Pentagon Gouge: Alphabet Soup

OMN

OPN

RDTE

"The Color of Money"

I have yet to be in a budgetary type job in the Navy (knock on wood). My current job has some tangential involvement with budgetary issues, and the acronyms have made my head spin at times.

If you've never done a budgetary type of job and are getting overwhelmed by acronyms, here is a list of the categories of appropriation. I read it and said, "ahhhhhhhh, so THAT'S what that means!" The article cites "CHINFO" as the source, but I couldn't find any CHINFO documents when I googled it. Because documents come and go on the internet, I'm going to copy over the basic definitions here in case the rest of the article gets taken off the net.

Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy (SCN) — construction of new ships plus
certain modification and overhaul of existing ships, including nuclear refueling
and service life extension programs

Aircraft Procurement, Navy (APN) — procurement of new aircraft,
modifications to existing aircraft, and spare parts

Weapons Procurement, Navy (WPN) — procurement of strategic and tactical
missiles, satellites, torpedoes, guns, and other weapons; ammunition and other
ordnance; spare parts; and support equipment

Other Procurement, Navy (OPN) — procurement of ship and aviation support
equipment, communication and electronic equipment, ordnance support
equipment, civil engineer support equipment, supply and personnel/command
support equipment, and spare and repair parts

Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) — research,
development, and evaluation in the areas of basic research and technology
development, advanced technology development, strategic and tactical programs,
intelligence and communication programs, and overhead and support costs of the
Navy's RDT&E effort

National Defense Sealift Fund (NDSF) — RDT&E, purchase, construction,
conversion, and lease of sealift ships

Military Personnel, Navy (MPN)/Marine Corps (MPMC) — allowances,
individual clothing, interest on deposits, pay, permanent change of station travel,
and expenses of temporary duty travel between permanent duty stations

Reserve Personnel, Navy (RPN)/Marine Corps (RPMC) — pay, allowances,
clothing, subsistence, gratuities, travel, and related expenses for personnel of the
Marine Corps and Naval Reserve on active duty or while undergoing Reserve
training or while performing drills or equivalent duty

Operation and Maintenance, Navy (O&MN)/Marine Corps (O&MMC) —
expenses necessary for support of the Fleet, civilian employee pay, travel and
transportation, training, consumable supplies, recruiting and advertising, base
operations, and base communications and subsistence

Operations and Maintenance, Naval Reserve (O&MNR)/Marine Corps Reserve (O&MMCR) — expenses necessary for the operation and maintenance
of Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Force aircraft, ships, and operation of other
units including Mobile Inshore Undersea forces, Reserve Naval Construction
Force, and Cargo Handling Battalions; aircraft flying hours, underway steaming
hours, regular ship overhauls, ship maintenance and modernization, and aircraft
depot level maintenance in addition to base operations and administrative support

Procurement, Marine Corps (PMC) — expenses necessary for procurement and
manufacture of ammunition, weapons and tracked combat vehicles, guided
missiles and equipment, communication and electronics, support vehicles,
engineer and other equipment, and spare and repair parts

The following Navy appropriations include functional areas for which the Marine
Corps programs and budgets its own share. The complete TOA for the Marine
Corps includes both the Marine-unique appropriations above, as well resources
from the following appropriations:

Military Construction, Navy (MCN) — acquisition, construction and
installation of permanent public works, naval installations, and facilities for the
Navy and the Marine Corps

Family Housing, Navy & Marine Corps (FHN&MC) — construction,
maintenance, repair, and design of Navy and Marine Corps housing and ancillary
facilities required at bases and stations
Military Construction, Navy Reserve (MCNR) — construction, acquisition,
expansion, rehabilitation, and conversion of facilities for the training and
administration of the reserve components of the Navy and Marine Corps

I am still NOT an expert on budgetary / appropriations issues, but something else I've learned along the way is that each appropriation category has different rules. Some money HAS to be used in the current fiscal year or it goes away. Some money is "two year money." Some money is "three year money."

Oh, and you can't transfer money from one category to another. For example, you can't use RDT&E funds to pay for a shortfall in Operations and Maintenance. Likewise, you can't use OMN funds to fund the development of someone's science project to build a new experimental sensor or communications system.

For the more experienced readers in the audience, are there resources you recommend for learning the rules of what you can and can't do with different colors of money?