Chapter 2 – Fiscal Management

21010.11 Policy Decisions and Fiscal Impact

• The Secretary, Undersecretaries, and Assistant Secretaries approve all departmental policy changes as set forth in DOMDepartment Operations Manual Section 11010.3.  The program division Directors shall prepare a request to change policy identifying the scope of the recommended policy change and any fiscal impact.

  • The Director shall route the recommended policy change package to the BMBBudget Management Branch who shall analyze the projected fiscal impact and ensure the proposal has been costed accurately and the program has identified the funding source and availability of funds for the recommended change.  Based on the BMBBudget Management Branch analysis, the Deputy Director will determine one of the following:

    • The funding for the request is identified, but not yet allotted to the program.  In this situation, the Deputy Director will respond directly to the program, and not forward the request to the Office of the Secretary.

    • The program could internally redirect funding within its allotment.  Similar to the above situation, the Deputy Director will respond directly to the program.  However, if the program disagrees with the Deputy Director’s determination, the Deputy Director shall forward the request along with a recommendation to the Office of the Secretary for final decision.

    • No funding is available to implement the request, but program has identified a critical or time sensitive need.  In this situation, forward the request to the Office of the Secretary and follow the process for non-urgent requests as described below.

    • No policy decisions shall be recommended for implementation without the funding being identified, secured, and if necessary, approved by the Office of the Secretary and the DOFDepartment Of Finance.

  • Non-Urgent Requests

    • Non-urgent requests are to be submitted to the Office of the Secretary, the BMBBudget Management Branch and the DOFDepartment Of Finance through the normal budgetary process described in Sections 21010.5 and 21010.6.  The BMBBudget Management Branch will work with the program staff to identify which of the processes described in these Sections is to be used to request funding prior to implementation of the change.

  • Urgent Requests

    • For urgent requests, the following steps will be taken as expeditiously as possible:

      • Program submits the request to their headquarters chain of command, with a copy to the Deputy Director, OFSOffice of Fiscal Services, using the BCSBudget Concept Statement format.

      • Deputy Director, OFSOffice of Fiscal Services submits the request to the BMBBudget Management Branch for fiscal impact analysis.

      • The BMBBudget Management Branch reviews and submits the request to the Office of the Secretary with a recommendation to approve or disapprove.

      • The Office of the Secretary approves or disapproves and returns the request to the BMBBudget Management Branch.

      • If disapproved, the BMBBudget Management Branch returns the request to the originator, closing the request.

      • If approved, the BMBBudget Management Branch immediately notifies the DOFDepartment Of Finance to secure approval of the request prior to implementation of a policy change.

      • The BMBBudget Management Branch will work with the DOFDepartment Of Finance on the best approach to acquire additional resources within the budgetary cycle.