ASAP Help
Processing an Authorization Transaction |
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Authorizations in ASAP.gov are the primary transactions whereby the awarding Federal Agency adds funds to or removes funds from the available balance of an ASAP account . Authorization amounts generally correspond to award amounts, award amendments, obligations, or other such sources. An authorization which adds funds is called an increase authorization, and one that removes funds is called a decrease authorization. The authorization process has two parts, entry and certification. |
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Each Federal Agency can enter authorizations into ASAP.gov for its own existing accounts (those containing its ALC /Region). This is accomplished via online (ENTER ONLINE AUTHORIZATIONS) or submission of a batch file available 24 hours a day. (For more information on batch entry, please consult your respective RFC). Upon completion of entering an authorization, a home page message notifying that authorizations are awaiting review is available to the Agency's Certifying Official upon log in.
In order for an authorization to affect the balance of an ASAP account, the entered authorization must be certified , as uncertified authorizations do not affect the balance of an ASAP account. All authorizations must be certified via ASAP.gov regardless of whether the authorization was entered online or through batch processing. Certification is accomplished through Certify Individual Online Authorizations for individual online entries and through Certify Batch Authorizations or Certify Individual Within a Batch for batch processed entries. The same individual at the Federal Agency may not perform both functions of entering and certifying authorizations.
After an authorization transaction is entered into ASAP.gov, the Certifying Officer at the Agency must certify the transaction before it is applied to the available balance of an ASAP account. All authorizations, both those entered online and via batch files, are certified online.
Upon completion of certifying an online or batch authorization, a Notification message is available advising that an authorization has been certified.
Authorizations can be cancelled once entered and/or certified. By selecting Cancel Uncertified Authorizations, authorizations that have been entered and not yet certified can be cancelled. Certified authorizations, in which funds have not yet been applied to its respective ASAP account, i.e. future dated authorization, can be cancelled via Cancel Warehoused Authorizations.
When entering an authorization into ASAP.gov, the Federal Agency must specify an effective date . Authorization transactions can be made effective for the current date, a future date, or a previous date. When the Federal Agency certifies the authorization, the system will apply the authorization to the available balance of the appropriate ASAP Account according to the specified effective date. The amount of funds available for payment is only affected by an authorization when it is applied.
Below are some common scenarios when; the applied date (date in which ASAP.gov increases or decreases the respective ASAP Account) does not always equate to the effective date as entered:
·. If the authorization is certified on the same date as its effective date, the transaction is applied immediately to update the available balance. (Applied date = effective date = date certified)
·. If the authorization is certified on any date after its effective date, the transaction is also applied immediately to update the available balance. (Applied date = date certified, which is after the effective date)
·. If the authorization is certified on any date before its effective date (i.e., a future dated authorization), the transaction will be applied to the available balance on the effective date. (Applied date = effective date, which is after the date certified). Once certified, future dated authorizations are said to be warehoused , as explained below.
Future dated authorization transactions can be warehoused up to 1 year and 1 day (366 days) beyond the date of entry. Once certified, warehoused authorizations will be applied automatically to the appropriate ASAP account when the specified effective date is equal to the current system date. Warehoused authorizations are applied as part of start-of-day operations (5:00 a.m. ET) on the day they become effective.
·. A warehoused decrease authorization, which causes an account balance to drop below zero on the effective date, will be rejected when the system attempts to apply it. Federal Agencies are encouraged to make decreases effective immediately wherever possible.
Authorization transactions in ASAP.gov are similar to common accounting ledger entries. When applied, the amount of funds available for request in ASAP.gov changes, but no funds actually leave the U.S. Treasury until a payment request settles at the payment requestor’s financial institution.
