GSA Administrator

March 22, 2011 The Honorable Darrell Issa Chairman Committee on Oversight and Government Reform House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter responds to your inquiry dated March 8, 2011, requesting information regarding the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) electronic systems 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. The enclosure provides detailed responses to each of your requests on GSA business, accounting, and contracting systems. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Staff inquiries may be directed to Mr. Rodney Emery, Associate Administrator, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. He can be reached at (202) 501-0563. Sincerely,

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Martha Johnson Administrator Enclosure cc: The Honorable Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

U.S. General Services Administration

1275 Fi rst Street, N E Washington, DC 20417 www.gsa.gov

GSA Administrator

March 22, 2011 The Honorable Todd R. Platts Chairman, Subcommittee on Government Organization, Efficiency, and Financial Management Committee on Oversight and Government Reform House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter responds to your inquiry dated March 8, 2011, requesting information regarding the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) electronic systems 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. The enclosure provides detailed responses to each of your requests on GSA business, accounting, and contracting systems. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Staff inquiries may be directed to Mr. Rodney Emery, Associate Administrator, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. He can be reached at (202) 501-0563. Sincerely,

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Martha Johnson Administrator Enclosure

u.s. General Services Administration

1275 Fi rst Street, N E Washington, DC 20417 www.gsa.gov

GSA Administrator

March 22, 2011 The Honorable Jim Jordan Chairman, Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending Committee on Oversight and Government Reform House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter responds to your inquiry dated March 8, 2011, requesting information regarding the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) electronic systems 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. The enclosure provides detailed responses to each of your requests on GSA business, accounting, and contracting systems. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Staff inquiries may be directed to Mr. Rodney Emery, Associate Administrator, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. He can be reached at (202) 501-0563. Sincerely,

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Administrator Enclosure

u.s. General Services Administration

1275 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20417 www.gsa.gov

GSA Administrator

March 22, 2011 The Honorable James Lankford Chairman, Subcommittee on Technology. Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform Committee on Oversight and Government Reform House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter responds to your inquiry dated March 8, 2011, requesting information regarding the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) electronic systems 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. The enclosure provides detailed responses to each of your requests on GSA business, accounting, and contracting systems. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Staff inquiries may be directed to Mr. Rodney Emery, Associate Administrator, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs. He can be reached at (202) 501-0563. Sincerely,

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Administrator Enclosure

u.s. General Services Administration

1275 First Street, NE Washington, DC 20417 www.gsa.gov

This letter responds to your request dated March 8, 2011, requesting information regarding the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) electronic systems 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.

Request No.1: Identify and briefly describe each of your agency's business and accounting systems. If separate divisions, bureaus, or offices of your agency use separate systems, identify which divisions, bureaus, or offices use each system. GSA Response: The GSA core financial management and accounting system of record (Pegasys) is Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) CGI Momentum Financials software. GSA also has a legacy mainframe system (NEAR) that provides accounts receivable information. The following administrative, business, and acquisition systems transmit financial data to Pegasys and NEAR: Administrative Systems The payroll system transmits to Pegasys payroll data through a batch interface. The travel system transmits to Pegasys travel financial data though a near realtime interface. Business Systems The Fleet Management System transmits to Pegasys financial and asset information on Federal Government fleet vehicles through a real-time interface. The System for Tracking and Administering Real Property transmits to Pegasys financial data on federal buildings and leases of real property through a batch interface. The Inventory Reporting Information System transmits to Pegasys financial data on federal buildings and property management through a batch interface. The Reimbursable Work Authorization Entry and Tracking Application transmits to NEAR financial data on reimbursable work on buildings and building inventory through a direct database link. The Utility Payment Processing System transmits to Pegasys utility payment data through a batch interface. The Telecommunications Ordering and Pricing System transmits to Pegasys financial data on telecommunications activity through a batch interface. The Customer Supply Center System transmits to Pegasys financial data on Global Supply activity through a batch interface. Acquisition Systems The Federal Supply System-19 (FSS-19) transmits to Pegasys financial data on Federal Acquisition Service activity through a batch interface.

The National Business Application and Regional Business Application transmit to Pegasys financial data on assisted acquisitions and Government-Wide IT Acquisition Contracts (GWACs) through a batch interface. The Requisitioning, Ordering, and Documentation System transmits to Pegasys financial data on fleet vehicle activity through a batch interface. The Comprizon Suite Enterprise Acquisition System manages contracts for the construction, renovation, and operations and maintenance of GSA Federal buildings. Contract actions are manually entered into Pegasys.

Request NO.2: Explain how the business and accounting systems identified in response to Request No. 1 interact with one another. GSA Response: See response to Request No.1. Request NO.3: For each system identified in response to Request No.1, state whether information found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any of the government-wide accounting systems maintained by the Department of the Treasury, e.g., GFRS, FACTS I, FACTS II, IFCS, etc., and explain how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions of both manual and automated processes. GSA Response: All GSA financial and accounting information transmitted to the Department of Treasury accounting systems comes from Pegasys, the core financial management system, or NtAR, the accounts receivable system. Pegasys provides the accounting and financial information for the quarterly submissions to FACTS II, IFCS, and IRAS, annual submissions to FACTS I and GFRS, and monthly SF-224 submissions through Governmentwide Accounting and Reporting. The required information is compiled in spreadsheets and transmitted to Treasury through manual entry or bulk file transmission into the respective Treasury system. NEAR provides the accounting and financial information for the quarterly submissions to the Treasury TROR web application. The required information is compiled in spreadsheets and transmitted to Treasury through manual entry into TROR. Request NO.4: For each system identified in response to Request No.1, state whether information found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to the Office of Management and Budget's ("0MB") MAX Information System, and explain how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions of both automated and manual processes. GSA Response: The OMB MAX information system is automatically populated with agency financial data through FACTS II. FACTS II transmits agency submissions for the fourth quarter when they are received. FACTS II transmits data at the Treasury account level, and GSA manually enters detailed data. MAX edit checks ensure that detailed data reconcile to FACTS II transmissions.

Request NO.5: For each system identified in response to Request No.1, describe recent, current, and planned migration or modernization projects. GSA Response: Pegasys is the GSA core financial management and accounting system of record, and NEAR is a legacy accounts receivable system. The GSA Billing and Accounts Receivable (BAAR) project is implementing accounts receivable and billing modules in Pegasys in three phases. Implementation of the final phase will complete the consolidation of GSA accounting processes into a single, integrated core financial management system (Pegasys) and will allow GSA to retire NEAR. The scheduled completion date of the first phase is July 2011, implementing accounts receivable, billing, and collection functions for motor vehicles leased to other Federal agencies through the Federal Acquisition Service and rent bills for Federal tenants of space provided by the Public Buildings Service. Request NO.6: In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide accounting systems maintained by the Department of Treasury and OMB, as described in response to Requests Nos. 3 and 4, does your agency publish any of the same information online for public viewing? If so, describe how and in what format that information is published. GSA Response: GSA publishes an annual Agency Financial Report (AFR) that includes its annual consolidated financial statements and accompanying footnotes. The AFR also provides the required annual Improper Payments Information Act reporting. The AFR is posted on the GSA website at www.gsa.gov/annualreport and is available in HTML or in a printable format as a PDF file. GSA provides weekly reports of financial activity in its Recovery Act appropriations at http://www.gsa.gov/portal/contentl103571 and also on Recovery.gov, at link: http://www. recovery.govlT ransparency/agency/reporting/agency reporting 1.aspx?agen cy code=47. GSA provides summary statistics on cash and payments management data, including total number and dollar amount of invoices paid, on Data.gov, at link: http://www.data.gov/raw/1439. Question NO.7: Identify and briefly describe each system that your agency uses to manage grants, direct loans, and/or loan guarantees. If separate divisions, bureaus, or offices of your agency use separate systems, identify which divisions, bureaus, or offices use each system. GSA Response: GSA does not manage grants, loans, or loan guarantees, and therefore, has no grant, loan, or loan guarantee systems.

Request NO.8: For each system identified in response to Request No.7, explain how it interacts with any business or accounting system identified in response to Request No. 1. GSA Response: Not applicable; see response to Request NO.7. Request NO.9: For each system identified in response to Request No.7, state whether information found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA), and describe how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions of both automated and manual processes. GSA Response: Not applicable; see response to Request NO.7. Request No. 10: For each system identified in response to Request No.7, state whether information found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any of the government-wide grants management and reporting systems, e.g., FAADS, FAADS PLUS, etc., and describe how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions of both automated and manual processes. GSA Response: Not applicable; see response to Request NO.7. Request No. 11: For each system identified in response to Request No.7, describe recent, current, and planned migration or modernization projects. GSA Response: Not applicable; see response to Request NO.7. Request No. 12: In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide grants management and reporting systems, described in response to Requests Nos. 9 and 10, does your agency publish any of the same information online for public viewing? If so, describe how and in what format that information is published. GSA Response: Not applicable; see response to Request NO.7. Request No. 13: Identify and briefly describe each system that your agency uses to manage contracts. If separate divisions, bureaus, or offices of your agency use separate systems, identify which divisions, bureaus, or offices use each system. GSA Response: See response to Request No.1.

Request No. 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 Request No.1. GSA Response: See response to Request No.1. Request No. 15: For each system identified in response to Request No. 13, state whether information found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any of the government-wide contract management and reporting systems, e.g., FPDS, FPDSNG,FAPIIS, etc., and describe how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions of both automated and manual processes. GSA Response: GSA reports all contract actions greater than $3,500 to the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). The Federal Supply System-19 (FSS-19) transmits Federal Acquisition Service contract data to FPDS automatically, on a per-transaction basis and in real time. FSS-19 transmits order data (agency purchases against GSA multiple award contracts) through batch processing. The National Business Application and Regional Business Application transmit contract data on assisted acquisitions and GWACs directly to FPDS automatically, on a per-transaction basis and in real time. GSA uses a web service to complete transactions in FPDS and to validate the data. The Requisitioning, Ordering, and Documentation System (ROADS) transmits fleet vehicle contract data to FPDS through FSS-19. ROADS transmits data to FSS-19 daily, and FSS-19 transmits to FPDS immediately. The Comprizon Suite Enterprise Acquisition System transmits Federal buildings contract data to FPDS automatically, on a per-transaction basis and in real time. GSA uses a web service to complete transactions in FPDS and to validate the data. The System for Tracking and Administering Real Property (STAR) is not a contract system, but transmits data on leases of real property to FPDS through a separate web interface built specifically for that purpose. Some multi-year telecommunications contracts and all contracts for GSA-internal use are manually entered into FPDS.

GSA does not enter contract information into the Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System (FAPIIS). GSA reports Terminations for Default and Cause through the Past Performance Information Retrieval System (PPIRS), which is automatically transmitted to FAPIIS.

Request No. 16: For each system identified in response to Request No. 13, describe recent, current, and planned migration or modernization projects. GSA Response: GSA is modernizing the FSS-19 System to bring it into compliance with current system design and to integrate ordering processes with customer supply chain requirements and procurement systems. Request No. 17: In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide contract management and reporting systems, described in response to Request No. 15, does your agency publish any of the same information online for public viewing? If so, describe how and in what format that information is published. GSA Response: Pre-award information on GSA contract actions is made available as solicitations, which are published at www.FedBizOpps.gov. Contract terms and conditions of GSA Multiple Award Schedules (MAS) are publicly available on the GSA eLibrary at link: http://www.gsaelibrarv.gsa.gov/ElibMain/home.do. GSA Advantage!, GSA's on-line ordering system, provides all catalog information, pricing, and the availability of products and services on GSA MAS, GWACS, and other multiple-award contracts; it can be accessed at link: www.GSAAdvantage.gov. Request No. 18: Briefly describe your agency's efforts to comply with OMB's memorandum on the Open Government Directive - Federal Spending Transparency, dated April 6, 2010. In particular, describe whether and how your agency has begun to collect and report sub-award data, as required by the memorandum, and describe how your agency's reports on OMB's data quality metrics, as required by the memorandum, are generated. GSA Response: Sub-award Data: GSA requires all prime contractors to report prime and sub-award data to the Federal Subcontract Award Reporting System (FSRS) for all prime awards of $25,000 or more. Contractor reporting does not begin until the prime contractor awards the first sub-contract award. All contractors are required to certify the accuracy of their FSRS reporting. GSA Contracting Officers review contractor reports on a quarterly basis and inform contractors of any inconsistencies in the data. In the event of an inconsistency, GSA requires the contractor to correct the report or provide an explanation as to why the contractor believes the information reported is correct. The results are documented in the Contracting Officer's contract file.

Data Quality Reporting: GSA collects FPDS data quality metrics through the data validation process described in the response to Request No. 20. GSA conducts multiple levels of testing through statistical sampling to regularly assess the accuracy and completeness of GSA contract data in FPDS. Results are used to identify corrective actions to improve data quality, but also produce useful metrics for reporting. Request No. 19: If your agency interacts directly with USASpending.gov, in addition to submitting information to the systems that feed USASpending.gov, describe the nature, frequency, and purposes of that interaction. GSA Response: GSA does not interact directly with USASpending.gov. GSA enters all contract data into FPDS. USASpending.gov pulls contracts data from FPDS through an interface. Request No. 20: Describe the data quality controls and procedures that your agency has implemented for information that is submitted to USASpending.gov, including information submitted directly and information submitted to one of the systems that feeds USASpending.gov. GSA Response: GSA has established internal controls and procedures to assure the quality of data submitted to FPDS. Because all GSA data in USASpending.gov is fed from FPDS, these controls effectively cover both systems. GSA has policies in place that require each contracting activity to establish formal data quality plans for FPDS contracting data. GSA data quality plans document internal controls to ensure completeness and accuracy, including a review process for the validation of each FPDS contract action against original information in the contract file and a quarterly certification of the condition of FPDS data by the head of the contracting activity. In addition, all heads of contracting activities are required to ensure that all personnel entering data into FPDS are appropriately trained, and to assign a functional coordinator for FPDS data quality activities. GSA relies on the following controls and procedures to ensure FPDS data quality: Internal data verification edit checks built into the FPDS system help assure data quality. FPDS performs front-end validation on contracts data as it is submitted. FPDS applies hundreds of data validation rules to agency submissions and rejects submissions that do not pass edits. FPDS data validation rules are publicly available at link: https://www.fpds.gov/fpdsng/index.php/worksite. For contract actions transmitted to FPDS on a per-transaction basis (e.g., not batch upload), the Contracting Officer must review and approve each FPDS Contract Action Report for accuracy and completeness before award of the contract action. For all contract actions (including batch upload), GSA reviews variance exception reports to identify and correct anomalies. In addition, each GSA contracting activity conducts a quarterly review of contract files, which includes ensuring that all data elements for each FPDS action are

validated against the original contract file. Contracts are selected for review based on statistical sampling. GSA also reviews FPDS data for accuracy as part of the annual Procurement Management Review process. The PMR team verifies that contract data have been loaded completely and accurately into FPDS as a part of more comprehensive reviews to ensure the integrity of GSA acquisition processes. Contracts are selected for review using risk-based sampling, focusing on weaknesses identified in prior-year reviews. The head of each contracting activity must certify the quality of FPDS data each quarter, and GSA's Senior Procurement Executive certifies FPDS data quality annually.

Request No. 21: State whether all of your agency's current grants, contracts, and loans are accurately reflected on USASpending.gov, and, if not, estimate the percentage of current grants, contracts, and loans that are not accurately reflected, using both the number of transactions and dollar figures. GSA Response: GSA's FY 2010 FPDS Data Quality Report determined that 93.8 percent of FY 2010 contracts data had been entered into FPDS and that the data associated with those reports was 96 percent accurate (+/-3.1 %). As of September 30, 2010, GSA had reported 809,365 contract actions in FPDS, with total obligations valued at over $15,615 million. GSA reviewed 340 contracts, the number necessary to meet a 95 percent confidence level. GSA does not manage grants or loans, and therefore, does not submit grant or loan information to USASpending.gov. Request No. 22: State whether your agency incurs any reporting burdens or costs as a result of its obligations under the Federal Financial Assistance Transparency Act ("FFATA") that it does not incur as a result of other reporting obligations, and estimate those burdens and costs in worker-hours and dollars. GSA Response: GSA has not identified any significant costs that can be attributed directly to FFATA compliance. Most FFATA requirements are met using existing processes and systems. Sub-contract award reporting is performed by prime contractors. Request No. 23: Identify the individual(s) who serve(s) as Senior Accountable Official(s) ("SAO") over federal spending data quality for your agency, as defined by OMB. GSA Response: Ms. Alison L. Doone, Chief Financial Officer, serves as GSA's SAO.