Fiscal Year-End Execution and Three Competing Requests
You are the budget analyst for a 600-person training command with a $14.2 million operations and maintenance account. With 21 days left in the fiscal year, execution is at 88 percent. The supply officer submits a $310,000 request for furniture for a new classroom that will not be occupied until 1 February of the next fiscal year. The training director wants to fund a $95,000 contract for an instructor conference to be held next fiscal year. A battalion requests $48,000 to repair a failed HVAC system in a barracks housing 120 soldiers; the system failed last week and temporary heaters are costing $1,800 per week. The resource manager reminds you of the command's 98 percent execution target, the prohibition on anti-deficiency violations, and the requirement that obligations be for bona fide needs of the current fiscal year. The commander wants a funding decision by close of business tomorrow.
1. Which requests do you fund, defer, or deny, and on what legal and programmatic reasoning?
Read the worked answer
I would fund the HVAC repair and defer the other two.
- HVAC, $48,000: This is a current-year operating necessity. The failure occurred this year, soldiers are in the facility, and temporary heaters are accruing $1,800 weekly. The need exists in the current year, so the bona fide need rule is satisfied. Fund it now, but confirm whether the work is real-property repair or equipment maintenance and charge the correct appropriation and subaccount. If the amount exceeds the available subaccount, reprioritize within the same purpose.
- Furniture, $310,000: The classroom is not occupied until 1 February next year. The need is a next-year requirement; obligating current-year O&M now would be an advance obligation for a future need. Deny with a next-year unfunded requirement submission, and check GSA excess or existing furniture before buying new.
- Conference, $95,000: The conference occurs next fiscal year, so it is not a bona fide need of this year. Defer to next year's funds. Do not use current-year money to reserve the contract.
The 98 percent target is a management metric, not authority to obligate improperly. Document each decision in the budget file.
2. What do you write to the supply officer and training director, and what alternatives do you offer?
Read the worked answer
Use separate, factual memoranda that cite the rule and offer a path, not a brush-off.
To the supply officer:
- State the request is deferred because the classroom is not required until 1 February and the current-year appropriation cannot be used for a next-year need.
- Offer three alternatives: submit the requirement in the next-year budget build; check GSA excess and existing inventory; if the furniture is needed for a current-year class or inspection, provide the date and justification and we will re-evaluate.
- Ask for a revised requirement package by a specific date.
To the training director:
- State the conference contract cannot be funded with current-year O&M because performance is next year.
- Offer to put it on the next-year spend plan and to identify a current-year training need if one exists.
- Warn against splitting or pre-obligating the requirement.
Copy the resource manager. Keep the tone collaborative: here is the rule, here is what I can do. The goal is to protect the command from an anti-deficiency finding while keeping valid requirements moving.
3. The commander says to find a way to reach 98 percent and hints that the furniture could be delivered early. What do you do?
Read the worked answer
I would not arrange early delivery to create a current-year need. That converts a future requirement into a manufactured one and is exactly the pattern auditors test.
Actions:
- Tell the commander privately and in writing that the furniture and conference fail the bona fide need test; early delivery would not cure the defect and could create an anti-deficiency violation.
- Present a legitimate path to improve execution: review the current-year unfunded list for valid needs, such as the HVAC repair, consumables, current-year contract performance, and maintenance backlog; validate obligations already recorded; deobligate invalid balances.
- Set a realistic projection. If the command may finish below 98 percent, report that with the reason rather than chase the metric.
- Offer a same-week execution review board with the resource manager and supply officer.
- Document the commander's direction and my advice in the budget file.
The judgment is to protect the commander from a bad decision, not to win the argument. Put the risk in writing and give alternatives.