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Performance and Accountability Report
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HHS Audit Findings History: FYs 1996 - 2002 | ||||||||||||||
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1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
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Issue |
Qual. |
MW |
Qual. |
MW |
Qual. |
MW |
Qual. |
MW |
Qual. |
MW |
Qual. |
MW |
Qual. |
MW |
Medicare Accounts Payable |
X |
X* |
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X |
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SMI Revenue |
X |
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Medicare/ Medicaid Accounts Receivable |
X |
X* |
X |
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X |
X |
|
X |
|
** |
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|
|
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Cost Reports |
X |
|
X |
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Net Position |
X |
X |
X |
** |
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Pension Liability |
X |
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Initial Audit |
X |
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Medicare EDP Controls |
|
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
X |
|
X |
Grants Oversight/ Accounting |
|
X |
X |
X |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Medicare Claims Error Rate |
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X |
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X |
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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Intra-entity Department-wide Transactions |
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|
X |
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Financial Reporting Systems and Processes |
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|
X |
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X |
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X |
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X |
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X |
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X |
New Statements |
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X |
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|
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Total |
7 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
Resolved from Prior Year |
N/A |
N/A |
4 |
1 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
New |
7 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Opinion |
Disclaimer |
Qualified |
Qualified & Timely |
Clean & Timely |
Clean & Timely |
Clean & Timely |
Clean & Timely |
New Departmental Financial Management System
During FY 2001, HHS initiated the Unified Financial Management System (UFMS) initiative - a critical component of the Department's efforts to modernize its financial management systems and IT infrastructure - at the direction of Secretary Thompson. The UFMS is a critical element of HHS' efforts to improve financial operations and performance.
The program's overall strategic goal is to unify HHS' financial management by designing and implementing a modern, Department-wide financial management system, as articulated in the Department's UFMS program vision statement:
"The Department shall have an integrated department-wide financial system that consistently produces relevant, reliable, and timely financial information to support decision-making and cost-effective business operations at all levels throughout the Department."
UFMS will replace the five core accounting systems currently in use across HHS. The unified system will be comprised of two primary sub-components�a system for CMS and its Medicare contractors (the Healthcare Integrated General Ledger and Accounting System or HIGLAS) and another system for the rest of HHS. UFMS will also institute a consolidated departmental financial reporting capability. The initiative is projected to continue through FY 2007, but the system is expected to be substantially implemented by the end of FY 2005.
The system, once fully implemented, will significantly enhance the Department's internal controls, management's stewardship and accountability over financial transactions, operations and assets. The system will resolve a number of material weaknesses identified by the Department's Office of the Inspector General in HHS' financial operations.
The UFMS Program Management Office (PMO) carries out the day-to-day management of the program. During FY 2002, the PMO primarily conducted pre-implementation planning activities. During the fiscal year, the UFMS Program completed its major planning activities and related documents, culminating with the Departmental approval of the UFMS Implementation Plan on September 27, 2002. The Department formally approved the UFMS business case on November 5, 2002.
The UFMS program entered its implementation phase in October 2002. Following are the key Program accomplishments during fiscal year 2002.
Development and implementation of the UFMS is further discussed under PMA Element #4, Electronic Government and Information Systems Management.
Improper Payments and Debt Collection
The Department's plan includes ensuring that payments made by HHS and our contractors are accurate and that debts incurred are collected in a timely manner. HHS has been a pioneer in the area of monitoring and mitigating improper payments, as Medicare has had an error rate calculated annually since 1996. The subsequent reduction in this error rate from 14 percent in 1996 to well below 10 percent in every year since 1998 has helped to save billions of dollars for the taxpayers. The improper payment rate, which estimates the portion of Medicare fee-for-service payments that do not comply with all Medicare laws and regulations, was 6.3 percent in both FY 2001 and FY 2002. The Department has continued to innovate in this area. CMS has established a Medicaid Payment Accuracy Measurement (PAM) pilot project with twelve states participating and has drafted a summary and assessment for the first year of the PAM pilot. In addition, CMS will be initiating a similar pilot project for the SCHIP program in the near future. ACF has been working on plans to establish erroneous payment rates for the Head Start, Child Care, Foster Care, and TANF programs. ACF expects to have rates for these programs in the next few years.
Debt management is another major financial management priority for the Department. HHS' debt collection effort focuses on the provisions of the Debt Collection Improvement Act (DCIA) of 1996. Although delinquent debt has been referred to the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) for cross-servicing and offset, HHS has centralized the DCIA delinquent debt referral process in one place by establishing the PSC as the Department's delinquent debt collection center. Additionally, Treasury has granted a cross-servicing exemption for several types of program debts (e.g. Medicare Secondary Payer, unfiled Medicare cost reports and various health professional loans). The PSC cross-services these debts and also refers them to the Treasury Offset Program (TOP). According to the FY 2002 year-end Treasury Report on Receivables (TROR), HHS and Treasury cooperation in the overall debt collection effort have resulted in:
PMA Element #4: Electronic Government and Information Systems Management
HHS' Electronic Government (e-Gov) vision leverages Information Technology (IT) to support the Department's program and management priorities to improve performance and provide seamless and integrated services to constituents. By aggregating and consolidating IT initiatives, e-Gov creates a virtual pool of government information and services that is accessible by all constituents. This results in a more cost-efficient IT structure at HHS and a more unified, responsive level of service to the public. E-Government allows all levels of HHS to collaborate as equal partners to provide citizen-centric services that reduce burdens on businesses, increase customer satisfaction, improve knowledge management, and advance the unified Department strategy under the "One HHS" initiative.
In FY 2001, the HHS Chief Information Officer (CIO) aggregated agency IT infrastructure funds and made them available for central management of enterprise projects. HHS used this funding to support initiatives described in the HHS FY 2001 Enterprise IT Strategic Plan (IT Plan). Cross-cutting and mission-critical initiatives were prioritized, funded and centrally managed through oversight by the combined efforts of the HHS CIO Council and the Information Technology Investment Review Board (ITIRB) governance processes. That governance process requires approved projects to regularly report project status, progress and expenditures to the board(s) for continued funds approval and/or for further guidance and correction, if necessary. HHS continued this central funding management process for enterprise projects during FY 2002 for the projects defined in the FY 2002 Enterprise IT Strategic Plan signed by the Secretary in June 2002.
HHS implements e-Gov initiatives from both government-wide and Department-focused perspectives, including IT security. HHS is the lead Agency for 2 of the 24 PMA e-Gov initiatives, and continues to advance critical department-focused projects.
The following exemplifies HHS' involvement and leadership in governmentwide e-Gov initiatives:
The following are examples of Department-focused electronic government and information systems management projects:
During FY 2002, the Department established the governance and program management structure to guide and manage the initiative. The UFMS PMO, in conjunction with its systems integrator, developed and received departmental approval of the primary planning documents that are being used to manage the program and measure performance against established milestones and parameters. Additional details regarding the UFMS program and associated accomplishments during FY 2002 are presented under PMA Element #3, Improved Financial Performance.
PMA Element #5: Budget and Performance Integration
HHS continues to make strides integrating budget and performance. In the majority of components' Annual Performance Plans, performance measures are organized around the Department's 300 programs so that readers can see the connection between what we intend to accomplish and the resources we will commit. HHS prepared the FY 2004 budget informed by the HHS components' individual Annual Performance Reports, and the Secretary's Budget Council directed several changes to those documents and the budgets.
Department Level Annual Performance Plan
This year for the first time, HHS has prepared a department-level Annual Performance Plan. The plan explains the future of important HHS programs, details the resources that are being budgeted for each program, and organizes those programs and their budgets using HHS' Strategic Goals. The FY 2002 Performance and Accountability Report, which this year includes the Department's Performance Report, shows how HHS has contributed to the health and well-being of Americans.
Focus on Results
HHS is a large, complex organization with several agencies and over 300 programs. Most of these activities are accomplished with, or through, state, municipal, or tribal partners. As a result, at one time, HHS had over 1,000 performance measures. But this many measures was challenging to track and difficult to manage by. Working with ACF, CDC, FDA, and the other agencies, the Department reduced that overall number of measures by almost 30% while increasing the number of measures that demonstrate healthy outcomes and tangible results for all Americans.
Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART)
OMB introduced PART as a means of measuring program effectiveness across the federal government. As soon as PART was announced, HHS became a participant in the process. Even before the effort was completely underway, the Department finished its own internal PART assessment of several programs to guide FY 2004 budget decisions. Eventually HHS actively worked with OMB to examine 31 programs in detail�from Foster Care for Children to Services for the Aging � more programs than any other federal department examined.
This section summarizes the significant changes in HHS' financial condition during the past year. The following table provides an overview of HHS' financial condition at the end of FY 2002 (dollars in millions).
Balance Sheet
Assets
HHS Assets increased by $33 billion or 9.5 percent to a total of $378 billion during FY 2002 as shown in Chart 1. Increases of $29 billion or 11.8 percent in Investments and of $4 billion or 4.7 percent in HHS' Fund Balance with Treasury accounted for most of the change in Total Assets. As shown in Chart 2, HHS' Investments of $274 billion and its Fund Balance with Treasury of $85 billion together comprise 95 percent of HHS' Total Assets. The Fund Balance with Treasury is HHS' "checkbook balance", or the aggregate amount of funds deposited in the Treasury available to HHS to make authorized expenditures and pay liabilities.
At the end of FY 2002, approximately $243 billion or 89 percent of HHS Investments were in U.S. Treasury Securities to support the Medicare trust funds, which include the Hospital Insurance (HI) and the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) trust funds. As reported in the Social Insurance discussion of the Required Supplementary Stewardship Information (RSSI) section of this report, HI trust fund assets steadily increase through 2021. At this point, expenditures start to exceed income including interest, thus drawing down the assets until 2030 when they would be depleted. The shortfall between income and expenditures is due in part to the attainment of Medicare eligibility, starting in 2011, of those born during the 1946-1964 baby boom, and also due to health costs that are expected to increase faster than workers' earnings. Actual economic conditions, however, could delay (in the case of economic recovery) or accelerate this condition.
The SMI trust fund does not face the same crises as the HI trust fund has in recent years. This is due to the fundamental difference in the way the HI and SMI trust funds are financed. Whereas HI is funded primarily through payroll taxes, SMI obtains its funding through monthly premiums and income from the general fund of the U.S. Treasury�both of which are established annually to cover the following year's expenditures. Thus, the SMI trust fund is in financial balance every year, regardless of future economic and other conditions, due to its financing mechanism.
Under the Trustees' intermediate set of assumptions, the HI trust fund will incur an actuarial deficit of more than $4.9 trillion over its 75-year projection period, as compared to more than $4.5 trillion as projected in the FY 2001 report. In order to bring the HI trust fund into actuarial balance over the next 75 years, either outlays would have to be reduced by 38 percent or income increased by 60 percent (or some combination of the two). Since the SMI trust fund is in financial balance every year, there has been substantially less attention directed toward its financial status than to the HI trust fund�even though SMI expenditures have increased faster than HI expenditures in most years and are expected to continue to do so for a number of years in the future.
It is important to note that no liability has been recognized on HHS' balance sheet for future payments to be made to current and future program participants beyond the existing "incurred but not reported" Medicare claim amounts as of September 30, 2002. This is because Medicare is accounted for as a social insurance program rather than as a pension program. A more detailed discussion of HHS' social insurance funds and other stewardship property and investments can be found in the RSSI discussion of Section III in this report.
Liabilities
HHS' Liabilities increased by $6 billion or 10.4 percent to a total of $60 billion during FY 2002, as shown in Chart 3. This increase can be attributed primarily to a $4.1 billion or 10.2 percent increase to $45 billion in Entitlement Benefits Due and Payable. These amounts represent benefits due and payable to the public from the CMS insurance programs discussed above. These entitlement liabilities, along with Federal Employee & Veteran Benefits, which increased by $673 million or 9.0 percent to $8 billion during FY 2002, accounted for 88 percent of Total HHS Liabilities, as shown in Chart 4. Accounts Payable posted the largest percentage increase of 55.3 percent or $372 million, but this only represents less than 2 percent of Total Liabilities.
Statement of Changes in Net Position
HHS' Net Position, which increased by $27 billion or 9.3 percent to $318 billion at the end of FY 2002, consists of the cumulative net results of operations since inception, and unexpended appropriations, or those appropriations provided to HHS that remain unused at the end of the fiscal year.
Costs vs. Outlays
Two key concepts are critical for understanding the HHS financial story:
- Costs are typically reported in accounting reports, and are synonymous with expenses. These are the amounts recognized when services are rendered or goods are received. They are not necessarily linked to the outflow of cash in the form of check assonance, disbursements of cash, or electronic funds transfer. Costs incurred or expenses are netted against exchange or earned revenues to identify the net cost of programs.
- Outlays are typically reported in budget reports, and are represented by the net of disbursements and receipts. Outlays are used to identify budget surpluses or deficits.
Statement of Net Cost
HHS incurred total net cost for FY 2002 of $472 billion, which represents a 9.0 percent, or $39 billion increase over FY 2001. The Consolidated Statement of Net Cost presents HHS' net operating costs by Operating Division (OPDIV), while functional detail is provided in the footnotes. As can be seen in Chart 5, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) account for a combined 96 percent of HHS' total net cost of operations, incurring net costs of $385 billion, $46 billion, and $20 billion, respectively.
Chart 6 shows how HHS incurs net costs across its primary functions as defined in the budget. HHS' Medicare (48.9 percent); Health (41.1 percent); Income Security (6.3 percent); and Education, Training, and Social functions (3.6 percent) account for nearly all of HHS' net costs incurred during FY 2002. The percentages in Chart 6 reflect a proportional analysis of HHS' combined net costs (not accounting for intra-departmental costs and revenues). Intra-departmental net costs accounted for less than 0.1 percent of total combined net costs.
Statements of Budgetary Resources and Financing
During FY 2002, most of the funding to support net costs came from $625 billion in appropriations from Congress, as shown in HHS' Combined Statement of Budgetary Resources. This represents 97 percent of the gross budgetary resources available to HHS. This gross amount was offset by a pre-designated portion of funds that were either temporarily or permanently unavailable pursuant to specific legislation to derive a net funds available amount of $611 billion, an increase of 9.9 percent over FY 2001 levels. During FY 2002, HHS incurred obligations of $603 billion, a 9.9 percent increase over FY 2001, and made 5.6 percent more Net Outlays totaling $558 billion. Further comparison of Net Position and Budgetary Resource activity between FY 2001 and FY 2002 is limited due to required format changes to the financial statements implemented for FY 2002.
CORE
The PSC CORE Accounting system records and reports the financial activity for eight of the twelve HHS operating components. The CORE system is the nucleus of PSC's accounting operations and accepts and processes data supplied by feeder systems from the OPDIVs as well as from the Payroll, Travel, and Payment Management Systems (PMS). The CORE accounting system is in compliance with all laws and regulations, including the Federal Managers Financial Integrity Act and the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act. The reliability of the information in the PSC CORE Accounting system has been a major factor in achieving an unqualified "clean" opinion for all of the financial statement audits for the OPDIVs serviced by PSC.
PMS
The PMS is a centralized grants payment and cash management system serving 11 Federal agencies with 44 grant awarding component offices and bureaus. During FY 2002 over $240 billion in federal grant funds was disbursed through PMS. PMS is operated by the HHS Division of Payment Management (DPM), Financial Management Service, Program Support Center. PMS has been identified by the Chief Financial Officer's Council (CFOC) as one of two civilian grant payment systems to serve all federal civilian grant awarding agencies. Of the two CFOC designated systems, PMS is the only full service system available to the grant awarding agencies. PMS is an automated system capable of receiving electronic or manual payment requests, editing them for accuracy and content, batching them for forwarding to the Federal Reserve Bank or U.S. Treasury for payment, and recording the transaction to the appropriate general ledger account(s). The legal or regulatory requirements met by this system include the Cash Management Improvement Act of 1990, OMB Circulars A-102 and A-110, Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, and 45 CFR Parts 74, 92, and 96 regulating HHS discretionary and Block grants.
An independent audit of DPM's internal controls is completed annually under oversight of the HHS OIG. The audit for FY 2002 was completed under the guidelines of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Statement on Auditing Standards Number 70 for Service Organizations. The annual audit report is a "Type 2" report providing an opinion on the internal controls placed in operation and includes tests of operating effectiveness. Including the audit for fiscal year 2002, DPM has received six "unqualified" or clean audit opinions. DPM completes annual reviews and is compliant with the applicable provisions of the Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA), the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) Grant Financial Systems Requirements, the Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA), and the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act (FFMIA).
At the end of FY 2002, HHS reduced the number of programmatic management control material weaknesses, as defined by FMFIA, from two to one. The only remaining material weakness was a weakness in the enforcement program for Imported Foods at FDA. HHS has one financial management system material non-conformance covering the Department's financial systems and processes. Further details are provided in the full FMFIA report in Appendix C of this report.
HHS continues to have two non-compliances with the requirements of FFMIA. They are: 1) Financial Systems and Processes; and 2) Medicare Information System Access Controls. Further details are provided in the full FFMIA Report in Appendix D. Corrective actions planned and completed are tracked in the Department's Corrective Action Plan (CAP) report that is provided to OMB on a quarterly basis.
As the largest grant-awarding agency in the Federal Government, HHS plays a key role in federal grants management. Through over 300 assistance programs, HHS awards more than $200 billion of the total federal grants awarded (estimated to be $360 billion).
Grant awards are financial assistance that provide support or stimulation to accomplish a public purpose. Awards include grants and other agreements in the form of money, or property in lieu of money, to eligible recipients. Most of the HHS grant dollars awarded are in the form of mandatory grants.
Stewardship and oversight responsibilities for HHS grant programs involve a variety of ongoing administrative functions, including:
OMB designated HHS to be the lead agency to manage the Federal Grant Streamlining Program (FGSP). The FGSP is a federal government-wide effort required by Public Law 106-107, the Federal Financial Assistance Management Improvement Act of 1999, to streamline, simplify, and provide electronic options for the grants management processes employed by federal agencies and to improve the delivery of services to the public. The FGSP initiatives encompass the entire grant life-cycle and include the standardization, simplification and streamlining the formats used to provide program synopses and announce funding opportunities and the forms required to apply for and report on grant funds. FGSP activities are closely coordinated with the activities of the e-Grants program office, which is also led by HHS. The E-Grants program office is charged with implementing the government-wide e-Grants initiatives outlined in the PMA and works to develop the electronic solutions necessary to implement many FGSP initiatives. Through this FGSP and e-Grants partnership, the twenty-six major grant-making agencies are modifying and developing grants management practices and information systems that will allow current and prospective recipients of Federal grants to find, apply for, and manage grant funds on-line through a common web-site.
HHS continues to operate the Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS), which contains department-wide grants award information. Access to TAGGS information is available to HHS staff via the Department's Intranet. Our GrantsNet web-site, www.hhs.gov/grantsnet, continues to provide public access to up-to-date policies, regulations, and other pertinent grants-related information.
Highlights of FY 2001 grant awards (most recent data available) include the following:
FY 2001 Grant Awards | ||||||
OPDIV |
Total Grants |
Mandatory Grants |
Discretionary Grants |
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|
number |
$ (in millions) |
number |
$ (in millions) |
number |
$ (in millions) |
ACF |
7,834 |
$41,471 |
3,065 |
$34,786 |
4,769 |
$6,685 |
AHRQ |
681 |
$148 |
- |
$- |
681 |
$148 |
AOA |
1,003 |
$1,083 |
727 |
$1,029 |
276 |
$54 |
CDC |
3,134 |
$3,112 |
60 |
$59 |
3,074 |
$3,053 |
CMS |
605 |
$131,061 |
344 |
$130,931 |
261 |
$130 |
FDA |
196 |
$27 |
- |
- |
196 |
$27 |
HRSA |
5,906 |
$4,618 |
113 |
$626 |
5,793 |
$3,992 |
IHS |
593 |
$905 |
557 |
$897 |
36 |
$8 |
NIH |
47,120 |
$15,663 |
- |
$- |
47,120 |
$15,663 |
OS |
401 |
$313 |
- |
$- |
401 |
$313 |
SAMHSA |
1,612 |
$2,489 |
232 |
$2,048 |
1,380 |
$441 |
TOTAL |
69,085 |
$200,890 |
5,098 |
$170,376 |
63,987 |
$30,514 |
Physical Infrastructure and IT Security
Through Presidential Decision Directive (PDD) 63 and the Government Information Security Reform Act (GISRA), the Federal government was directed to assess and report on the vulnerability of controls in place to protect assets critical to the Nation's well-being. The events of September 11, 2001 greatly heightened the importance of protecting physical and cyber-based systems essential to the minimum operations of the economy and government. Due to its major responsibilities for public health and safety, the Department has been identified as a Tier-I agency, signifying a dramatic negative national impact should HHS systems be compromised.
Immediately following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Office of the Secretary (OS) organized a departmental Physical Security Work Group. The group's primary task was to develop a department-wide policy on minimum security standards based on the recommendations provided in the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Vulnerability Assessment of Federal Facilities guidelines. The group continues to address security issues such as contractor clearance procedures and access control in laboratories, hospitals and research facilities to ensure the safety and security of personnel and property. In addition to these efforts, all new or renewal leases are now reviewed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management to ensure that HHS security needs are reflected accurately in leases.
The Physical Security Work Group has been instrumental in upgrading security measures throughout HHS and is working with the Department's Physical Security Office to continuously improve current policies and processes. Increased security guard presence at all building entrances and enhanced visual inspection of all vehicles entering the garage are among numerous actions taken to improve security at HHS facilities.
With regard to IT security, during FY 2001, HHS awarded a contract to: prepare a concept of operations for a department-wide computer security incident response system that leverages existing capability; train all HHS employees in security awareness; and assess enterprise security risk. During FY 2002, HHS approved and funded ten security projects for immediate development. Key actions for these projects included: installation of multi-tier virus protection across HHS; vulnerability of penetration scans of critical HHS systems; and perimeter protection for all Internet access points. For FY 2003, contracts are in place to establish round-the-clock monitoring of security alerts; provide certification and accreditation for all Critical Infrastructure Protection assets; reduce GISRA corrective action items; and continue the Project Matrix process through the implementation of a Phase 2, Analyses of Critical Assets.
On January 29, 2001, President Bush issued an Executive Order directing the HHS Secretary to establish a Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (Cabinet Center). As specified in the Executive Order, responsibilities for this Center include:
HHS will provide annual reports to the President that will: report the year's progress related to continuing efforts to analyze the Department's programs to determine barriers to full participation of faith-based and other community organizations; summarize the technical assistance and other information that will be made available to faith-based and other organizations; and include annual performance indicators and measurable objectives for department-wide action.
The Compassion Capital Fund (CCF) is a $30 million fund appropriated to HHS in January 2002 that represents the first appropriated federal funds specifically targeted to assist the grassroots organizations that are the focus of the faith-based initiative. The CCF supports four activities:
Technical Assistance to Intermediary Organizations
Nearly $25 million was awarded to 21 "intermediary organizations," which, in turn, will help smaller, faith-based and grass-roots organizations operate and manage their programs effectively, access funding from varied sources, develop and train staff, expand the types and reach of social services programs in their communities, and replicate promising programs.
In addition to providing technical assistance, these intermediary groups will issue sub-awards directly to targeted, qualified faith- and community-based organizations to expand or replicate promising or best practices in targeted areas. Priority for sub-awards is expected to be given to organizations that focus on homelessness, hunger, at-risk children, transition from welfare to work, and those in need of intensive rehabilitation such as addicts or prisoners.
To encourage organizations to work in partnership with the Federal government, intermediary organizations were expected to provide at least 50 percent of the amount of federal funds requested (i.e., one-third of the proposed total budget).
CCF funds may not be used to support religious practices such as religious instruction, worship, or prayer.
Intermediary organizations were selected to receive funding based on a competitive review process.
Compassion Capital National Resource Center
In addition, HHS awarded a $2.2 million contract to Dare Mighty Things in Vienna, Va., to establish a national resource center and clearinghouse for information related to technical assistance and training resources for faith- and community-based organizations. This resource center will ensure that the grantees funded under the Compassion Capital Fund are adequately equipped with the information and training they need to assist grassroots organizations.
The National Resource Center will also develop tools that will be useful and accessible to all interested faith-based and community groups, regardless of whether they are working with a funded intermediary. For example, the National Resource Center will develop and maintain a Web site that addresses a wide array of topics useful to faith-based and community organizations, such as "best practices" to meet the needs of individuals and families, and evaluation and assessment of program outcomes and effectiveness. It will also develop manuals on specific topics that will assist faith-based and community organizations.
Research Regarding Best Practices and Services of Intermediary Organizations
Approximately $1.6 million will be used to support research on the services and best practices of intermediary organizations and the faith-based and community organizations they serve.
Field-Initiated Research Grants
HHS also awarded four grants totaling more than $850,000 to support research regarding how faith- and community-based organizations provide social services and the role they play in communities and in the lives of the people they serve.