The FHWA requires State DOTs to submit in an electronic file format the request for reimbursement of federal portion of expenses for projects approved by FHWA. The Reimbursement Output process in Advantage produces the FHWA Electronic File for the reimbursable disbursement records associated with FHWA–related Major Programs. The bill file format has evolved as FHWA has updated its internal systems and the Reimbursement Output Process has been updated to support changes to existing file formats and any new file formats that have emerged.
When the electronic file is submitted each week to FHWA requesting payment on eligible expenditures, it is immediately executed against an editing process in FHWA’s Fiscal Management Information System (FMIS). If the FMIS editing process encounters an error on any record on the electronic file, the entire file is 'rejected' by FMIS. Examples of validations performed by FMIS are:
Project-Agreement-Number must be valid and active,
Sufficient budget authority must be available, and
The type of expenditures charged must be allowable against the Project-Agreement-Number.
If the electronic file gets 'rejected' in FMIS due to problems with data not set up in a timely manner or improperly entered, then FHWA will correct the errors in FMIS and reprocess the payment request. If the file gets 'rejected' in FMIS due to errors on the electronic file created by the Reimbursement Output Process, then the information on the electronic file will have to be modified in CGI Advantage Financial and re-submitted to FHWA using FMIS.
Records identified by FMIS that contain invalid data require research and most likely correcting entries to pass the FMIS editing process, therefore the 'rejected' records must be removed from the electronic file in order to resubmit the 'non-rejected' records. This process is known as the FHWA Cleanup Process and it allows users to go on-line and select 'rejected' records to be removed from the electronic file in order to process the re-submission of 'non-rejected' records without having to execute the entire Reimbursement Output Process. Please refer to the "Reimbursement Output Process" run sheet in the CGI Advantage Cost Accounting Run Sheets guide for more details.