It is not surprising that there is a flurry at the end of a FY. The finance types usually hold back money until the end of the year to see how things are going. A word of caution for DoD actions. In almost every DoD appropriation act, there is a prohibition on spending more than 20% of your O&M funds in the last two months.

Bob, I concur with Kennedy, except that a large proportion of the year end requirements are not "priority 3" for my organization. O&M funded maintenance and repair projects get funded at the last minute, when the Using Command balances its financial records and finds the money. They are all valid needs. Anyone witnessing the condition of military facilities can attest to the needs. True, they often fall below payroll and mission operations in priority for O&M funding.

Military Construction Projects get awarded at the end of the year to demonstrate execution for future year funding. These are all high priority projects. They have generally been rushed through design and acquisition cycles to beat the end of the FY directives to execute. Happy Sails!

By bob antonio on Friday, May 5, 2000 - 12:37 pm:

Kennedy:

Thanks. I was surprised by the extent of the concentration of actions in the last month. These were only actions and not amounts.

By Kennedy How on Friday, May 5, 2000 - 10:40 am:

Bob,

It's kind of like Use or Lose leave, those who have the maximum have a pile to use at the end of the calendar year. They save it, just in case.

As long as the agency has the needs out there, but are Priority 3+ types (nice to haves, but let's not buy it now, in case we need that money for something current or ongoing), then I don't see a problem. It's better than turning the money back, and trying to get it back in some other year. This is the game that everybody seems to play; spend the money, because if you turn it back, the next year, you get less, because you didn't show a need for all you got last year.

In my experience, the funding types have come by to ask us if we need money to do anything. This money is in our budget, not earmarked for any specific project, but just general mission support money. If we had programs that needed funding, and there is a contract available with the appropriate Scope of Work, then we might jump on it. Otherwise, it goes somewhere else.

We MIPR money back and forth (to GSA, or somebody sends it to us for a local contract), for whatever project we need to obligate contract funds for.

Kennedy

By bob antonio on Friday, May 5, 2000 - 09:24 am:

About 20 to 25 percent of an agency's contract actions involving the obligation/deobligation of funds occurred during the last month of a fiscal year. Nearly all were to obligate funds and not to deobligate funds.

Interestingly, the agency lit up GSA's multiple award schedule contracts during that month.

Any thoughts?