intervals those submissionsoccur, including descriptions ofboth automated and manual processes.

The ACF and NIH COEs do not have a direct interface with GSA's CFDA system. Per OMB

Circular A-89 (revised), HHS monitors and coordinates CFDA information. A network of

agency contacts manually input CFDA information into GSA's CFDA system following

Departmental and OMB review.

(10) For each system identified in response to Request No. 7, state whether informationfound in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any of he govt-widegrants management and reporting systems, e.g. FAADS, FAADS PLUS, etc" and describe

how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions ofbothautomated and manual processes.

Grant award information from the two COEs is transmitted to USASpending.gov through

HHS' Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS)

(http://taggs.hhs.goyl) via the OMB required FAADS Plus format. TAGGS is a data

warehouse that reports data managed by the COEs.

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Grant and other assistance data from HHS agencies are submitted on a weekly and bi

weekly basis to TAGGS through the CDEs, and these data are reported to USASpending.gov

on a bi-weekly basis. HHS has instituted internal data validation processes to ensure theconsistency and accuracy of its grants award data.

(11) For each system identified in response to Request No. 71 describe recent currentand planned migration or modernization projects.

ACF's system is undergoing a modernization effort by moving from client-server to webbased architecture, along with redesigning its data architecture, to enable the CDE to

support E-Gov initiatives. NIH's system is considered to be in a 'steady state' with minor

enhancements as part of routine operations and maintenance and in response to customer

business requirements.

(12) In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide grants

management and reporting systems described in response to Requests Nos. 9and 101 does your agency publish any of he same information online for publicviewing? IfSOl describe how and in what format that information is published.

TAGGS data is available via the HHS website. The public can either conduct a customized

search for TAGGS/HHS grant award data, or utilize prepared reports easily available in the

system. The reports are typically in a tabular format. Search results can be downloaded in

Microsoft Excel format.

(13) Identify and briefly describe each system that your agency uses to manage

contracts. Ifseparate divisions bureaus or offices ofyour agency use separatesystems identify which divisions bureaus or offices use each system.

HHS uses the following systems to manage contracts:

• The Departmental Contracts Information System (DCIS) (http://dcis.hhs.gov !)

provides data collection and reporting capabilities to enable HHS to comply with the

procurement reporting requirements of Public Law 93-400.

o DCIS is a single repository within HHS that collects, edits, and stores

information on individual procurement and contracting actions executed byHHS' agencies.

o DCIS creates an HHS-wide database of the collected information, forwardsselected information about HHS procurement and contracting actions to the

Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG)

(https:llwww.fpds.gov/fpdsng cms!), and reports on selected contract

actions and data to specified organizations within HHS.

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• PRISM is a web-based application that supports the complete acquisit ion life-cycle

from initial planning through award and closeout. PRISM is used Department-wide,

except for CDC, which uses Integrated Contracts Expert (ICE).• CDC's ICE is a procure-to-pay acquisition client-server application that has been in

use at CDC since 1999. ICE has been customized over the years to meet CDC's

requirements. The customization includes an interface to support the exchange of

data with HHS' Unified Financial Management System (UFMS).

(14) For each system identified in response to Request No. 13, explain how it

interacts with any business or accounting system identified in response to RequestNo.1.

DCIS: All HHS contract writing systems (PRISM/ICE) interact with the DCIS via uniform,

federally approved and certified web services.

PRISM:

• New requisitions are entered in a module -- entitled iProcurement -- within HHS'

Unified Financial Management System (UFMS). Modifications or cancellations of

requisitions, or of a requisition line that has not been obligated, are accomplished by

canceling the original requisition in PRISM via an Oracle Compusearch Interface

(OCI) with UFMS.

• Receiving is also accomplished in iProcurement.

• Obligations and contracts from requisitions are created in PRISM and sent to the

UFMS via the OCI. UFMS maintains a commitment for funding on the requisition.

When PRISM transmits the award information, an obligation is created in UFMS

Purchasing to support the funds reservation, receipt, invoicing and other financial

needs recorded in UFMS. Within UFMS, the Common Accounting Number-Budget

Accounting Classification Structure (BACS) Crosswalk Program is used to assign the

BACS, UFMS Transaction Code, and fiscal year to the obligation.

• PRISM interfaces with HIGLAS/FACS and NBS.

ICE: Interaction is with UFMS via the transmission of commitment, obligation, receipt and

acceptance data from ICE; and ICE receives vendor and funds check data from UFMS.

(15) For each system identified in response to Request No. 13, state whetherinformation found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any of

the government-wide contract management and reporting systems, e.g., FPDS,FPDS-NG, FAPll5, etc., and describe how and at what intervals those submissionsoccur, including descriptions ofboth automated and manual processes.

Information in PRISM and ICE is submitted through DCIS to FPDS-NG on a real-time

basis, via FPDS-NG certified web services.

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(16) For each system identified in response to Request No. 13, describe recent,

current, and planned migration or modernization projects.

DCIS: Planned modernization projects for DCIS include: upgrading production, quality

assurance and development environments to a Cloud Computing infrastructure; upgrading

DCIS' web presence; implementing innovative technologies that will increase reporting

capability; and upgrading both the database and data management tools.

PRISM: HHS has deployed several upgrades and service packs to PRISM. Version 6.3 was

deployed in May 2009 and version 6.5 was deployed in June 2010. HHS is considering an

upgrade ofthe standardized PRISM configuration to version 7.1 during January 2012.

ICE: The ICE Configuration Control/Change Board (CCB) has approved, and is currentlyworking on, the restructure of ICE roles and responsibilities. Future enhancements under

consideration include adding functionality to capture Inter-Agency Acquisitions (IAA) and

upgrading ICE to a web-based application. CDC intends to maintain ICE for at least two

more years while assessing al ternative acquisition solutions.

(17) In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide contractmanagement and reporting systems, described in response to Request No. 15,does your agency publish any of he same information online for public viewing?Ifso, describe how and in what format that information is published.

In general, HHS does not publish its contract information for public viewing. However,DCIS is publicly accessible at http://dcis.hhs.gov I and includes reporting tools for use

by HHS mangers and the public. Additionally, DC IS transmits HHS' contract action

reports to FPDS-NG, which in turn is made available on USASpending.gov. Also, HHS'

Service Contract Inventory (in Excel, PDF, and Comma-Separated Value formats) for

FY10 is available on our website at:

http://www.hhs.govIgrants Iservicecontractsfyl O.html.

(18) Briefly describe your agency's efforts to comply with OMB's memorandum on theOpen Government Directive - Federal Spending Transparency, dated April 6 2010. In

particular, describe whether and howyour agency has begun to collect and report sub

award data, as required by the memorandum, and describe howyour agency's reportson OMB's data quality metrics, as required by the memorandum are generated.

HHS' Open Government Plan details HHS' Open Government efforts and initiatives, and is

available at: http://www.hhs.gov open/plan/opengovernmentplanlindex.html.

Compliance with FFATA and USASpending.gov is addressed at Section 3.4 of this plan.

Additionally, HHS developed its Open Government Financial Data Quality Plan, which is

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available at:




http://www.hhs.gov 1open Iplan1opengovernmentplan lfinancialdataq ualityplan.pdf.

Sub-award data is collected through the FFATA Sub-award Reporting System (FSRS) at

https:llwww.fsrs.govI. Because there is a federal-wide system for this purpose, HHS does

not capture sub-award data. However, our grantees and contractors are responsible for

submitting sub-award data to FSRS. HHS issued grants policy guidance on recipient sub

award reporting to FSRS effective October 2010. From an acquisition standpoint, HHS will

comply fully with any Federal Acquisition Regulation guidance on this matter.

For grants data, HHS has developed preliminary metrics for measuring the accuracy,

completeness, and timeliness of data. However, per OMB memoranda, HHS is waiting for

additional guidance on appropriate metrics and evaluation of USASpending.gov data.

For contract data, HHS conducted an independent verification and validation of its FY10

FPDS-NG data. This statistically reliable analysis assessed the accuracy of nearly 90

contract data elements, resulting in a 92.5% (+ / - 5%) overall accuracy rate. HHS' annual

Data Quality Report was submitted to OMB on December 28, 2010.

(19) l/your agency interacts directly w USASpending.gov, in addition to submittingin/ormation to the systems that feed USASpending.gov, describe the nature, frequency,

and purposes o/that interaction.

HHS receives e-mail notifications from USASpending.gov and OMB on an ad hoc basis to

inform agencies about grants changes to Data Submission and Validation Tool (DSVT)

business rules that can impact agency data submission.

From a contract data reporting standpoint, DCIS interfaces with FPDS-NG which in-turn

feeds USASpending.gov.

HHS participates actively on an OMB Inter-Agency Workgroup on Open Government Data

Quality and on the FPDS-NG work groups and configuration management board.

(20) Describe the data quality controls and procedures thatyour agency hasimplementedfor in/ormation that is submitted to USASpending.gov, includingin/ormation submitteddirectly and in/ormation submitted to one 0/ he systems that

feed USASpending.gov.

HHS' financial data quality control efforts and procedures are described in its Open

Government Financial Data Quality Plan, which is available at:

http://www.hhs.gov/open/plan/opengovernmentplan/financialdataqualityplan.pdf. HHS

data quality controls are also described in other internal guidance documents such as the

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (lUIS)



Tracking Accountability in Government Grants Data Quality Plan and the annual FPDS-NG

data quality report.

For grant and acquisition-related data, HHS focuses on six dimensions of data quality

within the TAGGS and DC IS to ensure consistency of Federal Spending Information

submitted to USASpending.gov, with similar data reported through other venues: accuracy,

completeness, validity, reliability, timeliness, and relevance. HHS works across the

Department's agencies and in partnership with OMB and GSA to trouble-shoot data quality

inconsistencies for spending data reported to USASpending.gov and other transparency

sites.

(21) State whether all ofyour agency's current grants, contracts and loans areaccurately reflected on USASpending.gov, and, ifnot estimate the percentage ofcurrent

grants, contracts and loans that are not accurately reflected using both the number oftransactions and dollar figures.

As described in the HHS Open Government Plan and the related Financial Data Quality Plan,

HHS' current grant and contract award information is accurately reflected, but does not

reflect the full scope of HHS' financial assistance portfolio. HHS has made significant

progress in narrowing gaps for other assistance reporting. As an example, HHS is working

to mitigate known data gaps for HRSA's loan repayment programs.

(22) State whetheryour agency incurs any reporting burdens or costs as a result of tsobligations under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act ("FFATA ")

that it does not incur as a result ofother reporting obligations, and estimate thoseburdens and costs in worker-hours & dollars.

In general, the automated and manual processes that occur to report financial data in

compliance with the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (FFATA) do not

result in an additional burden from other management and reporting activities of the

Department. As a result of the Open Government Directive, HHS invested approximately

$2M of FY10 and FY11 funds in TAGGS and DCIS to support data quality improvement

efforts and related system enhancements. Over time these investments are expected to

reduce the need for manual data calls as well as rework associated with data corrections

and other administrative burdens.

(23) Identify the individual(s) who servers) as Senior Accountable Officials ("SAO")over federal spending data quality for your agency, as identified by OMB.

HHS' Senior Accountable Official over HHS' financial data quality is Ellen G. Murray, the

Department's Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources.

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External System

Being F ~ ~

-",

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (IllIS)

Committee on Oversight and Government ReformResponse to Questions 3

Finandal Accounting jAutomated Feed Manual Feed (YIN)

System Center (YIN, or N/A) (I f yes, s h o ~ desalptlon

(From of method. E.g., manually

Question #1) s

.-.J key-ed in )

Attachment 1

Frequency of Input 1

(e.g. Weekly,

monthly, quarterly,

annuallY.}?

I IFACTS I (Treasu!:'l) I CDC N IManually' keyed in Annually -L UFMS FDA N -!Manuall ' i k e t Annually_---

r - - IHS r- N jManUall ke}'ed in _ Annually -PSC N l Manually keyed in I Annually--

I!Automated- !

HIGLAS

1CMS V - I Annually - -

NBS NIH N Manually keyed In ! Annually

I I I I I I

fAClSJm,·.,·",1 I - I N VLBul k fi Ie tra nsfer Q l , I i l . . ! ~ ! __UFMS FDA N Manually ke}'ed in __ Quarterly --

- I - - - - - I p ~ ~ --i

N M a n u a l l y y e d inI-

Quarterl.,.

V ( p a V Manuallv Keved in I Quarterly

-ICMS I lv, Manually keyed from

IIGLAS V (partial) Quarterly

Ian adjusted automated

I , IACTS II tr ial b a l a n c i- -N Bs-INIH I V N/A i Quarterly

I I I I I~ ~ ( T r e a s u r } ' ) ___ CDC ! N/A - - - - - - 1-__ ! ! ~ ~ . ' : ! L ____- - - - - - - -1---- - -- - - - ,

- UFMS FDA ' N/A N/A I Qua rterlL ______-IHS N/A N/A I Q!l arterly____

PSC N V, Data input keyed in

Treasury's Goal System

Quarterly

I HIGLAS IHIGLASI

IManuall Y keyedi Quarterly__

I INBS INIH N Manually keyed In I Quarterly

I I I I I IMAX (OMB) !CDC

IN

,V, Manually keyed and I As required

excel ~ l o a d IUFMS FDA N Manu'!.!Ly keyed in i Annually

i -- - - - - ----- IHS N n u a l l ' i y e d 1n I-AnnuallY---N/A

--IpSC N/A

HIGLAS IHIGLAS I N a l l y e d in I Annually__

NBS NIH I N Manually keyed in , As Required

I I I ! I ISF 224 Process CDC

IN 1-y1a n y ke}'ed in. I M o n t h ___

J ! . . ! . u r ___ £.I?A N _ y keyed in ___ t h I Y __

IHS ' - - - - - I ~ : ~ ~ : H ~ + : ~ ~ - - , - - - - ~ : ~ ~ ~ t ~ - - - -SC I

IHIGLAS IHIGLAS I N

Ia n ua 1I'i!<eyed i n

I

Monthly1--i--- IBS NIH N Manually keyed in Monthly

,

F A A D S J ~ n S u s ) _ _ _ i _ CDC N/A N/A

I

N/A

UFMS FDA N/A N/A N/A----IHS N/A N/A N/A

PSC N V nongrants data only , Quarterly

HIGLAS ICMSI

N/ A IN/A

IN/A

NBS V I QuarterlyIH N/A

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Documents

HHS Response