Allocations

In A&E contracting, an allocation is the amount of money made available to spend on consultant services. An encumbrance is a commitment for spending allocated dollars.

Allocations for A&E contracts are provided on a yearly basis in two documents:

• The COS Allocation Resource Sheet (COS RAS) shows the PYEs broken down by programs. Sample District 6 COS RAS. 
• An Operating Expense (OE) allocation sheet shows the dollar amounts associated with the PYEs broken down by fund type. Sample District 6 OE Allocation Sheet. 

Each district’s external resource commitments (consultant dollars) must be evaluated on a monthly and cumulative basis against the allocations, with recommendations for bringing commitments in line with the allocations.

When the allocations do not cover commitments, the district has two options:

• Acquire additional resources from other districts.
• Extend schedules to move resource requirements to the next fiscal year.

When allocations exceed expected expenditures in the current fiscal year, the district must take action to resolve the imbalance. For example, a district may:

• Find additional projects to contract out.
• Disencumber funds to match the allocation and offer non-expended funds to other districts.

It also may be necessary to adjust encumbrances to match the allocation by fund type. For example, if a plan was to be funded 20% federal and 80% state dollars, but reality shows that projects are more 50-50, then the encumbrances should be adjusted as needed.

The District/Region A&E program manager is responsible for ensuring the allocation is fully expended by fund type. Contract managers, functional managers and task order managers should contract out projects that coincide with available fund types.