Bureau of the Public Debt 

Program Summary by Budget Activity 

(Dollars in thousands) 

FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010 Appropriation Enacted Enacted Request $ Change % Change

Administering the Public Debt $182,871 $187,352 $192,244 $4,892 2.6%

 Wholesale Securities Services $23,828 $23,438 $24,492 $1,054 4.5%

 Government Agency Investment Services $15,745 $17,723 $16,264 ($1,459) (8.2%)

 Retail Securities Services $135,690 $139,109 $142,645 $3,536 2.5%

 Summary Debt Accounting $7,608 $7,082 $8,843 $1,761 24.9%

Subtotal, Bureau of the Public Debt $182,871 $187,352 $192,244 $4,892 2.6%

Offsetting Collections - Reimbursables $15,294 $21,196 $21,832 $636 3.0%

Total Program Operating Level $198,165 $208,548 $214,076 $5,528 2.6%

Note: The FY 2010 Budget Request includes $10 Million in projected user fee collections. 

Explanation of Request 

 

The FY 2010 President’s Budget request for 

the Bureau of the Public Debt (BPD) includes 

funding to support the Department of the 

Treasury’s strategic outcome of financing the 

government at the lowest possible cost over 

time. Public Debt’s top priority is to ensure 

that the most efficient systems are in place to 

conduct borrowing operations and deliver 

securities services to investors. 

Total resources to support Public Debt 

activities in FY 2010 are $214,076,000, 

including $192,244,000 from direct 

appropriations, of which $10,000,000 are user 

fees, and $21,832,000 from offsetting 

collections. 

Purpose of Program 

 

BPD’s mission is to borrow the money needed 

to operate the federal government, account for 

the resulting debt, and provide reimbursable 

support services to federal agencies. In 

carrying out its mission and vision, Public 

Debt annually auctions and issues more than 

$4 trillion in Treasury bills, notes, bonds and 

Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS); 

effectively administers the regulations that 

govern the primary and secondary Treasury 

securities markets; ensures reliable systems 

and processes are in place for issuing, 

transferring, paying interest on and redeeming 

Treasury securities; issues and redeems more 

than 70 million paper savings bonds each year; 

administers in excess of $4 trillion in 

investments for more than 240 federal trust 

funds; and provides timely and accurate 

information on the public debt. 

In support of Treasury’s strategic outcome of 

financing the government at the lowest 

possible cost over time, Public Debt’s top 

priority is to ensure the most efficient systems 

are in place to conduct borrowing operations 

and deliver securities services to investors. To 

this end, in FY 2008, Public Debt introduced 

an enhanced auction system. The new 

Treasury Automated Auction Processing 

System (TAAPS) provides improved bidentry, more timely and easier access to data, 

and greater reliability and security. The 

bureau also continues to enhance its 

TreasuryDirect system where retail customers 

can purchase and manage their holdings of 

Treasury securities online. 

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 51
BPD FY 2010 Budget Highlights

(Dollars in thousands) 

Appropriation Amount

FY 2009 Enacted $187,352

Changes to Base: 

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs): $4,892

GAO Audit 1,500

Across the Board program reduction (944)

Pay Annualization 1,135

Pay Inflation Adjustment 2,495

 Non-Pay Inflation Adjustment 706

Subtotal FY 2010 Changes to Base $4,892

Total FY 2010 Base $192,244

Program Changes: 

Program Decreases: ($1,734)

Government Agency Investment Services (1,734)

System (GAISS) Savings 

Program Reinvestment: $1,734

Hot-site Disk Storage Replacement 498

Intrusion Detection and Security 338

Infrastructure Refresh and Update 

Mainframe Software Upgrade 598

Trusted Internet Connection Initiative 300

Subtotal FY 2010 Program Changes $0

Total FY 2010 President's Budget Request $192,244

User Fees (10,000)

Total FY 2010 President's Budget Request 

(Net)

 $182,244

FY 2010 Budget Adjustments 

 

FY 2009 Enacted 

The FY 2009 enacted direct appropriation for 

BPD is $187,352,000. 

Maintaining Current Levels (MCLs) 

Adjustments Necessary to Maintain 

Current Levels +$4,892,000 / +0 FTE Funds 

are requested for: GAO audit reimbursement 

of $1,500,000; Across the Board program 

reduction -944,000: FY 2010 cost of the 

January 2009 pay increase of $1,135,000; 

proposed January 2010 pay raise of 

$2,495,000; and (4) non-labor related items 

such as contracts, travel, supplies, equipment 

and GSA rent adjustments of $706,000. 

Program Decreases 

Government Agency Investment Services 

System (GAISS) Savings -$1,734,000 / +0 

FTE Due to the completion of the final phase 

of the development, modernization and 

enhancement (DME) project, Public Debt will 

realize $1,734,000 in savings for GAISS. 

Program Reinvestment 

Hot-site Disk Storage Replacement 

+$498,000 / +0 FTE Public Debt expects disk 

storage at the Kansas City disaster recovery 

hot-site to exceed its current service life and 

capacity. New disk storage will ensure 

continued disaster recovery capabilities for 

systems that support Public Debt’s mission 

essential functions. 

Intrusion Detection and Security 

Infrastructure Refresh +$338,000 / +0 FTE

Aging technology requires Public Debt to 

upgrade the majority of its Intrusion Detection 

and Security Event Management Infrastructure 

in FY 2010. The refresh will ensure continued 

availability and heightened security awareness 

of customer systems, including GAISS, 

TreasuryDirect and Public Debt’s website 

TreasuryDirect.gov. 

Mainframe Software Upgrade +$598,000 / 

+0 FTE An increase in BPD’s mainframe 

processing capacity is required. As the 

number of transactions processed by the 

mainframe increases, so do operating software 

costs. This upgrade will allow BPD to meet 

current and future capacity needs. 

Trusted Internet Connection Initiative 

+$300,000 / +0 FTE All BPD internet and 

external connectivity must traverse a Trusted 

Internet Connection Access Provider (TICAP). 

Public Debt will procure security devices and 

support in order to fully meet this objective. 

Adjustments to Request 

User Fees -$10,000,000 / +0 FTE Public Debt 

charges Legacy Treasury Direct system 

account holders a $100 account maintenance 

fee on accounts with a balance of more than 

$100,000 in par value.

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 52
Explanation of Budget Activities 

 

Administering the Public Debt 

 

Wholesale Securities Services ($24,492,000 

from direct appropriations and $2,781,000 

from reimbursable programs) Public Debt 

announces, auctions and issues marketable 

Treasury bills, notes, bonds and Treasury 

Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). This 

program ensures that the government’s critical 

financing needs are met and that an efficient 

infrastructure is in place for the transfer, 

custody and redemption of Treasury securities 

in the wholesale market. Public Debt also 

administers Treasury's regulations that provide 

investor protection and maintain the integrity, 

liquidity and efficiency in the government 

securities market.

Government Agency Investment Services 

($16,264,000 from direct appropriations 

and $1,847,000 from reimbursable 

programs) Public Debt supports federal, state 

and local government agency investments in 

non-marketable Treasury securities as well as 

federal agency borrowing from the 

Department of the Treasury. There are more 

than 240 trust and investment funds held by 

federal agencies. For 18 of the funds, Public 

Debt also maintains the investment accounts 

and performs additional administrative 

functions on behalf of the Secretary of the 

Treasury. 

Retail Securities Services ($142,645,000 

from direct appropriations and $16,200,000 

from reimbursable programs) Public Debt 

serves more than 50 million retail customers 

who have invested in marketable and savings 

securities directly with Treasury. Investors 

may hold these securities in book-entry or 

paper form. BPD will position Treasury to 

eliminate new issues of paper savings bonds. 

The program will also focus on improving the 

quality and efficiency of customer service by 

implementing the first phases of the new 

Treasury Retail E-Services customer service 

environment.

Summary Debt Accounting ($8,843,000 

from direct appropriations and $1,004,000 

from reimbursable programs) This program 

is key to meeting Public Debt's responsibility 

to account for the public debt and related 

annual interest expenses. Public Debt 

produces daily reports on the balance and 

composition of the public debt and also 

provides the overarching control structure for 

numerous subsidiary securities systems and 

their related transactions and cash flows. 

Legislative Proposals 

 

Public Debt has no legislative proposals for 

FY 2010. 

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 53
BPD Performance by Budget Activity 

FY 2006 FY 2007 FY 2008 FY 2009 FY 2010

Budget Activity Performance Measure Actual Actual Actual Target 

Met? Target Target

Wholesale Securities Percent of auction results released in two 

Services minutes +/- 30 seconds (%) (Oe) 

100 99.10 100 Yes 95 95 

Government Agency Cost per federal funds investment 

Investment Services transaction ($) (E) 

62.64 68.53 64.98 Yes 69.11 54.69 

Government Agency Number of Government Agency Investment 

Investment Services Services control processes consolidated 

(Oe) 

N/A 3 2 Yes 0 5 

Retail Securities Percentage of retail customer service 

Services transactions completed within 5 business 

days (%) (Ot) 

N/A N/A N/A N/A Baseline TBD 

Summary Debt Cost per summary debt accounting 

Accounting transaction ($) (E) 

10.96 9.29 9.11 Yes 10.01 12.28 

Key: Oe - Outcome Measure, E - Efficiency Measure, Ot - Output/Workload Measure, and M - Management/Customer. Satisfaction 

Description of Performance 

 

The Bureau of the Public Debt has 

continued to set challenging performance 

goals with positive results. To improve 

performance, Public Debt places a high 

priority on adopting new technology to 

increase the security, flexibility and 

efficiency of financing the needs of the 

federal government.

In FY 2008, Public Debt released auction 

results within two minutes, plus or minus 30 

seconds, 100 percent of the time, surpassing 

its performance target of 95 percent. In 

addition, Public Debt processed over 99 

percent of retail customer transactions 

within 11 business days and met its targeted 

costs for summary debt accounting and 

federal funds investment transactions. 

Department of the Treasury - Budget in Brief FY 2010 Page 54