I

CANT
AFFORD
STATE
SERVICES

I NTERNATIONAL
COOPERATIVE
ADMINSITRATIVE
SUPPORT
SERVICES

What is ICASS?
A menu of administrative services at all US
missions overseas. Examples include FP Staff
Health Unit, Diplomatic Pouch, Shipping &
Customs
Agencies share the costs
of service proportionally to
usage
Services to Volunteers are
*not* part of ICASS

ICASS is made ofCustomers

Peace Corps and other US agencies at a
mission such as State/Programs, USAID,
Agriculture, Commerce

Service Provider(s)
Department of State/ICASS,
Alternative Service Providers,
e.g., USAID or a private vendor

The ICASS Platform

Services are grouped into
Cost Centers
Service Standards should
be in place for every cost
center
Customers subscribe to a menu of cost
centers by MOU and annual Service
Subscription form

Customers
Post ICASS Council
Reviews and approves Memoranda of Understanding
(MOU)
Selects service provider(s) and collaborates on
performance standards
Approves mission ICASS budgets
Evaluates services
Strives for consensus

Peace Corps CD or DMO is active participant

Post ICASS Working Group
Optional committee reporting to the ICASS Council
Peace Corps DMO is an active participant

ICASS in Washington
ICASS Executive Board (IEB)
Highest level policy-making entity
Peace Corps Chief Financial Officer is a member

Interagency Working Group (IWG)

Interagency group open to all participating
agencies
OCFO analyst is Peace Corps representation
Staff arm of the ICASS Executive Board
Responsible for policy development

ICASS Service Center

Housed at Dept of State in Washington but
paid for by all customer agencies

Customer Service & Training Team

Questions, Cables, and Briefings read those
ICASS cables!
Website (www.icass.gov)
Mission-based Trainings

Software Team
Reimbursements Team
Budget Process
Bill Payments

How is the ICASS Budget

Distributed to Customers at Post?

ICASS Cost Distribution Methodology

All costs of offering a service must be
assigned to a Cost Center. These costs are
allocated to customers
Allocations are based on WORKLOAD Counts
Workload Counts may be MODIFIED if the full
range of services in a cost center is not used

General Services Officer FS-3

$125,000

Shipping Clerk FSN6

Shipment & Customs

Services

$500,000
$15,000

Computer
Equipment
$10,000

Costs are allocated based on an

agencys share of total workload

DoD
$100,000

DEA
$50,000

Shipment & Customs

50%

State
$250,000

Services

$500,000

ICASS
$75,000

Peace
Corps
$25,000

ICASS Distribution
The cost of the ICASS platform to provide
services to itself. Costs are shared by all
customers based on percent of services used.
Thus, if Peace Corps uses 2% of services, it
pays 2% of Distribution costs.
Subscribing to a new service adds to your
Distribution costs.
Can be 35% to over 130% of your invoice!

Overseas Building Operations

State Department funds New Embassy
Compounds (NEC) through assessment on all
ICASS Customers
$1,121,747 charge for FY 2008. Based on
.5% of $234 Million estimated costs for
ICASSs portion of NEC costs.
Effective Increase of about 25% to all ICASS
Charges.

Invoices are generated for each

customer agency at a mission

Invoices from every mission in the world are collected

by the ICASS Service Center in Washington

Mission invoices + FSC costs + Washington

costs = TOTAL PEACE CORPS INVOICE
Examples of non-post costs:
FSCs Bangkok, Charleston
ICASS Service Center
FSN Separation Trust Fund
Grants for Overseas Schools
State Medical Services
Exchange rate contingency fund

Timeline
May 1 Service provider records workload counts for

each customer, a snapshot of agency position

June 1 Service provider gives customers workload

counts
July 1 After review and revision, customers provide

written approval of workload counts; these will be used

to to generate bills for the coming fiscal year
May to Sept. - Customers update service

subscriptions for the coming fiscal year

December Service provider completes the missions

ICASS budget for the current fiscal year and presents

customers with the Initial ICASS Invoice for signature
April Service provider presents customers with the

Final ICASS Invoice for signature

Deadlines
Six months written notice is required to
withdraw from a service. To meet the ICASS
budget preparation timetable, this means:
April 1 is the notification deadline for October
1 implementation
October 1 is the notification deadline for April
1 implementation
Post AO/CD needs to notify Embassy to
withdraw from service upon evacuation

Peace Corps Context

Peace Corps
Does Not Fit the ICASS Mold
Have volunteers never counted in ICASS
Supported by our admin staff
Hold a unique place in US foreign policy

Roles and Responsibilities

Participate to ensure that PC receives the
quality of services for which it pays. Help
define standards of service
Be a player & manage the relationships
Take only Peace Corps approved services
*Peace Corps waiver process
Dont ask for favors or side details

Roles & Responsibilities continued

Ensure the accuracy of invoices, workload
counts and modification levels
Advocate for Peace Corps position by
requesting modifications and finding cost
effective ways to do business outside ICASS

Roles & Responsibilities continued

Be frugal with Peace Corps funds!
CD signatures collectively bind Peace Corps to
millions of dollars of payment
Peace Corps is relatively small in $$ terms at most
missions
A small change in ICASS costs for State
Department is big change for Peace Corps

Questions to ask when the invoice and

back up reports arrive
Have we been give 10 business days to review?
Are there charges in cost centers to which we did not
formally subscribe?
Are workload counts correct?
Are PSCs being counted incorrectly as FSNs?
Are approved modification factors being applied to the
designated cost centers (.3 or .6)?
Is Overhead more than 5% of the total?
Is ICASS Distribution more than 40% of the total?

Billing Disputes
Work with the service provider and Council to
resolve disputes
Discuss with your ICASS Coordinator at HQ
May refuse to sign an invoice, but reserve this
for material issues. Its is better to sign the
invoice while working to ensure that the
problem does not happen again.

References
6 FAH-5 Foreign Affairs Handbook section
on Cost Distribution is most helpful. Online at
www.foia.state.gov, Regulations.
Overseas Financial Management Handbook
published by OCFO
www.ICASS.gov website managed by the
ICASS Service Center in Washington
ICASS Coordinator at HQ CFO Analyst Will
Plummer, tel: x2606