| (in millions of $) | FY 2020 Enacted[[MCC was granted additional funding flexibility under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in Fiscal Year 2020. The legislation raised the cap on administrative expense funds to $107 million for unanticipated expenses in response to COVID-19. The provision does not increase overall resources for MCC as offsets were applied against Due Diligence funds.]] | FY 2021 Enacted | FY 2022 Request |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Appropriation/Request | 905.0 | 912.0 | 912.0 |
| Total Administrative Expenses | 107.0 | 112.0 | 115.0 |
| Human Capital | 64.5 | 65.3 | 66.8 |
| Training | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Overseas Operations | 9.0 | 11.3 | 11.7 |
| Contracted Services | 8.1 | 9.1 | 7.5 |
| Information Technology | 15.0 | 15.0 | 15.1 |
| Rent, Leasehold & Improvements | 6.3 | 6.9 | 6.9 |
| Travel | 3.4 | 3.5 | 6.0 |
| Other Administrative Expenses | 0.4 | - | - |
The predominance of the administrative budget covers MCC’s people, i.e., human capital, enabling the agency to successfully carry out its mission to reduce poverty through economic growth.
Additionally, administrative expenses cover critical mission support functions such as financial management and oversight, domestic and international security, human resource and overseas administrative support, contracts and grants acquisition, travel support, information technology and cybersecurity, risk management, internal controls, audit compliance, and facilities management and rent.
Finally, administrative expenses cover the costs of MCC personnel travel to overseas partner countries to collaborate on development, oversee and consult during implementation, and measure and assess the success of MCC programs. While travel expenses have remained lower in FY 2020 and FY 2021 due to COVID, it is expected that as risks diminish, travel will gradually ramp up to nearly pre-COVID levels. In addition, MCC recognizes that there could be an increase in travel costs in a post-COVID environment.
With this funding request, MCC will be able to support the FY 2022 portfolio through the retainment and competitive recruitment of high-caliber staff, quality program oversight, digital advancement and maintenance, and continued assurance MCC complies with high standards and necessary regulations.
Human Capital
MCC achieves its mission largely through its highly effective workforce. During this fiscal year, the agency continued work on developing a comprehensive human capital management plan to ensure MCC is appropriately staffed to achieve its mission, strategic priorities, and operations support. Through more strategic management of human capital, MCC aims to identify core, leadership, and role-based technical competencies, determine the workforce necessary to achieve the mission and strategic priorities, and build a strategy to address differences between current workforce composition and staff competencies as well as forecasting the workforce or competency needs.Within the administrative expenses budget line, the FY 2022 budget request includes $66.8 million for human capital expenses, including maintaining MCC’s merit pay, or pay-for-performance framework, which incorporates pay raises based on performance metrics against established criteria for each position. Much like the General Schedule pay scale, MCC also includes moderate increases to the established pay bands. Both adjustments are in line with standard inflationary increases for full-time equivalent (FTE) civil servants and in FY 2022, MCC will continue to maintain appropriate funding levels in support of existing staff, assess positions that become vacant, and determine workforce requirements in support of carrying out the agency and administration’s priorities.
Overseas Operations
MCC maintains a light but highly effective footprint in the countries where it operates. In FY 2022, MCC requests $11.7 million to continue supporting overseas administrative operations, including local-engaged staff salaries and benefits and resident country management team costs including rent, residential allowances, relocation expenses, travel, shipping, office and residential furniture, IT equipment, and official vehicles. MCC also contributes its cost share of the International Cooperative Administrative Support Services (ICASS) and Capital Security Cost Share (CSCS) administered by the Department of State. MCC anticipates a significant increase of roughly $1.3 million above the FY 2021 budget request to operate overseas, largely due to ICASS and CSCS managed by the Department of State. Although MCC continuously reviews the costs related to overseas operations in order to maximize the use of funding while providing adequate support towards our relatively small overseas presence (typically two FTE per country), MCC continues to see an upward trajectory in year over year ICASS and CSCS costs and anticipates potential necessity for enhanced security in support of MCC’s portfolio of countries. In FY 2022, MCC will provide support for overseas operations in countries with compacts that were authorized an extension due to COVID-19.Information Technology
MCC is planning $15.1 million for information technology (IT) support for FY 2022.IT has an integral role in supporting agency-wide initiatives, including process automation, the publication of procurement data, communication and cloud-based collaboration tools, and ongoing improvements for reporting grant disbursements for MCC’s country partners. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, MCC was able to quickly pivot to maximum telework because the agency already had the necessary IT systems and hardware in place. MCC continues to upgrade infrastructure and systems through incremental deployments and uses a multi-year approach to address its technology backlog. Demand for digital services remains high, playing a central role in supporting MCC’s mission-focused systems, and the funding requested would ensure efficiency and effectiveness can be delivered through secure, reliable applications and systems without stagnation in technology relevancy.
MCC controls equipment support costs by maintaining standardization across the enterprise. MCC has increased the use of shared services and FedRAMP-based solutions for supporting commodity-based IT requirements. IT plays an increasingly important role in supporting MCC’s mission through mobility, online collaboration, and virtual training. Cybersecurity threats keep evolving, and overall risk remains high. MCC continues to enhance its monitoring and behavior analytics capabilities and is integrating them with its Security Operations Center. MCC participates in annual Federal Information Security Management Act audits conducted by the USAID Office of Inspector General (OIG), and reports to Congress and OMB on the findings and recommendations. MCC is also planning additional improvements to the Identify, Credential, and Access Management program. The agency remains committed to developing capabilities with the Department of Homeland Security Continuous Diagnostic Monitoring Program and has requested to participate in the Vulnerability Disclosure Program.
MCC recently designated a Chief Data Officer, in alignment with requirements under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (2019) and will continue investing in leveraging data as a strategic asset and participating in open data and transparency initiatives. MCC is migrating millions of records to a cloud-based repository that will have controls compliant with National Archives and Records Administration policies and guidance. The agency is on track to migrate to Enterprise Infrastructure Services by the 2023 deadline.