Other Documents

This page includes additional information about SACWIS/TACWIS, including Advance Planning Documents and cost principles.

General Information

• Tri-Agency Letter on Detail of Cost Allocation Waiver  (PDF): July 20, 2015. This third Tri-Agency letter provides a specific exception to the cost allocation requirements set forth in OMB Circular A-87 (Section C.3)  (PDF), which requires benefitting programs to share the costs associated with building state-based information technology systems. The initial Tri-Agency letter allowed Federally-funded human services programs to benefit from investments in the design and development of state eligibility-determination systems for state-operated Exchanges, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) through December 31, 2015. This letter provides a one-time extension for an additional 3 years, through December 31, 2018, and provides additional guidance on how states may take advantage of the exception and the extended timeframe to leverage these investments to better serve consumers that are accessing multiple health and human service programs to meet their needs.
• The Cost Allocation Methodology (CAM) Toolkit is available to federal, state, and local agencies through a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE); the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service (FNS); and representatives from States of Kansas and Texas. This is version #3 of the Toolkit.  It has been updated to natively support Microsoft Office Excel 2010, to fix bugs, and provide usability improvements. The CAM Toolkit's purpose is to model a simple, consistent, and objective cost allocation methodology that serves as a "safe harbor" for States that must perform cost allocation of software development cost under an approved Advance Planning Document (APD).
• Tri-Agency Letter on Detail of Cost Allocation Waiver: January 23, 2012. The purpose of this letter is to provide specific exception to the cost allocation requirements set forth in OMB Circular A-87 (Section C.3)  (PDF) that requires benefitting programs to pay their share of the costs associated with building State-based information technology systems. The exception allows Federally-funded human services programs to benefit from investments in the design and development of State eligibility-determination systems for State-operated Exchanges, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
  This letter provides additional guidance on how States may take advantage of this exception to leverage these investments to serve multiple programs and needs. The U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA) are committed to a strong partnership with States and our Federal partners as we work together to implement the Affordable Care Act.
• Enhanced Funding Requirements: Seven Conditions and Standards 1.0  (PDF): April 2011. The purpose of this letter is to provide more detail about the seven conditions and standards and the kinds of information, activities and documentation the federal government will examine over the course of a systems development lifecycle to allow for initial and ongoing approval of enhanced funding. More importantly, these dimensions of development and artifacts are essential to help states ensure they are making efficient investments and will ultimately improve the likelihood of successful system implementation and operation. This document builds on the work CMS, states and private industry have done over the last six years under the Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA) initiative.
• Additional Guidance to States on the OMB Circular A-87 Cost Allocation Exception  (PDF): August 10, 2011. The purpose of this letter to provide a time-limited, specific exception to the cost allocation requirements set forth in OMB Circular A-87 (Section C.3) to allow, at the option of the state, federally funded human services programs to benefit from investments in state eligibility systems being made by State-operated Exchanges, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
• HHS Entitlement Grant Programs Now Under 45 CFR Part 92: Issued December 1, 2004. The purpose of this letter is to provide guidance to states concerning the Federal Register notice dated September 8, 2003 that brought HHS entitlement grant programs under 45 CFR Part 92.
• OMB Circular A-87 - Cost Principles for State, Local and Indian Tribal Governments : Revised May 10, 2004. An interagency task force was established to review existing cost principles for Federal awards to State and local governments. The task force studied Inspector General reports and recommendations, solicited suggestions for changes to the Circular from State and local governments, and compared for consistency the provisions of other Office of Management and Budget cost principles covering nonprofit organizations and universities. Proposed revisions reflecting the results of those efforts were published on October 12, 1988 (53 FR 40352) and August 19, 1993 (58 FR 44212). The extensive comments received on these proposed revisions, discussions with interested groups, and other related developments were considered in developing this final revision.