CFO Council takes over certification of financial apps

The Chief Financial Officers Council will take responsibility for approving financial software for government use, under a shift by the Office of Management and Budget. The task had been under the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program.

OMB's Office of Federal Financial Management will coordinate with agencies any contracts for core financial software, establish interface requirements for the services and incorporate them into governmentwide documents.

In a Dec. 1 http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2005/m05-02.html memo to agency executives, OMB Director Joshua Bolten detailed the changes to OMB Circular A-127. The move will "improve the coordination among operators of agency financial management systems, vendors of financial management software, e-government shared services and the Treasury Department," Bolten said.

The CFO Council will:

?Develop and administer the core financial system certification test

?Notify the General Services Administration when an application completes certification and can be procured

?Provide information on core financial system requirements and their testing scenarios

?Provide vendors and agencies with details on the results of the certification tests.