DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH &.

HUMAN SERVICES
The Honorable Darrell Issa
Chairman
APR 0 3 2011
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairman Issa:
Office of the Secretary
WashIngton, D,C 20201
Thank you for your letter of March 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 have
worked 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
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
(1) Identify and briefly describe each o/your agency's business and accounting
systems. 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), supporting
the 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 lafr I.
(2) Explain how the business and accounting systems identified in response to Request
No.1 interact with one another.
The Department established the Financial Management System Program (FMSP) to provide
central 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 and
strengthened our internal controls.
Additional information is available at the following URL: http://www.hhs.gov lafr I
(3) For each system identified in response to Request No. I, state whether in/ormation
found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any o/the government-
wide accounting systems maintained by the Department 0/ the Treasury, e.g., GFRS,
FACTS I, FACTS II, IFCS, etc., and explain how and at what intervals those submissions
occur, including descriptions 0/ both manual and automated processes.
Please see Attachment 1.
1
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)
Response to Questions by
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
(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 ("OMB'') MAX Information System, and explain how and at what intervals
those submissions occur, including descriptions of both automated and manual
processes.
Information found in HHS' financial management systems (UFMS, HIGLAS, NBS) enters
OMB's MAX system via Treasury, to which HHS electronically transmits 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 of Budget Tools: This project will leverage the already-complete
implementation of budget tools at Food and Drug (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 Retrieval Project: 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 (F ACS)
functionality.
2
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)
Response to Questions by
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
(6) In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide accounting systems
maintained by the Department of the 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.
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 lafr 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
'recoveryupdates@ratb.gov' every Tuesday, as required, and posted on the HHS' website at
http://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 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 office use each
system.
HHS uses, and is the managing partner for, Grants.gov, the federal-wide system to "find and
apply" 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 Institutes 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).
3
DEPARTMENT OF REALm AND HUMAN SERVICES (IllIS)
Response to Questions by
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
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 Health
Services 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 interacts
with 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 information
found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to the Catalog of Federal
Domestic Assistance (CFDA), and describe how and at what intervals those submissions
occur, including descriptions of both 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 information
found in that system is regularly or periodically submitted to any of the govt-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.
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.
4
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)
Response to Questions by
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
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 the
consistency and accuracy of its grants award data.
(11) For each system identified in response to Request No. 71 describe recent
l
current
and planned migration or modernization projects.
ACF's system is undergoing a modernization effort by moving from client-server to web-
based 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
l
described in response to Requests Nos. 9
and 10
1
does your agency publish any of the same information online for public
viewing? If SOl 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. If separate divisions I bureaus
l
or offices of your agency use separate
systems
l
identify which divisions I bureaus
l
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 by
HHS' agencies.
o DCIS creates an HHS-wide database of the collected information, forwards
selected 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.
5
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)
Response to Questions by
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
PRISM is a web-based application that supports the complete acquisition 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 Request
No.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 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,
FPDS-NG, FAPll5, etc., and describe how and at what intervals those submissions
occur, including descriptions of both 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.
6
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)
Response to Questions by
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
(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 currently
working 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 alternative acquisition solutions.
(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.
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.gov Igrants Iservicecontractsfyl O.h tml.
(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.
HHS' Open Government Plan details HHS' Open Government efforts and initiatives, and is
available at: http://www.hhs.gov lopen/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
7
available at:
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)
Response to Questions by
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
http://www.hhs.gov 1 open Iplan 1 opengovernmentplan lfinancialdataq ualityplan.pdf.
Sub-award data is collected through the FFATA Sub-award Reporting System (FSRS) at
https:llwww.fsrs.gov I. 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 jUSASpending.gov, in addition to submitting
in/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 that your agency has
implemented for in/ormation that is submitted to USASpending.gov, including
in/ormation submitted directly and in/ormation submitted to one 0/ the 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
8
DEP ARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (lUIS)
Response to Questions by
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
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 of your agency's current grants, contracts and loans are
accurately reflected on USASpending.gov, and, ifnot estimate the percentage of current
grants, contracts and loans that are not accurately reflected using both the number of
transactions 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 whether your agency incurs any reporting burdens or costs as a result of its
obligations under the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act ("FFATA ")
that it does not incur as a result of other reporting obligations, and estimate those
burdens 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.
9
External System
Being

-",
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (IllIS)
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Response to Questions 3
Finandal Accounting jAutomated Feed Manual Feed (YIN)
System Center (YIN, or N/A) (If yes, 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 I
FACTS I (Treasu!:'l) I CDC N I Manually' keyed in Annually
-
L
UFMS FDA N -!Manuall'i
t
Annually_
---
r- -
IHS
r-
N j ManUall ke}'ed in _ Annually
-
PSC N l Manually keyed in I Annually
--
I
!Automated
-
!
HIGLAS
1
CMS V
-
I
Annually
- -
NBS NIH N Manually keyed In
!
Annually
I I I
I
I I I
f AClSJm,.,",1 I -
I N V LBul k fi Ie tra nsfer __
UFMS FDA N Manually ke}'ed in __ Quarterl y--
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V Manuallv Keved in I
Quarterly
-
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I lv, Manually keyed from
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HIGLAS V (partial) Quarterly
I an adjusted automated
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___ CDC ! N/A

1-__ ____
--------1------- ---,
-
UFMS FDA ' N/A N/A
I Qua rterl L ______
-
IHS N/A N/A
I Q!l arterly ____
PSC N V, Data input keyed in
Treasury's Goal System
Quarterly
I
HIGLAS IHIGLAS
I
IManuall Y keyed
i
Quarterly __
I
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NBS I NIH N Manually keyed In I Quarterly
I I I I I I
MAX (OMB) !CDC
I
N
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V, Manually keyed and
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As required
excel
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UFMS FDA N Manu'!.!Ly keyed in
i Annually
i -
----- -----
IHS N 1n I-Annuall Y
---
N/A
--
IpSC N/A

HIGLAS
I HIGLAS I
N
in
I
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NBS NIH I N Manually keyed in
,
As Required
I I I ! I I
SF 224 Process CDC
I
N 1-fy1 a ke}'ed in. I ___
___ .I?A N _ keyed in ___ __
IHS

PSC I
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HIGLAS
I HIGLAS
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N I Ma n ua 1I'i!<eyed i n
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Monthly
1--
i
---
I NBS NIH N Manually keyed in Monthly
,
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
ICMS
I
N/ A
I N/A
I
N/A
NBS V I Quarterly NIH N/A
10