CPTS, Contracting, RAs work into wee hours at FY closeout

  • Published
  • By Jim Fisher
  • Kirtland PA

The DoD’s fiscal calendar comes to an abrupt end Sept. 30, and all transactions must be complete by midnight, or sooner if Air Force Global Strike Command calls time on the operation.

This means comptrollers, contracting and resource advisors across Team Kirtland have to do a quick turn on any end-of-year funds. They must complete all transactions necessary to procure goods and services, according to Doug Burge, the 377th Comptroller Squadron’s budget officer.

“There’s a lot of preparatory work involved by the resource advisors and by the FMA analysts, but the most tedious part of the [closeout] process is waiting for funds from higher headquarters,” Burge said.

Kirtland’s multiple parent major commands and/or the Air Force Installation Mission Support Center or Civil Engineer Center could channel remaining funds to Kirtland at the eleventh hour.

“The MAJCOMs could eventually find money to send to us. Should that occur, we are pre-positioned to execute these funds either through government purchase card or by working through contracting,” Burge explained.  

Contracting will be keeping the same long hours as their CPTS and RA counterparts, reaching out to vendors and getting contracts awarded as the clock ticks down, Burge explained. Much of the contracting work must be done in advance. End of year money, if unspent toward the end of the fiscal year and deemed available, is used on un-funded requests for everything from equipment to services, to furniture.

While the crunch in the days and hours leading up to midnight 30 September often gets the spotlight, many people have been working end-of-year issues in earnest for months, according to Burge.

“The bulk of the heavy lifting starts happening three to four months before the end of the year -- the meetings, the planning, the unfunded requirements lists,” Burge said. By Aug. 15, unspent money is pulled back from the units, reprioritized and ultimately, reallocated based on the wing commander’s priorities.

“That takes a lot of hard work and dedication from not only the analysts in my office, but the resource advisors across the [base] -- not only the wing, but the mission partner units as well – so yeah, a lot of work involved,” Burge said.

Units across Kirtland understand the pressure put on the people working end-of-year issues, according to Master Sgt. Luis Sierra, the flight chief for the CPTS Financial Analysis Office.

“We do a lot of work for different organizations throughout the base—accounting. Our mission partners know we are working long hours over the weekend, so they do things to take care of us.  For instance, breakfast [Friday] morning was from [the Air Force Research Laboratory], Saturday morning [Space and Missile Systems Center] will be bringing us pizza and Sunday the Chapel will be here to provide refreshments. They know we have to be here and they support us,” Sierra said, explaining that food is a big part of the closeout. Potlucks, burger burns and people bringing in dishes helps keep the teams going.

People in the Financial Analysis Office and many others connected to the closeout often see restrictions on taking leave during August and September and long hours as the FY winds down.

“Leadership tries to compensate our people after the beginning of the next fiscal year,” Sierra said. “It’s a burden on [our people] and their families. We give them some compensation time and make sure they are recognized for all they do for us.”

Burge and Sierra have 54 years of closeouts between them, knowing how to help their people manage stress through the end-of-year process.

“It can be quite stressful,” Sierra said. “So when you see things are getting to someone, you tell them to take a break. Sometimes you just need to take a moment to get your bearing, and realize that it’s just that time of the year. So you take a moment, take a breather. I had to take one myself [earlier] this week.

At the time of publishing, all of Team Kirtland’s end-of-year team were taking a break, having finished exactly at midnight Sept. 30. While Burge had allowed for the possibility of a thin allocation and wrapping up in the early evening, the process went to the wire.

As people celebrated wearily in the minutes just after midnight, Greg Burris, CPTS Budget CE Budget Analyst, described getting through his fifth closeout.

“I am pretty much done, just balancing out everything. Happy new year!” Burris said. “It’s a good feeling that we’re done through it now that it’s October.  

Burris said the next week would be kind of boring as programs are restarted. He wasn’t complaining, however.

“It’s a nice pause when we don’t have 16-hour days anymore,” he said.

377th CPTS Commander Lt. Col. William Beauter congratulated his people on their resiliency, and a job well-done.

“This is our Super Bowl,” Beauter said. “Our budget folks and resource advisors have worked hard all year. They have ensured we’re in the best position to successfully fund as many of the wing’s requirements as possible before we close the books on fiscal year 2018, tonight. 

“Unfortunately, we do not get an off-season. The president signed the fiscal year 2019 appropriations bill on Friday; everyone here will be focused on re-setting all our accounts beginning Monday morning so we can continue funding Kirtland’s mission.”