Capital Asset Management
The Capital Asset Management Service (CAMS) is charged with managing VA’s portfolio of capital assets, performance monitoring of the portfolio, real property management, disposal and reuse planning, real property data management, and on-going analysis of the portfolio. In support of these responsibilities, CAMS oversees implementation, maintenance, and enhancements for four information technology systems used to manage VA’s real property portfolio through the full asset life cycle, as well as multiple SharePoint sites. Example of activities these systems facilitate include management and oversight of underutilized and vacant properties, producing the multi-year disposal and reuse plans, annual portfolio reporting, and implementation of the “Reduce the Footprint” (RTF) policy requirements.
The primary systems supported by this service include: Capital Asset Management System-Business Intelligence (CAMS-BI), Capital Asset Inventory (CAI) system, Strategic Capital Investment Planning (SCIP) Automation Tool (SAT), and Enterprise Lease Management Tool (ELMT). These systems support different aspects of the VA’s capital asset management process and life cycle. The complexity of CAMS’s responsibilities continue to expand as data systems are leveraged to (1) analyze and support/improve performance measuring and benchmarking; (2) support data-driven analysis and decision-making for continuous improvement; (3) improve efficiencies, accountability, and transparency; and (4) actively support an integrated, corporate portfolio approach to managing VA’s infrastructure and strategically planning for and investing in the future.
Collaboration with other OAEM services is critical in the areas of (1) real property capital budget creation and execution, (2) capturing capital investment planning data and providing analysis of service gaps to improve rationale and justification for infrastructure improvements impacting VA services offered to Veterans, (3) Enhanced-Use leasing and post-transaction oversight requirements, and (4) management of Department-level energy, environment and fleet programs.
This service also processes requests for lease accounting classification codes (AC codes) and revenue and non-revenue source codes in coordination with the Financial Management System (FMS).
- Capital Asset Inventory. CAMS manages CAI. CAI is the authoritative database of record for VA’s real property portfolio, including all the Department’s owned and leased assets. The CAI database also houses the Facility Condition Assessment (FCA) data, agreement information, and historical asset information for the portfolio. CAI data is used in many ways, including reporting and analysis for the Federal Real Property Council (FRPC), the General Services Administration (GSA), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and Congress, as well as for internal initiatives such as the Strategic Capital Investment Planning (SCIP) process. The system is the most current accurate and reliable real property data tool used for capture VA’s asset portfolio.
- Capital Asset Management System-Business Intelligence. Also managed by CAMS (Service) developed what has evolved to the CAMS-BI (Business Intelligence) system providing a corporate-level reporting and analysis tool that draws from multiple VA IT systems.
- SCIP Automation Tool. With the implementation of the SCIP process, the CAMS implemented a web-based system — the SAT. SCIP SAT merges all elements of the capital investment management lifecycle into a single, cohesive system to include seamless integration between investment phases. It evaluates VA’s infrastructure and defined service gaps; develops 10-Year Action Plans for remediation of the gaps; provides a means for creating business cases; provides scoring of investments into a single, integrated weighted project list; supports the creation of the real property capital budget; and manages investments by tracking the actual operational execution of funded projects.
- Enterprise Lease Management Tool. VA is required to see delegation of authority on a case-by-case basis for review and approval. In support of this requirement CAMS integrated the GSA approval requirements into a SharePoint based tool, the ELMT. This tool allows CAMS to review GSA delegation requests before they are submitted to GSA. It also captures lease data at a portfolio level for analysis and budget forecasting. ELMT has greatly increased the likelihood of first-time approval by GSA and decreased processing time for requests to be reviewed by GSA. It continues to evolve and become a more valuable tool in relation to VA’s portfolio of nearly 2,000 leases.
- Accounting Classification Codes. The CAMS is also a liaison to the Financial Management System (FMS) for processing requests and registering AC codes for new and renewal leases. All operational leases should have a unique AC code assigned. This is done in accordance with the SCIP SAT list of approved leases. Once assigned, an AC code is set up in the CAI database. Stations are responsible for updating all blank fields in CAI using the contract and leased space information immediately after they are notified that an AC code has been entered. The AC code is to be used for any/all costs posted to FMS that is associated with the leased.