NASA Procedural Requirements

NPR 9630.1A Effective Date: February 01, 2024 Expiration Date: February 01, 2029

Subject: Accounts Payable and Disbursements

Responsible Office: Office of the Chief Financial Officer

Chapter 1. General Accounts Payable and Disbursing Requirements

1.1 Overview

NASA is required to maintain accurate accounts payable balances in accordance with the regulations and timeframes prescribed by this NPR. This NPR sets forth the requirements for NASA to follow regarding the recognition, recording, and reporting of payables, as well as coordinating the timely disbursement of payments via the Treasury BFS. The provisions of this chapter are designed to supplement existing regulations bearing on the subjects covered herein and do not relieve the Center Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) or NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) personnel from compliance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Department of the Treasury, and other applicable Federal regulations.

1.2 Roles and Responsibilities

1.2.1 The NASA Administrator has delegated authority to the Agency CFOs designated representative, the Agency Deputy Chief Financial Officer for Finance (DCFO(F)), to establish NASA payment certification and payment scheduling functions required by the Department of the Treasury.

1.2.2 The Agency DCFO(F) has re-delegated payment certification and scheduling authority to the NSSC Executive Director who in turn shall designate officials at NSSC to perform SPS Data Entry Operator (DEO) functions with the Department of the Treasury.

1.2.3 NASA Agency, Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) is responsible for:

a. Developing, maintaining, and issuing financial management policies for accounts payable and disbursements, including prompt payment regulation requirements and foreign disbursement policy.

b. Coordinating and monitoring the processes and systems used to process, record, and report accounts payable and disbursements.

c. Maintaining metrics to track progress in meeting prompt payment requirements.

d. Monitoring late payments and interest penalties incurred.

e. Reviewing and monitoring the CMP control activity data provided by NASA Centers and the NSSC.

f. Performing quality control reviews to confirm controls are effective and processes are efficient. Additionally, ensuring internal reviews of payment performance and system accuracy are conducted.

g. Ensuring adequate internal controls are in place, to include those limiting access to electronically transmitted data and establishing/maintaining appropriate separation of duties.

h. Providing guidance on reports to GAO regarding physical loss/deficiency of funds and requests for relief.

i. Designating a person responsible for reporting to GAO physical loss/deficiency of funds and requests for relief.

1.2.4 The Director, Financial Policy Division, Agency OCFO, is designated to render written advice on questions involving the propriety of a payment.

1.2.5 NASA Center OCFOs are responsible for:

a. Performing and submitting CMP activities in accordance with the current CMP manual.

b. Identifying and monitoring accounts payable recognized against valid obligations in cancelled (closed) appropriation accounts to ensure that all payments are consistent with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-11, Preparation, Submission, and Execution of the Budget (08/15/2022) and the Limitations on Expending and Obligating Amounts, 31 U.S.C. § 1341. Refer to Section 2.5, Accounts Payable in Closed Appropriation Accounts.

c. Processing goods receipt information in NASA’s core financial system.

d. Ensuring invoices are, funded and costed, as needed, to avoid late payment penalties.

e. Providing Contracting Officers assistance, as needed, to ensure a payment is proper. This may include demonstration, documentation, or providing audit reports and evaluations that validate the systems, controls, and other methods used to process transactions and verify payments. Ensuring documentation is readily available for review by procurement personnel, auditors, NASA Headquarters, and Centers’ financial management personnel.

1.2.6 Agency and Center Financial Managers are responsible for ensuring adequate financial internal controls are in place to ensure appropriate separation of duties, limit access to financial data based on user need, and other internal controls to mitigate risk to the Agency.

1.2.7 The NSSC Financial Management Services Division shall:

a. Ensure Certifying Officers (COs) are informed of their responsibilities and liabilities before they begin certifying disbursements.

b. Ensure DEOs are informed of their responsibilities before they begin entering disbursement transactions.

c. Perform voucher examination and payment services including assembling, reviewing, processing, recording, reporting, and reconciling commercial and Government invoices in accordance with the Prompt Payment Act (PPA).

d. Process and schedule disbursements for all NASA Centers accurately within established timeframes and maintain accurate disbursement documentation as required in Prompt Payment – Required Documentation, 5 CFR § 1315.9, and NASA policies and procedures.

e. Take action to prevent late payments and interest penalties.

f. Perform and document required CMP control activities.

g. Comply with State Department, Treasury BFS, and Kansas City Finance Center (KFC) requirements concerning international payments.

h. Follow the Treasury BFS payment procedures.

i. Ensure Intragovernmental Payment and Collection (IPAC) payments to Federal agencies are in accordance with NASA and Treasury’s procedures for IPAC.

Note: When IPAC is integrated with the Treasury G-Invoicing, IPAC fund settlement will be accomplished though integration with G-Invoicing. G-Invoicing is a long-term solution for Federal Program Agencies to manage their intragovernmental Buy/Sell transactions and improve the quality of intragovernmental data.

j. Abide by other regulations and business rules established by the Treasury, GSA, or OMB that affect disbursement activities.

k. Provide Treasury BFS the necessary information at the transaction level to allow Treasury to process payments and collections and to maintain the accurate status of NASA appropriation and fund accounts.

l. Submit waiver requests for waiver to specific provisions of these requirements to the Agency CFO and DCFO(F) or their designee for consideration. Such requests should identify the specific requirement, state the reason for the request, the period of time to be covered by the waiver, and any documentation in support of the request.

1.2.8 Applications and Platform Services (APS) shall:

a. Implement system requests relating to accounts payable and disbursing functions in accordance with established schedules.

b. Ensure the financial management system provides up-to-date, reliable, useful, complete, and consistent financial management information in accordance with OMB Circular A-123, Appendix D, Management of Financial Management Systems – Risk and Compliance (12/23/2022).

c. Post Treasury’s confirmations and resolve issues with posting Treasury’s confirmations.

1.2.9 NASA Center receiving offices or other responsible offices will complete inspection reports, receiving reports, and/or certifications in accordance with the requirements in this NPR.

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