Headquarter, Department of the Army RESOURCE MANAGEMENT "2005 - Serving Today's Army for a Better Tomorrow"

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TO THE SECRETARY

105 ARMY PENTAGON

WASHINGTON DC 20310-0105

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JDRS-PBD 23 Jan 97

RSG MEMO 97-04

MEMORANDUM FOR PRINCIPAL DEPUTIES OF HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

SUBJECT: Minutes of the 16 December 1996 Meeting of the HQDA Resource Support Group (RSG)

1. The HQDA Operating Agency 22 (OA22) RSG meeting convened on 16 Dec 96; a list of attendees is at encl 1. The RSG was co-chaired by Mr. Joel B. Hudson, Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army and COL Daniel J. Sullivan, Director of Management. The purpose/goals of the RSG follow:

1. To provide impacts of the FY97 funding letter and address the budget execution strategy for the fiscal year.
2. To address miscellaneous resource issues; finance and accounting consolidation, VSIP/VERA, Defense Civilian Payroll System (DCPS), sexual harassment task force costs.

2. The RSG briefing was conducted by Ms. Ada Mason, Chief, Program Analysis and Fund Control Branch, Program and Budget Division, Resource Services-Washington (RS-W).
3. Ms. Mason reviewed the FY97 funding letter and other issues. Highlights follow:

1. ABO / OA22 FY97 Funding Letter Milestones (Chart 4): This chart depicted the current funding letter process and milestones. Ms. Mason highlighted that all ABO and OA22 milestones had been met and emphasized that the 6 Jan 97 suspense for activities to submit their updated obligation plans to OA22 was extremely important for activities to meet since ABO's suspense for MACOM obligation plans is 10 Jan 97.
2. FY97 Funding Audit (Chart 5): This chart depicted the FY97 OA22 funding profile, starting with the President's budget position to the funding letter. Ms. Mason highlighted the impact of the funding letter net reduction of $131.66M as a result of Bosnia burdensharing, unspecified reductions, specific cuts / additions / transfers; funding letter reductions were offset with the addition of $202.48M in paid unfinanced requirements. Paid UFRs were primarily Army-wide Open Allotments and Centrally Managed Accounts.
3. Withholds / Restorals (Chart 6): Ms. Mason explained the difference between the two withholds applied to OA22 and the possible restoral of these withholds. The fourth quarter withhold was applied to the DFAS bill and OA22 expects full restoral from the Army Budget Office. The Bosnia withhold of $62.762M was applied to various major program accounts with the strategy of minimizing the impact on small activities and spreading the withhold to large programs that have a history of late execution or the possibility of savings during the year of execution. OA22 expects 71% of the withhold to be restored by the Army Budget Office and that percentage was reflected in the funding letter guidance; however, families were cautioned that the 71% Bosnia withhold restoral in the funding letter is for planning purposes only since the exact date of restoral is unknown. The remaining 29% of the Bosnia restoral ($18.02M) is totally at risk. All withholds were applied only after close coordination with the Army Budget Office and the functional proponent of the effected account.
4. Unspecified Reduction Tax (Chart 7): This chart illustrated how OA22 derived the 5.56% unspecified tax that was applied to all nonexempt programs. Ms. Mason highlighted that if it had not been for exempted programs, the tax to OA22 families would have been closer to 10%. Recent comments from the field indicate that other MACOMs felt that they were taxed to pay for OA22 bills (i.e., the exempt programs); however, the funding letter approach had adopted an "up front" funding strategy to pay these "must-pay" Army-wide bills at the beginning of the fiscal year instead of waiting to address them as significant UFRs at mid-year.
5. Final Funding Letter Impacts (Chart 8): This chart provides a summary of all funding letter issues to include congressional specific cuts, transfers, increases and unspecified cuts. The Pentagon renovation decrement represented a $59.1M transfer to OSD. The $2.2M Military Training decrement was a transfer to TRADOC. The $35.2M UFR decrement stub was OA22's contribution to pay the Army's UFRs.
6. FY97 Funding Audits (Charts 9,10,11): The next three charts highlighted the funding letter impacts by functional proponent on Army open allotments / centrally managed accounts, and family high visibility programs and operational accounts. The charts depicted the President Budget position, FY97 Required, and Final FY97 Funding Letter impacts. Ms. Mason highlighted that Civilian Pay for operational accounts is funded at 100% of workyears but was levied the 5.56% tax. Families can pay for the tax, however, with hire lag or family cross-leveling. However, families should be cautious in hiring up to 100% in FY97 based on the possible impact of HQDA Redesign in FY98.
7. FY97 Budget Execution (Chart 12): Ms. Mason reviewed the strategy for FY97 budget execution, highlighting that families should maintain the same strategy as last year by planning to live within the adjusted targets, maximizing resources, and maximizing cross leveling within families. Additionally, she cautioned the participants that families should not incur any additional Bosnia related expenses without prior written requirement validation and, if possible, receipt of a MIPR from USAREUR. This is in response to lessons learned from last year and was consistent with the Army Funding Letter guidance.
8. Other Issues (Chart 13): Several other resource issues were addressed:

1. DAO Consolidation and Transfer Update: The DAO move to the Rome NY OPLOC has been changed to the Indianapolis OPLOC with the same targeted effective date. It is felt that the 1 Feb date is unrealistic and a 30 to 60 day extension of the implementation is being pursued.
2. VSIP / VERA: The intent is to have the guidance for the non-SES VSIP / VERA out to the families soon, with a Jan 97 application window. The RSG was cautioned that 100% approval is not guaranteed and that the longer the delay in approval the more the families would have to fund out of pocket. There was a question asked about the criteria for VSIP / VERA such as the length of time the vacancy would have to remain open. One of the reasons for the VSIP / VERA is to target the significant reductions for 98 and out; therefore, vacancies might have to be kept open longer than one year.
3. DCPS: We continue to make progress with DCPS and RSG members were asked to have families keep the OA22 DCPS Office aware of any problems.
4. Sexual Harassment Costs: Some OA22 agencies are incurring unprogrammed costs for actions such as TDY, communications, ADP and contractual costs relating to the Army Sexual Harassment issue. Following consultation with the Army Budget Office, it was determined that the best opportunity for reimbursement is to consolidate these costs as a MACOM and submit a request for Army Leadership Reserve funds. Families were asked to submit their costs in support of this mission to OA22 NLT 17 Dec 96.
5. Obligation Plans and FY97 UFRs: Ms. Mason reminded everyone of the obligation plan suspense and that we plan to access execution vs. obligation plans in future RSGs. Additionally, when evaluating their programs for UFRs, families should remember that ABO has already funded all the UFRs they will or can fund and that ABO is under less pressure to address larger bills at mid-year due to full funding of the exempt programs.
6. Mid-Year Review and next RSG: OA22 plans to conduct a mid-year review in March and all family POCs are encouraged to participate. The next RSG is tentatively scheduled for mid-Apr 97.

5. Summary (Chart 14): Ms. Mason summarized the briefing:

1. OA22 fared well during the Funding Letter process; we were successful in receiving $202M for paid unfinanced requirements, and the overall tax to the families was significantly suppressed due to the $1.1B in exempted programs.
2. The continuing uncertainty about Bosnia might require a mid-year adjustment.
3. The goal is to follow last year's successful process and to keep family principals, as well as the various activities within the families, informed of the issues discussed in this forum. The meeting adjourned at 1105 hours.

<Original Signed>

ROBERT JAWORSKI

Director

Resource Services-Washington

CF:

Mr Hudson

COL Sullivan

LIST OF ATTENDEES

Administrative Assistant Mr. Hudson (Co-Chair)

Director of Management COL Sullivan (Co-Chair)

ACSIM Mike McCarley

Pat Parker

AG Steve Spratts

Diane Randon

ASA(CW) Ruth Huff

ASA(FM&C) COL Hugh B. Tant, III

Brenda Tyson

Dorris Hood

ASA(IL&E) Kathryn A. Condon

Yvonne Thompson

ASA(M&RA) Debbie Billington

Betty Carter

ASA(RDA) COL Dean Ertwine

Jacqueline Banks

Rosalind Popp

DACH LTC James W. Daniels, Jr.

DCSINT

DCSLOG Don Morris

DCSOPS LTC Jack Bednar

Judy Harris

DCSPER COL Jim Murray

DISC4 LTC Levon Anderson

William Miller

IG COL Dick Evans

Teresa Sandstrom

TSG Linda Ressler

JAG LTC Leroy Bryant

OCE Harry D. Painton

OCLL

OCPA COL Tom Hansen

Verna Williams

Marcia Perryman

OCSA CPT Gordon Weed

OGC

OSA/OUSA Bob Claude

Clara Vinson

DUSA-IA LTC Cleve McGaughy

SAAA Robert Jaworski

LTC Bob Poncin

Joan Wilson

Karon Hendrickson

Marjorie Salamone

MAJ Barry Hendricks

SADBU COL Schweppe

IMCEN Bob Maxwell

ABO CMD ANALYST

ENCL 1