1. Purpose. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) Fee-for-Service component; to explain its objectives, scope, and the responsibilities of those individuals using or managing the component; and to establish policies and procedures for the component’s use and operation.
2. Component Objective. The objective of the NWQL component is to provide a mechanism without fiscal year constraints for reimbursing the NWQL for analytical and research and development (R&D) science support performed for Water Discipline programs, other USGS Disciplines, and clients outside the USGS.
3. Scope. The NWQL is a Fee-for-Service component of the WCF and was established under the appropriate Bureau policies. The NWQL performs chemical and biological analyses and conducts R&D studies on new analytical techniques and methods for the detection and quantification of contaminants in samples of water, sediments, and aquatic tissue for all Water District offices and for other USGS Disciplines. These services are provided on a reimbursement basis, with the price of each analysis and method development calculated to cover all direct and indirect costs associated with those analyses and R&D efforts.
4. Background. The NWQL is organizationally assigned to Headquarters, reporting directly to the Chief, Office of Water Quality (OWQ); OWQ reports directly to the Associate Director for Water. The Water Discipline gathers data for determining the location, quantity, availability, and quality of ground and surface water throughout the United States and its territories. Approximately 70 percent of the water-quality samples collected by the USGS nationwide are analyzed at the NWQL. The NWQL produces more than 1,300,000 analytical results from an average of 50,000 samples annually. Most of the samples analyzed at the NWQL are for cooperative projects between the USGS and other Federal, State, and local agencies. The NWQL also provides primary support to the National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA)—one of the Water Discipline’s largest water-quality programs, the National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN), and other Federal water-quality programs.
Analytical work is logged into the NWQL and billed according to a Water-Discipline-approved price schedule. Samples arrive at the NWQL throughout the year but are especially numerous from May to October–the optimum field season for the collection of water samples across the country. The analysis of these samples is accomplished over a period of time determined by a number of factors, including workload, complexity of required analyses, required data turnaround time, and human resources. Another important factor is the capacity of the laboratory, which is dependent on instrumentation and analysis throughput elements. Due to the fluctuation of planned workload, analysis activities are sometimes performed in overlapping fiscal years. R&D activities include projects that cross fiscal year boundaries and may involve multiple fiscal years. The NWQL component enables the laboratory to use fees received for all work accomplished without fiscal year constraints. This capability provides distinct advantages to the laboratory and to the USGS in assuring continuous analytical support and the ability to reinvest Fee-for-Service income for vital instrumentation and equipment.
A. The Associate Director for Water and the Chief, OWQ, are responsible for the following:
(1). Providing the Chief, NWQL, with guidance on component policies and procedures and periodically reviewing the NWQL component for compliance with these policies and procedures.
(2). Providing internal reports and financial plans to the Budget Officer on the operation and financial condition of the component.
(3). Providing component oversight for pricing and facility costs and ensuring that appropriate accounting practices are in place to demonstrate compliance with Bureau requirements.
B. The Chief, NWQL (Approving Official), is responsible for the following:
(1). Complying with the policies and procedures of the component and notifying the Chief, OWQ, and the Associate Director for Water of any discrepancies or problems.
(2). Certifying that component funds are available prior to the approval of an investment expenditure request.
(3). Developing annual pricing schedules to ensure full-cost recovery from Fee-for-Service functions.
C. The Administrative Officer, NWQL, is responsible for the following:
(1). Complying with the policies and procedures of the component.
(2). Developing annual Bureau operating budgets and work plans.
(3). Preparing necessary financial reports.
(4). Maintaining all necessary documentation for the NWQL component.
(5). Maintaining continuity within NWQL’s billing program.
(6). Adhering to requirements and overseeing documentation related to income collection, including the internal voucher process.
(7). Following established guidelines related to Investment Plans for future acquisition needs.
A. Pricing. The NWQL operates on a full-cost-recovery basis. Routine pricing is developed annually. The rates cover all direct and indirect costs associated with analytical services. Annually, the rates are revised and posted on the NWQL Web page for use in negotiating project costs with reimbursable customers. The rates can be found in the NWQL Catalog (http://nwql.cr.usgs.gov/usgs/catalog/index.cfm). In addition, projects and services that are outside of routine pricing (that is, non-routine) go through a complete cost formulation step that results in a proposal and contract for the actual work.
B. Income/Workload Estimates. For planning purposes, Water Discipline customers are required to enter their estimates of analytical needs for the upcoming fiscal year. This may be accomplished through the NWQL electronic Income/Workload Estimate Web page (http://nwql.cr.usgs.gov/usgs/budget/login.cfm) and requires the Water District Cost Centers to enter anticipated sample submission for the current fiscal year. Initial data entry is completed within the first quarter of each fiscal year, with subsequent updates during the second and third quarters. The program generates an agreement that is signed by the Water District’s designee and is forwarded to the NWQL. This program generates reports for both the Districts and the NWQL that reflect estimated sample workload and project cost for sample analysis.
(1). The NWQL will capture and evaluate expenditure data through established Bureau common business practices (CBP) and will assign project/task account numbers for operational decision-making and pricing development.
(2). Costs must be identified through established CBPs so that costs related to providing the service can be accounted for, accumulated, and reported. The tools used at present are BASIS+ and FFS.
(3). Costs must also be categorized as direct or indirect (see Chapter 4, section 3.C).
(A). The method for calculating indirect costs must take into consideration the following factors:(i). NWQL support labor costs - Systems management (that is, information technology), facilities and management services, personnel functions, financial management, procurement, and contracts.
(ii). Other support costs - Equipment, supplies, printing and reproduction, utilities, space, miscellaneous contractor services, travel, and so on.
(iii). Depreciation, amortization, and terminal leave.
(B). Indirect costs must be reviewed annually to determine whether any significant changes in activity have taken place that would require gathering new source data (1) upon which to apply the indirect cost methodology and (2) for the calculation of an updated indirect cost.
D. Billing and Collections.
(1). Samples are submitted to the NWQL with a completed analytical services
request (ASR) form (fig.
1). For billing purposes, there are two fields on the ASR that identify
the client submitting the samples—the user code and the project account.
The samples and ASRs are electronically logged into the Laboratory Information
Management System (LIMS) at the time of sample receipt.
(2). The NWQL bills its customers on a monthly schedule from the login information in LIMS. An electronic standard voucher (SV) file is generated and transferred to the Office of Accounting and Financial Management (OAFM). This file is uploaded into FFS and posts expenditures to clients.
(3). Clients may view their detailed billing for that month on the NWQL Customer Billing Reports Web page (http://nwql.cr.usgs.gov/usgs/billing/index.cfm).
(4). Samples for analysis that are sent directly to contract laboratories are billed through the same process described above in (2). Contract laboratories fax the ASRs submitted with the samples received to the NWQL for data entry into LIMS and eventually billing.
(5). Clients should prepare an internal voucher (IV) each month in response to the electronic SV files. See Appendix E, FFS Documents, for detailed instructions in preparing an IV.
(6). Monthly billing reports are posted on the NWQL Web page for its clients and identify not only sample costs but also the National Field Supplies Service.
E. Budget. The operational budget for the laboratory is complex in that it must account for the expected level-of-effort (that is, sample loading) from its clients. Annually, sample estimates are received from all Water clients. The Administrative Officer, NWQL, is responsible for projecting budget requirements and monitoring expenditures against the approved budget.