|
The Budget Planning & Analysis System (BPAS) and the Departmental Earnings (DE) system are open for agencies to prepare their base budgets, enter change requests, and prepare the Departmental Earnings report for the 2026-27 Biennial Budget. Read the FY 2026-27 Base Budget, Governor's Budget Request (Change), and Departmental Earnings Instructions available on the Biennial Budget Instructions webpage for more information.
Important Due Dates
-
Base Budget: Agencies must complete their base budgets in BPAS and submit a signed base certification form to Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) by the statutory deadline of Tuesday, October 15. Upload the certification form and the three agency-level fiscal reports to the agency Biennial Budget/2026-27 Biennial Budget folder on the MMB Budget Division SharePoint site.
-
Change Items: Agencies must complete their change item requests in BPAS, upload the change item narrative to the agency Biennial Budget/2026-27 Biennial Budget/CI Narratives folder on the MMB Budget Division SharePoint site, and provide fiscal detail supporting the key cost drivers of the change item to their Executive Budget Officer by the statutory deadline of Tuesday, October 15.
-
Departmental Earnings Analysis, Federal Funds Summary, Grants Funding Detail, and Internal Services Fund Statements are due Friday, November 15.
For a complete overview of the Biennial Budget Process and Timeline, refer to the Biennial Budget Process Timeline Quick Reference Guide. If you have questions or need further assistance, contact the MMB Budget Planning and Operations team at budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us.
The Results Management team at Minnesota Management and Budget is pleased to offer a suite of technical assistance supports for the results section of the change item narrative. Definitions, example documents, and an annotated guide to the section can be found on the Results Management Resources for State Agencies webpage.
In addition, Results Management will provide an overview of the new updates to the Results Section of the change item during a live webinar on Monday, September 9th at 9:00 AM. In this webinar, the Results Management team will explain how the information provided by agency staff is used, provide tips on how to successfully complete this section, and highlight technical assistance resources available to you.
You can sign up to attend this webinar and learn about other opportunities for technical assistance by emailing resultsmanagement@state.mn.us.
A revised FY 2026-27 Change Item Narrative Template on the MMB Budget Instructions webpage. The only change to the template is to the Part A Performance measure table in the Results section.
The screen print below displays the two changed columns from the initial version of the performance measure table. Please make sure if your agency submits a change item that the change item narrative has this change incorporated.
If you have already visited this webpage and downloaded the change item narrative template, you may need to clear your web browser’s cache to see the template change.
If you have any questions, please email us at .
The Budget Planning and Operations team emailed select agencies a list of FY 2024 appropriations that need to be reconciled in BPAS no later than Friday, September 20. The FY 2024 BPAS data will be used in the 2024 November Forecast General Fund Balance Analysis/Statement, Consolidated Fund Statement and other budget documents.
Please review the email and the appropriation list. Contact the Budget Planning and Operations team if you have questions (budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us).
All statewide systems will be unavailable due to a PeopleTools patch upgrade starting Saturday, September 7, through Sunday, September 8.
Users must clear their internet browsing history and cache before logging into these systems on Monday, September 9. Users experiencing difficulties in any of the statewide systems may resolve these issues by following instructions on how to clear their cache and browsing history.
|
The Budget Planning and Operations team is offering personalized training for agencies who need assistance with BPAS or have specific questions about completing required budget items for base budget and change item requests.
If your team is interested, please have a representative from your agency contact us at budget.finance.mmb@state.mn.us.
|
Confirming an agency’s base budget appropriation amount is an important first step in determining the total resources available for an agency’s budget planning. Budget development begins where the legislature last left off. The direct or open “base” appropriation for an agency’s budget in FY 2026-2029 is the FY 2025 appropriation amount adjusted for a limited number of technical changes.
The appropriation base is defined in Minnesota Statutes 16A.11, Subd. 3(b) as the second-year appropriation amount of the current biennium, which is FY 2025 for the 2026-27 biennial budget process. Therefore, the base amount for FY 2026 and FY 2027 is FY 2025 unless specified differently in law.
When law states a FY 2025 – 2029 base amount different than defined in 16A.11, subd 3(b), agencies adjust resources at the appropriation level for each fiscal year, using the base adjustment accounts identified in the 2026-27 Base Budget Instructions. These adjustments could increase or decrease an agency's base appropriation, so it matches current law.
One of the more common base adjustments is “All Other One-Time Appropriations (ONE)”, which is the base adjustment account code used when special appropriations or portions of an agency’s regular appropriations were intended as one-time funding and must be reduced from the base.
Example session law: $400,000 in the second year are for homeless prevention grants. This is a one-time appropriation.
|
 |
If you have questions about your agency base or the appropriate base adjustment account to use, contact your EBO for clarification.
Information was emailed to Agency Federal Fund Coordinators, CFOs, and Budget Directors regarding the 2024 Legislative Advisory Commission (LAC) Review of Federal Funds Fall 20-Day Review process from Ahna Minge, State Budget Director, on August 15.
Agencies must use the revised Federal Fund Review Request form and read the form instructions prior to preparing the form. Significant changes to the form include:
- All dollar amounts on the form should be entered in thousands. For example, $200,000 should be entered as “200”.
- Grant Start Date, End Date and Total Federal Award Amount fields were removed from the form on page one. Agencies should include the start date, end date and total grant award in the federal award description field in Part Three of the form.
- Signatures are no longer required on the form. Instead, on page three there is a place to include an agency contact and email. Agencies must still obtain agency head and finance director approval before submitting a form for Legislative Advisory Commission (LAC) review even though the revised form does not include signatures.
- The form was condensed down to three pages. This resulted in changes to field lengths on the form. Users may need to be more concise to fit their response into the form fields.
Federal Fund Review Request forms are due to MMB by the end of the day on Monday, September 23. Upload completed forms to your agency’s LAC/2024 Fall Submission folder on the Budget Division’s SharePoint site.
Materials from the recent webinars, 2026-27 Biennial Budget Process and Intro to BPAS, are published on the MMB website. Resources include a video recording of the webinars (YouTube), and the PowerPoint presentation files (PDF).
Both sets can be found on the BPAS and Biennial Budget Quick Reference Guides webpage on the MMB website.
|
