Frequently Asked Questions about Financial Management Quality Service Management Office (FM QSMO)
About FM QSMO
The Financial Management Quality Service Management Office (FM QSMO) is a U.S. Department of the Treasury initiative which is a key component to achieving goals under Treasury's 10-year Vision for the Future of Federal Financial Management.
Treasury's vision is to partner with agency leaders and provide agencies with access to innovative and proven financial management solutions and expert guidance that will advance government-wide financial management goals.
The FM QSMO will focus on brokering access to modern, standards-based solutions that will move agencies away from outdated systems, improve government operations and performance and advance government-wide financial management goals, including improved transparency and better use of data for decision making.
The Treasury FM QSMO team is in the process of designing a marketplace of solutions and services to help agencies meet their financial management needs and shared government-wide goals using an agile, customer-centric, collaborative approach with both Federal agencies and industry.
The FM QSMO is committed to the principles of agile development and human-centered design to optimize innovation and customer experience. We will create a marketplace of solutions and services to help agencies meet their financial management needs and accomplish shared government-wide goals around standardization, modernization, customer satisfaction and cost management.
Incorporating the voice of the customer into the design of the Marketplace solutions and services is a key focus for the FM QSMO. The team has been using interactive agency workshops and other collaboration tools to seek customer feedback and provide opportunities for involvement.
The FM QSMO would like to be a valued partner for agencies during the financial system modernization planning process to discuss a path toward migration to the Marketplace core financial system cloud solution and use of other Marketplace solutions and services.
Other benefits for agencies include the following:
- Choice and flexibility across the Marketplace offerings
- Streamlined and cost-effective procurements
- Timely incorporation of standards into Marketplace core financial system solutions
The FM QSMO's approach to designing its marketplace is guided by the following principles:
- Focus on customer experience;
- Maximize the strategic value of data; and
- Deliver progress using agile processes.
Agencies will have access to commercial and federal providers in the Marketplace and it will be solution-centric, versus the prior more provider-centric approach to expanding shared services. There will be choice of and flexibility in solutions and services through a network of providers, including legacy federal shared service providers (FSSPs) where the provider role aligns with the goals of the agency in which the FSSP resides.
The marketplace will also drive innovation using agile processes and ensure compliance with federal policies and financial management standards.
The FM QSMO will be a broker between agencies and providers to assist agencies and ensure easy access to standards-based solutions and other offerings in the Marketplace.
The FM QSMO’s approach to designing its marketplace is guided by the following principles: focus on customer experience, maximize the strategic value of data, and deliver progress using agile processes.
The FM QSMO will deliver solutions using the following four-stage approach:
- Use established standards, which enable sharing and will support data quality.
- Engage in customer-centered solution management, which focuses on the supply-side of the Marketplace, building one that is responsive to agency needs and encourages innovation.
- Promote its Marketplace through agile adoption, which drives collaboration with agencies, understanding needs and timing of modernization activities, and seeks overall opportunities to adopt solutions in the Marketplace.
- Measure performance of all FM QSMO activities: Quality will be a key role of the FM QSMO, both to ensure that Marketplace providers and the QSMO itself are adaptive and agile in meeting customer needs and ensure high quality solutions in the Marketplace.
We are committed to the principles of agile development and human-centered design to optimize innovation and customer experience, and to incorporating the voice of the customer in all that we do.
The approach is grounded on a foundation of shared goals which are widely accepted across the financial management community:
- Standardize processes and data.
- Reduce operation and maintenance costs.
- Modernize and automate processes.
- Improve customer satisfaction.
The following principles are guiding the design of the Marketplace:
- Focus on customer experience.
- Maximize the strategic value of data.
- Deliver progress using agile processes.
Treasury is working to establish the FM QSMO as a collaborative and innovative, customer-centered organization to accomplish the following objectives:
- Offer and manage a marketplace of high-performing and cost-effective solutions to respond to agency needs.
- Partner with agencies to determine strategies and solutions that will help them reach agreed-upon government-wide goals.
- Guide and govern the long-term sustainability of core financial management services and solutions.
- Institute a customer and provider engagement and feedback model that allows for continuous improvement and performance management of solutions; and
- Work with customers and providers to adopt standards and comply with regulation and policy.
The Administrative Resource Center (ARC) is a Federal Shared Service Provider (FSSP) that currently provides financial management, as well as other services, to federal agencies. FM QSMO is the broker for the FM QSMO Marketplace. The Marketplace will include both federal and commercial providers, and ARC is one of those many envisioned providers.
FM QSMO and the Office of Financial Innovation and Transformation (FIT) are separate organizations within Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service. FIT identifies and helps to carry out innovative solutions so that government agencies can become more efficient and transparent in federal financial management. One of FIT's major roles is managing the government-wide Financial Management Line of Business (FMLoB). In this role, FIT is responsible for developing and maintaining the FMLoB Financial Management Standards through collaboration with the Federal Management Standards Committee (FMSC).
FM QSMO and FIT are working together to ensure that financial management standards will be embedded in the future Marketplace Core FS solutions. FM QSMO is also working with FIT to leverage the FMSC community of stakeholders by providing regular updates to the advisory board, steering committee and working groups, and requesting feedback on Marketplace Core FS solution capabilities.
The Marketplace
The Marketplace will be a virtual platform that will be available for federal agencies to use to acquire information on the FM QSMO catalog of both commercial and federal provider offerings as well as access tools and resources to support an agency’s financial management modernization journey. Offerings available in the Marketplace may include a mix of technology, advisory and operational services. It is envisioned that agencies will be able to acquire solutions and services via the Marketplace by the end of FY 2022.
Legacy federal shared service providers (FSSPs) will continue to have a role in the Marketplace both as consumers and early adopters of the Core FS. FSSPs may also be providers of services if that role aligns with the goals of the agency in which the FSSP resides. The FM QSMO is currently working with the legacy FSSPs to determine these future roles.
Agencies should reach out to the FM QSMO to discuss current plans for modernization or new investments. We would like to assist and support planning efforts and ensure awareness around the FM QSMO Marketplace timeline.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Act agencies should contact the FM QSMO team when they are planning a new financial management investment for the following:
- New core financial system with related support services
- Legacy financial system technology and support services
- CFO Act agency interested in a new FSSP relationship
Non-CFO Act agencies interested in new FSSP relationships may continue to perform market research with legacy FSSPs. The legacy FSSPs who will continue to onboard new customers as providers in the FM QSMO Marketplace are keeping the FM QSMO informed of customer inquiries.
FM QSMO is working closely with the other designated QSMOs and lines of business to identify interoperability needs and/or areas where data and business information will need to be exchanged across systems through interfaces or integrations. The FM QSMO is also supporting work initiated by the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Office of Shared Solutions and Performance Improvement (OSSPI) to identify common processes and approach across all the QSMOs. OSSPI is an office of government-wide policy that supports governmentwide shared services by coordinating governance and developing processes to support implementation of OMB policy as it relates to mission support services.
Legacy FSSPs play a critical role in providing financial management shared services today. Existing relationships do not need to change. Treasury is working with the legacy FSSPs to establish their future roles as providers in the Marketplace which would include expansion of services offered, onboarding of new customers and early adoption of the Marketplace Core FS solution. Legacy FSSPs are participating in the interactive workshops to design the Marketplace and capabilities needed for the Core FS baseline solution. Their input is valuable as they will also be future customers of the Marketplace solutions and services, including the Marketplace Core FS.
Stakeholders
Partnership with industry is critical to the success of the FM QSMO initiative. Industry will be asked to bring modern, configurable, and service-oriented solutions to government to reduce any unnecessary or duplicative footprint and the risk of operating aging technology. Additionally, industry is expected to bring solutions that are innovative and improve customer service which will help the government to be more agile and responsive to changes in demand. FM QSMO plans to engage and receive feedback from industry through outreach initiatives such as industry days and requests for information (RFI).
Design of the FM QSMO Marketplace will be customer centric, striving to incorporate the customer's voice throughout the process. This will include every aspect from design of the marketplace and products offered to the delivery of software standard-based solutions.
To incorporate the voice of the customer, FM QSMO has been holding interactive agency workshops and utilizing the capabilities of OMB MAX to share notional documents for review. To ensure that performance and quality standards are met, FM QSMO will continue to engage with customers once the Marketplace is available. The philosophy of the FM QSMO is not “one and done” but rather an agile approach. The customer journey will be continuously evaluated, and adjustments will be made to the Marketplace when doing so provides value to customers.
The FM QSMO interacts with the following stakeholders:
- Agencies
- Industry (commercial providers of financial management software solutions and service)
- Legacy federal shared service providers, which are listed on the GSA OSSPI website https://ussm.gsa.gov/qsmo/
- Other stakeholders and partners (OMB, GSA, governance councils)