ALCOAST 335/21 - SEP 2021 CUTOVER FINANCIAL SYSTEM (CFS) – GUIDANCE AND EXPECTATIONS

R 141601Z SEP 21
FM COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC  
TO ALCOAST  
BT 
UNCLAS  
ALCOAST 335/21  
SSIC 7000
SUBJ:  CUTOVER FINANCIAL SYSTEM (CFS) – GUIDANCE AND EXPECTATIONS
A. COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC 212055Z MAY 21/ALCOAST 194/21  
B. COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC 301527Z JUN 21/ALCOAST 237/21  
C. COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC 062015Z AUG 21/ALCOAST 286/21  
D. COMDT (CG-91) FSMS Memo dtd 09AUG21 (NOTAL)
E. COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC 202022Z AUG 21/ALCOAST 300/21
F. PCN 05-12-2021
G. DRAFT United States Coast Guard (USCG) Process Guide for FSMS
Cutover Period
1. This ALCOAST provides details about the capabilities and use of
the Cutover Financial System (CFS) during the Coast Guard's
transition to the Financial Systems Modernization Solution (FSMS).
During this period (1 Oct 21 – 17 Nov 21), the Coast Guard will be
without a financial application to record obligations and track
account balances. The CFS was developed to provide the Coast Guard
with a temporary financial system that can (1) monitor the balance
of appropriations to avoid Anti-Deficiency Act violations and (2)
record sufficient obligation data to allow its migration to FSMS.
While the application will have additional features – data field
lookups, approvals, e-mail forwarding, etc. – its primary purpose
is to monitor account balances and reduce the number of obligations
that must be manually entered into FSMS when it comes online. In
order to ensure migration of obligations, users will need to enter
nearly 100 unique fields for each obligation. While FSMS auto-fills
many of these fields, CFS is a temporary application and does not
have this capability. Many fields are intuitive – quantity, cost,
requesting unit, etc. – but data entry will still be relatively
more substantial and time intensive in CFS than in FSMS. Units are
asked to follow the restricted spending practices outlined in REFs
(B) through (E) and further discussed in paragraph 3 below.
2. Obligations for migration to FSMS: At a minimum, the new line of
accounting structure and obligating amounts for all FY22 obligations
will be manually recorded in CFS. Most obligations will be recorded
with sufficient data to enable their migration to FSMS once it’s
online. Obligations that are initiated in certain external
interfacing systems (e.g., Travel obligations initiated in Direct
Access or ETS) will be tracked in the CFS but migration will occur
from the interfacing system to FSMS at Go-Live. Appendix A of
REF (G) lists the Document Styles that will be migrated from CFS
to FSMS, if they are unique to FY22 (i.e., not connected to prior
year Contracting Information Management System (CIMS)-bound awards;
modifications to FY21 documents using FY22 Funds will also not
migrate). For document styles that will not migrate, the CFS data
entry requirements are substantially less. For more information,
refer to REF (G), linked here:
(Copy and Paste URL Below into Browser)

https://cglink.uscg.mil/DRAFTCutoverProcessGuide

3. Obligation Approval. Operations must not be restricted or
impacted due to spending controls during the cutover period.
    a. Commanders should procure items that are essential to
maintain their capabilities and operations including support and
management of personnel. However, considering the increased
recording burden on finance and procurement staffs, and the
invoice processing & payment backlog, spending should be limited
to essential requirements necessary to execute primary mission(s).
    b. Per REF (E), Commanders must assess the required timing
of need for any purchase of goods or services to execute your
primary mission. If a risk assessment determines it can wait until
after 17 Nov, then it should be delayed. Commanders in the field
are best positioned to assess risk to their primary mission and
thus should make the decision as to whether a financial request
is absolutely required during the cutover period.  
4. Obligation Process: REF (G), provides general guidance on
how obligations will be captured in CFS during the cutover period.
Additional details are below but units should understand that only
finance and procurement professionals – Storekeepers (SKs),
Contracting Staff, Contracting Officers (KOs), (including those
for financial transactions), Contracting Specialists (KSs), Area
Support Team (AST)/Regional Support Team (RST) procurement
specialists – will be entering obligations into CFS. Units will
complete and e-mail the offline Procurement Request (PR)
and any additional details to their respective procurement or
finance shop. Additional details will be listed in REF (G) and
subsequent job-aids.
    a. Units will complete an offline PR for all obligations that
require one (exceptions include travel and certain miscellaneous
obligations, as noted in Appendix A to REF (G)). PRs will be
initiated on Form DOT F4200.
    b. The requisitioner will route PRs for signature through their
supervisor and the funds certifier. Electronic or ink signatures
are acceptable.
    c. Approved PRs will then be e-mailed to the procurement or
finance shop who will first create and then approve the obligation
in CFS. For BPR’d units, the procurement or finance shop is the
RST or AST. For non-BPR’d units this is your units' support
department and/or SKs.
    d. Obligation is created and then item/service is procured.
    e. All other current state processes for obligations – priority
one, two, three, contracts, etc., remain the same with the above
changes. Generally, if your current procurement process requires
a step utilizing FPD, it can be modified to either the offline PR
or CFS.
5. Outreach and training: There will be daily CFS open houses the
week of 20 Sep. Additional details will be sent out SEPCOR. CFS
has been designed to be relatively intuitive to finance,
procurement, and contracting professionals however there are
different fields, terminology, and processes that will need to
be explained. There will not be a substantial training regimen for
the application commensurate with what is being implemented for
FSMS. REF (G) and its appendices will provide general guidance.
Job aids continue to be developed to provide users a step-by-step
process for entering obligations based on document style.
6. Asset Logistics Management Information System (ALMIS) and
Naval and Electronics Supply Support System (NESSS): These two
logistics and financial systems will not be replaced by FSMS.
ALMIS and NESSS will continue to operate normally including making
obligations and disbursements during the cutover and into the
foreseeable future. This cutover guidance does not apply to ALMIS
and NESSS.
7. POCs.  
    a. Craig Bennett, COMDT (CG-8D), 202-372-3476, Email:
Craig.A.Bennett@uscg.mil.
    b. CAPT William Arritt, FMPS Deputy Director, 202-372-4674,
Email: William.L.Arritt@uscg.mil  
    c. CAPT Adam Kerr, COMDT (CG-9336) FMSII Team Lead, 202-475-3039,
Email: Adam.L.Kerr@uscg.mil.
    d. CAPT Erich Klein, Deputy Director of Financial Operations/
Deputy Comptroller, 202-372-3652, Email: Erich.F.Klein@uscg.mil.
    e. Mr. Stephen J. Weagraff, COMDT (CG-86) Office of Financial
Systems Business Requirements, 202-372-3675, Email:
Stephen.J.Weagraff@uscg.mil.
8. RDML M. J. Fedor, Assistant Commandant for Resources (CG-8),
sends.  
9. Internet release is authorized.