Mission Focus - Treasury continues to strive to achieve its mission to ensure excellence in the management and administration of its diverse financial programs and services through innovative fiscal management and fiduciary oversight, and to instill these values in its leadership, financial professionals, and staff.

Data Governance Standards - Treasury is partnering with the Office of Data Governance and Analytics (ODGA) to develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive data governance initiative. This initiative will enhance the agency’s capability to leverage data as a strategic asset aligning with its mission to be trusted stewards of Virginia’s financial resources. Treasury will establish robust policies, standards, and best practices, and will employ available technology solutions to ensure effective data governance.

Treasury continues to aggressively pursue innovation and efficiency through the work of our Information Technology team.  Some highlights of Treasury's current and future products are summarized below: 

Data Analytics - Treasury will continue to develop data analytics utilizing available tools that allow management to integrate, gather, present, and analyze internal and external data from disparate sources.  Treasury management will utilize data analytics applications to make data more readily available and timely providing insight into Treasury’s performance related to daily operations and long-term goals. Real-time data will allow management to monitor both agency and division-level performance and facilitate fact-based decision-making. 

Legacy Internal Applications - Treasury Information Technology Division (IT) continues to maintain two legacy applications that support critical back-office functions. The Central Access Database application is an internally developed application to support Identity and Access Management. This system is several years old and requires inefficient manual supporting processes. The Agency is interested in pursuing possible enterprise offerings from Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) in this space as Role and Identity Management is paramount to protecting Commonwealth data. In addition, Treasury utilizes an internal Knowledge Base and Project Library called "Workspaces". This tool was also internally developed over 10 years ago using older technology. The current system has reached performance limits and lacks sufficient reporting and collaboration functionality. The agency would like to pursue alternative options, possibly utilizing the Microsoft Power Platform in Microsoft Teams etc.

Unclaimed Property Automation – IT continues to support the Division of Unclaimed Property (UCP) during these planning cycles to include added compliance and automation around claims processing.  IT and UCP successfully implemented an automated telephone interface allowing clients to follow a self-service status of their claim. In addition, IT has implemented enhancements around the UCP Audit and Compliance needs. While the UCP system utilizes a full SaaS solution, IT continues to support their technology and integration needs.

Risk Management Information Systems Replacement – Treasury's Division of Risk Management (DRM) completed the replacement of its legacy Risk Management Information System which combines three separate applications, VACCS, VAPS and CIVITAS, into one application. VAPS and CIVITAS went live in summer 2024.  The Car Care System, VACCS, is slated to go live in October of 2024 and will include an enhanced premium invoicing process. The previous systems, built on outdated and vulnerable ASP.NET technology, are being replaced with a unified SaaS solution. The transition will enhance system maintainability, accessibility, and operational efficiency by consolidating member data, accounts, and administration into a single platform. The new system offers improved reporting and analytics, significantly boosting DRM's ability to deliver high-quality, timely reports for the actuary and helping Treasury meet state budget deadlines. 

Funds Management System (FMS) Upgrade – IT rolled out several maintenance releases for Cash Management of Investments Division’s (CMI) FMS application, aligning with the strategic goal of achieving excellence in operational results, resiliency, and stability. One key initiative, the Trade Ticket Automation, will enable FMS to automatically generate and send trade files to its custodian. In addition, CMI and IT are in the design phase of a significant Wire Automation project. This project seeks to eliminate the need for CMI staff to manually enter data into bank portals and document transactions in the FMS system, instead allowing the FMS system to handle wire transactions directly. In support our continuity operations, IT also plans to enhance FMS with additional features to ensure that CMI staff always have access to up-to-date investment and cash position data, regardless of the IT system's status.

Bond Requisition Process Systemization – Operations continues an effort to replace the manual, legacy, spreadsheet driven processes that currently support the bond requisitions process. This project will automate processes today that are limited to the knowledge of a small number of existing staff.  With the advent of imminent retirements, an automated system will greatly aid in succession planning. In addition, this system will remove several manual processes and enable a new customer “portal” for those needing to do business with Treasury. Three of the five bond programs are complete.

Cloud Computing/Failover and Resiliency - Treasury has an open goal to move its virtual server environment to Azure Web Cloud Services as this has the potential for cost savings, while decreasing our dependency on physical infrastructure located in the Commonwealth Data Center.  

Security for Public Deposits Act (SPDA) - In support of greater transparency, Treasury has incorporated required enhancements to the SPDA program, adding additional levels of oversight regarding public depositors. The on-line system is designed to automate the monthly reporting of public deposits.  The system requires upgrades which enhance customer support and meet the current business needs of the agency. The improvements will also provide operational efficiencies for Treasury staff.

Digital Equity and Inclusion - Treasury acknowledges the importance of Digital Equity and Inclusion and is exploring options to promote digital equity on Treasury public facing websites. This should include expanded accessibility, usability and outreach, ensuring our services align with Executive Order One and the One Virginia initiative, while fulfilling our legislative responsibilities as custodians of Commonwealth finances. IT, with support of the VITA Web Modernization project team, continue to pursue improvements to our public facing web sites for accessibility and consistency for our constituents.

Backoffice Automation - In line with Treasury's strategic goal to "Increase effectiveness through technology" and to leverage the new "Low Code" Microsoft Power Platform available to VITA customers, IT has launched several initiatives to enhance automation and workplace efficiency. Recently, IT introduced Robotic Process Automation to streamline the access request process, yielding positive results. Building on this success, IT is collaborating with Operations to automate the currently manual, and in some cases paper-based, process of entering bank statement data for reconciliation.

Additionally, IT has developed "Low Code" applications to manage our Invoice and Contract processes more effectively. Our ongoing objective is to automate all Treasury forms, introduce advanced workflows, and eliminate manual, inconsistent, and time-consuming procedures.  This supports the strategic objective to “Enhance the management of agency documents throughout their lifecycle”.

Throughout this performance cycle, IT will actively seek out new use cases within the Agency to drive further efficiencies and time savings.

Debt Management and IT - For Treasury's Debt Management Division, the current IT investments continue to meet the current agency business needs. Planning discussions, however, should occur to determine if greater resources will be needed in the future to meet any potential opportunities related to bond system data managed by Debt and Operations, that could have operational benefits (reduction to duplication and improvement to data accuracy through the reduction of human error). In addition, with the Financial Data Transparency Act (federal law), there may be greater burdens on Operations for Authority financials (and Department of Accounts and possibly Operations for the Commonwealth's financials as a whole), that could require future software acquisition, consultants, and greater staffing related to a potential XBRL requirement. Given that FDTA is new, the specific requirements and impacts are currently unknown, but planning needs to begin now for any potential impacts. No specific funding has been appropriated for this effort.

COTS to SaaS – Bank Reconciliation - While the current off the shelf application, Frontier, that supports the Bank Recon process currently meets agency needs, the system is costly and requires costly upgrades every 2 or 3 years. In line with the objective to increase effectiveness through technology by exploring new platforms to gain efficiencies, IT will need to look at SaaS options in this space to limit administrative overhead.

Treasury Partner Portal - Within Q2 of FY 2025, Treasury will implement an external Portal or Gateway to facilitate our partner higher education, banking and locality users to securely authenticate and request/perform transactions such as Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP) wire requests, submission of requisitions against authorized bonds and certify collateral for our public banking institutions under the SPDA system.  This portal will facilitate one stop authentication and access to authorized systems.

Secretary of Finance – Cyber WorkGroup – The Secretary of Finance, with support from VITA, has an initiative underway during this planning cycle to strengthen the cyber controls and share common practices that are applicable specifically to the Finance or “Money” agencies such as Treasury, Taxation and Department of Accounts.  The Work Group is chartered to define core competencies among the finance agencies and develop an action plan and resource requirements needed for this endeavor.  Agencies as well as VITA will be submitting any needed decision packages as required.

Federal Government Uncertainty - Due to Virginia's proximity and economic dependence on federal employment, actions (or inactions) such as sequestration, furloughs, and budget shutdowns could have a detrimental impact on Virginia’s economy.  In addition, regulatory, congressional, and other actions by the federal government could negatively impact Commonwealth bond ratings.

Federal Tax Code Changes - As the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions near a sunset in 2025, it is thought that Congress will look to make changes to the tax code.   As items are evaluated, there could be certain benefits to governments if certain provisions such as the ability to advance refund tax-exempt bonds on a tax-exempt basis were reinstated.  However, of greater concern is the risk of governments losing their ability to issue tax-exempt and private activity bonds should the funds lost to these exemptions be seen as needed to assist with other budgetary priorities.  The loss of tax-exemption would cause borrowing rates to increase and would result in an increase to future debt service costs and it could result in a reluctance by some governmental entities to pursue capital projects on the same pace as would have otherwise been sustained.  Similarly, the Commonwealth is monitoring for any further changes to provisions concerning Build America Bonds (BABs), which was a program where issuers sold taxable bonds with the understanding a subsidy would be provided by the federal government.  Through federal sequestration, the subsidy has been reduced and at times has been completely questioned.  As a result, the Commonwealth has had to conservatively budget for an entire cut of the subsidy to simply be prepared for any failures of the federal government to make good on its program.  The Commonwealth will continue to look for any opportunities to refund its BABs and will be monitoring for any federal tax code changes that impact bond issuers.   

Literary Fund Assets Availability - Constitutionally, the Literary Fund is required to maintain an $80 million asset balance.  Available cash balances beyond that amount may be used for K-12 school purposes.  This has typically taken the form of loans to localities for school construction and payments for teacher retirement.  In recent years, the Literary Fund has not been making new loans.  The 2022-2024 Appropriation Act, however, authorized up to $200 million in school construction loans in each of the first and second years.  The Appropriation Act also made changes to the terms of Literary Fund loans to make them more attractive to localities.  While there has been a significant influx of cash from the Unclaimed Property program to the Literary Fund in recent years due to various one-time stock sales and similar activities, it is expected that this source of income to the Literary Fund will dwindle. Finally, increased outreach claim efforts are returning a higher percentage of unclaimed properties, leaving less available income to the Literary Fund, further exacerbating the declining asset balance situation.

VaRISK- Constitutional Officers plan; Jails - Over the past several years there have been concerted efforts by a few local private insurers to provide liability coverage to regional jails.  They have been successful in entering agreements with a handful of the lowest risk facilities. This has resulted in shrinking the pool of jail facilities participating in VaRISK and leaving higher risk facilities with more substantial loss histories in the Plan. This has contributed to increased costs for the remaining facilities.  The Division of Risk Management (DRM) has no ability to deny coverage for any state agency/constitutional officer/regional jail/local government. DRM is statutorily required to provide liability protection options no matter how high the risk or how negative the loss history.

Sovereign and Qualified Immunity - Treasury's Division of Risk Management administers several risk management plans and programs that protect Virginia's constitutional officers, including sheriffs and regional jail officers, and localities from financial loss.  The Commonwealth utilizes sovereign immunity and qualified immunity to reduce claim liability and costs.  Any legislative efforts to limit or eliminate these defenses would increase the cost of these programs significantly.

Concentration of Pending Retirements - While Treasury has been fortunate to have many long serving employees, one division within Treasury has several key positions with employees who have either recently retired or who are eligible for retirement.  This includes managers of trust accounting, check processing, and bank reconciliation. Treasury has struggled to attract adequate replacements in this area and will need to continue to focus on succession planning before a vast amount of institutional knowledge retires.

In FY 2024, Treasury managed investments totaling $45.2 billion in state and local government funds, issued or participated in financing over $1.6 billion in debt obligations (and nearly $2.1 billion if transportation items presented to the Treasury Board were included in the total), processed 1.8 million checks, collected $257 million in unclaimed property revenue, returned $89.3 million of unclaimed property to rightful owners, and transferred $200 million to the Literary Fund for public education purposes.   In addition, Treasury provided liability and property insurance for the Commonwealth, its agencies and institutions, and local officials and employees in over 500 political subdivisions and non-profit organizations.  Treasury also manages the Commonwealth’s banking through a statewide network of three concentration and twenty-four regional banks, accelerating the deposit and availability of state funds received from approximately 300+ regional depositing locations.