Arizona Asset Protection News

Act Of 1990 Act Places Specific Responsibility For Developing And Maintaining Effective Financial Systems With The Chief Financial Officers In Federal Agencies

The Core Financial System Requirements document, first issued January 1988. This most recent update reflects changes in laws and regulations, such as the Debt Collection Improvement Act, and also adds requirements for two functions, Budget Execution and Working Capital/Revolving Fund.  Also, some of the existing requirements have been clarified.

These requirements remain the basis for the Federal government to test compliance of commercially based, core financial software. During Fiscal Year 1999, the JFMIPs new Program Management Office (PMO) will develop a new testing and qualification process, directly linking tests back to these requirements. Also, we will separate out the testing/qualification process from the acquisition phase of the software selection process in place in the current General Services Administration (GSA) Financial Management Systems Software (FMSS) Schedule processes.

This document should be used in conjunction with JFMIPs recently established WEB based electronic repository, called the Knowledgebase. 

These requirements will form the major portion of the Knowledgebase.  In addition, technical and vendor support requirements are included in the Knowledgebase. They are comprised of internal controls, security, year 2000, training, documentation and other requirements. The Knowledgebase will feature ongoing comment capability, for both agencies and vendors, including the ability to comment on proposed requirements prior to their establishment.

The Core Financial System Requirements document lists mandatory requirements, which must be satisfied by any software prior to it being qualified for use by Federal agencies.  The Knowledgebase also lists other requirements, called value added.  The value added requirements will be used to gather information from vendors about technical and functional software capabilities that agencies may find useful but which are not necessary to be satisfied to obtain qualification. The PMO testing and certification process does not include value-added requirements. 

The Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990 Act places specific responsibility for developing and maintaining effective financial systems with the Chief Financial Officers in Federal agencies. This update to the Core Financial System Requirements, along with the establishment of the JFMIP PMO and the Knowledgebase, demonstrate the commitment of the CFO community to continually improve Federal financial systems.

We appreciate their support, and thank the Chief Financial Officers Council Financial Systems Committee, the Office of Management and Budget, the General Accounting Office, the GSA, and other agencies who participated in reviewing and providing comments on improving the requirements document. 

Contact a Arizona Asset Protection lawyer today and get a free consultation!

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