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United State.

Department of
~ u l t u r e
Office ofille Chief
Financial OffIcer
1400lndependenca
Avenue,SW
washington, DC
20250
USDA
21 I
MAR 23 2011
The Honorable Darrell E. Issa
Chainnan
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U,S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Thank you for your letter of March 8, 2011, inquiring about the United States Department
of Agriculture's (USDA's) financial management systems. USDA strives to use the most
modem electronic systems when conducting business. Enclosed is a document that
answers all 23 of the questions concerning the operation of our financial management
systems. It also has been provided to Congressmen Todd R. Platts, James Lankford,
Jim Jordan, and Elijah E. Cummings.
If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me at (202) 720-0727.
Sincerely,
Jon M. Holladay
Deputy Chief Financial Officer
Enclosure
United States
Department 01
~ c u l t u r e
Office 01 the Chief
Financlal Officer
1400lndepsndence
Avenue,SW
Washington, DC
20250
MAR 2S lOll
The Honorable James Lankford
Chairman
Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy,
Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
509 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Thank you for your letter of March 8, 2011, inquiring about the United States Department
of Agriculture's (USDA's) financial management systems. USDA strives to use the most
modern electronic systems when conducting business. Enclosed is a document that
answers all 23 of the questions concerning the operation of our financial management
systems. It also has been provided to Congressmen Darrell E. Issa, Todd R. Platts,
Jim Jordan, and Elijah E. Cummings.
If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me at (202) 720-0727.
cerely,
?Yl.h
Jon M. Holladay
Deputy Chief Financial Officer
Enclosure
Unned Siaies
Departmenl of
\culture
Offioe of the Chief
FinanciaJ Officer
1400 Independenoe
Avenue,SW
Washington, DC
20250
USDA
"'? I I
MAR 2 3 2011
The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings
Ranking Minority Member
Committee on Oversight and Government Refonn
U.S. House of Representatives
2235 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Congressman Cummings:
Thank you for your letter of March 8, 2011, inquiring about the United States Department
of Agriculture's (USDA's) financial management systems. USDA strives to use the most
modern electronic systems when conducting business. Enclosed is a document that
answers all 23 of the questions concerning the operation of our fmancial management
systems. It also has been provided to Congressmen Darrell E. Issa, Todd R. Platts,
James Lankford, and Jim Jordan.
If you have further questions, please feel free to me at (202) 720-0727.
Sincerely,
Jon M. Holladay
Deputy Chief Financial Officer
Enclosure
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPtDVER
United States
Department of
Iculture
Office of the Chief
Financial Officer
1400 Independence
Avenue,SW
Washington, DC
20250
MAR 2 3 2011
The Honorable Jim Jordan
Chairman
Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight
and Government Spending
U.S. House of Representatives
1524 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Thank you for your letter of March 8, 2011, inqniring about the United States Department
of Agriculture's (USDA's) financial management systems. USDA strives to use the most
modem electronic systems when conducting business. Enclosed is a document that
answers all 23 of the questions concerning the operation of our financial management
systems. It also has been provided to Congressmen Darrell E. Issa, Todd R. Platts,
James Lankford, and Elijah E. Cummings.
If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me at (202) 720-0727.
Sincerely,
~ ~ ? J 1 .
Jon M. Holladay
Deputy Chief Financial Officer
Enclosure
AN EOl.W. OPPORl1JNITY EMPlO'fER
United States
P.oartment of
1culture
Office of the Chief
Financial Officer
1400 Independence
Avenue,SW
Washington, DC
20250
MAR 23 2011
The Honorable Todd Russell Platts
Chairman
Subcommittee on Government, Organization, Efficiency
and Financial Management
U.S. House of Representatives
2455 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Mr. Chairman:
Thank you for your letter of March 8, 2011, inquiring about the United States Department
of Agriculture's (USDA's) financial management systems. USDA strives to use the most
modern electronic systems when conducting business. Enclosed is a document that
answers all 23 ofthe questions concerning the operation of our financial management
systems. It also has been provided to Congressmen Darrell E. Issa, James Lankford,
Jim Jordan, and Elijah E. Cummings.
If you have further questions, please feel free to contact me at (202) 720-0727.
Sincerely,
Jon M. Holladay
Deputy Chief Financial Officer
Enclosure
USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
USDA's Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) responds to the queries put forward by the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform as follows:
I. 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.
The Corporate Financial Management System is the legacy mainframe integrated financial
. management system for USDA. This system provides financial management and program support to
USDA and its agencies including general ledger, treasury reporting, budgetary funds control, accounts
payable, accounts receivable, disbursing, and financial management reporting. Currently this system is
managing the finances of 5 of29 USDA organizations untilthey are transferred to the Financial
Management Modernization Initiative (FMMI) system in FY20I2:
Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) - Transferring to FMMI in FY201I;
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) - Transferring to FM!\1I in
FY2011;
Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) - Transferring to
FMMI in FY20 11;
Forest Service (FS) - Transferring to FMMI in FY2012; and
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) - Transferring to FMMI in FY2012.
Financial Management Modernization
Initiative
Through the Financial Management Modernization Initiative (FMMI); OCFO is replacing the
Department's legacy core components of the Corporate Financial Management System. FMMI
provides online, real-time transaction processing capability. Through real-time transaction
processing and updates, including immediate budget updating, users and managers can access
the most up-to-date information for an accurate view of available funds, and greatly improved
management information and reporting. Currently this system is managing the finances of 24 of
29 USDA organizations:
Departmental Management
(DM)
National Appeals Division
(NAD)
Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Civil Rights
(OASCR)
1
Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
(CNPP)
Economics Research Service (ERS)
Foreign Agricultural Service (F AS)
Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)
Farm Service Agency (FSA)










USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
Office of Budget and Program
Analysis (OBPA)
Office ofthe Chief Economist
(OCE)
Office of the Chief Financial
Officer (OCFO)
Office of the Chief
Information Officer (OCIO)
Office of Communications
(OC)
Office of Congressional
Relations (OCR)
Office of Environmental
Markets (OEIvI)
Office of the Executive
Secretariat (OES)
Office of the Inspector
General (OIG)
Office of the General Counsel
(OGC)
Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS)
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
(NlFA)
Risk Management Agency (RMA)
Rural Development (RD)
USDA Business
The Integrated Acquisition System (IAS) composed of Oracle, the Paramater-elevation
. Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (pRISM), and iProcurement software, in addition to
interconnections with the Corporate Financial Management System, FMMI, Federal
Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG), and Enterprise Content Manager
(ECM), provides integrated financial and contract management functions, ensuring compliance
with Federal acquisition requirements.
Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Management System (CREEMS) is a grants
management system that allows for NIF A's creation of awards to grantees, i.e., similar to that
of a procurement system - Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS-NG). Funds are allocated
in CREEMS so that we can track funds based on projects and Treasury Symbols; however, it
does not process payments.
Business &
The Automated Multi-Housing Accounting System (AMAS) is a mainframe legacy system
providing automation support to Rural Development (RD) Multi-Family Housing loan
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USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
programs. This support includes automated processes for all loan closing and servicing actions
including calculating and applying rental assistance and case application; recording all General
Ledger activity; providing program funds control for these specific programs; and meeting
required financial reporting. AMAS also provides and tracks grant and tenant voucher activity.
The Commercial Loan Servicing System (CLSS) is a mission-critical system and was built to
modernize loan servicing and program management activities in support of Rural Utilities
Service (RUS) loan and grant programs. It is being designed and developed as a Web-enabled
system running in a server environment that will allow the retirement ofthe mainframe RUS-
Legacy systems supporting these programs. The retirement of the RUS-Legacy systems is part
ofthe Comprehensive Loan Program (CLP) initiative.
Rural Utilities Service - RD
Rural Utilities Service - Legacy (RUS-Legacy) is a legacy mainframe system that continues to
provide automation support to agency utility programs, This system, which dates back to the
Rural Electrification Administration, is targeted for retirement under the CLP modernization
initiative.
The Guaranteed Loan System (GLS) is supported by the Lender Interactive Network
Connection (LINC) for the exchange of data electronically with lenders. GLS is a mission-
critical system for RD and FSA, which serves rural America by supplying farmers,
homeowners, communities, and businesses with grants, direct loans, and guaranteed loans from
commercial lending institutions. GLS allows the two agencies to meet their strategic, financial,
and operational goals and objectives of managing the rapidly expanding guaranteed loan
portfolio for both agencies and the direct loans and grants for Rural Development Business
Programs and Community Facilities.
Dedicated Loan Origination and Servicing
The Dedicated Loan Origination and Servicing System (DLOS) is used by Rural Development'
for originating and servicing loans. This system is designed to expedite loan making,
standardize information collection and record keeping, and facilitate communication between
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USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
the county offices and the central servicing center. Financial information about the loans is
stored in the Program Loan Accounting System ..
The Program Loan Accounting System (PLAS) is the general ledger supporting more than 30
multi-billion dollar loan and grant programs for insured, direct, and guaranteed loans. RD plans
to migrate off the PLAS platform migrating financial applications into FMMI and other loan
and grant applications as part of the Consolidated Loan Program initiative.
This Financial Management System-State & County Office Automation Project is used to
administer all farm programs including: Average Crop Revenue Election, Biomass Crop
Assistance, Emergency Conservation, Electronic Direct/Counter Cyclical, Emergency Forestry
Restoration, Emergency Forestry Conservation Reserve, Grassland Reserve, Livestock
Assistance, Livestock Forage, Livestock Indemnity, Noninsured Assistance, Loan Deficiency,
Conservation Reserve, Direct/Counter Cyclical, Direct payment for Disasters, Tree Assistance
& Tobacco Transition Payment.
Financial Management System provides for the collection of premium and payment of
indemnities via Approved Insurance Providers (AlPs) to and from American farmers and
ranchers. Most payments go to AIPs who pay farmers and ranchers directly for indemnities. In
addition, the system provides for adequate regulatory review of data from the AlPs to maintain
compliance and integrity of the crop insurance system.
General Sales Manager Export Credit
Foreign Agricultural Service
(FAS), FSA, Commodity
Business
General Sales Manager (GSM) supports CCC Export Credit Guarantee Programs "Export
Credit Guarantee" (GSMI02), "Intermediate Credit Guarantee" (GSMI03), "Facility
Guarantee Program" (FGP), and "Supplier Credit Guarantee Program" (SCGP). It tracks the
agreement between the U.S. exporter, the U.S. financial institution, the foreign banks and the
foreign importers to sell, export, buy, finance and pay for U.S. commodities exported to
countries participating in CCC's Export Credit Guarantee Programs and obligates the funds to
support the guarantee. This system is used by die F AS, and FSA supporting CCC operations.
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USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
The Automated Public Law 480 Umbrella System (APLUS) was developed to support the
Public Law 480 Title I and Title III Programs. The system supports FAS and FSA by providing
users an on-line method to enter, update, extract data for current and planned budgets, original,
amended and rescheduled agreements, purchase authorizations and sales, which includes letters
of commitments and vessel approvals, disbursements for commodities and ocean
transportation, collections of repayments of principal, interest, and transportation finances, and
lack of payment penalties. The on-line system also allows the user to enter, update, and extract
data for reference files to perform month-end-closes, to update credit reform data, to update
APLUS service requests, and to obtain collection data loads.
Data Warehouse Information
System/Financial Management
Business &
Data Warehouse InformationlData Warehouse Reporting provides producers with immediate
online access to their payments and collections data, including Intemal Revenue Service
reportable records.
Automated Cotton Reporting System (ACRS) activities consist of Cotton Price Support
Program Loans that CCC disburses through commerchil banks to approved Cotton Marketing
Associations (CMA) and Loan Servicing Agents (LSA). Major business functions include:
Record activity for price support activity disbursed to CMAs and LSAs;
Reconcile fund transfer activity with bale-detail price support transactions;
Record general ledger entries into CCC's CORE accounting system;
Resolve errors and reconcile price support registers with CCC accounts;
Maintain a central file system of bale detail records by crop year and by transaction;
and
Receive and report IRS reportable data to producers, and provides on-line inquiry and
ad hoc reporting capabilities.
Business &
Processed Commodity Inventory Management System (PCIMS) is a highly complex data
management system that integrates data and business functions across the three agencies. This
on-linelbatch system tracks domestic and export commodity requests against purchases and
distributions from inventory, Annually, PCIMS is utilized to acquire, track, and distribute over
$2 billion of commodities for domestic and export food aid programs. Additionally, more than
$1 billion of price support commodities have been tracked and maintained in inventory using
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USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
the system. WBSCM will replace the PCIMS systems in FY 20 11.
The Conservation Reserve Program system supports FSA's mission to deliver services to
farmers involving environmental qna1ity, conservation of natural resources, emergency
conservation, land use, and rural development by managing contracts and payments between
the producers and FSA.
The Cotton Domestic UserlExporter Marketing Certificate system (CUMC) is an integrated
online and batch database originally created to support a provision of the 1990 Fann Bill. The
system records infonnation and provides payments to cotton exporters and domestic mill users
of cotton who are eligible participants engaged in purchasing or exporting cotton.
The Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) CORE system is part of a Commercial Off-The-
Shelf (COTS) general ledger package that uti"lizes data from several other accounting
applications. Data from the CCC CORE are used by several areas, including Congress, for
budgeting and reporting purposes.
. Business &
The Integrated Program Accounting System (IP AS) is the primary infonnation management
system for the fmancial management ofFNS program and administrative funds. The major
subsystems comprising IP AS. support the following four major financial functions:
Program Accounting - provides for FNS accountability for expenditure of Federal
Government funds;
Program Management - provides for definition of program goals and requirements for
Federal funding;
Grants Management - provides for administration of program grants; and
Food Program Administration - provides for administration of person mil compensation
and benefits for FNS staff and handles all FNSoperating expenses.
The Incident Business Systems (mS) is a set of applications used by the Budget & Finance and
Fire & Aviation communities. ms consists of the Aviation Business System (ABS) with the
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USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
Aviation Disconnected Client feature and the Incident Business Database (IBDB). Together,
these applications combine to streamline the collection of financial data from the field. They
also automate the Incident Business payment process at the Forest Service's Albuquerque
Service Center CASC).
FSA CORE FSA
The FSA CORE system utilizes data from several other accounting applications. It also
provides data to applications. Data from the FSAlCCC CORE are used by several areas,
including those in Congress, for budgeting and reporting purposes.
The Direct Loan System (DLS) consists of three Web-based applications that provide field
offices the ability to process loan applications using the Loan Making Web application. These
applications also service loans using the Loan Servicing and Special Servicing Web
applications. The Web applications interface with the Automated Discrepancy Processing
System (ADPS) subsystem in the Program Loan Accounting System (PLAS) on the mainframe
to process the fmancial aspects of creating, obligating, and maintaining direct loans to
borrowers. The Farm Loan Programs Information Delivery System Datamart (FLPIDS DM) is
a component ofDLS that provides a reporting repository for all Farm Loan Programs systems.
The customer profile and customer management are additional components that allow for
managing customer information.
Business
The Web Based Supply Chain Management system will replace the aging Processed
Commodity Inventory Management System (PCIMS) and related systems. It will also
streamline USDA agency supply chain operations, and USAID and FAS commodity-focused
missions. This system will improve the procurement, delivery, and management of more than
200 commodities and 4.5 million tons offood through domestic and foreign feeding programs
operated by USDA throughout the world.
The Program Contracts System is a web-enabled application used to manage NRCS
conservation program applications, cost share contracts, and program fund management.
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USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
2. Explain how the business and accounting systems identified in response to Request No.1 interact
with one another.
The Integrated Acquisition System exchanges real-time detailed financial information with the
corporate general ledger systems. The remaining systems provide periodic asynchronous files
with summary financial information directly to the corporate general ledger systems, or
indirectly through agency general ledger systems. The corporate general ledger systems
consolidate the financial information from all sources and generate the reports provided to the
government-wide accounting systems maintained by the Department of the Treasury.
3. For each system identified in response to Request No.1, state whether Information is 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., the Governmentwide Financial Reporting
System (GFRS), Federal Agencies"Centralized Trial-Balance System (FACTS) I, FACTS II,
Intragovernmental Fiduciary Confirmation System (IFCS), etc., and explain how and at what intervals
those submissions occur, including descriptions of both manual and automated processes.
Information from the Corporate Financial Management System, Financial Management
Modernization Initiative (FNIMI), Integrated Program Accounting System (IP AS), Program
Loan Accounting System (PLAS), and CORE Accounting Systems identified in response to
Request No. 1 are submitted to the government-wide accounting systems maintained by
Treasury listed below:
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USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
System Information Process Interval
lntragovernmental Agency Trial Balance Text file Quarterly
Reporting and Analysis
System
lntragovernmental Agency Trial Balance Manual entry Quarterly
Fiduciary Confirmation
System
FACTS II Agency Trial Balance Bulk file/manual entry Quarterly
GFRS Agency Trial Balance Manual entry Annually
FACTS I Agency Trial Balance Bulk file/manual entry Annually
4. For each system i<ientified in response to Request No.1, state whether infonnation found in that
system is regularly or periodically submitted to the Office of Management and Budget's ("OMBn)
MAX Infonnation System, and explain how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including
descriptions of both automated and manual processes.
Infonnation from the Corporate Financial Management System, Financial Management
Modernization Initiative (FMMJ), Integrated Program Accounting System (IP AS), Program
Loan Accounting System (PLAS), and CORE Accounting Systems identified in response to
Request No.1 are extracted from the FACTS II transmission files by OMB's Max Infonnation
System. FACTS II files are submitted quarterly.
5. For each system identified in response to Request No.1, describe recent, current, and planned
migration or modernization projects.
The systems below have been, or are being, modernized.
system was upgraded to replace the loans processed by the legacy
farm loan systems operating on obsolete hardware. Atthe same time, the
. system's internal data validation processes were enhanced to improve financial
___.____ __.__ ... __.. _____ _._ _ ____ .. .. __ . .syst_<:tll
Guaranteed
loan System
, FSA, RD As part of the currently underway Consolidated Loan Program Initiative, this
; system will be upgraded to service the guaranteed loans currently in the
, Automated Multi-Housing Accounting System or in the Program Loan Accounting
________ ._ _______ _____ _ .. ;. Sys!e_
tll
:. ________ . _______..__ . __.______ .. _ ... -_. . .......... --_ .. _---_._--._--------_ ... -- .. __ ._- ....... -.-. -.. ..---,
Dedicated . RD
Loan
Origination
_ ___ _
Rural Utilities
Service legacy
. RD
_ System _____ ._ .. __. __._ ..... __
, As part of the currently underway Consolidated Loan Program initiative, this
, system will be upgraded to service the non-guaranteed loans currently in the
Automated Multi-Housing Accounting System or in the Program loan Accounting
____ .. _ ..... ______________ .. _ .. _______________ _
: As part of the currently underway Consolidated Loan Program initiative, the
: programs supported by this system will be migrated to the Commercial Loan
____ _____________________________ "
Automated RD . As part of the currently underway Consolidated loan Program initiative, the
Multi-Housing , programs supported by this system will be migrated to the Guaranteed Loan
, Accounting ; System, the Dedicated loan Origination System, and the Commercial Loan
__ . __ .. __ ______ _________________________________ __
"Commercial ; RD ; As part ofthe currently underway Consolidated Loan Program initiative, this
loan Servicing system will be upgraded to service the loans currently processed by the Rural
. Utilities _____________________ _
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USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
--_ .. _-----,-_._._-_ .. __ ._.
Program Loan
Accounting
System
FSA, RD : As part of the currently underway Consolidated Loan Program initiative, the
programs supported by this system will be migrated to the Guaranteed Loan
System, the Dedicated Loan Origination System, and the Commercial Loan
Servicing System. The accounting functions are planned to be supported by the
.. _ ...... _ .. _. __ . ___ .. _: .. system. _ .. _ ........... _ ..
Commodity
Credit
Corporation
Core
Accounting
CCC This system is planned to be migrated to the current Financial Management
. Modernization Initiative system.
.. syste"'--_ ...... ...... _ ......... L ......... _ .. ___ .. _ .. _ .......................... _ ..................... ___ ... _ ......................................... .
Farm Service
, Agency Core
FSA . This system is planned to be migrated to the current Financial Management
Modernization Initiative system.
Accounting
...._ ....................... _ ....... .
State and ' FSA, CCC . This system is planned to be replaced by the MIDAS system (Modernize and
County Office Innovate the Delivery of Agricultural Systems).
Automation
.. ar'n....... . ......._ ............... _._ .......... _ ...... _ ................ _ .......................... _ ...... __ ....................... __ ......... __ ......... _ ............... .
Financial
Management
Modernization
Initiative
USDA . This system is currently replacing the Corporate Financial Management System,
is planned to replace the Program Loan Accounting System's General Ledger, the
: Commodity Credit Corporation Core Accounting System, and is planned to
replace the Program Loan Accounting System, the Commodity Credit Corporation
.... _ .. _ ........... __ ._. __ .. _ .... .. . ... . ... _... ...... .. .. ____ ... _ .. .
Corporate
Financial
Management
USDA This system is currently being migrated to the Financial Management
Modernization Initiative system.
.. ................................ _ .. _______ ... _.._ ...... __ ........... _._ ............... . ___ ___ ,_. _________ ._ __ ____ ---_ 0,_ __ 1
Financial RMA
Management
System
Integrated
Acquisition
System
, Processed
Commodity
Inventory
Management
USDA
FSA, FAS,
AMS,
FNS, CCC
: This system is planned to be migrated to the planned Enterprise Program
: Accounting System.
In 2010 this system was migrated to a new virtualized hardware platform with
upgraded security capabilities. lAS has upgraded the PRISM component in FYll,
, Quarter 1 to version 6.5. lAS Oracle database upgrade to version 11g is planned
, for April 201L lAS Oracle e .. Business suite to be upgraded to version R12 in July
2011. These upgrades are requiredto continue improvements to the lAS users' .
, experience while ensuring the safety and security of its acquisition data. Without:
.. aylo.se .. ..duetosecllrityfil1di.ngs, ....... .
Controls processed commodity inventory used by FSA FNS AMS and FAS. To be
replaced by WEBSCM (see below).
..... _ ... _...... .... ........ . ....... ____ ..... _ .......................................... _ .. ___ ................................ _ ..... _ .......... _ ... _ ..
Web Based . FSA, FAS, ! WEBSCM will replace the aging Processed Commodity Inventory Management
. Supply Chain AMS, , System (PCIMS) and related systems. It will also streamline USDA agency supply
. Management FNS, CCC ' chain operations, and USAID and FAS commodity-focused missions. This system
, System will improve the procurement,.delivery, and management of more than 200
. commodities and 4.5 million tons offood through domestic and foreign feeding
..... __ ............................... _ .............. .. .... _... .. _. ___ _
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USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
6. In addition to your agency's submissions to government-wide accounting systems maintained by the
Department ofthe 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? lfso, describe how and in what
format that information is published.
USDA publishes fmancial statements and USDA performance data in the annual Performance
and Accountability Report on its Web site at http://www.ocfo.usda.gov/usdarpt/usdarpt.htm.
USDA data are compiled to create an extract based on the F AADS PLUS data file format. This
extract is produced bi-weekly by agencies, and contains F AADS, FF AT A and American
Reinvestment and Recovery Act CARRA) information, which is then transmitted to OCFO. The
F AADS data are held and transmitted quarterly to the Bureau of Census. The FF AT A and
ARRA data are transmitted to OMB bi-weekly as a single file. OMB then posts the data to
USAspending.gov.
Farm Program Payments information and Federal Cost of School Food Program Data are
posted to www.data.gov. Federal Cost of School Food Program Data provide a summary of all
the FNS School Food Program combined into one dataset. They contain cash payments and
commodity costs for the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and the
Special Milk Program. Farm Program Payments information provides payments made by the
Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency to agricultural producers participating in
Farm Bill programs including commodity, price support, disaster assistance, and conservation.
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.
Program loan
Accounting System
Guarantee Programs
System
Automated Pl-480
Umbrella System
Reporting System
Financial
System-State & County
Office Automation
FAS, FSA, CCC
grants
to exporter or !
programs. Tracks defaults and claims when a foreign obligor defaults on its GSM
obligations to the exporter or assignee.
Accounts for Public Law 480 Title J Program
Processing price support loan transactions Cotton Marketing
Association.
11.
loan
Grant/loan
Loan
loan
loan
Direct Loan System
System
Loan
Origination-System
Education, and
Extension Management
USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
Automates and county making and servicing processes
interfaces with the Program Loan Accounting System (PLAS).
Grants
for conservation programs.
RD As part Program i loan
system will be upgraded to service the nonguaranteed loans currently in the
Automated MultjHousfng Accounting System or in the Program Loan Accounting .
Grants
InstItute of Food to grantee, i.e" similarto that ofa procurement system - Federal Procurement
and Agriculture Data System (FPDS-NG}. Funds are allocated in CREEM$ so that we can track funds
based on not
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.
The systems provide periodic asynchronous files with summary financial information directly
to the corporate general ledger systems, or indirectly through agency general ledger systems.
The corporate general ledger systems consolidate the financial information from all sources and
generate the reports provided to the government-wide accounting systems maintained by the
Department of the Treasury.
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USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
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.
Manual submissions to the CFDA occur as needed when new programs are established, or
annually for revisions to existing programs. To update information in the CFDA, agency users
access CFDA.gov and enter the required data fields following procedures provided by the
General Services Administration .. This data is then routed to OCFO for review and approval.
Once approved it is routed to GSA and OMB to ensure accuracy and completeness before it is
displayed for the public at CFDA.gov.
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, F AADS+, etc., and describe how and at what intervals those
submissions occur, including descriptions of both automated and manual processes.
Commercial loan Servicing System RD Ve, Yes Grant/loan
Program Loan Accounting System FSA, RD Ye, Yes loan
Rural RD Yes Ves
Guaranteed loan System RD, FSA Yes Yes Loan
GSM Export Credit Guarantee FAS, FSA, Ye, Ye,
CCC
PL480 System FAS, FSA, Yes Ye,
CCC
County eee Yes Ye, Loan
Integrated Program Accounting System FNS Yes Yes Grant
Program Contracts System NRC$ Yes Yes Grant
Direct Loan System- FSA Yes Yes. Loan
Dedicated loa!,! RD Yes Yes
Ye,
Management System
13
USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
Data are compiled to create an extract based on the F AADS PLUS data file. This extract is
produced bi-weekly by agencies, and contains F AADS, FF AT A and ARRA information, which
is then transmitted to OCFO. OCFO consolidates the data, then performs data validation checks
for: CFDA, CCRIDUNS; mailing address, zip+4, Congressional district, geographical codes, and
FAADSIFF AT AI ARRA-specific edits. The F AADS data are held and transmitted quarterly to
the Bureau of Census. The FFATA and ARRA data are transmitted to OMB bi-weekly as a
single file. OMB then posts the data to USAspending.gov.
USDA agencies query financial systems to extract data required for the ARRA Weekly
Financial and Activity Report. OCFO compiles the data as a flat file for the Department's
submission to Recovery.gov.
II. For each system identified in response to Request No.7, describe recent, current, and planned
migration or modernization projects.
The table below shows recent, current, and planned migration or modernization projects.
201.0 tt"S system was systems
operating on obsolete hardware. At the same time, the system's internal data vaHdatJon processes .
: were enhanced to Improve financial data quality of information passed tothe Program loan
. ._..__ ______ ___ ____._._., _.,.,. __ __ ,.,........... "" " .... .. __________________ .. _. __ ..... _,._".._ ... _ .._ ........ ___ .
FSA RD : As part of the currently underway Consolidated loan Program initiative, this system will be upgraded
System to service the guaranteed loans currently in the Automated Accounting System or in
the Program loan Accounting System . .

Origination System . to service the non-guaranteed loans currently in the Automated Multi-Housing Accounting System or
in the Program Loan Accounting System .
- Rural 0tl1iiies- "--"-'"R6'---' --As part of the
. Service Legacy
. System
.. _ .. -.--_. __.. _-_._._-_ ... __ .'--------
Automated Multi- RD
this system wi![ be migrated to the Commercial loan Servicing System
As part of the currently underway Consolidated Loan Program initiative, the programs supported by
this system will be migrated to the Guaranteed Loan System, the Dedicated Loan Origination System,
____ ._._ .. _____ . __ .. _ ... ___ ... _._.. __ ._ ....... _._ ...... _. ____________ .... _ .. .
Commercial loan
Servicing System
ProgramLoan
Accounting System
RD : As part of the currently underway Consolidated Loan Program initiative, this system wif[ be upgraded
to service the Joans currently processed by the Rural Utilities Service Legacy System
u n programswpporteti"by- ,
this system will be migrated to the Guaranteed loan System, the Dedicated Loan Origination System,
and the Commercial Loan Servicing System. The accounting functions are planned to be supported by
__ .. __. __ . ___ ... ___ . __ .. ..________ .. .. ____. _____ _____ _
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.
USDA posts a cumulative list of the grants and loans made with ARRA funding on the USDA
Recovery Web site at http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/arra?navid=USDA_ARRA]LAN.
The list includes both the total amount approved and payments made to date, in a Microsoft
Excel format.
14
USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
Fann Program Payments infonnation and Federal Cost of School Food Program Data is posted
to www.data.gov. Federal Cost of School Food Program Data provides a summary of all the
FNS School Food Program combined into one dataset. It contains cash payments and
commodity costs for the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program and the
Spe'cial Milk Program. Fann Program Payments infonnation provides payments made by the
Department of Agriculture, Farm Service Agency to agricultural producers participating in
Fann Bill programs including commodity, price support, disaster assistance and conservation.
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.
The chart below shows the systems and applications used to manage contracts.
Acquisition
System
Processed
Commodity Inv.
Mgmt.Sys.
FSA, CCC, FNS,
FAS, AMS
j USDA Enterprise requisition and acquisition management system with
1 an interface to the Financial Management Modernization Initiative
; (FMMI), the Corporate Financial Management System, and Federal
i Procurement Data System-Next Generation (FPDS-NG).
i Controls processed commodity inventory used by FSA, FNS, AMS, and
j FAS. To be replaced by WEBSCM (see below).
Web Based Supply AMS,FAS,FNS,FSA, . WEBSCM will replace the aging Processed Commodity Inventory
Chain CCC Management System (PCIMS) and related systems. It will also
Management
System
. streamline USDA agency supply chain operations, and USAID and FAS
. commodity-focused missions. This system will improve the
procurement, delivery, and management of more than 200
commodities and 4.5 million tons of food through domestic and
foreign feeding programs operated by USDA throughout the world.
15
USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
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. I.
The Integrated Acquisition System exchanges real-time detailed financial information with the
corporate general ledger systems. The remaining systems provide periodic asynchronous files
with summary fmancial information directly to the corporate general ledgersystems, or
indirectly through agency general ledger systems. The corporate general ledger systems
consolidate the financial information from all sources and generate the reports provided to the
government-wide accounting systems maintained by the Department of the Treasury ..
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., Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS), Federal Procurement Data System
Next Gerieration (FPDS-NG), Federal Awardee Performance and Integrity Information System
(F APIIS), etc., and describe how and at what intervals those submissions occur, including descriptions
of both automated and manual processes.
JAS has a real-time interface with FPDS-NG. When awards are created, lAS provides this
interface to report the award data.
Web Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM), which will replace PCIMS, will
automatically populate some fields in FPDS-NG.
16
USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
CommoditY-purchasing agencies perform quarterly reconciliations between the Processed
Commodity Inventory Management System (pCIMS) and FPDS-NG data. PCIMS data is
entered manually into FPDS-NG weekly.
16. For each system identified in response to RequestNo. 13, describe recent, current, and planned
migration or modernization projects.
Commodity
Inventory
Management
Management
System
AMS,
FAS,
FNS,
FSA,
FAS,
FNS,
FSA,
eec
commodltyi
WEBSCM (see below).
WEBSCM I aging Processed . System
(PCIMS) and related systems. It will also streamline USDA agency supply chain operations,
and USAID and FAS miSSions. ThIS system will improve -the
procurement, delivery, and management of more than 200 commodities and 4.5 million
tons of food through domestic and foreign feeding programs operated by USDA
world.
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.
USDA does not publish any of the same information online for public viewing.
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.
In compliance with the April 6, 20 I 0, directive, and beginning on October 1, 20 I 0, all USDA
grant and cooperative agreement awards to non-individuals that are $25,000 or greater
incorporate the Award Term required by 2 CFR Part 170 (Term language is in Appendix A of
that Part.)
The Prime recipients of these awards carry the responsibility noted in the Award Term to
comply with the 2 CFR Part 170 and FAR Clause 52.204- I 0 reporting requirements for any
subaward that is $25,000 or greater to a non-individual entity. Prime recipients submit
subaward data to the FFATA Subaward Reporting System (FSRS.gov) when the subaward is
$25,000 or greater to a non-individual entity. Ultimately, the subaward information is sent from
FSRS.gov to USAspending.gov for publication.
17
USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
To ease the reporting process, the FSRS.gov record for the Prime award is pre-populated by
data from USAspending.gov. This is the same data that are provided by USDA to
USAspending.gov in the bi-weekly FAADS+ file transmissions. USDA helps Prime recipients
comply with the reporting requirements by providing policy and technical assistance upon
request.
Within the FSRS.gov site; a prime recipient may flag data that they believe is inaccurate. Once
the information has been flagged, the prime recipient must also contact the Agency
Representative identified in their award to notifY him or her about the errors. If necessary,
USDA eitherrevises the flagged data within itsFAADS+ or FPDS-NG datasets, or works with
the recipient for alternative resolution.
USDA has developed data analytics on the subaward data that are run weekly and made
available to its agencies to identifY potential errors and resolve before reporting to the public.
Analytics include checking that major recipients (e.g., states) have reported subawards.
Analytics also include looking for potential errors, such as mismatched recipient locations,
dollar amounts, and award dates,
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.
USDA's FFATA and ARRA data are transmitted to O"MB bi-weekly as a single file. O"MB then
posts the data to USAspending.gov.
20. Describe the data quality controls and procedures that your agency has implemented for
information that is submitted to USAspending.gbV, including information submitted directly and
information submitted to one of the systems that feed USAspending.gov.
USDA's process includes extensive data quality checks. Each award/grant/financial system
has an edit process and generates a bi-weekly file. The Department consolidates the data, then
performs data validation checks for: CFDA, CCRIDUNS, mailing address, zip+4,
Congressional district, geographical codes, and F AADSIFF AT N ARRA-specific edits. O"MB
further validates the records. Any records failing these edits are held for analysis and correction
by the agencies. Errors are tracked until they are resolved. Any errors found by these checks or
O"MB's checks are tracked and sent back to the bureaus for review and correction. In addition,
each bi-weekly submission includes a certification from the bureaus that the data is accurate, or
lists the areas of weakness and planned corrective actions. We are also designing a monthly
reconciliation to our financial reporting system.
18
USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
USDA FAADS/FFATA TRANSMISSION
DATA QUALITY CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
-
FMOS
FAADS
AIlw"
precess-dosed
""""' .....

"""',,
Reeordwrittel'l
10 ttansrrMion
table for each

-...
FMDSIFFATA
--
.appIIadtaeach
""""
"'''''''' ....
--
FFATAmCIlMs
wiittenlO
FFATAWbIEI
.,.,..,
"""'"
A1lva:lid
"""", """"""'" dalaarmrs1'
SQI'IUaOMB
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.
Errors found by either USDA or OMB represent less than one half of one percent of records in
USDA's central database used to feed USAspending.gov. Recent testimony from Ellen Miller,
executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, to the committee indicates that school breakfast
and lunch programs are underreported by approximately $12.5 billion for FY 2009. These
programs are reported for FY 20 II. We are working to correct reporting for previous years.
USDA is designing a monthly reconciliation between our financial reporting system and
USAspending.gov to fully identify, correct and prevent future errors ofthis type from
occurring.
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.
During FY 2007-08, USDA incurred a cost of approximately $1.8 million to develop our
centralized reporting system. An additional $600,000 in annual salary (four full-time
equivalents or approximately 8,320 hours) and operating costs are estimated to meet reporting
needs.
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.
The Senior Accountable Official for the Department is Jon M. Holladay, Deputy Chief
Financial Officer.
19
USDA Electronic Systems, Response to Congress
The officials accountable for spendingdata quality in USDA's Mission Areas are as follows:
Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services (CCC, FSA,FAS, RMA)
Rich T, Valentine
Chief Financial Officer
Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services (FNS)
Steve Butler
Chief Financial Officer
Food Safetv (FSIS)
Michelle Torrusio
Acting Chief Financial Officer
Marketing and Regulatorv Programs (APIDS, AMS, GIPSA)
Laura Mackenzie
Chief Financial Officer
Natural Resources and Environment
Forest Service
Donna M, Carmical
Chief Financial Officer
Natural Resources Conservation Service
David Morris
Acting Chief Financial Officer
Research, Education, and Economics (ARS, ERS, NASS, NIP A)
Robert Magill
Acting Chief Financial Officer
Rural Development
Van Jorstad
Chief Financial Officer
20

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