Realty

The IHS Realty Management program is designed to provide information and technical consultation on control and management of realty assets/land and fixed improvements under the administrative jurisdiction of the IHS.  It also provides guidelines and procedures for the acquisition, utilization, and disposal of owned and leased realty assets.  Last but not least, the IHS Realty Management program implements the mandate of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to provide the space necessary to achieve improved health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives.

It is the policy of the IHS to develop, establish, assess, improve, correct, and report on the effective and economical management and utilization of IHS-held realty.

Realty Asset Management is responsible for the planning, coordinating and evaluation of IHS realty management and accountability activities.

Several laws enacted by the Congress require a new level of coordination between the RPI and overall financial records of all Federal Agencies.  These laws are the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, P.L. 101-576, and the Federal Financial Management Act of 1994, P.L. 103-356.  As a result of these Acts, the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board developed Standard 6 – Accounting for Property, Plant and Equipment (FASAB #6).  This standard directs how Federal agencies will track realty assets including those acquired through capital leases and leasehold improvements in its RPI and requires the reconciliation of these Inventories (subsidiary ledger accounts) with the Agency’s general financial statements.

In basic terms, land asset value is increased (capitalized), or possibly decreased, by facilities projects that improve or construct (build or improve an asset such as a facility, building, structure) or reduce (possibly demolish) the value of the asset.  These projects are funded through a number of funding sources such as New Construction, M&I, Medicare and Medicaid, etc.  It is not the funding source, but rather the resultant change to an asset’s value, that requires an entry in the RPI.

The Real Property Inventory contains all accountable data for IHS-held facilities.  The RPI is a subsidiary financial ledger to the IHS general ledger that documents all asset values for land and fixed improvements.  The ledger also includes actions involving acquisitions, improvements, transfers and disposal.

The HQ realty program is responsible for developing and issuing policies and internal procedure to implement PHS policy in management of realty.  Other responsibilities include formulating the rent and special cost services budget for all leased space from Area Office data and providing projections for space, recurring and nonrecurring costs and assisting the Areas in obtaining approval for space acquisition.

It is IHS policy to ensure the availability of safe, suitable housing for personnel essential to the continuity of the health care delivery system and for those personnel required to protect Government property.  The IHS Quarters Management Program is designed to provide information and technical consultation on quarters management issues; provide procedures for effective implementation of IHS policy; provide the minimum number of quality housing units to house essential employees efficiently and effectively; maintain reliable quarters occupancy and rental collections data though the use of the IHS Quarters Tracking Information System (QTIS); and provide guidelines for the management of resources generated by and required for implementation of the Quarters Management Program.

All IHS users of the Quarters Management Information System (QMIS) are responsible for the following:
(as clarified from the Security Agreement between the Department of Interior's National Business Center (NBC) and IHS):

• All problems or issues relating to the security and protection of the QMIS system should be directed to the NBC QMIS Program Manager (Douglas Pokorney) or NBC IT Security Staff.
• Data backups should be performed routinely on your local copy of the QMIS data (MS Access DB stored under C:\QMIS) in case a system recovery is required.
• Administers security in accordance with all requirements of the NBC Rules Of Behavior, which are:
  • Client users must use NBC-managed computer systems (e.g. QMIS) for business purposes only.
  • Client users may not access, or attempt to access, data for which they are not authorized.
  • Client users are responsible for protecting the confidentiality for all QMIS data and should not provide this data to unauthorized persons.
  • All suspected or actual security violations should be reported to your supervisor, the individual who is assigned security responsibility for QMIS or the QMIS Program Manager.
  • The consequences of Federal employee or contractor behavior not consistent with these rules may result in revocation of access to the QMIS system by the QMIS security representative, and wherever such actions may be applicable, disciplinary action consistent with the nature and scope of the infraction may be applied according to the client organization's guidelines regarding disciplinary actions.
• The user acknowledges that the security of Customer data is the ultimate responsibility of the Customer organization.
• All security events or incidents at a Customer site that might threaten or negatively impact the integrity or availability of the NBC network/system must be reported to NBC IT Security.
• Cooperation with the NBC Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) in the event of a security penetration or other breach.