Which Issues Should AGA’s Intergovernmental Partnership Tackle?

By: Martin Benison, CGFM

Martin Benison, CGFM, a member of AGA’s Greater Boston Chapter, is the controller for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is the state co-chair of AGA’s Partnership for Intergovernmental Management and Accountability, which was created by AGA’s National Executive Committee in September 2007. Opinions expressed here are those of Mr. Benison and do not represent the views of the Partnership.

AGA has established an intergovernmental partnership to foster collaboration among governments and open lines of communication, eliminate duplication and waste, and improve performance and accountability. The Partnership for Intergovernmental Management and Accountability (Partnership) is comprised of high-ranking officials from the federal, state and local governments and higher education. The most fundamental goal of the Partnership is to enhance governments’ ability to effectively and efficiently serve citizens. View the Partnership’s website.

A 16-member Steering Committee governs the Partnership. I serve as the Partnership’s state co-chair and Tom Cooley, CFO of the National Science Foundation, is the federal co-chair.

The Partnership’s initial project was the issuance of the first of an occasional Intergovernmental Alert, which highlights federal initiatives that will have a significant impact on state and local governments. Issued on January 15, 2008, the Alert was emailed to more than 17,000 people and generated an unusually high level of interested among readers. View the Alert.

The Steering Committee also established work groups to implement two additional projects. The members of each work group will be announced shortly and they will begin work within two weeks. Additional information on the work groups is available on the Partnership’s website. In general, the work groups will focus on:

Federal Cost Allocation/Improving Implementation of OMB Circular A-87: This work group will identify how the process for preparing, submitting and negotiating Statewide Cost Allocation Plans in accordance with OMB Circular A-87 can be made more efficient and effective. The group, which is expected to complete its work in 12 months, will identify and prioritize issues or concerns, and provide recommendations for alternative approaches that could enhance implementation of Circular A-87 and provide benefits to all levels of government.

While the scope of the project will be further refined by the work group, possible areas of exploration include:

• Reviewing possible alternative approaches for the federal government to participate in the funding of working capital reserves for infrastructure and shared services arrangements for services such as information technology; and
• Exploring whether there should be a central adjudication process for issues arising between federal awarding agencies and other units of government.

Leveraging the Single Audit/Strategies for Reducing Erroneous Payments: This work group will determine how all levels of government can work smarter to leverage audit resources, including the Single Audit Act Amendments of 1996 (SAA) and the Improper Payments Act of 2002 (IPIA), while improving the usefulness of both acts to improve program integrity and reduce improper payments. SAA and IPIA both involve sampling at the grantee level (state, local, nonprofit organization) to determine whether federal awards were properly expended (the right payment to the right person for the right amount). Currently, these two efforts function independently with limited reliance on each other. The work group, which is expected to complete its work in one year, will strive to develop ways in which the two acts can be coordinated and leveraged to increase reliance between the two efforts and minimize the duplication of work.

Since the work group members have just been appointed and will begin their work within the next two weeks, this is the perfect time to provide them with input. Are you aware of any issues the Partnership should include in its next Intergovernmental Alert? Is there an issue or issues that you have encountered in negotiating or implementing Circular A-87 that should be addressed by the work group? What are some ways in which the SAA and IPIA can be leveraged and better coordinated? What steps can the various levels of government take together to enhance stewardship over taxpayers’ dollars? What are additional projects the Partnership should undertake?

FRIDAY: Is the Sky Really Falling or is the United States Financially Sound? By: Lynda M. Dennis, Ph.D., CPA, CGFO

Questions on posting comments or wish to subscribe to the feed that sends blogs right to your e-mail? Find instructions here. Want to be our guest on the Blog? Contact Marie Force, AGA communications director, at mforce@cox.net.