U . S . D e p a r t m e n t o f t h e T r e a s u r y 

K a n s a s C i t y F i n a n c i a l C e n t e r 

 KFC Dispatch S P R I N G 2 0 1 9 

 New Executive Director in Kansas City

On February 5, Commissioner Kim McCoy announced 

that Susan Robinson was selected as Executive 

Director of Payment Management’s Kansas City 

Financial Center (KFC). Serving as Acting Director since 

September, Susan has been at KFC for more than 23 

years in various managerial roles. 

As KFC Deputy Executive Director, she was responsible 

for overseeing daily payment and customer support 

operations for domestic, international, grant, and 

letter of credit payments for 250 federal agencies 

nationwide, representing one billion federal payments 

annually valued over $3 trillion. 

Prior to her tenure as the deputy executive director, Susan managed the Global Financial Services 

Branch. Under her leadership, payment and collection services were expanded to include the 

creation of the International Treasury Service program (ITS.gov) to support international payment 

and collection processing. ITS.gov annual activity has grown to more than seven million 

transactions valued at $26 billion. 

Susan completed the bureau’s senior executive development candidate development program 

and her qualifications were certified by the Office of Personnel Management in 2011. She began 

her career as an accountant with the General Services Administration. Susan is a graduate of the 

University of Central Missouri with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and 

accounting.

Article Courtesy of the Fiscal Buzz
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Paying the Coast Guard After the Shutdown: 

44,000 Paychecks, 48 Hours

Each year, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) 

delivers 1.2 billion payments, totaling $3.5 trillion, to 

recipients around the world on behalf of more than 250 

federal entities. When the federal government partially 

shutdown on December 22, 2018, paychecks stopped for 

800,000 government employees, including those of the 

United States Coast Guard (USCG).

The shutdown ended on Friday, January 25, and on Saturday 

morning, the phone rang at Treasury’s Kansas City Financial 

Center. Would it be possible to pay 44,000 USCG personnel by 

Monday? The answer, without hesitation, was “yes.”

“We Couldn’t Drop the Baton”

Susan Robinson, Executive Director of the Fiscal Service Kansas City Financial Center, equates the federal payment 

process to a relay race, requiring the passing of the baton from one team member to another. The information needed 

to deliver a payment must be transmitted seamlessly and accurately from agency payroll systems to Fiscal Service and 

then to the Federal Reserve Bank for distribution to payees’ accounts at thousands of financial institutions around the 

world.

Funding must also be appropriately distributed and accounted for. The Kansas City Financial Center disburses 87% of 

the government’s payments. Nearly 95% of all payments – and 99.6% of salary payments – are delivered electronically.

“We couldn’t drop the baton if we wanted the payments to be made on time,” said Robinson.

And while the USCG prepared its payroll for submission to the Fiscal Service, the phone continued to ring in Kansas City 

as more agencies reached out to ensure their salary and other backlogged payments would be made quickly.

“We got a call on 

Saturday afternoon 

when the State 

Department asked that 

the submission window 

stay open to ensure that 

employees, including 

many in foreign posts, 

would be paid on 

Monday,” Robinson 

said. “Providing quality 

payment services is the 

center’s primary 

mission – we are here to 

serve our customers!”
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Paying the Coast Guard After the Shutdown: 

44,000 Paychecks, 48 Hours... Continued

Salary Payments Hit Bank 

Accounts on Monday Morning

On the morning of Monday, January 28, 

nearly 44,000 Coast Guard personnel found 

their missing paychecks deposited in their 

bank accounts, as did almost 19,000 State 

Department personnel scattered around the 

globe.

That week, Fiscal Service disbursed nearly 

1.7 million federal salary payments, totaling 

more than $2.7 billion. This included salary 

payments to Fiscal Service employees, many 

of whom had been working without pay for 

more than a month to deliver critical social 

security, veterans benefits, retirement, and 

other payments for agencies that had 

available funding during the partial 

shutdown.

Left to right: Assistant Commissioner Ronda Kent, Carol Matthews, Cynthia Sheppard, Antoinette Williamson, KFC Executive 

Director Susan Robinson, Admiral William Kelly, Commissioner Kim McCoy, Christopher Hays, Captain William Burns, Master 

Chief Charlie Salls, and Deputy Commissioner Jeff Schramek. 

On February 11, Coast Guard Admiral William Kelly surprised the disbursing team at the Kansas City 

Financial Center with a special thank you for a job well done. He presented Susan Robinson and 

employees Cynthia Sheppard, Antoinette Williamson, Carol Matthews, and Christopher Hays with 

military challenge coins, generally awarded to military service members for special achievement. Also 

present were the Fiscal Service Commissioner Kim McCoy, Deputy Commissioner Jeff Schramek, and 

Assistant Commissioner Ronda Kent.

A Special 

Thanks
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Mark Your Calendar – 2019 Fiscal Service Advisory 

Council (FSAC) Payments Forum 

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service, Payment Management, Kansas City and Philadelphia Financial 

Centers are hosting the FSAC Payments Forum on June 4 – 5, 2019 in Woodlawn, Maryland. The 

forum provides a unique opportunity for agencies to hear first-hand updates related to federal 

government payment products, services, and initiatives. Take this opportunity to attend the 2019 

FSAC and stay apprised of the future direction of payments.

Information to the 2019 FSAC Payments Forum at Fiscal Service website at:

https://www.fiscal.treasury.gov/events/fiscal-service-advisory-council-payments-forum.html

We look forward to seeing you in June!

FSAC FSAC
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2019 Tax Season

Tax refund payments valued at over $257 

billion have been made to recipients this 

calendar year so far. All electronic payments 

were processed at KFC and checks were 

processed by both KFC and PFC.
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Certifying Officer Training

Each year, the Federal Government pays 

trillions to individuals, companies, and other 

entities around the world. The U.S. Department 

of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service 

disburses 87% of those payments on behalf of 

Federal agencies and programs, and is 

responsible for establishing policies that ensure 

payments are made accurately, to the right 

payees, and in compliance with legal 

requirements. The Federal Certifying Officer 

(CO) role is key to maintaining the public’s trust 

in the integrity of the Government’s payment 

processes.

Effective from November 1, 2018, all COs are required to complete online training provided by the 

Fiscal Service as a credentialing requirement for new delegations and designations, as well as the 

renewal of delegations and designations, as described in the Treasury Financial Manual (TFM) Volume 

I, Part 4A, Chapter 3000.

This training requirement applies to all COs, Data Entry Operators (DEO) in the Secure Payment System 

(SPS), and individuals designated as an “Agent to Receive and Deliver Checks” who process payments 

through Fiscal Service. Each of these individuals, who must be government employees, will be required 

to affirm a current completion of CO training as part of new credentialing. For individuals who are 

currently credentialed, the mandatory training is required as part of the credential renewal process.

The CO training offers visually enhanced computer-based modules designed for ease of understanding, 

navigation, and ongoing reference. The course takes a few hours to complete, and provides a 

certificate upon successfully passing the exam at the end of the training. Fiscal Service developed the 

training as an on-demand resource with continual accessibility for all accountable officers and anyone 

involved in making federal payments.

We look forward to supporting the important work of your agency with this new CO training 

requirement. For more information, visit our CO Training website at https://fiscal.treasury.gov/

training/cot. Should you have any questions regarding payment certification policies, please contact 

the Policy and Oversight Division of Payment Management at Fiscal Service at (202) 874-6790.
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Kansas City Transitions 24 DoD Agencies to 

Centralized Federal Government Disbursing with Treasury

What is DAI:

The Defense Agencies Initiative (DAI) is intended to transform the budget, finance, and accounting 

operations of most DoD Defense Agencies in order to achieve accurate and reliable financial 

information in support of financial accountability and effective and efficient decision-making 

throughout the Defense Agencies in support of the missions of the warfighter. Defense Agencies 

Initiative (DAI) is a critical DoD effort to modernize the Defense Agencies' financial management 

capabilities. 

The Kansas City Financial Center (KFC) converted 24 Defense Agencies Initiative (DAI) agencies! 

This includes 27,931 payments valued at $3,232,622,147. DAI converted to a Treasury Disbursed 

Organization (TDO) for payments in US Dollars as well as 108 foreign currencies!

DAI is used by Department of Defense (DOD) agencies to help with managing vendors and 

contracts. In late 2016, KFC began a phased on-boarding project with DAI’s payment processing. 

Following a year-long development and testing period, DAI issued its first TDO payments through 

the Payment Automation Manager (PAM) on January 11, 2017. KFC has completed moving DAI 

agencies to TDO with the last two coming on board in November 2018.

Congratulations to KFC as they wrap up several years’ worth of work to onboard the latest new 

disbursing customer!
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