This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

GUIDE TO THE FM QSMO MARKETPLACE

November 2023

Prepared by:

Financial Management Quality Service Management Office

Bureau of the Fiscal Service

U.S. Department of the Treasury
Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

i

Table of Contents

SUMMARY OF UPDATES............................................................................................................ ii

1.0 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................1

2.0 BACKGROUND ......................................................................................................................1

3.0 FM QSMO MARKETPLACE SCOPE .....................................................................................2

4.0 FM QSMO MARKETPLACE OVERVIEW...............................................................................3

4.1 Core FS...............................................................................................................................3

4.1.1 Core FS Functionality Scope ........................................................................................3

4.1.2 Core FS Baseline Solution............................................................................................4

4.2 FM Services and Solutions..................................................................................................5

4.2.1 Additional FM Solutions ................................................................................................5

4.2.2 FM Business Operations, Functional, and Analytical Support Services .......................6

4.2.3 FM Workforce Development Services ..........................................................................6

4.2.4 FM Technology Operations Support Services ..............................................................7

4.2.5 FM Solution/Service Adoption and Transition Services ................................................7

4.3 Treasury Centralized Services ............................................................................................8

5.0 FM CAPABILITY FRAMEWORK OVERVIEW........................................................................8

5.1 FFM FIBF Business Standards ...........................................................................................9

5.1.1 FFM Business Data Elements ....................................................................................10

5.1.2 Core FS Pre-Built Business Reports ..........................................................................10

5.1.3 Core FS Pre-Built Business Information Exchanges (BIEs) .......................................11

5.2 FM Solution/Service Technology Design and Operation Standards .................................12

5.3 FM Solution/Service Evaluation Criteria............................................................................14

5.4 FM Provider Service Measures .........................................................................................15

5.5 FM Solution/Service Definition Template ..........................................................................16

6.0 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................17

GLOSSARY OF TERMS.............................................................................................................19
Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

ii

SUMMARY OF UPDATES

Version Section Updated Summary of Update

November 2023 2.0 Background Reflect current state of the FM QSMO 

Marketplace

3.0 FM QSMO Marketplace 

Scope;

5.0 FM Capability 

Framework Overview;

5.1 FFM FIBF Business 

Standards;

5.2 FM Solution/Service 

Technology Design and 

Operation Standards;

5.3 FM Solution/Service 

Evaluation Criteria;

5.4 FM Provider Service 

Measures;

5.5 FM Solution/Service 

Definition Template

Incorporated changes to reflect FIBF updates:

- Inclusion of Business Reports and Business 

Information Exchanges (BIEs) as two of the 

FIBF components

- Publishing of Cybersecurity (CYB), 

Information Technology Services (ITS), and 

Federal Real Property Management (RPM) 

business standards

November 2022 5.4 FM Technology Design 

and Operation Capabilities

Modified language pertaining to FedRAMP at 

the FM QSMO Marketplace level.

June 2022 5.2 Core FS Pre-Built 

Business Reports

Clarification added that only Schedule P data 

will be required for Schedule X reports.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 1 of 24

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The purpose of the Guide to the Financial Management Quality Service Management Office 

(FM QSMO) Marketplace is to provide an overview of how the FM QSMO operates and how 

common financial management standards and capabilities apply to offerings in the FM QSMO 

Marketplace.

2.0 BACKGROUND

On April 26, 2019, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued Memorandum 19-16, 

Centralized Mission Support Capabilities for the Federal Government. The memorandum 

introduced a new approach to Federal Government Shared Services by establishing Quality 

Service Management Offices (QSMOs). On June 29, 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury 

(Treasury) was designated as the QSMO for Core Financial Management by OMB.

The FM QSMO has established and manages a marketplace of modern, standards-based 

solutions that enable agencies to move away from outdated systems, improve government 

operations and performance, and advance government-wide financial management goals, 

including improved transparency and better use of data for decision making. The FM QSMO 

Marketplace drives innovation and compliance with Federal policies and financial management 

standards. Through the Marketplace, agencies have choice and flexibility in obtaining Financial 

Management (FM) solutions/services from both commercial vendors and Federal providers.

The FM QSMO Marketplace is the first stop for agencies looking to acquire FM solutions and 

services. OMB Memorandum 19-16, OMB Circular A-123 Appendix D Management of Financial 

Management Systems – Risk and Compliance, OMB Circular A-11 Preparation, Submission, 

and Execution of the Budget, and Investment Planning Guidance released by GSA's Office of 

Government-wide Policy directs agencies to consult with the FM QSMO prior to developing 

plans and issuing solicitations for FM technology or services.

The FM QSMO manages the FM QSMO Marketplace using the following approach:

1. Leverage established standards;

2. Engage in customer-centered solution management;

3. Promote its Marketplace through agile adoption; and

4. Measure performance of all FM QSMO activities.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 2 of 24

The FM QSMO acts as the broker between agencies, commercial vendors, and Federal 

providers. Solutions are centrally coordinated, standards are embedded in solutions, and there 

is a unified effort to achieve goals. Through this approach, agency customers, vendors, 

providers, and the FM QSMO will continue to refine and evolve the Marketplace over time.

3.0 FM QSMO MARKETPLACE SCOPE

The scope of the FM QSMO Marketplace is limited to the Federal Financial Management (FFM)

mission-support functional area. Standardized business processes and data have been defined

for each Federal government mission-support functional area using the Federal Integrated 

Business Framework (FIBF).

1

Other mission-support functional areas, e.g., Acquisition (ACQ), Budget Formulation (BFM), 

Grants Management (GRM), Human Capital Management (HCM), Real Property Management 

(RPM), Travel and Transportation Management (TRT), are not within scope of the FM QSMO 

Marketplace.

Although other functional areas are not within scope of the FM QSMO Marketplace, the FM 

QSMO Marketplace solutions and services exchange information with business functions and 

activities of other mission-support (“vertical”) functional areas. The highest priority business 

information exchanges are with the ACQ, GRM, HCM, RPM, and TRT functional areas. Defining 

additional business information exchanges with other functional areas such as Personal 

Property Management (PPM) is dependent on availability of their business standards. See 

Section 5.1.3 Core FS Pre-Built Business Information Exchanges (BIEs) for additional 

information.

Segmentation of functional areas is intended to enable a modular approach to the Federal 

shared services marketplace. If providers offer solutions or services in the FM QSMO 

Marketplace that include functions, activities, or capabilities from other functional areas, the FM 

QSMO will evaluate and include in the FM QSMO Marketplace Catalog only those components 

of the offering that are within the scope of the FFM functional area. Federal agency customers 

are not prohibited from obtaining additional non-FFM functions, activities, capabilities, and/or 

solutions or solutions in conjunction with FM QSMO Marketplace solutions and services; 

however, those seeking to do so are encouraged to engage with the appropriate QSMO before 

acquisition or implementation.

The FM QSMO Marketplace solutions and services adhere to technology design and operation 

standards defined by other functional areas that span all mission-support functional areas 

(“horizontal”), such as Cybersecurity (CYB), Electronic Records Management (ERM), Privacy 

(PRV), and Information Technology Services (ITS). See Section 5.2 FM Solution/Service 

Technology Design and Operation Standards for additional information.

1 https://ussm.gsa.gov/fibf/
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 3 of 24

4.0 FM QSMO MARKETPLACE OVERVIEW

The FM QSMO Marketplace is comprised of three (3) offering categories; Core Financial 

System (Core FS) Solutions, Financial Management (FM) Services and Solutions, and Treasury 

Centralized Services.

4.1 Core FS

The FM QSMO Marketplace offers standards-based Core FS solutions in a cloud environment, 

available through Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) delivery 

models. Commercial Service Providers (CSPs) will bring their commercial software solutions to 

the FM QSMO Marketplace for adoption by Federal agencies, including Federal Shared Service 

Providers (FSSPs)2.

4.1.1 Core FS Functionality Scope

The scope of Core FS functionality is defined using the FIBF FFM Functions and Activities3

listed below. Only those offerings that address all the FFM functions and activities listed below 

are included in the FM QSMO Marketplace category of “Core FS.” See the FFM Business 

Functions and Activities document for additional information on required FFM functions and 

activities and descriptions. If a provider offers a service or solution that enables a specific FFM 

function or activity (e.g., Cost Management, Financial Performance and Operational Reporting) 

and the offering can be integrated with a Core FS solution, the offering may be included in the 

“FM Services and Solutions” FM QSMO Marketplace category (see Section 4.2.1 Additional FM 

Solutions).

FFM.010 Budget Execution

FFM.020 Financial Asset Information Management

FFM.030 Payable Management

2 During initial availability of the FM QSMO Marketplace, FSSPs may be utilizing legacy core financial systems, and 

offering FM services to agencies based on such. Such offerings do not meet the definition of Core FS solutions and 

are included under the “FM Services and Solutions” FM QSMO Marketplace category.

3 The “FFM Business Functions and Activities” document is provided on the FM QSMO website and contains 

descriptions for each of the FFM Business Activities.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 4 of 24

FFM.040 Revenue Management 

FFM.050 Reimbursable Management

FFM.060 Receivable and Collection Management 

FFM.070 Delinquent Debt Management 

FFM.080 Cost Management

FFM.090 General Ledger Management

FFM.100 Financial Reconciliation

FFM.110 Financial / Performance Reporting 

4.1.2 Core FS Baseline Solution

Commercial software products are the foundation for the Core FS. All Core FS solutions in the 

FM QSMO Marketplace are required to meet or exceed a set of Financial Management 

Capability Framework (FMCF) standards provided by the FM QSMO. Core FS CSPs (software 

vendors, integrators, and/or implementers) determine the specific combination of software 

configuration, enhancements, and/or extensions needed to meet the FMCF Standards.

If needed to address agency-specific business needs, Federal agency customers are able to 

define additional requirements during their acquisition of Core FS. CSPs, FSSPs, or Federal 

agency customers themselves can determine the specific combination of software configuration, 

enhancements, and/or extensions that are added to the Core FS Baseline Solution to provide 

the Core FS Agency Solution. The FM QSMO Marketplace Task Order Review Board (TORB) 

evaluates agency-specific configurations, enhancements, and extensions for conflicts with and 

potential additions to the Core FS Baseline Solution and/or FMCF Standards. 

The concept of the Core FS Agency Solution consisting of the Core FS Baseline Solution and 

Agency Additional Configurations, Enhancements and/or Extensions is depicted in the graphic 

below.

More detailed information on the FMCF standards is provided in Section 5.0 FM Capability 

Framework Overview.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 5 of 24

4.2 FM Services and Solutions

The FM Services and Solutions FM QSMO Marketplace offering category includes both services 

and solutions that are complementary to Core FS. Services may assist Federal agency 

customers in the adoption of and transition to FM QSMO Marketplace solutions and the ongoing 

maintenance, operation, and transactional support of financial management functions. Solutions 

may include technology or tools that augment and enhance the Core FS offerings and/or 

support agencies in performing one or more FFM Functions or Activities. FM Services and 

Solutions include the following sub-categories and are described in further detail below.

• Additional FM Solutions

• FM Business Operations, Functional, and Analytical Support Services

• FM Workforce Development Services

• FM Technology Operations Support Services

• FM Solution/Service Adoption and Transition Services

Federal agency customers can acquire from the FM QSMO Marketplace these additional FM 

Services or Solutions independent of acquiring a Core FS solution, provided that it is used in 

support of the Federal agency’s financial management function. Provider offerings of a general 

nature (i.e., an offering that is not applied, adapted, or tailored for a specific FFM Function or 

Activity) are not included in the FM QSMO Marketplace. 

4.2.1 Additional FM Solutions

“Additional FM Solutions” have a correlation to FFM Functions or Activities and provide 

business capabilities that augment those provided by the Core FS Baseline Solution. Additional 

FM Solutions can be operated separately from a Core FS Baseline Solution and are often 

interoperable with a Core FS Baseline Solution. Federal agency customers acquire the 

Additional FM Solutions from either CSPs or FSSPs. Providers may deliver these services using

technology resources only or may also include associated workforce resources (e.g., only a 

financial data visualization tool or a financial data visualization tool and financial data 

preparation support).

The Additional FM Solutions marketplace category does not include delivering centralized 

solutions or services such as a government-wide Core FS solution, data warehouse of all 

agencies’ FM data, or government-wide data transformation/translation and transport services. 

If additional centralized solutions or services are needed, they will be addressed through 

Treasury Centralized Services (see Section 4.3 Treasury Centralized Services), rather than 

through the FM QSMO Marketplace Additional FM Solutions category.

Examples of business capabilities provided by offerings in the FM QSMO Marketplace category 

of Additional FM Solutions include, but are not limited to:

• Expanded capabilities for specific FFM Functions or Activities (e.g., Cost Management, 

Financial Performance and Operational Reporting) 

• Interactive selection, sorting, and placement of FFM Business Data Elements to create 

user-defined reports

• Collection, integration, consolidation, analysis, and visualization of financial information 

originating from multiple data sources

• Statistical analysis of financial information to confirm hypothesized or reveal previously 

unknown data patterns
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 6 of 24

• Automated analysis, machine learning, and/or artificial intelligence that executes 

trained/tested business logic (rules) and initiates alerts (e.g., emails) when targeted data 

patterns are detected in financial information

• Automation of routine FM business processes (e.g., pre-processing of incoming FM data 

entry requests, FM general ledger reconciliations)

• FM data quality analysis and cleansing

• FM governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC) assessment

4.2.2 FM Business Operations, Functional, and Analytical Support Services

To enable Federal agencies’ financial management resources to spend more time on analysis 

and provide better service to their customers and less time on traditional transaction processing 

and system maintenance, the FM QSMO Marketplace includes offerings for “FM Business 

Operations, Functional, and Analytical Support Services.” Any of the FFM business functions 

and activities can be executed using these support services offered by either CSPs or FSSPs in 

the FM QSMO Marketplace. Providers may deliver these services using workforce resources 

only or may also include associated technology resources (e.g., only FM audit specialists or FM 

audit specialists and audit planning and tracking software).

Examples of the types of offerings in the FM QSMO Marketplace category of FM Business 

Operations, Functional, and Analytical Support Services include, but are not limited to:

• Financial accounting operations support and transaction processing

• Financial management compliance, risk, and internal control reviews

• Financial statement preparation

• Financial audit support and remediation (e.g., for DATA Act issues and financial 

statement notices of findings and recommendations [NFRs] and material weaknesses)

• Financial, costing, and improper payment analyses

• Financial reconciliation and reporting

4.2.3 FM Workforce Development Services

To ensure the Federal agencies’ workforce has the knowledge and skills needed to improve 

Federal agency financial management operations, the FM QSMO Marketplace includes

offerings for “FM Workforce Development Services.” The content of workforce development 

offerings align with the FM business standards defined in Section 5.0 FM Capability Framework 

Overview. These services may be acquired from either CSPs or FSSPs in the FM QSMO 

Marketplace. Providers may deliver these services using workforce resources only or may also 

include associated technology resources (e.g., only FM training specialists or FM training 

specialists and training software).

Examples of the offerings in the FM QSMO Marketplace category of FM Workforce 

Development Services include, but are not limited to:

• Federal financial management training (e.g., self-service, instructor led, synchronous 

virtual training) 

• FM workforce skills assessment and development planning

• Federal financial management knowledge management and guidance
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 7 of 24

4.2.4 FM Technology Operations Support Services

Separate from the Core FS, some Federal agency customers may elect to acquire assistance 

from CSPs or FSSPs with technology implementation and operations. Providers may deliver 

these services using workforce resources only or may also include associated technology

resources (e.g., only batch job monitoring operators or operators and monitoring tools).

Examples of the offerings in the FM QSMO Marketplace category of FM Technology Operations 

Support Services include, but are not limited to:

• Defining, developing, testing, implementing, and maintaining additional FM 

configurations, enhancements, and/or extensions to the Core FS Baseline Solution 

required to address agency-specific FM business needs (see Section 4.1.2 Core FS 

Baseline Solution)

• Developing, implementing, and maintaining business information exchanges between 

the FM solutions/services and Federal agency mission systems (e.g., sales and ordering 

systems)

• Support to obtain FM solution Authority-to-Operate (ATO)

• Support for legacy core financial systems (e.g., infrastructure, operations/maintenance, 

and legacy software license maintenance)

• Delivering FM solution service desk support (e.g., initial contact/Tier 1, human 

assistance with resolving problem or issue/Tier 2) 

• Monitoring and managing FM solution/service daily or periodic offline processes (e.g., 

nightly batch jobs, monthly report generation)

• Delivering FM solution user and administrator training and automated assistance (e.g., 

implementing FM solution assistance chatbots or intelligent search)

• Executing FM data management (e.g., data ingestion preparation, data quality, master 

reference data management)

• Executing FM solution user identity, credential, and access management (ICAM)

4.2.5 FM Solution/Service Adoption and Transition Services

Many Federal agency customers need assistance to identify, select, acquire, migrate to, and 

use FM QSMO Marketplace offerings effectively and efficiently. A subset of the adoption and 

transition services may also be needed when extensive or complex FM solution/service 

changes are released or significant functionality removed. In addition to the advice, guidance, 

and assistance provided by the FM QSMO, Federal agency customers may acquire “FM 

Solution/Service Adoption and Transition Services” from CSPs or FSSPs. Providers may deliver 

these services using workforce resources only or may also include associated technology

resources (e.g., only project schedule managers or schedule managers and project schedule

management software).

Examples of the offerings in the FM QSMO Marketplace category of FM Solution/Service 

Adoption and Transition Services include, but are not limited to:

• FM strategic planning and investment business case development

• FM shared/managed service adoption readiness assessments

• FM acquisition plan development

• FM program/project, performance, and risk management

• FM user experience and business process analyses and reengineering
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 8 of 24

• FM organizational design, operating model design, change management, training 

planning, labor relations management, and stakeholder engagement/communications

• FM solution/service technical and operational integration with agency-specific systems 

and user environments

• FM data conversion and migration

• FM solution/service testing

• FM solution pre- and post-deployment user assistance planning and execution

• FM legacy system retirement planning and execution

• FM business continuity planning

4.3 Treasury Centralized Services

The Treasury Centralized Services FM QSMO Marketplace offering category represents the 

existing programs and services provided by Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal 

Service) to support Federal agencies with a variety of financial management functions including, 

but not limited to:

• Disbursing

o Vendor electronic invoice processing

o “Do Not Pay” verification

o Federal funds payment request processing and disbursement

o Federal intra-governmental electronic invoice processing

• Collections

o Public receipt collection and deposit

o Federal intra-governmental invoicing, performance transactions, and funds 

transfer

o Delinquent debt management

• Reporting

o Treasury reporting

o Federal government-wide reporting

Many of the systems that support Treasury Centralized Services exchange business information 

with Core FS. See Section 5.1.3 Core FS Pre-Built Business Information Exchanges (BIEs) for 

additional information on required exchanges. The FM QSMO coordinates with the business 

areas within Fiscal Service to facilitate transparency around upcoming system modernization 

initiatives that will impact Core FS BIEs.

5.0 FM CAPABILITY FRAMEWORK OVERVIEW

The FM QSMO has defined a common set of FM standards and capabilities referred to as the 

“FM Capability Framework (FMCF).” The FMCF contains FFM FIBF components, components 

defined by other FIBF Functional Areas (“non-FFM FIBF components”), and extensions to the 

FIBF developed by the FM QSMO. Together, the nine (9) components provide the foundation

for and apply to all offerings in the Core FS and FM Services and Solutions FM QSMO 

Marketplace categories. The FM QSMO partnered with other FIBF Functional Area Lead

Agencies, customer agencies, and the vendor community to develop the FMCF. The FM QSMO

will periodically update FMCF components to incorporate changes impacting the FM 

community. 
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 9 of 24

The graphic below depicts the components of the FMCF. Individual components of the FMCF 

are further described below and supporting documentation is available at

https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/fmqsmo/financial-management-capability-framework.html.

5.1 FFM FIBF Business Standards

The FFM FIBF business standards define the FM future state business processes and data to 

be implemented by Federal agencies and FM solution/service providers. The FFM FIBF 

business standards that apply to all FM QSMO Marketplace solutions and services are:

• FFM Functions and Activities

• FFM Business Use Cases (user stories or journeys based on various FM business 

scenarios)

• FFM Business Capabilities (Federal Financial Management System Requirements

[FFMSRs])

• FFM Business Data Elements (includes DATA Act data elements)

• Core FS Pre-Built Business Reports

• Core FS Pre-Built Business Information Exchanges (BIEs)

• FFM Service Measures (business operations activity and performance measures)
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 10 of 24

5.1.1 FFM Business Data Elements

Within the FFM Business Data Elements, a list of “domain values” provides the valid values for 

specific data elements. In other cases, the list provides a reference to an authoritative source

for the domain values managed by an industry standards-setting organization, a Treasury 

Centralized Service, or another Federal agency. Federal agency customers may have additional 

business data elements with domain values the agency elects to manage itself or through the 

services of a CSP/FSSP (see Section 4.2.4 FM Technology Operations Support Services).

To improve the quality and consistency of FM master reference data used by Federal agencies 

and submitted to Treasury Centralized Services and to reduce the Core FS implementation 

effort for each Federal agency, the FM QSMO designated a subset of FFM Business Data 

Elements as requiring “Core FS Pre-Loaded Master Reference Data”. 

Examples of master reference data pre-loaded into the Core FS Baseline Solution include:

• Geographical location reference information (e.g., country, state, and territory codes and 

names)

• Federal organization reference information (e.g., Federal agency codes)

• Federal financial transaction classification information (e.g., Budget Object Codes, 

Treasury Account Symbols)

• Foreign currency codes

The column labeled “Core FS Pre-Loaded Master Reference Data” in the “FFM Business Data 

Elements” document identifies the subset of data elements that require pre-loaded domain 

values in the Core FS Baseline Solution. 

5.1.2 Core FS Pre-Built Business Reports

To reduce the Core FS implementation effort for each Federal agency, the FM QSMO identified 

a set of “Core FS Pre-Built Business Reports” to be pre-built into the Core FS Baseline Solution. 

Federal agency customers may have additional business reports the agency elects to build itself

or through the services of a CSP/FSSP (see Section 4.2.4 FM Technology Operations Support 

Services).

Examples of Core FS Pre-Built Business Reports included in the Core FS Baseline Solution 

include:

• Funding Status

• Schedule X (budgetary resources, obligations, and outlays) - Note: Only Schedule P 

data will be required to be produced from the Core FS Baseline Solution.

• Accounts Payable (AP) Invoice Status

• Treasury Report on Accounts Receivable (TROR)

• Dunning Notice

The Core FS Pre-Built Business Reports were derived from FFM Functions and Activities and 

FFM Business Use Cases. In some cases, the Core FS Pre-Built Business Report specification 

has been provided in the document and includes references to specific FFM Business Data 

Elements. In other cases, a reference has been provided to the report specification managed by 

OMB or a Treasury Centralized Service. The full list of reports to be included in the Core FS 

Baseline Solution is provided in the “Core FS Pre-Built Business Reports” document.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 11 of 24

5.1.3 Core FS Pre-Built Business Information Exchanges (BIEs)

To improve the quality and consistency of business information exchanged between the Core 

FS solutions/services, other functional areas’ solutions/services, and government-wide 

centralized services, and to reduce the Core FS implementation effort for each Federal agency, 

the FM QSMO, in coordination with other FIBF Functional Area Lead Agencies and QSMOs, 

has documented an initial set of business information exchange specifications in the document 

“Core FS Pre-Built Business Information Exchanges (BIEs).” These specifications are 

technology-agnostic, but CSPs and FSSPs may use them to design the integrations, interfaces, 

or Web-service oriented architecture of the Core FS Baseline Solution to enable the exchange 

of data.

Federal agency customers may have additional FM business information exchanges the agency 

elects to define and develop itself or through the services of a CSP/FSSP (see Section 4.2.4 FM

Technology Operations Support Services).

Examples of the Core FS Pre-Built Business Information Exchanges included in the Core FS 

Baseline Solution include:

• Other functional areas

o Acquisition (ACQ) award management

o Grants Management (GRM)

o Human Capital Management (HCM) payroll

o Real Property Management (RPM)

o Travel and Transportation (TRT) travel and expense management

• Treasury Centralized Services

o Central Accounting Reporting System (CARS)

o Collections Information Repository (CIR)

o G-Invoicing

o DATA Act Broker

• Other Government-wide Centralized Systems

o GSA System for Award Management (SAM)

o GSA SmartPay

Where possible, BIE specifications reference FFM Business Data Elements and document 

agreed-upon information exchange business logic (information transformation rules) between 

FFM, the other functional areas, and government-wide centralized services. Where an existing 

business system does not yet have a FIBF standards-based interface specification (e.g., legacy 

payroll systems, some Treasury Centralized Services) the FM QSMO will work with the

respective Functional Area Lead Agencies and other QSMOs to evolve BIE specifications to 

take full advantage of standards-based BIE specifications. The full list of FFM business 

information exchanges and their associated BIE specifications are provided in the “Core FS PreBuilt Business Information Exchanges (BIEs)” document.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 12 of 24

5.2 FM Solution/Service Technology Design and Operation Standards

The CYB, ERM, and ITS Functions, Activities, and Business Capabilities provide the technology 

design and operation capabilities required of FM solutions/services. FM solutions/services also 

exchange information with Federal government CYB, ERM, and ITS solutions and services

based on the CYB, ERM, and ITS FIBF business standards. Examples include, but are not 

limited to:

• CYB Security Operations Center (SOC) services

• ERM Federal records archiving service

• ITS Identity, Control, and Access Management services (e.g., login.gov)

The CYB and ITS FIBF business standards documents are available at Information Technology 

Services | Federal Shared Services (gsa.gov). The ERM business standards documents are 

available at Electronic Records Management | Federal Shared Services (gsa.gov).

In addition to adhering to the CYB, ERM, and ITS business standards, FM solutions/services

are also expected to adhere to the technology design and operation principles documented

below. 

To enable solution portability and cost reduction, the technology used for FM solutions/services 

wherever possible leverages commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software products and opensource tools and technologies vetted for Federal government use. Proprietary technology 

components are not permitted in FM solutions/services if they impede the Federal government’s 

ability to:

• Access and retrieve FM information

• Exchange FM information among FM solutions/services, Treasury Centralized Services, 

other Federal mission-support functional areas’ solutions/services, or Federal agency 

customer mission solutions/services

• Follow easy upgrade paths, adopt new capabilities, and allow for rapid security patching 

without additional changes

• Migrate a Federal agency customer’s information to a different FM solution/service

The Federal government owns all information entered, generated by, or stored in FM 

solutions/services, including files, text, images, graphics, illustrations, data, audio, video, 

photographs, and other content and material in any format provided by the government that 

resides in, or runs on or through, FM solutions/services. FM solutions/services comply with 

Federal government cybersecurity, Federal records management, and IT standards and 

specifications.

The government’s models for acquiring Core FS solutions from industry are Software-as-aService (SaaS) or Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS). Use of SaaS vs. PaaS depends on the 

availability of SaaS vs. PaaS offerings and the ability of the FSSP or Federal agency customer 

to provide the service delivery components not included in a PaaS offering but included in a 

SaaS offering. 

The government’s models for delivering Core FS solutions to Federal agency customers are

also SaaS or PaaS. Use of SaaS vs. PaaS depends on the ability of the Federal agency 

customer to manage the service delivery components not included in a PaaS offering but 

included in a SaaS offering and whether the Federal agency has a business case for providing

the additional service delivery components using internal agency support services or an existing 

agency integrator. Core FS SaaS or PaaS solutions are delivered to FSSPs or Federal agency 

customers by CSPs (e.g., commercial software vendors or solution integrators).
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 13 of 24

To truly obtain the benefits of commercial SaaS and PaaS offerings, the Federal government 

intends to no longer have the licensed ability to change the commercial Core FS Baseline 

Solution. Therefore, rehosting existing government licensed software solutions to a Federal or 

commercial cloud does not meet the intent of adopting Core FS SaaS or PaaS solutions.

Because Federal agency customers are not able to separately acquire Infrastructure-as-aService (IaaS) in the FM QSMO Marketplace, and may have already selected one of the 

commonly used commercial cloud environments or a Federal government classified information 

cloud environment for their other non-FFM solutions/services, providers of Core FS SaaS and 

PaaS are encouraged to offer solution/service packages that bundle their software solution (or 

provide a quick deploy containerized version of the software) with a choice of Federal 

government-approved cloud infrastructure services. This is also encouraged because the option 

for Federal agency customers to acquire only the software solution is not offered in the FM 

QSMO Marketplace as it does not align with the Federal government objectives of reducing the 

number of government-managed data centers and adoption of managed and shared services.

To support agency utilization of the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program 

(FedRAMP), providers of Core FS solutions are encouraged to pursue, achieve, and maintain

either FedRAMP Ready, FedRAMP In Process, or FedRAMP Authorized designation in the 

FedRAMP Marketplace, based on boundaries and capabilities that encompass both the Core 

FS Baseline Solution and the ability to provide Agency Additional Configurations, 

Enhancements and/or Extensions (see Section 4.1.2 Core FS Baseline Solution). Federal 

agency customers are encouraged to support providers of Core FS solutions in achieving and 

maintaining FedRAMP authorization by adhering to the Core FS Baseline Solution standards 

and implementing agency-specific enhancements and/or extensions using only tools that are or 

would be covered by a provider’s FedRAMP authorization (e.g., report creation and data 

transform/transfer tools). 

Depending on the FFM functions and activities supported, the technologies employed, and the 

level of integration with the Core FS solutions, technology offerings under the FM Services and 

Solutions category may also be acquired/delivered through SaaS or PaaS models and 

adherence to applicable Federal cybersecurity policy and IT standards and specifications

through FedRAMP is encouraged. For technology offerings under the FM Services and 

Solutions category involving software products being acquired/delivered under IaaS or PaaS 

models, agencies will conduct appropriate risk acceptance in accordance with Federal law, 

policy, and regulations.

Solution implementations will be optimized for the overall Federal government’s benefit and 

support multiple Federal agency customers sharing a single software solution version/release

and environment (i.e., multi-tenancy solution instances) unless there are factors that warrant

single tenancy. The business, technical, security, and operational factors considered include:

• Minimizing IT cost, management, and maintenance efforts

• Efficiency and uniformity of compliance with business, technical, and operational 

regulations, guidance, standards, and requirements

• Separation and segmentation of production, development, testing, training, and business 

continuity/disaster recovery environments
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 14 of 24

• Diversity of Federal agency customer (tenant) needs

o Differing information security requirements (e.g., classified/unclassified, depth of 

access control)

o Unique mission-critical business process functionality

o Differing business cycles, which will affect maintenance windows and business 

volumes (e.g., calendar periods when system maintenance cannot be performed due 

to critical business operation events)

o Differing availability, performance/capacity, and business continuity needs

• Limiting impact of adverse incidents or events across tenants

• Ability to incrementally pilot and adapt to evolving business needs or advances in 

technologies and execute change management across multiple tenants

• Degree to which the FM solution/service is able to expose or limit functionality and data 

to different tenants within the same solution instance/environment

o Ability to expose or limit certain functionality to specific tenants and meet tenantunique mission-critical business needs without adding burden/complexity for all 

tenants

o Ability to share data between tenants or partition data from other tenants

o Provisioning and security capabilities and limitations across multiple tenants

If a Federal agency has unique business, technical, security, or operational needs such as 

those described above, these needs should be documented as requirements in the Federal

agency solicitation and these requirements will be evaluated and approved or disapproved by 

the FM QSMO Marketplace TORB. If a provider proposes in response to a Federal agency 

solicitation an implementation approach that does not include multi-tenancy, the FM QSMO 

Marketplace TORB will evaluate and approve or disapprove the proposed implementation 

approach.

To ensure FM solutions/services can be maintained and operated effectively and efficiently,

CSPs, FSSPs, Treasury Fiscal Service, and Federal agency customers that manage 

components of FM solutions/services themselves are expected to use industry proven 

technology management practices such as Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) 

Practices.

5.3 FM Solution/Service Evaluation Criteria

The FM QSMO-developed “FM Solution/Service Evaluation Criteria” is used when evaluating

potential offerings for initial entry into the FM QSMO Marketplace, during Federal agency 

acquisitions, and FM QSMO periodic evaluation.

The “FM Solution/Service Evaluation Criteria” includes business, technology design, and 

technology operation criteria for evaluating FM solutions/services and programmatic, economic, 

and organizational criteria for evaluating the providers of FM solutions/services. The purpose of 

each evaluation criteria category is defined below:

• Business – evaluates the ability to achieve FM business outputs and outcomes using the 

FM solution/service; also evaluates conformance with FMCF business standards and 

usability of an FM solution

• Technology Design – evaluates the FM solution/service technical architecture and 

design for servicing customers; also evaluates conformance with FMCF technical 

standards and capabilities
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 15 of 24

• Technology Operation – evaluates the FM solution/service’s ability to respond to user 

demand and changes needed in the FM solution/service; also evaluates conformance 

with FMCF operational standards and capabilities

• Programmatic – evaluates a provider’s strategy and management of FM solution/service 

offerings and delivery

• Economic – evaluates a provider’s pricing model and sustainability

• Organizational – evaluates a provider’s organizational ability to deliver quality FM 

solutions/services and ensure customer satisfaction.

For each of the above evaluation criteria categories, the FM QSMO developed evaluation 

criteria, indicators, and specifications/standards references. The FM QSMO also developed for 

each of the FM QSMO Marketplace categories (see Section 4.0 FM QSMO Marketplace 

Overview) descriptions of the type of evidence that would enable the Government to determine 

if its needs or constraints have been met. These criteria, indicators, specifications/standards 

references, and descriptions of evidence are provided in the “FM Solution/Service Evaluation 

Criteria” document available on the FM QSMO website.

5.4 FM Provider Service Measures

The FM Provider Service Measures are used by the FM QSMO and Federal agencies when 

periodically evaluating implemented offerings of the FM QSMO Marketplace. Separately, the FM 

QSMO defined a set of FM QSMO Marketplace performance measures that evaluate meeting 

the goals of the FM QSMO program and overall marketplace operation.

The FM Provider Service Measures:

• Evaluate FFM activities as well as CYB, ERM, and ITS activities that support the FFM 

activities

• Were compiled based on Federal government regulations and standards, industry best 

practices (e.g., ITIL, Technology Business Management [TBM]), and previous 

evaluations of existing FM solution/service providers

• Include both activity (e.g., resource utilization, workload volume) measures and 

performance (e.g., timeliness, quality, compliance) measures

• Include both provider measures (e.g., processing timeliness) and service customer 

measures (e.g., approval timeliness)

• Establish measure targets, reporting frequencies, and measurement 

methods/sources/formulas applicable to all Federal agency implementations (e.g., where 

mandated by Federal legislation, regulation, or standard) 

• Defer establishing measure targets, reporting frequencies, and measurement 

methods/sources/formulas where it is more appropriate for each Federal agency to do 

so (e.g., workload volume) or for the Federal agency customer to discuss with its FM 

solution/service provider during the Federal agency acquisition process (e.g., service 

desk response time)

The results of FM Provider Service Measures will periodically be reported to the government 

based on their “Measure Category”:

• Results for measures indicated as “Oversight Reporting” will be reported to the Federal 

agency customer, FM QSMO, and FM QSMO Marketplace oversight organizations.

• Results for measures indicated as “Customer Facing” will be reported to the Federal 

agency customer and FM QSMO.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 16 of 24

• Results for measures indicated as “QSMO Monitoring” will be reported only to the FM 

QSMO.

• Results for measures indicated as “Provider Operations” should be monitored by the 

provider and results made available to the Federal agency customer and/or FM QSMO if 

requested to address an issue.

The “FM Provider Service Measures” document available on the FM QSMO website contains 

the FFM Service Measures and links to the CYB, ERM, and ITS Service Measures documents 

available on the GSA.gov FIBF website.

5.5 FM Solution/Service Definition Template

To support application of the FMCF, and to assist both providers and the FM QSMO in 

determining which of the FM Solution/Service Evaluation Criteria and FM Provider Service 

Measures apply to a specific offering, the FM QSMO developed an “FM Solution/Service 

Definition Template.” Providers will use the FM Solution/Service Definition Template to 

document their FM solution/service offerings. 

The FM Solution/Service Definition Template documents the provider offering using the FFM

FIBF Functions and Activities (see Section 5.1 FFM FIBF Business Standards) and the “Federal 

Service Delivery Layers and Resources” depicted below. 

Offerings in each of the FM QSMO Marketplace categories may include one or more of the 

following types of Service Delivery Resources:

• Technology – the physical assets needed to deliver to FM solution/service.

• Workforce – the personnel that plan, build, implement, operate, and/or deliver the FM 

solution/service on an ongoing basis.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 17 of 24

• Advisory – the personnel that advise, guide, consult, and/or perform Independent 

Verification and Validation on an as-needed basis.

Offerings in each of the FM QSMO Marketplace categories may also include one or more of the 

following types of Service Delivery Layers:

• Service Delivery Layer 0 – components supporting the overall management of the FM 

solution/service and cross-Service Layer functions such as asset and configuration 

management, security and privacy assurance and audit, and Disaster Recovery (DR) 

and Continuity of Operations (COOP) management.

• Service Layers 1 and 2 – components such as hardware, operating system software,

and storage, as well as the facilities they are housed in and the networks needed to 

connect these technologies (all together commonly referred to as the “infrastructure”).

• Service Layers 3, 4, and 5 – components providing enterprise, middleware, or business 

application software, managing content and data, and providing technical support for the 

business applications.

• Service Layers 6 and 7 – components supporting business operations such as 

transaction processing, document or data pre-processing, business function guidance, 

data reporting, and data analyses.

In addition to the Federal Delivery Service Layers and Resources, the FM Solution/Service 

Definition Template documents the provider offering using TBM Tower and Cost Pool categories 

within each Service Delivery Layer to enable FM QSMO and Federal agencies to have a 

thorough understanding of providers’ offering informed by knowledge of the components that 

are included, partially included, or not included in the provider offering. The FM Solution/Service 

Definition Template also provides a section based on ITIL for providers to document key 

responsibilities of the Service Customer relative to the responsibilities of the Service Provider. 

This section is intended to fully inform Federal agencies as to what is needed from them to 

ensure successful use of the FM solution/service.

In addition to being used when evaluating FM solution/service offerings, completed FM 

Solution/Service Definitions are used by the FM QSMO to populate the FM QSMO Marketplace 

Service Catalog and, for those FM solutions/services acquired by Federal agencies, FM 

Solution/Service Definitions should be included in their Federal agency Customer Service 

Agreement (CSA). Examples of FM Solution/Service Definitions for Core FS SaaS and PaaS as 

well as other FM QSMO Marketplace categories are provided in the “FM Solution/Service 

Definition Template”.

6.0 CONCLUSION

The FM QSMO is committed to the responsibilities identified for QSMOs in OMB Memorandum 

19-16, to:

• Manage a marketplace of solutions for common technology, services, or fully managed 

services to respond to agency needs;

• Guide and govern the long-term sustainability of the services and solutions;

• Work with agencies on alternative strategies to help them build a business case if a

marketplace for a particular solution is not yet available;

• Institute a customer engagement and feedback model that allows for continuous 

improvement and performance management of solutions; and

• Drive the implementation of standards that produce efficiencies in process and scale and 

that are established through the collaborative governance process.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 18 of 24

The FM QSMO will continue to work collaboratively across the Federal financial management 

community and industry to ensure the ongoing evolution, quality, and performance of its 

Marketplace.

For additional information and resources, please visit www.fiscal.treasury.gov/fmqsmo or email 

fmqsmo@fiscal.treasury.gov.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 19 of 24

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

This glossary provides a description for terms referenced in the Guide to the FM QSMO 

Marketplace herein, and/or within sections or components of the FMCF.

Term Description

Activity A set of processes within a Federal Integrated Business 

Framework (FIBF) Function that provide identifiable 

outcomes/outputs to service customers.

Business Capabilities Outcome-based business needs mapped to Federal Government 

authoritative references, forms, and data standards.

Business Data 

Elements

Identification of the minimum set of business data elements 

required to support the inputs and outputs identified in the 

business use cases and capabilities.

Business Information 

Exchanges (BIE)

Business rules for common exchanges of business information 

between two Functional Areas or between a Functional Area and 

a Centralized Service/Solution.

Business Scenarios Differing situations or conditions under which FIBF Functional 

Area business processes are executed that reflect the scope and 

complexity of Federal business operations.

Business Use Cases Set of agency “stories” that document the key activities, inputs, 

outputs, and other Functional Area intersections to describe how 

the Federal Government operates.

Business Reports Common business reports needed to execute core Functional Area 

business processes.

Cloud Environment A technology environment not located on agency premises (“off 

prem”) and not managed by the agency that enables ubiquitous, 

convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of 

configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, 

storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly 

provisioned and released with minimal management effort or 

service provider interaction. A cloud environment itself is not 

equivalent to an “-as-a-Service” delivery model, but does make “-

as-a-Service” models possible.

Commercial Service 

Provider (CSP)

A commercial entity that manages and provides service customers 

access to shared solutions/services.

Configuration Options available in the vendor-provided software product that 

allow customers to tailor certain features, functions, or capabilities 

to meet specific needs without adding or changing software code.

Core Financial System

(Core FS) Solution

The solutions in the FM QSMO Marketplace that provide the core 

set of capabilities defined by the FFM Functions/Activities and 

FFM Business Capabilities.

Core FS Agency 

Solution

The agency-specific software configuration, enhancements, and/or 

extensions added to the Core FS Baseline Solution to meet a 

Federal agency’s specific financial management business needs.

Core FS Baseline 

Solution

The software product plus associated configurations, 

enhancements, and extensions that meet the common set of 

financial management business needs across Federal agencies

and is designated as the starting point for all FM implementations 

of the Core FS.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 20 of 24

Term Description

Core FS Pre-Built 

Business Information 

Exchanges (BIEs)

Core FS solutions need to exchange data with other systems. 

Business rules provide the common exchanges of business 

information between two Functional Areas or between a 

Functional Area and a Centralized Service/Solution.

Core FS Pre-Built 

Business Reports

Core FS providers are expected to have these reports pre-built 

and in their Core FS solution offering. These reports support FFM 

Functions and Activities and FFM Business Use Cases.

Custom Code Changes or additions to the software baseline solution that require 

additional development, testing, and integration in order to deploy 

the customized software baseline solution; these put upgrades at 

risk by increasing the level of effort to integrate with the Core FS 

Baseline Solution and deploy them and the customer must assess 

their impact on each upgrade.

Customer Service 

Agreement (CSA)

A document that establishes a shared understanding between the 

service provider and service customer by defining the FIBF 

Functions/Activities supported by the solution/service, the assets 

(Service Delivery Layers) and resources (Service Delivery 

Resources) provided by the service provider and required from the 

service customer, the respective responsibilities when providing 

and using the solution/service, and the Service Measures that will 

be used to evaluate the solution/service. 

CYB Service Measures The subset of FIBF Service Measures (activity and performance 

measures) used to evaluate Cybersecurity (CYB) FIBF 

Functions/Activities provided to service customers.

Enhancement An incremental improvement in business function capability or 

technology not included in the “out of the box” version of the 

vendor-provided software product, using vendor-recommended 

and supported tools. Enhancements may consist of custom code 

or non-Core FS COTS products that interact with the Core FS 

Baseline Solution.

Environment A specific combination of hardware, operating system, and 

storage management components that support a Software 

Solution.

ERM Service Measures The subset of FIBF Service Measures (activity and performance 

measures) used to evaluate Federal Electronic Records 

Management (ERM) FIBF Functions/Activities provided to service 

customers.

Extension A component that adds capabilities such as reports and interfaces, 

using vendor-recommended and supported tools.

Federal Financial 

Management (FFM)

The designated FIBF Functional Areas that defines standardized 

Federal financial management business processes and data.

Federal Financial 

Management System 

Requirements 

(FFMSR)

The Federal government unique financial management business 

needs (Business Capabilities) to be satisfied by a Core FS.

Federal Integrated 

Business Framework 

(FIBF)

A methodology and collection of artifacts used to define 

standardized business processes and data for each Federal 

government mission-support Functional Area.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 21 of 24

Term Description

Federal Risk and 

Authorization 

Management Program 

(FedRAMP)

A government-wide program that provides a standardized 

approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous 

monitoring for cloud products and services.

Federal Shared 

Service Provider 

(FSSP)

A Federal government department/agency that manages and 

provides other Federal organizations outside of their 

department/agency access to shared solutions/services.

FFM Business 

Capabilities

FFM Business Capabilities reflect the federal financial 

management system requirements (FFMSRs) that agency 

financial management systems must substantially comply with. 

These outcome-based business needs are mapped to Federal 

government authoritative references, forms, and data standards.

FFM Business Data 

Elements

This minimum set of business data elements reflects what is 

required to support the inputs and outputs identified in the 

business use cases, business capabilities, business information 

exchanges and business reports.

FFM Business Use 

Cases

These agency “stories” document the key activities, inputs, 

outputs and other intersections to describe how the Federal 

government operates. They are organized into 11 end-to-end 

business processes that have a federal financial management 

impact.

FFM FIBF Business 

Standards

The financial management business processes and data elements 

to be implemented by Federal agencies and FM solution/service 

providers as defined by the FFM subset of FIBF artifacts.

FFM Functions and 

Activities

Common financial management functions and activities serve as 

the basis for understanding what services agencies need and 

solutions that should be offered. This list of 11 functions and 54 

activities defines the financial management functions performed 

by a federal agency.

FFM Service Measures The subset of FIBF Service Measures (activity and performance 

measures) used to evaluate FFM Functions/Activities provided to 

service customers.

Financial Management 

Capability Framework 

(FMCF)

The standards and capabilities that define baseline needs for 

solutions and services in the FM QSMO Marketplace Catalog, 

including cloud-based core financial systems (Core FS).

Financial Management 

Quality Service 

Management Office 

(FM QSMO)

The organization that brokers Federal agency access to the 

marketplace of modern, standards-based FM solutions and 

services and enables agencies to move away from outdated 

systems, improve government operations and performance, and 

advance government-wide financial management goals, including 

improved transparency and better use of data for decision making.

FM QSMO Marketplace The collection of providers and FM solutions/services that have 

been vetted by the FM QSMO as meeting the FMCF standards 

and capabilities.

FM QSMO Marketplace 

Catalog

The inventory of providers and FM solutions/services available to 

Federal agencies through the FM QSMO Marketplace.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 22 of 24

Term Description

FM Business 

Operations, 

Functional, and 

Analytical Support 

Services

A category of FM QSMO Marketplace services and ancillary 

solutions that assist Federal agencies with financial management 

business functions and operations such as guidance, reviews, 

transaction processing, reporting, and analytics.

FM Provider Service 

Measures

Define how the government measures successful delivery based 

on timelines, efficiency, and accuracy targets for FFM outcomes

and successful delivery of CYB, ERM and ITS activities that 

support FFM activities.

FM Services and 

Solutions

Additional financial management solutions and services that are 

complementary to the Core FS offerings in the FM QSMO 

Marketplace.

FM Solutions/Services Term used to refer generally to financial management solutions 

and services in the FM QSMO Marketplace from commercial and 

Federal providers (i.e., Core FS solutions and offerings in the FM 

Services and Solutions category may all be referred to as “FM 

solutions/services”).

FM Solution/Service 

Adoption and 

Transition Services

A category of FM QSMO Marketplace services and ancillary 

solutions that assist Federal agencies in identifying, selecting, 

acquiring, migrating to, and using FM solutions/services effectively 

and efficiently.

FM Solution/Service 

Definition Template

A consistent format for defining the FFM Functions/Activities 

supported by an FM solution/service, the assets (Service Delivery 

Layers) and resources (Service Delivery Resources) provided by 

the service provider and required from the service customer, and 

the respective responsibilities when providing and using the FM 

solution/service.

FM Solution/Service 

Evaluation Criteria

These criteria are used by the FM QSMO when evaluating 

potential offerings for the FM QSMO Marketplace and during 

Federal agency acquisition. The criteria include business, 

technology design, and technology operation criteria for evaluating 

FM solutions/services and programmatic, economic, and 

organizational criteria for evaluating the providers of FM 

solutions/services.

FM Technology 

Operations Support 

Services

A category of FM QSMO Marketplace services and ancillary 

solutions that assist Federal agencies with financial management 

technology implementation and operations. 

FM Workforce 

Development Services

A category of FM QSMO Marketplace services and ancillary 

solutions that assist Federal agencies in developing their 

workforce’s knowledge and skills needed to execute and improve 

financial management operations.

Function A breakdown of an administrative or mission-support domain 

(FIBF Functional Area) into categories of processes that provide 

identifiable outcomes/outputs to service customers.

Functional Area An administrative or mission-support domain defined in the FIBF 

that provides outcomes/outputs which enable service customers 

(e.g., program offices) to deliver on their missions and accomplish 

their Federal business operations.
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 23 of 24

Term Description

Horizontal Functional 

Area

An FIBF Functional Area that executes FIBF Functions/Activities 

providing outcomes/outputs across all of the Vertical Functional 

Areas throughout execution of their business lifecycle (e.g., CYBCybersecurity, ITS-Information Technology Services).

Infrastructure-as-aService (IaaS)A technology service delivery model that provides customers the 

use of processing, storage, networks and other fundamental 

computing resources where the customer is able to deploy and 

operate their own software, which can include operating systems 

and applications. The customer does not manage or control the 

underlying infrastructure, but has control over guest operating 

systems, storage, and deployed applications; and possibly limited 

control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).

4

Information 

Technology 

Infrastructure Library 

(ITIL)

A framework designed to standardize the selection, planning, 

delivery, maintenance, and overall lifecycle of information 

technology services.

ITS Service Measures The subset of FIBF Service Measures (activity and performance 

measures) used to evaluate Information Technology Services 

(ITS) FIBF Functions/Activities provided to service customers. 

Line of Business An OMB designated domain of Federal business operations.

Multi-tenancy The ability to support multiple user organizations and their specific 

configuration/enhancements/extensions within a single Solution 

Instance.

Platform-as-a-Service 

(PaaS)

A technology service delivery model that provides customers the 

ability to develop in and deploy onto the provider’s infrastructure 

acquired applications or applications created using programming 

languages, libraries, services, and tools supported by the provider. 

The customer does not manage or control the underlying 

infrastructure but has control over the deployed applications and 

possibly configuration settings for the application-hosting 

environment.5

Service Delivery 

Layers

Categories of assets and processes used to deliver a 

solution/service to service customers (e.g., facilities, hardware, 

software, data, application support).

Service Delivery 

Resources

Categories of resources used to deliver a solution/service to 

service customers (e.g., technology, workforce, advisory).

Service Measures Define how the government measures successful delivery of 

outcomes based on timelines, efficiency, and accuracy targets.

Software Baseline 

Solution

A specific combination of configuration, enhancements, 

extensions, and/or custom code that is designated as the starting 

point for all implementations of the software solution (may be 

referred to as “common code base”).

Software Solution A vendor software product plus associated configurations, 

enhancements, extensions, and/or custom code that enables 

business capabilities.

4 https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/infrastructure_as_a_service

5 https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/platform_as_a_service
 Guide to the FM QSMO Marketplace

November 2023

This guidance was made publicly available in November 2023 by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. It will be updated periodically to 

provide additional clarity or information.

Page 24 of 24

Term Description

Software Solution 

Version

A specific iteration of the vendor software product’s configuration 

items that includes defined functionality; versions typically use a 

naming convention that enables the sequence or date of each 

iteration to be identified.

Software Solution 

Release

A collection of new, upgraded, or updated vendor software product 

configuration items identified by their particular Version; typically, 

a Release (also referred to as a “Release Package”) includes new 

features and capabilities and incorporates previous changes to 

business functions and capabilities developed through patches or 

fixes. A Release may necessitate related process or technology 

changes; a new Version always implies a new Release will be 

issued at some point in time.

Solution Instance A single copy of a specific Software Solution Version/Release 

running in a specifically assigned Environment. 

Software-as-a-Service 

(SaaS)

A technology service delivery model that provides customers the 

use of the provider’s applications running on the provider’s 

infrastructure (network, servers, operating systems, storage). The 

customer does not manage or control the infrastructure or 

application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited userspecific application configuration settings.6

Task Order Review 

Board (TORB)

A group of FM QSMO Marketplace business and technology 

representatives that evaluate agency-specific configurations, 

enhancements, and extensions for conflicts with and potential 

additions to the FMCF Standards.

Technology Business 

Management (TBM)

An IT management framework that implements a standard IT 

spend taxonomy; it implements a standard way to categorize IT 

costs, technologies, resources, applications and services.

7

Treasury Centralized 

Services

Solutions/services offered by the Treasury Fiscal Service to meet 

a range of financial management needs.

Vertical Functional 

Area

An FIBF Functional Area that executes a full business lifecycle of 

FIBF Functions/Activities providing outcomes/outputs for a specific 

domain of Federal business operations (e.g., FFM-Federal 

Financial Management, GRM-Grants Management).

6 https://csrc.nist.gov/glossary/term/software_as_a_service

7 https://www.cio.gov/policies-and-priorities/tbm/