1909.13,10 Page 1 of 9 FSH 1909.13 - PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND BUDGETING HANDBOOK WO AMENDMENT 1909.13-94-1 EFFECTIVE 9/30/94 CHAPTER 10 - PROGRAM BUDGET FORMULATION 10.4 - Responsibility. (FSM 1904, FSM 1930.4, and FSH 1909.13, sec. 04). 10.41 - Washington Office. 10.41a - Director, Program Development and Budget. It is the responsibility of the Director, Program Development and Budget, through the Branch Chief for Program Planning and Development, to: 1. Establish national processes and procedures for developing program budget information that supports the information needs of the Chief in the development of the Agency's national budget proposals. 2. Appoint the Process Manager to facilitate the development of the agency-wide program budget for a given year. 3. Appoint a Data Manager to facilitate and oversee the data base structure and use of program budget data. In addition, it is the responsibility of the Director, Program Development and Budget, through the Branch Chief for the Washington Office Budget and General Administration, to develop the General Administration portion of the program budget alternatives. 10.41b - Process Manager. It is the responsibility of the Process Manager to: 1. Facilitate the development of the agency-wide program budget for a given year. 2. Incorporate the previous year's direction and critique into the pending year to provide program continuity, eliminate confusion, and strengthen the budget formulation process. 3. Coordinate with the Washington Office, Deputy Area Budget Coordinators to ensure that written instructions are clear, concise, and complete. 4. Coordinate with the Washington Office, Deputy Area Budget Coordinators to ensure that sound budget proposals are formulated. 5. Manage the budget formulation process by responding to questions, resolving process problems, and facilitating meetings. 10.41c - Data Manager. It is the responsibility of the Data Manager to: 1. Ensure that the data base structure accommodates current program development requirements. 2. Provide technical advice and guidance to the Process Manager on the data base structure and on the use of program budget data. 3. Initiate a formal review of reports and coding requirements and lead efforts to develop new reports and forward resulting recommendations to the process manager for consideration and approval. 4. Implement critique suggestions that have been approved by the Process Manager for improving the data management process. 10.41d - Deputy Area Budget Coordinators. It is the responsibility of the Deputy Area Budget Coordinators to provide support to the Process Manager by: 1. Assisting in the development of the program budget formulation instructions. 2. Providing direction and assistance to Washington Office, Staff Directors throughout the program budget formulation process. 3. Reviewing and validating field program budget proposals. 10.42 - Field Units. 10.42a - Regional Foresters, Station Directors, Area Director, and Institute Director. It is the responsibility of the Regional Foresters, Station Directors, Area Director, and Institute Director to: 1. Establish local processes and procedures for developing the program budget within the direction and guidance of the Chief. 2. Meet assigned funding and output constraints and follow established processes for data submission. 3. Use only the codes defined in the National Activity Structure Handbook which pertain to the program budget (FSH 1309.16). 4. Delete any data used in local program development and analysis not requested by the Washington Office prior to submission. 5. Submit data that emphasizes feasible program proposals to be used in developing national budget alternatives. 6. Validate program proposal data prior to submission to the Washington Office, Director Program Development and Budget. 7. Conduct a thorough validation of data, using the current version of the Washington Office definition files and edit routines and correct any errors encountered prior to submission of data. 8. Submit and store the finalized data using the standardized naming conventions contained in the annual instructions. 9. Submit program budget narratives, in addition to data submissions. 10.42b - Forest Supervisors. It is the responsibility of Forest Supervisors to develop the Forest's individual program budget and ensure that it is consistent with Forest land and resource management plans and within the direction and guidance provided by the Regional Forester. 10.5 - Definitions. Activity Code. Activity codes are alpha-numeric labels for an activity or group of activities. Budget Team. Representatives appointed by Washington Office Staff Directors to assist the National Forest System, Deputy Area Budget Coordinator with data validation and development of budget alternatives. Constraints. Limitations of any kind to be considered in planning, scheduling, implementing, or evaluating programs or projects. Fund Code. Fund codes identify the main funding appropriations and primary subsets to facilitate internal Forest Service communication. 10.6 - Process Schedule. See exhibit 01 which details the 18- month Program Budget Formulation process. This process includes steps 1, 2, and part of step 3 (excluding Explanatory Notes) of the 10 Step Annual Budget Cycle (sec. 06.2). 10.6 - Exhibit 01 Program Budget Formulation Process 1. PREPARE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSTRUCTIONS. POSITION(S) DATES RESPONSIBLE ACTION MARCH WO Staff Review existing codes and reports Directors and from prior year instructions. Deputy Area Budget Coordinators (DABC) JUNE Program Reviews the previous year's critique Development and other recommendations to revise and Budget the formulation process. Staff (PD&B) JULY PD&B Sends budget information to Units to assist them in planning for the upcoming program budget year. 2. DEVELOP PROGRAM BUDGET FORMULATION INSTRUCTIONS. POSITION(S) DATES RESPONSIBLE ACTION JULY PD&B Coordinates with Units to review previous year's budget instructions and develops recommendations for change. PD&B Facilitates meetings with the Chief, Deputy Chiefs, Regional Foresters, Station Directors, Area Director, and Institute Director to make key policy decisions. AUGUST DABC Incorporates policy decisions into instructions. PD&B Compiles, reviews, and obtains approval from the Chief on the final instructions. SEPTEMBER PD&B Sends instructions to Units. 10.6 - Exhibit 01--Continued 3. DEVELOP AND VALIDATE NATIONAL DATABASE. POSITION(S) DATES RESPONSIBLE ACTION SEPT - DEC PD&B Negotiates budget instruction changes with Units. FEB - MARCH PD&B Receives data from Units based upon approved changes and validates data prior to processing reports. Coordinates with DABCs to review guidelines for budget development. Processes data changes, inflates data, and processes the final set of reports. 4. NATIONAL ALTERNATIVE FORMULATION. POSITION(S) DATES RESPONSIBLE ACTION APRIL - MAY PD&B Receives Departmental direction for Agency budget submissions. APRIL PD&B Facilitates Chief and Staff sessions to identify issues pertaining to development of program budget alternatives. APRIL - MAY DABC Formulate budget alternatives based upon the Chief's guidance and data submitted from the Units. MAY PD&B Facilitates meetings with the Chief, Deputy Chiefs, Regional Foresters, Station Directors, Area Director, and Institute Director to review field data. PD&B Present program budget alternatives DABC to Chief and Staff. 10.6 - Exhibit 01--Continued JUNE - JULY PD&B Finalizes program budget alternatives and prepares data for submission to the Department of Agriculture. JULY - AUG PD&B Assists Chief and Staff in the preparation of the presentation of the budget to the Secretary of Agriculture. AUGUST Chief Presents the budget to the Secretary of Agriculture. 11 - PROGRAM BUDGET FORMULATION INSTRUCTIONS AND SUBMISSIONS. 11.1 - Annual Instructions. The following information is included in the annual instructions: 1. Program budget submission schedule. 2. Funding and/or output constraints. 3. Specific time periods for negotiating changes to dollar and output constraints or other areas of the instructions. 4. National guidelines and emphasis for Deputy Areas. 5. Direction on the size and number of levels or increments. 6. Procedures and format for submitting narratives and data. 7. Process for submitting any special request items. 8. A distribution by budget line item (with some exceptions) for National Forest System, Construction, and State and & Private Forestry. 9. Any required budget information, such as activity and funding code combinations, budget line items, expanded budget line items, and applicable budget project codes. 10. A set of economic inflation factors used to inflate historical data. 11. Budget information processing instructions. 11.2 - Negotiations. Field units may adjust dollar or output constraints by negotiating with the appropriate Deputy Chief. Ensure that these negotiations take place during the time period specified by the annual instructions and are facilitated by the Process Manager. Field units must submit written requests explaining the rationale for the requested changes to the Washington Office, Director of Program Development and Budget. 11.3 - Narrative. Submit program budget narratives in addition to data submissions. Supplement and enhance program budget data with a narrative to: 1. Highlight national emphasis areas. 2. Describe the effects of both decreased and increased financial and performance goal levels on program implementation. 11.4 - Inflation. The Washington Office, Program Development and Budget Staff inflates the regional data bases to the program budget year. Rates projected by the Office of Management and Budget provide the basis for inflation. 11.5 - General Administration. See section 41.2 for detailed General Administration instructions. The Washington Office, Director of Program Development and Budget, develops the General Administration (GA) portion of the program budget. Information needed to develop the appropriate levels of GA may be obtained through specific direction in the program budget instructions. 11.6 - Workforce Management. Each unit must consider workforce management when preparing program budgets (FSM 1311). The workforce management process should occur before units begin program budget formulation. Use workforce management to: 1. Identify the most cost efficient and effective way to accomplish acceptable levels of work with minimum staffing. 2. Provide lead time to achieve needed changes in staffing, skills, or ways of doing business. 3. Support program budget proposals with more accurate staffing estimates. 12 - NATIONAL VALIDATION PROCESS. Validate data to ensure that field data used to build national alternatives is complete, realistic, and reliable. The Program Development and Budget Staff works with Deputy Area Budget Coordinators to ensure that annual instructions are followed and that the data: 1. Meets funding and target constraints, 2. Provides accurate information, and 3. Provides balanced and reasonable programs. 12.1 - Program Development and Budget Validation. The Program Development and Budget staff, process and data managers check the following items prior to processing data reports: 1. Edit for negative numbers. Identify negative numbers and ensure that levels are progressively incremental. 2. Funding and target constraints. Ensure that regions have met established total program constraints. 3. Other. This category includes validation of requests unique to a specific budget year. Program Development and Budget reviews narratives and all requested appendix material for completeness before they are forwarded to Deputy Area Budget Coordinators. 12.2 - Deputy Area Budget Coordinator Validation. Deputy Area Budget Coordinators continue the validation process by examining the initial field data submissions from a programmatic standpoint, checking the balance between programs, adherence to instructions, and historical trends. Comments on initial data submissions are documented and provided to field units for their consideration and use in preparing final data submissions. 13 - NATIONAL ALTERNATIVE FORMULATION. Deputy Area Budget Coordinators and budget teams work with their Deputy Chiefs to construct a range of alternative program budgets. The Chief selects a proposed agency budget and develops budget alternatives for presentation to the Department of Agriculture. 13.1 - Alternatives. Define alternatives according to performance goals, funding constraints, and other variables such as special emphasis areas. The Chief and the Department determine how many alternatives should be prepared. 13.2 - Chief and Staff Sessions. The Program Development and Budget staff schedules Chief and Staff sessions to develop and complete the national budget alternatives. During these sessions, the Chief and Staff: 1. Set initial dollar and target constraints by Deputy Area for each national alternative. 2. Decide which national alternatives should be developed for the Department presentation. 3. Approve or modify final program budget levels for the proposed alternatives in preparation for the Department presentation. 13.3 - Department Presentation. Based on Chief and Staff's decisions and guidance from the Department, the Program Development and Budget staff prepares program budget data for submission to the Secretary of Agriculture (ch. 20).