BAR Update January 2014
Procurement Authority
Verbal update on recent legislative bills. HB 2374 Procurement Authority; SB 5993 sales tax on things
purchased with debt proceeds; SB 6213 OMWBE; HB 1690? Ballot Drop Boxes on college campuses
DES Purchasing Training Requirement
DES has hired and had the first meeting with a consultant who will be developing the training from start
to finish. The training will be available online and is being be modeled on Oregon’s program. It is
unclear how Higher Education will be addressed (e.g., same training or a separate version?) since
Oregon’s program excludes Higher Ed, but DES is planning to include us. DES recently sent out a survey
regarding training.
DES Agency Contract Reporting
DES completed a pilot contract reporting project with 20-plus agencies. Pilot agencies reported six
months’ of data (from January 2013 through June 2013). You can see the data that was posted online at
data.wa.gov. Look for the data set titled “Agency Contract Reporting – PILOT”. DES recently debriefed
“lessons learned” with the pilots, but we haven’t yet seen a report. Olympic College and the University
of Washington participated in the pilot.
DES originally postponed reporting for non-pilot agencies/colleges until September 2014. Regardless of
when agencies/colleges report, they have to report activity back to January 2013. In order to allow
agencies/colleges to get a jump on reporting, DES is touting two opt-in periods. Agencies/colleges can
report their January 2013 – December 2013 activity in either March or June 2014, thereby reducing the
amount of data they will need to report in September 2014.
DES Risk Assessment
State Agencies are required to complete a risk assessment in order to get delegated purchasing
authority from DES. Colleges already have the option to exercise some independent purchasing
authority, but the statute is a little muddy. There are bills in play to do some clean up, so we’ll revisit
this with DES after the session.
Department of Education
A new Q&A from the Department of Education provides advice on reconciling disbursement and related
cash transactions for institutions participating in Title IV student aid programs. For more info:
http://www.nacubo.org/Business_and_Policy_Areas/Student_Financial_Services/Student_Financial_Ser
vices_News/ED_Encourages_Monthly_Pell_Reconciliations.html
Federal Grant Requirements
The Office of Management and Budget has issued final guidance that combines eight existing grants
management circulars into a single document. The "Super Circular," as it is known, is effective for
entities with fiscal years beginning on or after December 26, 2014. To get started, see:
http://www.nacubo.org/Business_and_Policy_Areas/Grants_Management/Grants_Management_News
/OMB_Issues_Final_Guidance_on_Grant_Reforms.html
Talking with BAR Leadership about possibly having a BAR session on grant management and the
changes.
Financial Statement Project Update
Separate handout
Payroll Surcharges
Employees whose health insurance covers one or more smokers or who have a spouse who waived
coverage from another provider will be charged a $25/month surcharge on their health insurance. This
is likely to be done through a separate “open enrollment” period in April (or so) where all employees
have to attest to whether this applies to them.
Time and Effort Reporting
Employees who work on a single federal project should also be reporting their time. They can do a
timesheet or an after the fact certification. The rules are slightly different for faculty versus other
employees. We’ll be getting more info out to you and your grant managers soon.
Transition from FAE to Megamations
Working to arrange Megamations training for small group of test colleges.
OFC’s December 2013 Update on the Transition of Inventory to Megamation Systems
In October:
OFC met with Guy Hollingbury, SBCTC-IT, at October OFC meeting and discussed steps
necessary for FAE transition. The agreed plan for next steps were:
 First group of Colleges elect to participate in FAE transition OFC Data Cleansing
 SBCTC upload associated data to Megamation for the specified Colleges
 Megamation create test sites/databases separate from current live sites for colleges to:
o Validate data conversion
o Confirm function of Megamation replicated FAE reports
o Test and orient staff on the system functionality
 Provide training from Megamation systems for both BAR and OFC staff at colleges. Two
methods to be used:
o via web based sessions with Megamation for individual colleges
o via in-person with Megamation staff for multi-college meetings, potentially one
for each side of the mountains.
As of December:
 SBCTC has extracted (14) Colleges’ data and uploaded it to Megamation Systems for the
Data Cleansing activity. There is one more College’s data extract pending completion
 Megamation has created (7) test sites from the data and working on the remaining
colleges.
 Joann Wiszmann, SBCTC - Accounting Services, is coordinating a small group of BAR and
PAC members to review FAE data mapping to Megamation, validate data and test
Megamation replicated FAE reports.


Guy, Joann and Dave Jungkuntz, OFC, are coordinating efforts and communication for
combined training with Megamation Systems regarding the FAE data Test Sites
tentatively in January.
Next steps to be developed with Guy Hollingbury as the process moves forward…
STATUS BY COLLEGE
College
Olympic
Bates
Bellingham
Centralia
Clark
Edmonds
Lake
Washington
Peninsula
SBCTC
Seattle
S Puget Sound
Tacoma
Walla Walla
Wenatchee
Yakima
FAE Extracts
Completed
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dec 15
Yes
Yes
Yes
Test Sites Setup
(Data Cleanup)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dec 20
Yes
Dec 20
Dec 15
Test Sites Setup
(Business
Office)
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
Extracts
Uploaded
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dec 20
Yes
Dec 20
Dec 15
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Dec 20
Dec 15
Yes
Dec 15
Dec 15
Dec 15
Yes
TBD
Dec 20
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD
Yes
Dec 20
Dec 15
Yes
Dec 15
Dec 15
Dec 15
Yes