GAO seeks data on COTS budget software

The Government Accountability Office is asking industry for information about commercial off the shelf (COTS) software that could assist legislative agencies in formulating annual personnel budget requests to Congress.

In a recent notice, congressional watchdog agency GAO said it is seeking products that let users develop base-level program estimates of employee compensation, benefits and personnel-related costs.

The programs should also let the user record explanations and assumptions that support human capital management, financial-management, budget formulation, workforce planning and payroll processing systems.

Other functions the software should perform include:

• Accounting for different work schedules and compensation or benefits entitlements;


• Annualizing current year full-time equivalent and salary costs;


• Projecting FTE usage and dollar costs;


• Providing flexibility to incorporate business rules and assumptions, such as overtime, promotions, merit increases, specialty pay and compensatory pay.