It has started in earnest. Two weeks notice of really short deadlines that depend on a multitude of people to have a small chance of meeting.
Why is it that we basically close down government every September (now creeping into August) to deal with book balancing and bureaucracy? Why can’t we do this stuff year round and not have to STOP?
Accounting systems are locked down and people are restricted from processing any transactions. Travel can’t proceed without finance. Govt customers are expected to bide their time while it is all sorted out.
Who among you have good stories of end of FY transitions that don’t stop everything in it’s tracks?
By the way, several record series have FY related cutoffs. So, maybe while some of your folks are sitting around waiting for the “systems” to restart, they can have a look at their records and get them bundled up for appropriate action. (With DoD 5015.02-STD compliant records management solutions, you don’t have to stop filing either…they must be able to process disposition and handle incoming records as well.)
The end of the FY is always crazy. I guess it is the natural desire to procrastinate and wait for the last second. Combined with government’s unique nature where there is no advantage for a manager not to spend their budget and actually it gets them in trouble.
Look out for the Fiscal New Year party being put on by GovLoop with a bunch of great groups to let off steam after the new year. Details soon.
I think it is the nature of the funding cycles as well. We generally get allocated funding once a year and are not set up to accept funds throughout the year (unless it is planned like quarterly IRS payments or something.) We are certainly not very good at receiving ad hoc payments for services. Wouldn’t it be strange if we had a taxpayer “pay go” You want defense, how much is it worth to you? You want food safety? Clean water? etc, etc, etc.