Austin Financial Center

Background

The History of AFC

The Austin Financial Center (AFC) was established in 1969 with guidance from President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The AFC was created as a Regional Financial Center (RFC) for the Financial Management Service, (FMS), a bureau of the Department of the Treasury. Today, the AFC is one of four RFCs, the other three being Kansas City, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Each RFC is geographically responsible for disbursements on behalf of federal agencies, civilian agencies and commercial vendors. The designation of regions was developed to bring agency operations and services closer to our customers.

In 1997, FMS was awarded the Vice President's Hammer Award. Hammer Awards were presented to teams of federal employees who had made significant contributions in support of reinventing government principles. The Award was the Vice President's answer to yesterday's government and its $400.00 hammer. Fittingly, the award consisted of a $6.00 hammer, a ribbon, and a note from the Vice President, all in an aluminum frame. More than 1,200 Hammer Awards were presented to teams comprised of federal, state and local employees, and citizens who worked to build a better government.

Working for Our Customer Agencies

The work of the AFC has evolved from the disbursement of hand-written checks into that of a major financial center efficiently issuing payments by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and high-speed check printers. AFC also provides a wide range of financial management services for both internal and external customers of the federal government.

In partnership with the other regional financial centers, FMS headquarters in Washington, D.C., other federal agencies and the Federal Reserve System, AFC works on many other programs and initiatives as well. The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) allows businesses and individual taxpayers the convenience of paying all of their federal taxes electronically. In addition to these programs, FMS is working on new emerging technologies with the Internet Payment Platform (IPP). The IPP is a new web-based information service that will handle government-wide electronic purchase orders, invoicing, and payment information service at no charge to the customer. Paper Check Conversion Over the Counter (PCC OTC) is a process occurring at the point of sale or in a lockbox environment in which, personal and business checks are converted into an EFT.

Vision

FMS and AFC are built on the ideology that Federal agencies seek to strengthen their financial management and to expand the use of electronic commerce technologies.

FMS through the efforts and operations within AFC provides such services. AFC serves its agency customers as a trusted ally, providing them with the loyalty of another government agency and resource as well as the assistance of an outside vendor. We ensure our customer agencies have the knowledge and the support they need to run their operations and to support their customers with maximum efficiency, reliability and effectiveness. Many of our products and services are mission critical and are aligned with congressional and presidential mandates, so we give our customer agencies the assurance that we will be there when they need us.

Mission

The Austin Financial Center is ever vigilant in serving the public trust advancing all facets of payment services.

Core Values

• Information Sharing
• Inclusion
• Individual Respect
• Integrity
• Informality
• Innovation

What We Have Been Doing Lately

Message from the Director about the Economic Stimulus Package

This has been a busy year for the AFC. We, along with others in Financial Management Service (FMS), have been dedicated to the President's Economic Payment initiative that followed on the heels of our regular busy tax season. The outstanding ability of our employees to meet the challenge to flawlessly process an additional 116,232,521 in economic relief payments (as of September 29th) in addition to the scheduled support to your agencies has been phenomenal. In conjunction, FMS and AFC have successfully moved forward on many technological improvements, including the purchase of state-of-the art equipment that will streamline our operations and provide better service to our customers.

As we start the new fiscal year, AFC is committed to world class delivery of government financial management services. In concert with this vision, the Internet Payment Platform (IPP) is poised to be implemented within the next few months. This platform is a centralized payment information portal that allows Federal Agencies and their vendors to access information about purchase orders, invoices, and Treasury disbursed payments via the Web. This platform will replace the Payment Advice Internet Delivery (PAID) application and additional information concerning this change may be found within this edition and on our AFC website.

This time of year, with cooler weather, we begin to focus on family and friends as the holiday season approaches. Nevertheless, as we take time to enjoy the holiday celebrations, AFC employees will continue to be diligent to the responsibility of "on time" disbursements. The employees of AFC understand that these disbursements affect a real person at the receiving end of each payment, especially during the holidays. As we move forward in this time of change, I am grateful to our customers for the trust they have with FMS and our AFC staff.

With best regards, Fall 2008
Robert C. Mange