FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

FISCAL YEAR 2022

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION

May 28, 2021 

Concurrently submitted to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget
1 

Table of Contents

SUMMARY OF FY 2022 BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 2 

Section 1: Purpose and Priorities in FY 2022 7 

1A: Commission Overview and Future Outlook 7 

1B: FY 2022 Priorities 10

Section 2: Budget Overview

2A: Requested Budget Level 13

2A.1: Description of Budget Increases and Decreases at Request Level 15

2B: Appropriations Language 17 

2C: Recommended Legislative Changes 18

2D: GAO Report: Campaign Finance: Federal Framework, Agency Roles and 

Responsibilities, and Perspectives, GAO-20-66R (Feb. 2020) 24 

Section 3: FY 2022 Annual Performance Plan and FY 2020 Annual Performance Report 25 

3A: Introduction 25 

3A:1 Mission Statement 25 

3B: Organizational Structure 26 

3C: Performance Framework 30 

3C:1 Strategic Goal 30 

3C:2 Plans and Progress by Strategic Objective 30 

3D: Implementation Factors 49

3D:1 Major Management Priorities, Challenges and Risks 49

3D:2 Data Validation and Verification 49

3E: Conclusion 50 

Office of Inspector General’s Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request 51 

OIG Summary of Outstanding FEC Audit Recommendations 52 
2

SUMMARY OF FY 2022 BUDGET JUSTIFICATION

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency responsible for

administering, enforcing, defending and interpreting the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971

(“FECA” or the “Act”), as amended.1As the foundation of federal campaign finance regulation, FECA 

reflects Congress’s efforts to prevent corruption through two principal means. First, it ensures that 

voters have access to information about the sources of financial support for federal candidates, 

political party committees and other political committees. Second, FECA imposes amount limitations 

and source prohibitions on contributions received by certain types of political committees. The 

Commission’s responsibilities also include overseeing the federal public funding programs for

presidential campaigns.2 

For the fiscal year (FY) 2022 Budget Submission, the FEC’s total requested funding level is $76.5 

million. The requested increase for FY 2022 represents a nearly seven percent increase from the 

FEC’s enacted appropriation for FY 2021. This level reflects an increase after flat funding in FY 

2021 and essentially flat funding for core FEC operations since FY 2016. The prior year’s funding 

profile created significant challenges for the agency in FY 2021, as the agency needed to slow IT 

spending and hiring, including a pause in backfilling positions throughout the agency. These hiring 

constraints placed a considerable strain on many of the FEC’s line offices and impaired the agency’s

ability to execute its mission. Funding at the requested level would allow the agency to resume 

mission-critical hiring, continue ongoing IT modernization projects, realize the attendant future 

savings of these efforts, and provide the FEC with the necessary resources to maintain its commitment

to providing excellent service to the public. 

Funding at the requested level for FY 2022 will help the agency perform critical components of its

mission during FY 2022 and in future years. For example, the FEC currently receives campaign finance 

reports, statements and other disclosure documents throughout each fiscal year from more than 16,000

political committees and other filers. During the 2020 election cycle, these filers reported more than

600 million financial transactions, which were reviewed by FEC staff and disclosed to the public on 

the FEC’s website. Also, during the 2020 election cycle the FEC website’s Application Programming 

Interface (API), which permits users to customize data searches making vast quantities of campaign

finance data readily available, received over 407 million hits.

Changes in the way political committees raise and spend funds have resulted in an exponential increase

in the number of transactions reported to the FEC. This ever-growing volume of campaign finance

disclosure data must be received, processed and made available to the public each election cycle within 

the agency’s tight deadlines for public disclosure, and must be safeguarded to ensure the integrity and 

accessibility of the information. The following chart illustrates the exponential growth of data 

 

1

 Pub. L. No. 92-225, 86 Stat. 3 (1972) (codified at 52 U.S.C. §§ 30101-45).

2

 The Commission’s responsibilities for the federal public funding programs are contained in the Presidential

Election Campaign Fund Act, Pub. L. No. 92-178, 85 Stat. 562 (1971) (codified at 26 U.S.C. §§ 9001- 13) and the

Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account Act, Pub. L. No. 93-443, 88 Stat. 1297 (1974) (codified at 26

U.S.C. §§ 9031-42).
3

transactions the FEC needs to process, store, search and display to support the disclosure portion of its 

mission. 

0

25,000,000

50,000,000

75,000,000

100,000,000

125,000,000

150,000,000

175,000,000

200,000,000

225,000,000

250,000,000

275,000,000

300,000,000

325,000,000

350,000,000

375,000,000

400,000,000

425,000,000

450,000,000

475,000,000

500,000,000

525,000,000

550,000,000

575,000,000

600,000,000

625,000,000

Transactions Reported to FEC

1980 - 2020 Election Cycles

In the 1980 election cycle, approximately 602,000 transactions were reported to the FEC. 1992 was the

first election cycle with over one million transaction reported to the FEC. In the 2002 election cycle, 

nearly three million transactions were reported to the FEC, but in the 2004 election cycle, that figure

jumped to nearly 17 million. 

Over the next six election cycles alone, the number of financial transactions disclosed to the agency has 

increased from approximately 31 million transactions reported during the 2008 election cycle to nearly 

300 million reported during the 2018 election cycle. The 2020 election cycle had more than double that 

amount, over 600 million transactions.
4

These trends in campaign finance activity illustrate how crucial it is for the agency to continue to 

implement new programs and systems to ensure the timely disclosure of this increasing volume of 

campaign finance data. The migration of campaign finance data to a cloud environment and efforts to

modernize the FEC’s eFiling system are essential components of these efforts. Adequate funding for

FY 2022 will help to ensure the FEC meets its mission to provide transparency in the campaign finance

process. The FEC is currently processing and reviewing historically high levels of campaign finance 

disclosure information, while satisfying an increased demand for customer service and data 

information requests from the public. For the FEC to manage the pressures of increased workload, data 

processing, security concerns and customer service requests, the FEC requests a funding level that will 

ensure the agency is able to efficiently, fairly and effectively achieve its mission.

In addition, the workload has increased substantially across the agency while staffing has generally 

decreased. The FY 2022 Budget requests 328 FTE, down from over 375 actual FTE in FY 2005. As 

the graph below illustrates, staffing levels have generally followed this decreasing trend over the last 

10 years as well. This trend arises from efforts to capture productivity gains through modernization 

efforts and new technology as well as the agency’s efforts to maintain budget discipline with limited, 

strategic hiring. The increased workload on employees makes receiving the FY 2022 requested funding 

imperative, so that the agency can maintain performance at current levels. 
5

*Figures are from Actual Column of the President’s Budget Appendix. 

One example of the lower FTE is in the FEC’s Office of General Counsel (OGC), which has continued 

to see an increased workload with a significant decrease to its staffing resources. OGC went from a 

high of 128 FTE just over a decade ago to a current FTE of 89 (31% decrease). In particular, the 

Enforcement Division, which processes and investigates complaints and referrals alleging civil 

violations of FECA, went from a high of 51 FTE in FY 2008 to an FTE of 37 in FY 2021 (27.5% 

decrease). During this time, however, the volume of cases for the Enforcement Division has steadily 

increased from an average of 111 matters in FY 2010 to the approximate caseload of 435 matters at 

the end of the second quarter of FY 2021. The increased caseload coupled with the decrease in staffing 

has resulted in an approximate four-fold increase or more in the workload average per staff attorney in 

the Enforcement Division. Obviously, this has put an extreme level of strain on the Enforcement 

Division’s resources and, absent changes, could potentially jeopardize its ability to meet its statutory 

and internal deadlines. In order to support the Commission in meeting its obligations to administer 

and enforce campaign finance law, OGC must process cases in an efficient manner and provide the 

Commission with strategic legal advice that is supported by reports that are timely, thoroughly 

researched and well-written as well as conduct Commission-authorized investigations in a timely 

manner. It is critical that OGC have the staffing levels necessary to meet these mission-critical goals, 

as reflected in the personnel request for FY 2022. 
6

The Commission plans to use some of the requested additional FTE to backfill positions in OGC, 

including the Enforcement Division. Other hiring is planned to address needs in the Audit Division, 

the Reports Analysis Division and the Office of the Chief Information Officer, each of which is 

experiencing vacancies in previously filled positions while faced with an expanding workload, 

including particularly the effect of the large increase in the number of transactions reported to the FEC. 

Funding at the $76.5 million level will also allow the agency to continue ongoing IT modernization 

projects and realize the attendant future savings of these efforts. Over the past several years, the FEC

has made significant progress to modernize its IT systems and processes. These efforts include the 

migration to a cloud environment of the FEC’s primary campaign finance database, which contains

over forty years of transaction-level campaign finance data reported to the agency, and the searchable 

legal systems and related databases. As a result of these efforts, the FEC has been able to reduce its

physical data center footprint, and it plans to continue to do so. To continue to mitigate an anticipated 

steep rise in future costs from maintaining physical data centers, the FEC is pursuing a modernization 

plan which requires investment now and over the next several years to continue cloud migration and

realize improvements in its IT processes. During 2020, the FEC conducted a study to determine how 

best to migrate other appropriate systems and databases to the cloud, allowing the agency to realize 

greater efficiency and performance in future years. With funding at the full requested amount, the FEC 

will continue to implement the recommendations of this study during FY 2022, with the goal of

generating efficiencies in future years while maintaining high levels of service to the public. 

In addition, the FEC is currently working to upgrade the agency’s eFiling platform. In FY 2017, the 

Commission published a study of its current eFiling platform, including a survey of the existing

functionality of the FEC’s free filing software and an in-depth investigation of needs expressed by

filers.3 The FEC is relying on the recommendations of this study to improve its eFiling platform to

allow greater operating system flexibility for users when generating filings for submission to the

Commission, and to increase the consistency and accuracy of reporting. The FEC’s new eFiling

platform is expected to improve the process for validating filings prior to acceptance and generate

modern file outputs that will provide for more flexibility in accessing data. The FEC had expected to 

begin the implementation phase of this project during FY 2020. However, COVID-19 related delays 

in onboarding new staff and contractors subsequently hampered the FEC’s efforts to complete the 

development phase of the eFiling platform during FY 2020. As a result, the FEC’s request for FY

2022 includes funding that will be used to continue development and begin implementation of the new 

eFiling platform during FY 2022. 

This Budget Justification is organized in three sections. Section 1 addresses the agency’s purpose and 

priorities in FY 2022. Section 2 provides an overview of the agency’s request. Section 3 provides an

overview of the agency’s four strategic objectives and describes the agency’s performance goals,

indicators and targets to ensure continued progress toward meeting these objectives during FY 2022. 

 

3

 Available at https://fec.gov/about/reports-about-fec/agency-operations/e-filing-study-2016/.
7

Section 1: Purpose and Priorities in FY 2022

1A: Commission Overview and Future Outlook 

The FEC is an independent regulatory agency responsible for administering, enforcing, defending and 

interpreting FECA. The Commission is also responsible for administering the federal public funding 

programs for presidential campaigns.

The FEC is directed by six Commissioners, who are appointed by the President with the advice and

consent of the Senate. By law, no more than three Commissioners can be members of the same political 

party. The Commissioners meet regularly to formulate policy and to vote on significant legal and 

administrative matters. Any exercise by the Commission of duties and powers under the Act requires 

at least a majority vote of the members of the Commission, and certain core functions related to 

enforcement, litigation, rulemakings, advisory opinion and public funding of presidential campaigns 

require four affirmative votes no matter how many Commissioners are serving. Moreover, an internal 

Commission regulation extends the four-vote requirement to any exercise of powers and duties under 

the Act. These provisions require bipartisan decision-making. 

As part of its responsibilities, the FEC makes available on its website the campaign finance disclosure 

reports that all federal candidates and federal political committees must file, asrequired by the Act. These 

disclosure reports and the data contained in them are made available to the public through the

Commission’s internet-based public disclosure system on the agency’s website at www.fec.gov. The 

FEC also has exclusive responsibility for civil enforcement of FECA, including the handling of civil 

litigation arising from any legal actions brought by or against the Commission. Additionally, the

Commission promulgates regulations implementing the Act. The Commission also has a statutory

responsibility to issue advisory opinions responding to inquiries regarding interpretation and

application of the Act and the Commission’s regulations to specific factual situations.

The FEC’s Strategic Plan for FY 2018 through FY 2022, developed pursuant to the Government

Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)4 and the GPRA Modernization Act of 20105, provides 

the agency’s strategic management framework. This framework is designed to ensure that every

employee works in support of the FEC’s strategic goal and objectives and that the effectiveness of these

efforts can be regularly and meaningfully measured

The FEC is funded by a single annual appropriation for salaries and expenses and is authorized to

collect fees only to offset the costs of the agency’s educational conferences. Approximately 70 percent 

of the agency’s budget is composed of expenses related to personnel, such as salaries and benefits. Of 

 

4

 Pub. L. No. 103-62, 107 Stat. 285 (1993) (codified at 31 U.S.C. § 1115 et seq.).

5

 Pub. L. No. 111-352, 124 Stat. 3866 (2011) (codified at 31 U.S.C. §§ 1115-24).
8

the agency’s remaining operational expenses, the largest categories are IT initiatives, including IT 

security initiatives, and facilities rent. These three requirements constitute 91 percent of the agency’s

budget. The allocations for the FY 2020 Budget are shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 – FY 2020 Budget by Major Category 

70% SALARIES and BENEFITS

6% FACILITIES

15% OCIO INITIATIVES

9% OTHER SERVICES

FY2020 Actual by Major Category

as of Sept. 30, 2020
9

FEC Organizational Chart

The Offices of the Staff Director, General Counsel, Chief Information Officer and Chief Financial

Officer support the agency in accomplishing its mission. The Office of the Inspector General,

established within the FEC in 1989 under the Inspector General Act Amendments of 1988,6 is

independent and reports both to the Commissioners and to Congress. The specific roles and

responsibilities of each office are described in detail at:

https://www.fec.gov/about/leadership-and-structure/fec-offices.

 

6

 Pub. L. No. 100-504, 102 Stat. 2515 (1988).
10

1B: FY 2022 Priorities 

The FEC priorities for FY 2022 are aligned with the agency’s FY 2018 to 2022 Strategic Plan and are 

limited to those needs that will allow the agency to fulfill its mission as required by law. Funding at the 

requested amount of $76.5 million would permit the FEC to resume mission-critical hiring practices, 

including backfilling positions that previously could not be filled, and other hiring necessary to meet the 

demands of the agency’s workload. This level of funding would permit the agency to fulfill its requested 

328 FTE complement and represents critical personnel investment necessary to fulfill the agency’s 

mission. The requested funding would also improve the agency’s systems and processes, allowing the 

Commission to reduce dependency on costly legacy systems and improve the efficiency of the agency’s 

IT infrastructure, including migration to cloud-hosted data and services, improvements to the eFiling 

platform, and continued enhancements to cybersecurity and related tools. These priorities will ensure 

that the agency can improve customer experience and service delivery as it meets increasing public

demand for its services. These are the FEC’s priorities for FY 2022, and they are discussed in more

detail below.

Strengthening the Workforce to Achieve FEC’s Mission and Improve Customer Service

The FEC intends to continue its efforts to maintain the current high performance ofstaff and the excellent

service that they provide to the public. A critical part of this effort is promoting adequate staffing levels 

across the agency. The FY 2022 request would allow the agency to backfill critical vacancies that are 

currently unfunded, including areas where the FEC has experienced increased demands in workload. As 

discussed above, these areas include OGC, the Audit Division, the Reports Analysis Division and the 

Office of Chief Information Officer. The request would also allow the FEC to invest in training and 

awards at levels more consistent with historical levels, so as to improve the skills-base of the workforce 

and reward high performance. 

Finally, the Commission has established a series of data-driven metrics to measure customer satisfaction 

with educational outreach efforts, and to ensure that matters are moved efficiently and fairly through the 

enforcement and compliance processes, with complainants and respondents afforded sufficient

transparency regarding the processes. Additionally, the FEC plans to bolster customer service in FY 

2022 by continuing the development of a redesigned eFiling platform. This platform is being created 

using customer experience design. The new eFiling system will strive to be more user-friendly and 

promote regulatory compliance. 

IT Modernization

The FEC protects the integrity of the federal campaign finance process by providing transparency and 

fairly enforcing and administering federal campaign finance laws. Fair enforcement and full disclosure 

of the sources and amounts of campaign funds allows the public to make informed decisions in the 

political process. Transparency requires that information is not only maintained by the FEC but also 

provided to the public in a way that is intuitive to users, with the necessary context for understanding 

how federal elections are funded. The FEC must make election- related reports and information accessible 

to the public in a timely, reliable and useful fashion. TheCommission is therefore committed to providing 

the public with robust access to campaign finance data, compliance information and legal resources.
11

Funding at the full requested amount of $76.5 million would permit the FEC to improve the quality of 

services delivered to the public. 

The FEC provides free electronic filing software, FECFile, to support political committees of federal

candidates, political parties and other filers in reporting their campaign finance activity to the FEC. The 

FEC has completed and published a study that helped to determine ways to modernize the agency’s 

eFiling system, platform and software to receive better quality data, be more responsive to user needs 

and handle the increasing volume of data reported.7 In this request, the agency seeks funds for FY 2022 

to support development and implementation of these improvements to the eFiling platform. The 

redesigned eFiling platform will improve ease of filing for users by allowing greater operating system

flexibility when generating filings for submission to the Commission. The FEC’s new eFiling platform 

will also improve the process for validating filings prior to acceptance and generate modern file outputs 

that will provide for more flexibility in accessing data. In addition, the modernization efforts will provide 

for seamless integration with the data portion of the website and, therefore, more efficient use of the 

agency’s resources. The study of the FEC’s eFiling system showed that 59 percent of electronic filers 

use the agency’s software. Therefore, the eFiling modernization project continues to be an important 

priority for the Commission. Funding at the requested amount allows the FEC to continue development 

and begin implementation of the eFiling platform.

At the same time, the FEC is undertaking a multi-year effort to move appropriate systems and databases 

to a cloud environment. The first FEC system to be migrated to a cloud environment was the agency’s

email system, which has been cloud-hosted since 2016. Migration of the FEC’s website and campaign

finance database was completed during FY 2018, with the closure of one of the FEC’s physical data 

centers. During FY 2021, the FEC migrated its primary campaign finance database and its searchable 

legal systems. Cloud hosting of the agency’s website and campaign finance database offers many 

benefits for the FEC. The agency’s internet traffic is variable, with many more visitors accessing the 

website during election years and near reporting deadlines. In addition to website visitors, filers need to 

access the electronic filing system and Commission staff need to access applications, including the 

website and databases, to perform their regular workday duties. With a cloud-hosted application and 

database infrastructure, the FEC will only need to pay for actual usage, rather than constantly 

maintaining the capacity to support peak usage, even during periods of reduced usage. Website 

downtime will be minimized, and server maintenance will be managed by the cloud computing provider. 

The move to a cloud-hosted model provides the Commission with opportunities to retire a number of 

other costly legacy systems and reduce the agency’s data center footprint.8 For example, planned

improvements to the eFiling system, which was designed in the mid-1990s, will provide an opportunity

to migrate the eFiling data center to a cloud environment as well, reducing costs for the support and 

maintenance of the legacy eFiling physical data center. Thus, in addition to improving service delivery 

to the public, migrating to a cloud environment will help the agency to confront the increasing long-term 

costs of maintaining IT legacy systems.

 

7

 Available at https://www.fec.gov/about/reports-about-fec/agency-operations/e-filing-study-2016/.

8

 The FEC’s efforts to reduce spending on operation and maintenance costs is consistent with the Government 

Accountability Office’s May 2016 report, Federal Agencies Need to Address Aging Legacy Systems

(https://www.gao.gov/assets/680/677454.pdf).
12

During 2020, the FEC conducted a study of its remaining legacy systems to develop a cloud migration 

plan for these legacy applications and systems. The cloud migration plan also included recommendations

for migrating the FEC’s disaster recovery environment to a cloud environment. To realize the full value 

of this study, and to more quickly realize the cost and efficiency benefits of migrating applications and 

systems to a cloud environment, the FEC has begun implementation of the study’s recommendations in

FY 2021 and FY 2022 and requests funding for FY 2022 to continue that implementation.

Moreover, migration to the cloud requires efforts regarding the design, engineering and security in the

cloud environment to ensure the security of our systems and the integrity and accessibility of our data. 

The FEC’s FY 2022 funding request includes the funding to ensure the FEC has implemented adequate 

cybersecurity controls and industry-leading practices to protect the data that is collected and maintained 

in the cloud environment. 

The FEC continuously develops, maintains and improves its security architecture that mitigates modern 

threats. In partnership with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and numerous strategic

partners, the FEC continuously identifies, protects, detects, responds to and recovers from the impact of 

known and unknown potential threats. The FEC’s FY 2022 funding request includes funding for

information security efforts, including the FEC’s security operation center and the applications for

continuous diagnostics and mitigation, and implementing security controls to address identified 

cybersecurity gaps. The requested funding is to ensure that identified risks are appropriately addressed

and that the agency’s cybersecurity program and security architecture will continue to safeguard its

infrastructure, networks and applications against cyber threats and malicious activities.

Funding below the requested FY 2022 level could compromise the agency’s ability to protect its 

information and infrastructure from external or internal threats, and its compliance with statutory and

regulatory requirements regarding information access, security and privacy.
13

Section 2: Budget Overview

2A: Requested Budget Level 

In this section, increases and decreases are identified and the FY 2022 request is compared to the 

Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2021. For FY 2022 the requested 

appropriation is $5 million higher than the FY 2021appropriation, representing a nearly seven percent 

increase. 

The requested increase is split with 55 percent directed to non-personnel expenses and 45 percent 

directed to personnel expenses. For non-personnel expenses, the increases mainly affect the information 

technology area, and other areas such as travel and training, which either decreased to artificially low levels 

during the COVID-19 pandemic or were reduced to stay within the levels provided in FY 2021. For personnel 

expenses, the increase is driven by the 2.7 percent pay raise, benefits and backfilling 13 FTEs above the 

budgeted FY 2021 level. 

Table 1

Changes from FY 2021 Appropriation to FY 2022 Request 

Category Amount

FY 2021 Appropriation $71,497,000 

Personnel Changes

Personnel Compensation and Benefits 2,261,885

 

Personnel Changes Subtotal: $2,261,885

Non-Personnel Changes

Non-Capitalized & Capitalized Equipment -156,198

Printing and Reproduction 31,247

Communications 104,022

GSA Rent 112,229

Travel 206,500

Training 229,024

Supplies & Materials 333,925

Federal Goods & Services 751,476

Contracts & Other Services 1,128,890

 

Non-Personnel Changes Subtotal: $2,741,115

 

Total Change: $5,003,000

FY 2022 Budget Request $76,500,000 
14

Table 2 highlights the FY 2022 Budget Request as compared to the President’s FY 2021 

appropriation and the FY 2020 actual obligations. 

Table 2 

FY 2022 FEC Budget Submission

Object Class Data Federal 

Election Commission

FY 20 

Actual

FY 2021 Agency 

Budget 3/31/21 

FY 2022 Full 

request 

Change from FY 2021 

3/31 budget to FY 2022 

Full Request Level

% Change From FY 2021 

Agency Budget 3/31/21 

to FY 2022 Full Request 

Level

11 Personnel 

Compensation 

36,843,586 38,793,741 41,135,868 2,342,128 6.04%

11.52 Cash Awards 

575,199 

 

200,039 

 

650,000 449,961 224.94%

12.1 Personnel benefits 

12,509,820 13,840,120 13,039,917 -800,203 -5.78%

12.18 Transit Subsidy 

208,594 85,000 355,000 270,000 317.65%

 Subtotal, Personnel 

$50,137,199 $52,918,900 $55,180,785 $2,261,885 4.27%

21 Travel & transportation 

of persons 

122,577 92,000 298,500 206,500 224.46%

23.1 GSA Rent 

4,241,539 5,161,066 5,273,295 112,229 2.17%

23.3 Communications, 

Utilities & Postage 

389,455 435,978 540,000 104,022 23.86%

24 Printing & 

Reproduction 

127,841 125,693 156,940 31,247 24.86%

25.11 Training, Commercial 

Fed. & Tuition 

424,186 357,816 586,840 229,024 64.01%

25.14 IT Contracts 

9,006,903 7,095,838 7,095,838 0 0.00%

25.2 Contracts & Other 

Services

 

1,865,277 1,457,492 2,530,382 1,128,890 77.45%

25.3 Federal Goods & 

Services

 

2,174,004 1,566,424 2,317,900 751,476 47.97%

26 Supplies and Materials 

829,912 753,595 1,087,520 333,925 44.31%

31 Non-Capitalized and 

Capitalized Equipment

 

1,639,235 1,532,198 1,376,000 -156,198 -10.19%

Insurance Claims & 

Indemnities*

 

200,949 0

 Subtotal, Non-Personnel

$21,021,877 $18,578,100 

 $21,263,215 $2,741,115 14.75%

 TOTAL

$71,159,076 $71,497,000

 $76,500,000 $5,003,000 7.00%

* In FY 2020, FEC paid a judgment in the case Pursuing America’s Greatness v. FEC. 
15

2A.1: Description of Budget Increases and Decreases at Request Level

Program Increases and Decreases........................................................................$5,003,000 

Personnel Increases..................................................................................$2,261,885/13 FTE

FEC seeks an addition of $2.3 million above the FY 2021 enacted level to support salaries, 

awards and other personnel benefits. These funds would provide the agency with vitally 

needed flexibility to backfill critical vacancies and restore awards and training to levels 

consistent with historical experience. Importantly, FEC’s current plan is to reduce awards to 

approximately one-third of FY 2020 levels for FY 2021. The FY 2022 request for $650,000

would support restoring those levels and providing additional amounts to support the 

Administration’s awards initiatives. In total, this level would support 328 FTE. 

Non-Personnel Increases and Decreases .............................................................$2,741,115 

Thisincrease would provide funding for critical non- personnel areas to continue and maintain

FEC’s IT modernization efforts and other essential initiatives that were not funded in FY 

2021, including support for services purchased from other federal agencies and rent. 

Non-Capitalized and Capitalized Equipment......................................................-$156,198 

FEC is implementing hardware refreshes (for example, network equipment, routers and 

switches) and is looking for efficiencies enabled by its modernization efforts, such as reduced 

data center equipment costs. 

Printing and Reproduction.......................................................................................$31,247 

As the agency returns to normal operations, printing costs are projected to increase. 

Communications Utilities & Postage.......................................................................$104,022 

This represents increased costs associated with telephone and internet communicationsrelated contracts.

GSA Rent...................................................................................................................$112,229 

FEC’s increased rent costs are in a lease agreement and supplied by GSA.

Travel.........................................................................................................................$206,500 

The agency anticipates increased travel expenses as it resumes normal operations after the 

COVID-19 pandemic. 
16

Training.....................................................................................................................$229,024 

The agency reduced FY 2021 training levels in order to meet the FY 2021 enacted levels 

and would like to restore training to previous years’ levels. 

Supplies and Materials ............................................................................................$333,925 

This number reflects a normal return to agency operations after the pandemic.

Federal Goods and Services.....................................................................................$751,476

This increase is due to the increased costs of FEC’s Shared Service Providers (SSP), HR 

support and the Federal Protective Service.

Contracts & Other Services..................................................................................$1,128,890 

The additional funding for Contracts & Other Services would allow resumption of planned 

IT activities, including migration of legacy applications, and other key contracts. 
17

2B: Appropriations Language

The FEC proposes the following Appropriations Language for FY 2022. 

FEDERAL ELECTION

COMMISSION

Federal

Funds 

Salaries and

Expenses

For necessary expenses to carry out the provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, 

$76,500,000, of which not to exceed $5,000 shall be available for reception and 

representation expenses.
18

2C: Recommended Legislative Changes

On May 6, 2021, the Commission submitted legislative recommendations to Congress andthe 

Administration.9 Four of these recommendations represent bold proposals to streamline agency 

processes, including those for disclosing campaign finance data to the public, and ensure that the 

agency can operate more effectively and at a lower cost to taxpayers.

These initiatives require statutory changes to be enacted through legislation, and proposed statutory

language for each was approved by the Commission and provided to the Congress and the 

Administration.

Electronic Filing of Electioneering Communication Reports

Section: Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended (FECA) § 304(a)(11)(A)(i) 

(codified at 52 U.S.C. § 30104(a)(11)(A)(i))

Recommendation: Congress should require reports of electioneering communications to be filed 

electronically with the Commission, rather than on paper. 

Explanation: The Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2000,10 required the 

Commission to make electronic filing mandatory for political committees and other persons required 

to file with the Commission who, in a calendar year, have, or have reason to expect to have, total 

contributions or total expenditures exceeding a threshold amount set by the Commission (which is 

currently $50,000). In addition, many independent expenditure reports are already subject to 

mandatory electronic filing under section 304(a)(11)(A)(i) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 

1971, as amended (FECA).11 However, because electioneering communication reports are not filed 

by political committees, and because funds spent for electioneering communications are reported as 

“disbursements,” and not as “expenditures,” the mandatory electronic filing provisions do not apply 

to electioneering communication reports. 

Compared to data from paper reports, data from electronically filed reports is received, 

processed and disseminated more easily and efficiently, resulting in better use of resources. Reports 

that are filed electronically are normally available to the public, and may be downloaded, within 

minutes. In contrast, the time between the receipt of a report filed through the paper filing system 

and its initial appearance on the Commission’s web site is 48 hours. 

 

9 All of the FEC’s 2021 Legislative Recommendations are available here: https://www.fec.gov/resources/cmscontent/documents/legrec2021.pdf. 

10 Pub. L. No. 106-58, § 639, 113 Stat. 430, 476 (1999).

11 Pub. L. No. 92-225, 86 Stat. 3 (1972), as amended, codified at 52 U.S.C. § 30104(a)(11)(A)(i).
19

Electronic filings are not subject to delay due to post office processing or disruptions in the 

delivery of mail, such as those arising from health and security measures related to the COVID-19 

pandemic or the discovery of anthrax powder and ricin in mail. Because of these measures, the 

Commission’s receipt of mailed paper filings is delayed. In contrast, electronic filings are not subject 

to these delays. 

Only entities that report more than $50,000 of electioneering communications would be subject 

to mandatory electronic filing under the proposal. The current threshold selected by the Commission 

ensures that entities with limited financial resources can file reports on paper, which avoids the 

limited cost of internet access and a computer sufficient to file reports. 

Authority to Create Senior Executive Service Positions

Sections: 5 U.S.C. § 3132(a)(1) 

FECA § 306(f)(1) 

(codified at 52 U.S.C. § 30106(f)(1)) 

Recommendation: Congress should delete the exclusion of the Federal Election Commission from 

eligibility for the Senior Executive Service (SES) under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (as 

amended by the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1979).12 Additionally, Congress 

should revise section 306 of FECA, to delink the salaries of the Staff Director and the General 

Counsel from Level IV and Level V of the Executive Schedule. 

Explanation: The Commission believes that these statutory changes are needed to bring the 

Commission’s personnel structure in line with that of other comparable federal agencies. This would 

ensure that the Commission is better able to compete with other government agencies in recruiting 

and retaining key management personnel. 

Currently, the Commission is prohibited by law from creating Senior Executive Service 

positions within the agency.13 The Commission recommends that it be made eligible to create Senior 

Executive Service positions because: (1) the agency currently has several top management positions 

that the Commission believes would fully satisfy the criteria for SES positions set forth in 5 U.S.C. § 

3132 (e.g., directing the work of an organizational unit, monitoring progress toward organizational 

goals, etc.); and (2) the SES system would provide institutional benefits to the agency and agency 

employees. 

As a result of the current prohibition, the Commission’s senior managers (other than the Staff 

Director and the General Counsel) are employed in Senior Level positions. The current Senior Level 

 

12 See Pub. L. No. 96-187, § 203, 93 Stat. 1339, 1368 (1980), codified at 5 U.S.C. § 3132(a)(1)(C). 

13 5 U.S.C. § 3132(a)(1)(C). 
20

positions (the Chief Financial Officer, the Inspector General, the Deputy Inspector General, four 

Deputy Staff Directors, two Deputy General Counsels, and three Associate General Counsels) 

oversee major programmatic areas and supervise not only staff, but other managers as well. Although 

these twelve top management positions are designated as Senior Level, because supervisory and 

executive responsibilities occupy 100% of the time of the employees filling these positions, the 

positions would be more appropriately designated as SES.14 

The FEC’s expenses would not increase significantly if it were permitted to participate in the 

SES program. In 2008, legislation brought the salary ranges for Senior Level employees into parity 

with Senior Executive Service employees.15 Like SES employees, Senior Level employees may now 

carry over 720 hours of annual leave into the next year, rather than the previous Senior Level limit of 

240. Nonetheless, the SES system would provide institutional benefits to the Commission and its 

employees by enhancing the quality and quantity of the pool of persons available to fill vacancies 

that may arise.

SES candidates must go through a competitive selection process in order to enter a Candidate 

Development Program. Completion of a Candidate Development Program by candidates within the 

agency ensures that a cadre of SES-approved employees is available for selection and thereby assists 

in good succession planning. In addition, the SES system enables agencies to hire experienced and 

skilled leaders from a government-wide, not just intra-agency, pool with relative ease and with the 

assurance that all such employees have met the same standards of development and experience. For 

example, because SES-certified applicants from outside the agency will have met all of the Executive 

Core Qualifications, the Commission would be able to evaluate their applications with the assurance 

that fundamental competencies have already been developed. 

The current provision in FECA specifies that the Staff Director and General Counsel are to 

be paid at Level IV and Level V of the Executive Schedule, respectively. Both positions supervise 

personnel at the GS-15 and Senior Level pay scales, which often provide higher salaries than Levels 

IV and V of the Executive Schedule. The Staff Director and General Counsel have significant 

responsibilities and oversight duties with respect to both administrative and legal areas, as well as 

management over almost all agency personnel. According to recruiting specialists working with the 

Commission, the current limit makes attracting a strong pool of applicants to these positions more 

challenging. The appointment and retention of these key leaders have been identified as ongoing 

management and performance challenges to the Commission by the Inspector General in the eight 

most recent Agency Financial Reports covering 2014 through 2021 and in previous Performance and 

Accountability Reports. The General Counsel’s position is currently filled on an acting basis. 

 

14 In fact, OPM’s guidance on the Senior Level positions indicates that the Senior Level system is generally for 

positions in which supervisory duties occupy less than 25% of the employee’s time. See http://www.opm.gov/policydata-oversight/senior-executive-service/scientific-senior-level-positions/ (last visited May 6, 2021). OPM’s guidance 

does note, however, that “in a few agencies [such as the Federal Election Commission] that are statutorily exempt from 

inclusion in the Senior Executive Service (SES), executive positions are staffed with SL employees.”

15 See Senior Professional Performance Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-372, 122 Stat. 4043 (2008). 
21

The Commission proposes removing the statutory references to the Executive Schedule, so 

that the Staff Director and General Counsel would be compensated under the same schedule as the 

Commission’s other senior managers. This revision will remedy the current situation where the 

Commission’s top managers are compensated at a lower rate than many of their direct reports, and 

will ensure that the Commission can retain highly qualified individuals to serve in those positions as 

well as enable it to remain competitive in the marketplace for Federal executives when filing the 

current vacancy or when further vacancies arise. This change will not require an increase in the 

Commission’s appropriation request. 

Accordingly, the Commission believes that the positions of Staff Director and General 

Counsel, as well as the current Senior Level positions within the agency, would be more appropriately 

categorized as SES positions. Because salary ranges for Senior Executive Service employees and 

Senior Level employees are in parity, as discussed above, the foregoing amendments will affect the 

salary expenses for only two positions: the Staff Director and the General Counsel. 

Make the Administrative Fine Program for Reporting Violations Permanent

Section: FECA § 309(a)(4)(C)(v)

 (codified at 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(4)(C)(v)) 

Recommendation: Congress should make permanent the Commission’s authority to assess 

administrative fines for violations of the law requiring timely reporting of receipts and disbursements. 

The Commission’s current Administrative Fine Program only covers violations that relate to 

reporting periods through December 31, 2023. 

Explanation: On December 21, 2018, President Trump signed legislation that extended the 

Administrative Fine Program, which authorized the Commission to include in the Program certain 

violations of FECA that relate to reporting periods through December 31, 2023.16 Congress has acted 

six times to extend the Administrative Fine Program, extending the initial covered period from two 

years to cover 24 years.17 Instead of enacting a seventh temporary extension, Congress should act to 

make the program permanent. 

Through the Administrative Fine Program, the Commission has processed and made public 

3,482 cases, with more than $6.8 million in fines assessed during the period from implementation of 

the program in 2000 through the end of fiscal year 2020. The Administrative Fine Program has been 

 

16 See Pub. L. No. 115-386, 132 Stat. 5161 (2018). 

17 Pub. L. No. 107-67, §642, 115 Stat. 514, 555 (2001) (extending program through 2003 reports), Pub. L. 

No. 108-199, § 639, 118 Stat. 3, 359 (2004) (extending program through 2005 reports, leaving gap in coverage from 

January 1 to February 10, 2004); Pub. L. No. 109-155, § 721, 119 Stat. 2396, 2493-94 (2005) (extending program through 

2008 reports); Pub. L. No. 110-433, 122 Stat. 4971 (2008) (extending program through 2013 reports); Pub. L. No. 113-72, 

127 Stat. 1210 (2013) (extending program through 2018 reports); and Pub. L. No. 115-386, 132 Stat. 5161 (2018) 

(extending program through 2023 reports).
22

remarkably successful: over the course of the program, the number of late and nonfiled reports has 

dramatically decreased. For election cycles 1992 through 2000, an average of 21% of campaign 

finance reports were filed late. Since the inception of the Administrative Fine Program, the 

percentage of late reports has dropped to below 10%. As a result, the Administrative Fine Program 

has become an integral part of the Commission’s mission to administer and enforce the Act. With

fewer late reports and fewer challenges to administrative fines, the Commission has been able to 

reduce the number of employees who work on this program. By making the program permanent, 

Congress would ensure that the Commission would not lose one of the most cost-effective and 

successful programs in its history. 

Under the Administrative Fine Program, the Commission considers reports to be filed late if 

they are received after the due date, but within 30 days of that due date. Election-sensitive reports18

are considered late if they are filed after their due date, but at least five days before the election. 

Committees filing reports after these dates are considered nonfilers. Civil money penalties for late 

reports are determined by the amount of activity on the report, the number of days the report was late 

and any prior penalties for violations under the administrative fine regulations. Penalties for nonfiled 

reports are determined by the estimated amount of activity on the report and any prior violations. 

Committees have the option to challenge the Commission’s finding, proposed penalty or both, or they 

may pay the civil penalty assessed.

Increase and Index for Inflation Registration and Reporting Thresholds

Sections: FECA §§ 301, 304 and 315 

(codified at 52 U.S.C. §§ 30101, 30104 & 30116) 

Recommendation: Congress should increase and index for inflation certain registration and reporting 

thresholds in the Federal Election Campaign Act that have not been changed since the 1970s. 

Explanation: Most of the Federal Election Campaign Act’s contribution limits and registration and 

reporting thresholds were set in the 1970s. Because over twenty years of inflation had effectively 

reduced FECA’s contribution limits in real dollars, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 

increased most of the Act’s contribution limits to adjust for some of the effects of inflation. 

Furthermore, BCRA indexed these limits for inflation to address inflation in future. The Commission 

proposes extending this approach to registration and reporting thresholds, which have been 

effectively reduced by inflation since those thresholds were established in 1971 or 1979. 

Since 1971, FECA has provided that any group of persons that receives contributions or 

makes expenditures in excess of $1,000 in a calendar year must register and report as a political 

 

18 Election sensitive reports are those filed immediately before an election and include pre-primary, pre-special, pregeneral, October quarterly and October monthly reports.
23

committee.19 FECA also requires political committees to abide by the contribution limits and source 

prohibitions specified in FECA. Since 1979, FECA has provided that local political party 

organizations are also subject to a $1,000 threshold for federal political committee status.20 The 

Commission recommends that Congress increase these thresholds to $2,000, and then index those 

amounts for inflation to prevent erosion in the future. Raising this threshold would be particularly 

beneficial for local and Congressional district committees of political parties. These organizations 

frequently breach the $1,000 threshold. An increased threshold would permit limited spending on 

federal elections without triggering federal political committee status for local and Congressional 

district committees of political parties.

Since 1979, FECA has required persons (other than political committees) who make 

independent expenditures in excess of $250 in a calendar year to report such expenditures to the 

Commission.21 The Commission recommends that Congress increase this threshold to $500 and 

index this amount for inflation. 

Increasing these thresholds would take into account many years of inflation and the general 

increase in campaign cost and ease the compliance burdens on smaller organizations and individuals. 

Additionally, by increasing the thresholds, Congress would exempt some individuals and small 

organizations that engage in only minimal spending from the Act’s registration and reporting 

requirements. Increasing the registration and reporting thresholds to compensate for inflation would 

leave significant financial activity subject to regulation as intended by Congress when it enacted the 

FECA.

 

19 FECA § 301(4)(A) (codified at 52 U.S.C. § 30101(4)(A)). 

20 FECA § 301(4)(C) (codified at 52 U.S.C. § 30101(4)(C)). 

21 FECA § 304(c)(1) (codified at 52 U.S.C. § 30104(c)(1)). 
24

2D GAO Report: Campaign Finance: Federal Framework, Agency Roles and

Responsibilities, and Perspectives, GAO-20-66R (Feb. 2020) 

On February 3, 2020, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report entitled:

“Campaign Finance: Federal Framework, Agency Roles and Responsibilities, and Perspectives”

(GAO-20-66R). GAO’s report includes its recommendations that the FEC and the U.S. Department 

of Justice (DOJ) review and update guidance that addresses coordination between the two agencies 

regarding enforcement of federal campaign finance laws. GAO’s recommendations expressly

recognize that the FEC lacked a quorum in February 2020 andstated that the FEC should act “once

a quorum of commissioners is in place.”

The FEC regained the number of Commissioners necessary to constitute a quorum in December 

2020. Since then, in addition to prioritizing and completing a large volume of necessary and timesensitive work, including with respect to a backlog of enforcement matters, FEC and DOJ staff have 

had initial and substantive contact regarding updating the coordination guidance, as recommended 

by GAO, and expect those efforts to continue as time and resources permit.
25

Section 3: FY 2022 Annual Performance Plan and FY 2020 Annual Performance 

Report

3A: Introduction

This Annual Performance Plan and Report (APP/APR) is considered the companion to the Federal 

Election Commission’s Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2018-2022, and designed to provide a solid 

framework for performance planning and reporting in accordance with the requirements of the GPRA 

Modernization Act of 2010.

22 The FY 2022 Annual Performance Plan and FY 2020 Annual Performance 

Report are combined in this document to present accomplishments through FY 2020 and performance 

targets associated with FYs 2020, 2021 and 2022. 

This plan positions the agency to promote compliance and to engage and inform the public about campaign 

finance data and rules. In order to meet these challenges, the FEC must maintain a workforce that is highly 

qualified to achieve the agency’s mission effectively and efficiently. 

3A:1 Mission Statement

To protect the integrity of the Federal campaign finance process by providing transparency and fairly 

enforcing and administering Federal campaign finance laws.

 

22 The President’s Budget identifies the lower-priority program activities, where applicable, as required under the GPRA

Modernization Act, 31 U.S.C. 1115(b)(10). The public can access the volume at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget.
26

3B: Organizational Structure

The FEC is an independent regulatory agency responsible for administering, enforcing, defending and 

interpreting the Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act).

23 The Commission is also responsible for 

administering the federal public funding programs for Presidential campaigns. This responsibility includes 

certifying and auditing all participating candidates and committees and enforcing the public funding laws.

Under the Act, all federal political committees, including the committees of Presidential, Senate and House 

candidates, must file reports of receipts and disbursements. The FEC makes disclosure reports available 

to the public through the Commission’s Internet-based public disclosure system at www.fec.gov as well 

as through a public records office at the Commission’s Washington, D.C. headquarters. The FEC also has 

exclusive responsibility for civil enforcement of the Act, and has litigating authority independent of the 

Department of Justice in U.S. District Court and the Courts of Appeals. Additionally, the Commission 

promulgates regulations implementing the Act and issues advisory opinions responding to requests. 

To accomplish its legislative mandate, the FEC is directed by six Commissioners, who are appointed by 

the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. By law, no more than three Commissioners may

be members of the same political party. Each member serves a six-year term, and two seats are subject to 

appointment every two years. Commissioners may serve beyond their six-year terms until new 

Commissioners are confirmed. The Chairmanship of the Commission rotates among the members, with 

no member serving as Chair more than once during a six-year term. The Commissioners are responsible 

for administering and enforcing the Act and meet regularly to formulate policy and to vote on significant 

legal and administrative matters. The Act requires at least four votes for the Commission to approve certain 

official actions, thus requiring bipartisan decision-making. The FEC has its headquarters in Washington, 

D.C. and does not have any regional offices. 

The Federal Election Commission was without a quorum of four Commissioners for approximately 11 

months during FY 2020.24 The Act requires the affirmative vote of four Commissioners for many actions. 

For example, the Commission cannot defend itself in some litigation, reach decisions in enforcement 

actions, issue advisory opinions or engage in rulemakings without the affirmative votes of four 

Commissioners. However, while the Act requires an affirmative vote by four Commissioners to make 

decisions in many areas, staff continued to further the agency’s vital mission of administering the nation’s 

campaign finance laws. The requirements of the Act and Commission regulations remained in effect, and 

political committees and other filers were required to continue to disclose their campaign finance activity 

to the Commission on the regular schedule. FEC staff continued to help committees and the public 

understand and comply with the law, process and review committee reports, and provide public access to 

campaign finance data. While the Commission could not take action on many legal matters, staff continued 

 

23 The Commission’s primary responsibilities pertain to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, Pub. L. No. 92-225, 86 

Stat. 3 (1972) as amended (codified at 52 U.S.C. §§ 30101-30145) (formerly at 2 U.S.C. §§ 431-55) (the Act or the FECA).

The Commission’s responsibilities for the Federal public funding programs are contained in the Presidential Election 

Campaign Fund Act, Pub. L. No. 92-178, 85 Stat. 562 (1971) (codified at 26 U.S.C. §§ 9001-13) and the Presidential 

Primary Matching Payment Account Act, Pub. L. No. 93-443, 88 Stat. 1297 (1974) (codified at 26 U.S.C. §§ 9031-42). 24 The FEC began FY 2020 without a quorum. A quorum was briefly restored on June 5, 2020, when Commissioner James E. 

“Trey” Trainor, III, was sworn in. The FEC again began working without a quorum on July 3, 2020, with the departure of 

Commissioner Caroline C. Hunter. A quorum was restored in December 2020 when Shana M. Broussard, Sean J. Cooksey and 

Allen Dickerson were sworn in.
27

to litigate ongoing court cases, process new advisory opinion requests and enforcement complaints and 

responses, and investigate matters previously authorized by the Commission. 

In response to the pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, the Federal Election Commission closed its 

offices to visitors and directed all of its employees to telework as of Friday, March 13, 2020. A formal 

evacuation notice was issued the following week. Nevertheless, the FEC’s website, web-based programs 

and electronic filing systems have remained online, and staff access to phone and email has been 

uninterrupted. Most Commission operations were not interrupted by the transition to an exclusively 

teleworking agency. However, the Commission temporarily suspended its mail operations and ceased 

fingerprinting new employees. During the suspension of mail operations, the agency did not process any 

documents submitted on paper, including non-electronically filed reports, advisory opinion requests, 

enforcement complaints and court-case documents. Website notices directed those interested in those 

activities to use email and explained the delayed processing of mail. On Thursday, June 18, 2020, the FEC 

began the initial phase of its return to normal operations. During the initial phase of the FEC’s reopening, 

the agency’s offices remain closed to visitors, and most of its employees continue to telework. However, 

the FEC resumed processing mail, including any mail delivered since the agency suspended its mail 

operations in March 2020. Additionally, fingerprinting and onboarding new employees and contractors 

resumed.

Figure 1: FEC Organizational Chart 
28

As noted in Figure 1 above, the offices of the Staff Director, General Counsel, Chief Information Officer 

and Chief Financial Officer support the agency in accomplishing its mission. The Office of the Inspector 

General, established within the FEC in 1989 under the 1988 amendments to the Inspector General Act, is 

independent and reports both to the Commissioners and to Congress. The specific roles and 

responsibilities of each office are described in greater detail immediately below.

 Office of the Staff Director (OSD)

The Office of the Staff Director consists of four offices: 1) Management and Administration; 2) 

Compliance; 3) Communications; and 4) Equal Employment Opportunity. The Office of Management 

and Administration is responsible for the FEC’s strategic planning and performance and works with the 

Commission to ensure the agency’s mission is met efficiently. In addition, this office houses the Office of 

the Commission Secretary, the Office of Human Resources (OHR) and the Administrative Services 

Division (ASD). The primary responsibilities of the Office of Compliance are making campaign finance 

reports and data available to the public, review of campaign finance reports, assistance with compliance, 

audits, administrative fines and alternative dispute resolution. The Office of Communications includes 

divisions charged with drafting enforcement, policy and other Commission documents, as well as 

presidential candidates’ personal financial disclosure reports, available to the public, encouraging 

voluntary compliance with the Act through educational outreach and training, and ensuring effective 

communication with Congress, executive branch agencies, states, the media and researchers, and the 

general public. The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Office administers and ensures compliance 

with applicable laws, regulations, policies and guidance that prohibit discrimination in the federal 

workplace based on race, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, sex, pregnancy, genetic 

information or retaliation. The EEO Director reports to the Staff Director on administrative issues, but has 

direct reporting authority on all EEO matters. See 29 CFR 1614.102(b)(4). 

 Office of General Counsel (OGC)

The Office of General Counsel consists of five organizational units: (1) the Deputy General Counsel—

Administration; (2) the Deputy General Counsel—Law; (3) the Policy Division; (4) the Enforcement 

Division; and (5) the Litigation Division. The Deputy General Counsel—Administration directly 

supervises the Administrative Law Team, the Law Library and all OGC administrative functions. The 

Deputy General Counsel—Law has the primary responsibility for assisting the General Counsel in all of 

the substantive aspects of the General Counsel’s duties and shares in the management of all phases of 

OGC programs, as well as directly supervising the agency’s ethics program. The Policy Division drafts 

for Commission consideration advisory opinions and regulations interpreting the Federal campaign 

finance law and provides legal advice to the FEC’s compliance programs. The Enforcement Division 

recommends to the Commission appropriate action to take with respect to administrative complaints and 

apparent violations of the Act. Where authorized, the Enforcement Division investigates alleged violations 

and negotiates conciliation agreements, which may include civil penalties and other remedies. If an 

enforcement matter is not resolved during the administrative process, the Commission may authorize suit 

in district court, at which point the matter is transferred to the Litigation Division. The Litigation Division 

represents the Commission before the Federal district and appellate courts in all civil litigation involving 

campaign finance statutes. This Division assists the Department of Justice’s Office of the Solicitor General 

when the Commission’s FECA cases are before the Supreme Court.
29

 Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)

The Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) consists of four units: (1) Enterprise Architecture; 

(2) Operational Support; (3) Data Administration; and (4) IT Security. The OCIO provides secure, stable 

and robust technology solutions for Commission staff and the public. OCIO both develops and maintains 

the systems that serve as the public’s primary source of information about campaign finance data and law 

and ensures agency employees have a technology infrastructure that allows them to perform their day-today responsibilities administering and enforcing campaign finance law. OCIO also develops and supports 

analytic reporting tools that help staff perform their disclosure and compliance duties. 

 Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)

The Office of the Chief Financial Officer consists of three offices: (1) Budget; (2) Accounting; and (3) 

Procurement. The OCFO is responsible for complying with all financial management laws and standards, 

and all aspects of budget formulation, budget execution and procurement. 
30

3C: Performance Framework

3C:1 Strategic Goal

The strategic goal of the Federal Election Commission is to fairly, efficiently and effectively administer 

and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act, promote compliance and engage and inform the public 

about campaign finance data and rules, while maintaining a workforce that delivers results.

3C:2 Plans and Progress by Strategic Objective

The Act reflects a belief that democracy works best when voters can make informed decisions in the

political process—decisions based in part on knowing the sources of financial support for Federal 

candidates, political party committees and other political committees. As a result, the FEC’s first 

strategic objective is to inform the public about how Federal campaigns and committees are financed. 

Public confidence in the political process also depends on the knowledge that participants in Federal 

elections follow clear and well-defined rules and face consequences for non-compliance. Thus, the

FEC’s second strategic objective focuses on the Commission’s efforts to promote voluntary compliance 

through educational outreach and to enforce campaign finance laws effectively and fairly. The third 

strategic objective is to interpret the FECA and related statutes, providing timely guidance to the public

regarding the requirements of the law. The Commission also understands that organizational 

performance is driven by employee performance and that the agency cannot successfully achieve its 

mission without a high-performing workforce that understands expectations and delivers results. 

Consequently, the FEC’s fourth strategic objective is to foster a culture of high performance in order to 

ensure that the agency accomplishes its mission efficiently and effectively. The FEC’s strategies for 

reaching these objectives are outlined below.

3C:2.1 Strategic Objective 1: Engage and Inform the Public about Campaign Finance Data

Leaders: Assistant Staff Director for Reports Analysis Division; Assistant Staff Director for Public 

Disclosure and Media Relations Division 

The FEC protects the integrity of federal campaigns by providing transparency and fairly enforcing and 

administering Federal campaign finance laws. Full disclosure of the sources and amounts of campaign 

funds and fair enforcement of Federal campaign finance laws allow the public to make informed decisions 

in the political process. Transparency requires that information is not only maintained by the FEC, but 

also provided to the public in an easily accessible way. In order to make certain that campaign finance 

disclosure information is quickly available and easily accessible to the public, the agency has made a 

number of improvements to modernize its campaign finance disclosure database and public interface. 

Specifically, the FEC has developed application programming interfaces (APIs) and other tools to improve 

access to campaign finance data. The agency is also committed to providing excellent customer service to 

help the public find and understand campaign finance information. The FEC gauges its effectiveness 

through a series of indicators designed to measure performance in areas that promote confidence in the 

campaign finance process, as detailed in the charts below. 
31

Strategies and Next Steps 

The FEC’s eFiling system acts as the point of entry for submission of electronically filed campaign finance 

reports, providing faster access to reports and streamlining operations. This system provides for public 

disclosure of electronically filed reports, via the FEC website, within minutes of being filed. When a 

committee files a financial disclosure report on paper, the Commission ensures that a copy is available for 

public inspection within 48 hours of receipt, both electronically on the website and at the FEC’s offices 

in Washington, D.C. The FEC is committed to providing timely and transparent campaign finance 

disclosure to the public and delivering data in accessible and easy-to-use formats. 

During FYs 2021 and 2022, the FEC will continue work to upgrade the agency’s eFiling platform. In FY 

2017, the Commission published a study of its current eFiling platform, including a survey of the existing 

functionality of the FEC’s free filing software and an in-depth investigation of needs expressed by filers.25

The FEC will rely on the recommendations of this study to improve its eFiling platform to allow greater 

operating system flexibility for users when generating filings for submission to the Commission and 

increase the consistency and accuracy of reporting. The FEC’s new eFiling platform is expected to 

improve the process for validating filings prior to acceptance and generate modern file outputs that will 

provide for more flexibility in accessing data. 

The Commission is also improving and refining its website through iterative development, ensuring the 

FEC continues to provide an effective, user-centered online platform to deliver campaign finance 

information to its diverse base of users. This effort will ensure that the FEC provides full and meaningful 

campaign finance data and information in a manner that meets the public’s increasing expectations for 

data customization and ease of use.

Performance measures and targets for assessing progress on this Strategic Objective include measures to 

ensure that data from campaign finance reports are quickly made available to the public and that the FEC 

pursues programs to make data more accessible to the public.

Progress Update for FY 2020

The FEC continued its work to receive and make public campaign finance disclosure information. The 

FEC received 90,605 campaign finance disclosure documents filed during FY 2020 disclosing nearly 244 

million transactions. Reports filed electronically are made available on the FEC website, and may be 

downloaded by the public within minutes of submission. Reports filed on paper are scanned and made 

available on the FEC website within 48 hours of receipt. During FY 2020, the FEC ensured that 100 

percent of paper-filed reports were made available to the public within two business days and that 100 

percent of independent expenditure filings were made available to the public within one business day. 

After reports are imaged for disclosure purposes, the information is coded and entered into the FEC’s 

database for review to assess accuracy and ensure complete disclosure of campaign finance information. 

 

25 Available at https://fec.gov/about/reports-about-fec/agency-operations/e-filing-study-2016/.
32

The agency’s goal is to code and enter 95 percent of the reports within 30 days of receipt. In FY 2020 the 

agency processed 98 percent of reports within 30 days of receipt. 

The FEC had expected to begin the implementation phase of its modernized eFiling platform during FY 

2021. However, COVID-19 related delays in fingerprinting and onboarding new staff and contractors 

subsequently contributed to delays in the FEC’s efforts to complete the development phase of the eFiling 

platform during FY 2020. As a result, the FEC expects to begin partial implementation of the new eFiling 

system during FY 2021 and to complete implementation of the new eFiling platform during FY 2022. Full 

deployment to filers is expected for the 2023-2024 election cycle.
33

Performance Goal 1-1: Improve the public’s access to information about how 

campaign funds are raised and spent.

Key Indicator: Percent of reports processed within 30 days of receipt.

FY 2015

Actual

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Actual

FY 2018 

Actual

FY 2019 

Actual

FY 2020 

Target

FY 

2020 

Actual

FY 2021 

Target

FY 

2022 

Target

92% 100% 96% 100% 94%26 95% 98% 95% 95%

 

26 The agency’s ability to meet its target for this performance goal during FY 2019 was negatively impacted by the lapse in 

appropriations from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019.
34

Supporting Indicators 1-1:

Measure 

Name

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Actual

FY 2018 

Actual

FY 2019 

Actual

FY 2020 

Target

FY 2020 

Actual

FY 2021 

Target

FY 2022 

Target

Percent of 

reports and 

statements filed 

on paper with 

the FEC made 

available on the 

FEC website 

within two 

business days 

of receipt

91%27 99% 99% 99% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Percent of 24-

and 48-hour 

reports on 

independent 

expenditure 

spending filed 

on paper made 

available on the 

FEC website 

within one 

business day of 

receipt

100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Implement 

modernized 

eFiling system

N/A N/A Publishe

d study 

N/A 40% N/A N/A N/A Complet

e 

impleme

ntation

3C:2.2 Strategic Objective 2: Promote Compliance with the FECA and Related Statutes

Leaders: Deputy Staff Director/Chief Compliance Officer; General Counsel; Deputy General Counsel— 

Administration; Assistant Staff Director, Information Division 

Helping the public understand its obligations under the Act is an essential component of voluntary 

compliance. The FEC places a significant emphasis on encouraging compliance. The FEC measures its 

progress in meeting this Objective through two performance measures, discussed separately below. The 

first measures the agency’s efforts to encourage voluntary compliance through educational outreach and 

information and the second measures the FEC’s efforts to seek adherence to FECA requirements through 

fair, effective and timely enforcement and compliance programs. Progress against these measures and 

supporting indicators is detailed in the charts below.

 

27 During FY 2015, the Commission developed an automated process to measure this metric in order to provide a more accurate

assessment.
35

Strategies and Next Steps 

Encourage voluntary compliance with FECA requirements through educational outreach and information.

The FEC’s education and outreach programs provide information necessary for compliance with 

campaign finance law and give the public the context necessary to interpret the campaign finance data 

filers disclose. The FEC maintains a toll-free line and public email accounts to respond to inquiries 

regarding campaign finance data disclosed to the public and questions about how to comply with 

campaign finance law and its reporting requirements. The FEC’s Public Disclosure and Media Relations 

Division and Congressional Affairs Office also respond to inquiries. 

One way the Commission encourages voluntary compliance is by hosting conferences across the country, 

where Commissioners and staff explain how the Act applies to candidates, parties and political action 

committees. These conferences address recent changes in the law and focus on fundraising, methods of 

candidate support and reporting regulations. 

The FEC also devotes considerable resources to ensuring that staff can provide distance learning 

opportunities to the general public. The Commission’s website is one of the most important sources of 

instantly accessible information about the Act, Commission regulations, and Commission proceedings. In 

addition to viewing campaign finance data, anyone with Internet access can use the website to track 

Commission rulemakings, search advisory opinions, audits and closed enforcement matters, view 

campaign finance data, and find reporting dates. The Commission places a high emphasis on providing 

educational materials about campaign finance law and its requirements. Toward this end, the FEC has 

moved its focus away from the printing and manual distribution of its educational materials and instead 

looked for ways to leverage available technologies to create and disseminate dynamic and up-to-date 

educational materials through the website. While the Commission continues to make available printed 

copies of its educational brochures and publications, transitioning to primarily web-based media has 

allowed the agency to reduce significantly its printing and mailing costs and use of resources while at the 

same time encouraging new and expanded ways of communicating with the public via the website. 

As part of this broad effort to improve its Internet communications and better serve the educational needs 

of the public, the Commission maintains its own YouTube channel, which can be found at 

http://www.youtube.com/FECTube. The YouTube channel offers a variety of instructional videos and 

tutorials that enable users to obtain guidance tailored to their specific activities. 

The agency’s educational outreach program has been significantly enhanced with the addition of an online 

training service that enables political committees, reporters, students and other groups to schedule live, 

interactive online training sessions with FEC staff. This on-demand service allows the FEC to provide 

tailored, distance learning presentations and training to the public in a manner that will significantly 

increase the availability of FEC staff to serve the public. The service also offers an efficient and effective 

way for alternative dispute resolution and other enforcement respondents to satisfy the terms of their 

agreements with the agency.
36

Seek adherence to FECA requirements through fair, effective and timely enforcement and compliance 

programs. 

The FEC has formed strategies for ensuring that its enforcement and compliance programs are fair, 

effective and timely. The Commission’s statutory obligation is to administer, interpret and enforce the 

Federal Election Campaign Act, which serves the compelling governmental interest in deterring 

corruption and the appearance of corruption in financing elections. In doing so, the Commission remains 

mindful of the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech and association, and the practical 

implication of its actions on the political process.

The FEC has exclusive jurisdiction over civil enforcement of Federal campaign finance laws. It consults 

with the U.S. Department of Justice, as appropriate, on matters involving both civil and criminal 

enforcement of the Act. Commission enforcement actions, which are handled primarily by the Office of 

General Counsel (OGC), originate from a number of sources, including external complaints, referrals from 

other government agencies and matters generated by information ascertained by the Commission in the 

normal course of carrying out its supervisory responsibilities. Enforcement matters are handled by OGC 

pursuant to the requirements of the FECA. The workload of the Enforcement Division of the OGC has 

steadily increased over time from an average of 111 matters in FY 2010 to the approximate caseload of 

435 matters at the end of the second quarter, FY 2021. If the Commission cannot settle or conciliate a 

matter involving an alleged violation of the Act, the Commission may initiate civil litigation by filing and 

prosecuting a civil action in Federal district court to address the alleged violation. Closed enforcement 

matters are available via the FEC website.

To augment OGC’s traditional enforcement role, the Office of Compliance manages several programs 

that seek to remedy alleged violations of the Act and encourage voluntary compliance. These programs 

include: 1) the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, 2) the Administrative Fine Program and 3) the 

Audit Program. The Commission’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program is designed to resolve matters 

more swiftly by encouraging the settlement of less-complex enforcement matters with a streamlined 

process that focuses on remedial measures for candidates and political committees, such as training, 

internal audits and hiring compliance staff. Violations involving the late submission of, or failure to file, 

disclosure reports are subject to the Administrative Fine Program. This Program is administered by the 

Reports Analysis Division (RAD) and the Office of Administrative Review (OAR), which assess 

monetary penalties and handle challenges to the penalty assessments. The Audit Program conducts “for 

cause” audits under the FECA in those cases where political committees have failed to meet the threshold 

requirements for demonstrating substantial compliance with the Act, and conducts mandatory audits under 

the public funding statutes. Subject to limited redactions, threshold requirements approved by the 

Commission and used by RAD and the Audit Division are public. 

The Office of Compliance’s Reports Analysis Division (RAD) reviews an ever-increasing volume of 

reports to track compliance with the law and to ensure that the public record provides a full and accurate 

representation of reported campaign finance activity. If the FEC’s review identifies an apparent violation 

or raises questions about the information disclosed on a report, RAD sends a request for additional 

information (RFAI letter) to the filer, affording an opportunity to take remedial action or correct the public 

record, if necessary. If the filer is able to resolve the FEC’s concerns, it may avoid an enforcement action. 

If not, the Commission has several tools available to it, such as the Administrative Fine Program, Audit 

Program, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program and the traditional enforcement program. 
37

The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Program was implemented in FY 2001 with the primary 

objective of enhancing the agency’s overall effectiveness through more expeditious resolution of 

enforcement matters with fewer resources required to process complaints and internal referrals. A case is 

closed when the Commission votes on the recommendation made by the ADR Office as to what final 

action should be taken. 

In response to a legislative mandate, an Administrative Fine (AF) Program was implemented in July 2000 

to address late and non-filing of disclosure reports in a more efficient and effective manner. The AF 

Program is administered by RAD and Office of Administrative Review (OAR), which are within the 

Office of Compliance. 

The Commission generally conducts audits when a committee appears not to have met the threshold 

requirements for substantial compliance. The audit determines whether the committee complied with the 

limitations, prohibitions and disclosure requirements of the Act. In addition, the Commission is required 

by law to audit presidential campaigns that accept public funds. 

Progress Update for FY 2020

Encourage voluntary compliance with FECA requirements through educational outreach and information.

During FY 2020, the Commission continued to meet its mandate to assist the public by providing access 

to campaign finance compliance information. The Commission is deeply committed to providing 

candidates, committees and the public timely advice and support so they can fully understand and comply 

with the Act. The Commission also continues to strive to better understand and meet the needs of the 

public and other stakeholders. During FY 2020, the FEC produced a variety of instructional videos and 

web content, conducted online training workshops—including 19 fully-remote webinars while staff 

teleworked—and, prior to the pandemic, held comprehensive two-day conferences in San Diego, 

California and San Antonio, Texas. The FEC again exceeded its customer service target for conferences 

and webinars, achieving an average attendee satisfaction rating of 4.51 on a five-point scale. 

Seek adherence to FECA requirements through fair, effective and timely enforcement and compliance 

programs. 

Reports Analysis Division

During FY 2020, RAD continued to ensure that campaigns and political committees file timely and 

accurate disclosure reports that fully disclose their financial activities. During the fiscal year, RAD 

reviewed 89,521 documents totaling 73.5 million pages. RAD continued to demonstrate its commitment 

to assisting filers with compliance, handling 13,209 phone calls and meetings, 894 electronic mail 

inquiries, developing reporting examples for the FEC website, and participating in several FEC 

conferences, seminars and webinars during FY 2020. In addition, the Reports Processing Branch 

demonstrated its commitment to providing the public with timely data, coding 63.9 million transactions 

during FY 2020.
38

Office of General Counsel

OGC continues to seek improvement in meeting its obligations to the Commission and the public to handle 

its caseload efficiently and effectively despite staffing challenges. In FY 2020, the Commission closed 37 

enforcement cases in an average of 530 days, which included $70,200 in negotiated civil penalties. The 

Commission closed 23 cases (62 percent) within 15 months. 

Alternative Dispute Resolution Office

The ADRO continued to promote compliance with Federal campaign finance law and Commission 

regulations and to reduce the cost of processing complaints by encouraging settlements outside the 

agency’s normal enforcement track. During FY 2020, the Commission completed 39 ADR cases, which 

included $241,345 in negotiated civil penalties. The Commission’s performance measure for ADR is to 

circulate 75 percent of cases to the Commission within 140 days of a case being referred. Seventy percent 

of cases met the 140-day benchmark. During fiscal year 2020, ADRO circulated 100% of 

recommendations within that timeframe. 

Administrative Fine Program

The Administrative Fine Program continues to successfully reduce the number of late and non-filed 

reports and encourage campaign finance transparency through the timely filing of campaign finance 

reports. During FY 2020, RAD processed 166 reason-to-believe recommendations for Commission 

consideration. RAD processed 100 percent of these recommendations within 60 days of the original due 

date of the untimely or not filed report. OAR reviewed 8 challenges submitted by committees in response 

to a reason-to-believe finding and/or civil money penalty. OAR reviewed 100% percent of these 

challenges within 60 days of receipt. The average completion time for challenges was 46 days. Overall, 

OAR has reviewed 798 challenges submitted from the Program’s inception through FY 2020. 

Audit Division

The Audit Division continues to enforce the FECA through an audit process approved by the 

Commissioners each election cycle. Audit reports must be approved by a quorum of the Commission 

prior to public release. In the absence of a quorum for FY 2020, the Audit Division did not publicly 

release any Audit Reports. During FY 2020 there were two requests received under the Request for Legal 

Consideration by the Commission program established in 2011 to allow for challenges to preliminary 

audit findings, and one request for an Audit Hearing. 
 

 

Performance Goal 2-1: Encourage voluntary compliance with FECA requirements 

through educational outreach and information. 

Key Indicator: Educational outreach programs and events achieve targeted satisfaction 

rating on user surveys. 

FY 

2015 

Actual 

FY 

2016 

Actual 

FY 

2017 

Actual 

FY 

2018 

Actual 

FY 

2019 

Actual 

FY 2020 

Target 

FY 

2020 

Actual 

FY 2021 

Target 

FY 2022 

Target 

4.34 4.53 4.43 4.53 4.45 4.0 or 

higher on a

5.0 scale 

4.51 4.0 or 

higher on a

5.0 scale 

4.0 or 

higher on

a 5.0 scale 

Supporting Indicators 2-1: 

Measure FY FY FY FY FY 2019 FY 2020 FY FY 2021 FY 2022 

Name 2015 2016 2017 2018 Actual Target 2020 Target Target 

Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual 

Increase in the 1 new 4 new 6 new 3 new 9 new 4 new 2 new 4 new 4 new 

number of ELearning

presentations 

available on the 

training training 

s 

training 

s 

training 

s 

trainings trainings trainings trainin 

gs 

trainings 

FEC website 

Implement

correspondence

tracking tool 

for publicfacing offices 

N/A N/A N/A 100% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 

39
Key Indicator: Of the enforcement matters resolved during the fiscal year, the 

percentage that was resolved within 15 months of the date of receipt. 

FY 2016 

Actual 

FY 2017 

Actual 

FY 2018 

Actual 

FY 

2019 

Actual 

FY 2020 

Target 

FY 2020 

Actual 

FY 

2021 

Target 

FY 2022 

Target 

49% 38% 68% 62% 56% 50% 62% 50% 50%

Performance Goal 2-2: Seek adherence to FECA requirements through fair, 

effective and timely enforcement and compliance programs. 

40

FY 2015 

Actual 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting Indicators 2-2: 

Measure Name FY 

2015 

Actual 

FY 

2016 

Actual 

FY 

2017 

Actual 

FY 

2018 

Actual 

FY 2019 

Actual 

FY 2020 

Target 

FY 2020 

Actual 

FY 

2021 

Target 

FY 2022 

Target 

Percent of 

notifications 

provided within 

five days of

complaints filed 

with the FEC 

100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 

Percent of 

enforcement 

matters 

presented to the

Commission for 

initial review 

within one year

of the date of 

receipt 

93% 86% 86% 84% 82% 80% 81% 80% 80% 

Percent of 

RFAIs sent 

within 40 days

of report review 

92% 92% 88% 88% 88% 75% 86% 75% 75% 

Percent of 

reports

reviewed by 

RAD within 90 

days of receipt 

79% 93% 77% 92% 76% 75% 

92% 

75% 75% 

Percent of 

Proposed Final 

Audit Reports

(PFAR) 

approved by the 

Commission 

within two years 

from the start 

of fieldwork 

43% 56% 25% 45% 100% 65% N/A28 65% 65% 

Percent of 

Reviewing Officer 

Recommendations 

circulated within 

60 days 

97% 82% 97% 100% 97% 75% 100% 75% 75% 

41 

28 The Audit Division was unable to obtain approval for any audit reports during FY2020 because doing so requires the vote of the 

Commission, which lacked a quorum for approximately 11 months of the fiscal year. 
 

 

 

Percent of 

ADRO 

Recommendations 

circulated within 

140 days of 

referral 

90% 

97% 78% 74% 70%29 75% 

100% 

75% 75% 

3C:2.3 Strategic Objective 3: Interpret the FECA and Related Statutes 

Leader: General Counsel; Deputy General Counsel— Administration 

Commission initiatives, Congressional action, judicial decisions, petitions for rulemaking or other 

changes in campaign finance law may necessitate that the Commission update or adopt new regulations. 

Consequently, the FEC undertakes rulemakings either to write new Commission regulations or revise 

existing regulations. The Commission also provides guidance on how the Act applies to specific situations 

through the advisory opinion process and represents itself in most litigation before the Federal district and 

appellate courts. The Commission’s three primary means for providing interpretive guidance for the Act 

and related statutes are discussed below. 

Regulations 

The Policy Division of OGC drafts various rulemaking documents, including Notices of Proposed 

Rulemaking (NPRMs), for Commission consideration. NPRMs provide an opportunity for the public to 

review proposed regulations, submit written comments to the Commission and, when appropriate, testify 

at public hearings at the FEC. The Commission considers the comments and testimony and deliberates 

publicly regarding the adoption of the final regulations and the corresponding Explanations and 

Justifications, which provide the rationale and basis for the new or revised regulations. 

Advisory Opinions 

Advisory opinions (AO) are official Commission responses to questions regarding the application of 

Federal campaign finance law to specific factual situations. The Act generally requires the Commission 

to respond to AO requests within 60 days. For AO requests from candidates in the two months leading up 

to an election, the Act requires the Commission to respond within 20 days. On its own initiative, the 

Commission also makes available an expedited process for handling certain time-sensitive requests that 

are not otherwise entitled to expedited processing under the Act. The Commission strives to issue these 

advisory opinions in 30 days. 

Defending Challenges to the Act 

The Commission represents itself in most litigation before the Federal district and appellate courts and 

before the Supreme Court with respect to cases involving publicly financed presidential candidates. It also 

has primary responsibility for defending the Act and Commission regulations against court challenges. In 

addition, the Act authorizes the Commission to institute civil actions to enforce the Act. 

The agency’s ability to meet its target for this performance goal during FY 2019 was negatively impacted by the lapse in 

appropriations from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019. 

42 

29 
 

 

 

Strategies and Next Steps 

The Office of General Counsel continues to focus on its processes to ensure that staff provides timely and 

well-written advice to the Commission so that it can meet its obligations to administer and enforce 

campaign finance law. The Commission considers it a high priority to ensure that guidance is provided 

through the advisory opinion process within the timeframes established by the Act. OGC continues to 

ensure that court filings meet all deadlines and rules imposed by the courts and has set as a performance 

target meeting 100 percent of these deadlines and rules. 

Progress Update for FY 2020 

During FY 2020, the Commission met its goal to issue 100 percent of advisory opinions within the 

applicable 60- or 20-day statutory deadlines. During FY 2020, the Commission completed work on seven 

AO requests and issued three opinions in response to those requests.30 All seven AO requests that the 

Commission completed in FY 2020 were 60-day AORs (five of which received extended 

deadlines).31 These AOs addressed a variety of issues, including advertising by an online political forum, 

a political committee’s use of a candidate’s initials in its registered name, and a political committee’s 

deduction of fees from earmarked contributions. The average number of days from receipt of a complete 

AO request to Commission action on it was 270 days.32 The Commission also provided legal guidance 

within statutory and court-ordered deadlines 88 percent of the time. 

Performance Goal 3-1: Provide timely legal guidance to the public. 

Key Indicator: Percent of legal guidance provided within statutory and courtordered deadlines. 

FY 2015 

Actual 

FY 2016 

Actual 

FY 2017 

Actual 

FY 2018 

Actual 

FY 2019 

Actual 

FY 

2020 

Target 

FY 

2020 

Actual 

FY 

2021 

Target 

FY 2022 

Target 

100%33 100%34 100%35 100%36 100%37 100% 88%38 100% 100% 

30 One advisory opinion request was withdrawn. One advisory opinion request was dismissed as moot. And in two advisory 

opinion requests the Commission issued a closeout letter rather than an advisory opinion because the Commission lacked a 

quorum of four Commissioners to take action on the advisory opinion requests within 60 days and the requestors declined to 

grant an extension. 31 As noted above, requestors in two advisory opinion requests declined to grant an extension. 32 This number is significantly higher than usual because the Commission lacked a quorum to vote on advisory opinion requests for 

an extended period and requestors granted the Commission extensions until after it regained a quorum. 33 The Commission obtained extensions to consider two advisory opinion requests in FY 2015. The Commission did not have any 

rulemakings during FY 2015 with statutory or court-ordered deadlines. 34 The Commission obtained extensions to consider six advisory opinion requests in FY 2016. 35 The Commission obtained extensions to consider seven advisory opinion requests in FY 2017. 36 The Commission obtained an extension to consider one advisory opinion request in FY 2018. 37 The Commission obtained extensions to consider six advisory opinion requests in FY 2019; two of those extensions were 

lengthened by the partial Federal government shutdown during the first and second quarters of FY 2019. 38 This corrects the figure in the 2020 Agency Financial Report, which indicated that 100% of legal guidance was provided within 

statutory and court-ordered deadlines. The Agency Financial Report did not take into account one rulemaking that the 

43 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supporting Indicators 3-1: 

Measure 

Name 

FY 

2015 

Actual 

FY 

2016 

Actual 

FY 

2017 

Actual 

FY 2018 

Actual 

FY 2019 

Actual 

FY 2020 

Target 

FY 2020 

Actual 

FY 

2021 

Target 

FY 

2022 

Target 

Percent of 

advisory

opinions 

issued 

within 60-

day and 20-

day 

statutory

deadlines 

100%39 100%40 100%41 100%42 100%43 100% 100%44 100% 100% 

Percent of 

court filings

that meet all 

deadlines 

and rules 

imposed by

the courts 

100% 100% 98% 99% 97% 100% 98% 100% 100% 

Commission approved after the statutory deadline, due to the lack of a Commission quorum for most of FY 2020. The 

Commission approved the rulemaking—which adjusted for inflation civil monetary penalties—in July 2020, when a quorum was 

briefly restored. 39 The Commission obtained extensions to consider two advisory opinion requests in FY 2015. 40 The Commission obtained extensions to consider six advisory opinion requests in FY 2016. 41 The Commission obtained extensions to consider seven advisory opinion requests in FY 2017. 42 The Commission obtained an extension to consider one advisory opinion request in FY 2018. 43 The Commission obtained extensions to consider six advisory opinion requests in FY 2019; two of those extensions were 

lengthened by the partial Federal government shutdown during the first and second quarters of FY 2019. 44 Due to the lack of a quorum for most of FY 2020, the Commission sought extensions from all advisory opinion requestors. Two 

advisory opinion requestors declined to grant an extension and, once the deadline for responding to those requests expired, the 

Commission notified those requestors that it was unable to approve an advisory opinion by the required affirmative vote of four 

commissioners. 

44 
 

 

3C:2.4 Strategic Objective 4: Foster a Culture of High Performance 

Leaders: Deputy Staff Director for Management and Administration/Chief Human Capital Officer and 

Deputy Chief Information Officer, Enterprise Architecture 

One of the objectives from the FEC’s Strategic Plan, FY 2018-2022, Foster a Culture of High 

Performance, cuts across the organization and reflects the agency’s strategic priorities for improving the 

efficiency and effectiveness of its workforce and management processes. The FEC’s primary measure of 

success in developing and maintaining a result-driven workforce is at the program level: a workforce that 

delivers results will meet the internal performance targets set by the Commission. Supporting targets and 

results are detailed in the charts below. 

Strategies and Next Steps 

The Commission understands that the success of its programs depends upon the skills and commitment of 

its staff. The Commission is focused on ensuring that staff training needs are assessed and met at every 

level of the agency and that agency leaders receive training necessary to help manage and maintain a fully 

engaged and productive workforce. The FEC is also focused on decreasing the time to hire, improving the 

agency’s performance management systems and developing a supervisory and managerial training 

program for senior leaders, mid-career managers and first-time supervisors. 

The FEC is also implementing a multi-phase plan to reduce reliance on physical servers and migrate 

appropriate systems and data to a cloud environment. In conjunction with the redesign of the agency’s 

website, the FEC successfully migrated its largest database, the campaign finance database, to a cloud 

environment and shut down one physical data center during FY 2018. Cloud hosting offers a number of 

benefits for the FEC’s campaign finance database and website. The agency’s Internet traffic is variable, 

with many more visitors accessing the website during election years and near reporting deadlines. With a 

cloud-hosted application and database infrastructure, the FEC only needs to pay for the actual usage, rather 

than constantly maintaining the capacity to support peak usage, even during periods of reduced usage. 

Website downtime is minimized and server maintenance is managed by the cloud computing provider. 

The Commission’s records management program continues to make advancements, as described 

below. FYs 2021 and 2022 will bring continued focus on updating the agency’s records schedules in 

compliance with the Transition to Electronic Records Memorandum, updating the agency’s Records 

Management Program, and training all staff on the agency and government-wide records schedules, 

policies and responsibilities. 

Progress Update for FY 2020 

In accordance with the Transition to Electronic Records Memorandum, which superseded the Managing 

Government Records Presidential Directive as of June 28, 2019, the Commission has made important 

progress toward the Memorandum’s goal of managing all permanent records in an electronic format with 

appropriate metadata by 2022. In support of that goal, the Commission received approval from the 

Archivist of the United States for its National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Form 1005 

(NA-1005) Verification for Implementing GRS 6.1. This established the Commission’s agency-wide 

Email Management Policy via the Capstone approach. The Commission also received approval from the 

Archivist of the United States for its Commission Meeting Records Schedule. The Commission is seeking 

45 
 

approval of its January 2018 request, pending with NARA, to electronically maintain all records 

associated with the Office of Alternative Dispute Resolution’s case files, as NARA seeks to finalize and 

formally add to its regulations digitization standards applicable to paper records that are ultimately 

digitized. 

During FY 2020, the FEC partnered with the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) HR Solutions to 

improve the FEC’s staffing, classification and performance management processes. The FEC and HR 

Solutions continued implementing new standard operating procedures (SOPs) that streamline and better 

document the agency’s hiring procedures. With these procedures, hiring managers are more directly 

involved throughout the hiring process, are receiving high quality advice and are able to onboard new 

hires more quickly. The FEC also provided training to hiring managers and interview panels to ensure that 

the panel members understood and followed the new SOPs. During FY 2020, the average days to hire 

were affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The agency worked to implement ongoing guidance from 

OPM, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Occupational 

Safety and Health Administration to modify requirements for personnel security and suitability/fitness 

screening, wet signatures, onboarding, and equipment issuance while also implementing safety protocols. 

Despite the time lost, the agency slightly reduced average days to hire from 132 days in FY 2019 to 130 

days during FY 2020. In FY 2021 and 2022, the FEC will continue to focus on using the new SOPs to 

further streamline the hiring process and fill vacant positions faster. 

In addition, the FEC non-bargaining unit employees completed a full annual performance cycle using a 

new web-based performance management system during FY 2020. The FEC also worked with HR 

Solutions to develop a strategic plan for creating an agency-wide training program. The FEC continued to 

leverage the partnership with OPM to bring broad, high-quality supervisory trainings to the agency’s 

supervisors during the year. 

During FY 2020, the FEC conducted a study of its remaining legacy systems to develop a cloud migration 

plan for these legacy applications and systems. The cloud migration plan developed during FY 2020 will 

also include recommendations for migrating the FEC’s disaster recovery environment to a cloud 

environment. To realize the full value of this study, and to more quickly realize the cost and efficiency 

benefits of migrating applications and systems to a cloud environment, the FEC will begin implementation 

of the study’s recommendations in FY 2021. 

46 
 

 

Performance Goal 4-1: Foster a workforce that delivers results. 

Key Indicator: Commission-required quarterly updates meet targeted performance 

goals. 

FY 2015 

Actual 

FY 2016 

Actual 

FY 2017 

Actual 

FY 2018 

Actual 

FY 2019 

Actual 

FY 2020 

Target 

FY 

2020 

Actual 

FY 

2021 

Target 

FY 2022 

Target 

80% 76% 85% 73% 53%45 65% 73%46 65% 65% 

45 The agency’s ability to meet its target for this performance goal during FY 2019 was negatively impacted by the lapse in 

appropriations from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019. 46 The agency’s performance under this measure was negatively impacted by the lack of a quorum for most of FY 2020. 

47 
48

Supporting Indicators 4-1: 

Measure 

Name

FY 

2015

Actu

al

FY 

2016 

Actual

FY 

2017 

Actua

l

FY 

2018 

Actual

FY 2019 

Actual

FY 2020 

Target

FY 2020 

Actual

FY 2021 

Target

FY 

2022 

Target

Average 

number of 

days to hire

N/A N/A N/A 153 13247 80 days 130 

days48 

120 days 120 

days

Implement 

new 

performance 

management 

system 

N/A N/A N/A N/A 100% N/A N/A N/A N/A

Develop 

program for 

tiered 

supervisory 

training

N/A N/A N/A Baseline 

Supervisory 

Training 

provided

Baseline 

Supervisory 

Training 

provided

N/A N/A N/A N/A

Meet Records 

Management 

Presidential 

Directive 

milestones

N/A

49

60% 70% 73% 76% As 

specified 

in Presidential 

Directive

80% As 

specified in 

Presidential 

Directive

As 

specified 

in Presidential 

Directive

Reduce 

reliance on 

physical data 

centers

N/A N/A N/A 100% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Develop and 

implement 

Innovation 

Center

N/A N/A N/A N/A 100% N/A N/A N/A N/A

 

47 The agency’s ability to meet its target for this performance goal during FY 2019 was negatively impacted by the lapse in 

appropriations from December 22, 2018 to January 25, 2019. 48 The agency’s ability to meet its target for this performance goal during FY 2020 was negatively impacted by the coronavirus 

pandemic. 49 There were no Records Management Presidential Directive milestones for calendar year 2015.
49

3D: Implementation Factors

3D:1 Major Management Priorities, Challenges and Risks

The FEC identified in the agency’s FY 2018-2022 Strategic Plan a management objective, Foster a Culture 

of High Performance, that sets out strategies and measures designed to help the agency deliver greater 

impact through innovation, increase effectiveness and efficiency, and improve service. Detailed 

information about this Strategic Objective is available in section 3C:2.4, above. In addition, the 

Commission has identified management initiatives as strategic activities in the strategic plan to support 

its mission objectives where those activities are deemed crucial to the success of the objective. 

During FY 2020 the FEC partnered with the Office of Personnel Management’s HR Solutions to improve 

the FEC’s staffing, classification and performance management processes. Goals for the FEC’s human 

capital management processes are detailed in section 3C:2.4.

Each year the FEC’s Inspector General (IG) is required to provide a summary and assessment of the most 

serious management and performance challenges facing the FEC. In a memorandum dated October 23, 

2020, the IG identified five challenge facing management: governance and management framework:

1. Growth of campaign spending; 

2. Lack of quorum; 

3. Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; 

4. Lack of full-time support to Chief Information Officer (CIO) and General Counsel Positions; 

5. Cybersecurity.

The IG’s assessment and the FEC’s response are included in the FEC’s FY 2020 Agency Financial Report, 

available on the FEC website at https://www.fec.gov/resources/cmscontent/documents/FY_2020_Agency_Financial_Report.pdf.

3D:2 Data Validation and Verification

OMB Circular A-136, as revised, and the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 (GPRAMA) require each 

agency to describe the accuracy and reliability of the data used to measure progress toward its performance 

goals, including an identification of the means used to verify and validate the measured values and the

source for the data. Agencies are encouraged to determine the appropriate frequency of data validation 

and verification (V&V) needed for the intended use and should allocate appropriate resources to carry out 

validation and verification on an appropriately periodic basis.

Many of the FEC’s performance measures set goals for the timely completion of tasks that are either 

internally generated or triggered through requests, reports or complaints filed with the Commission. As a

result, the universe of data the FEC must collect and verify to support its performance information is 

generally small, centrally located and easily verified. The FEC tracks data to support its performance 

measures through its internal databases and with spreadsheets maintained by program managers. In cases 
50

where performance is measured based on the timeframe for completing a decision, matter or inquiry, the

universe of data to be measured and the dates on which performance milestones are reached are tracked 

electronically. Data provided by the agency’s litigation, policy, enforcement and compliance offices are 

reported at least quarterly to the Commission, which provides regular opportunities for the accuracy of 

the data to be verified. 

The FEC also tracks its performance in making campaign finance information available to the public. 

Reports filed with the FEC represent the largest universe of data the agency must consider in determining 

its performance. Campaign finance reports and statements filed electronically are made available on the

FEC website nearly instantaneously, and reports and statements filed on paper with the FEC are placed 

on the FEC website within 48-hours of receipt. In addition, FEC staff process the data contained in 

campaign finance reports so that the information can be accurately organized, categorized and searched 

in the agency’s databases. The FEC sets as a performance goal processing 95 percent of reports through 

its data and coding system within 30 days. The entry and completion dates for each report are retrievable 

through the FEC’s electronic systems. 

The FEC has completed a broad review of its methods for verifying and validating performance as part of

its overall assessment of its strategic and performance plans. The FEC has identified senior-level staff and 

key managers to serve as goal leaders for each area of the strategic and performance plans. In addition, 

each strategic activity in the Strategic Plan has been assigned one or more program managers, who are 

responsible for the delivery and performance reporting of that activity. These managers will be serving as 

measure managers and data quality leads to ensure the completeness, consistency and accuracy of the 

reported data of their respective strategic activity. 

3E: Conclusion

As described in this section, the FEC’s plans and strategies for FYs 2021 and 2022 are designed to ensure 

that the agency is well-prepared to provide full campaign finance transparency to the public despite the 

expected increase in campaign finance activity.

 
51

Office of the Inspector General’s Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Request

The Inspector General Reform Act (Pub. L. 110-409) was signed by the President on October 14, 2008. Section 

6(f)(1) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, 5 U.S.C. app., was amended to require certain specifications 

concerning Office of Inspector General (OIG) budget submissions each fiscal year.

Each Inspector General (IG) is required to transmit a budget request to the head of the establishment or designated 

Federal entity to which the IG reports specifying:

• the aggregate amount of funds requested for the operations of the OIG; 

• the portion of this amount requested for OIG training, including a certification from the IG that the amount 

requested satisfies all OIG training requirements for that fiscal year; and

• the portion of this amount necessary to support the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and 

Efficiency (CIGIE).

The head of each establishment or designated Federal entity, in transmitting a proposed budget to the President for 

approval, shall include:

• an aggregate request for the OIG;

• the portion of this aggregate request for OIG training;

• the portion of this aggregate request for support of the CIGIE; and 

• any comments of the affected IG with respect to the proposal.

The President shall include in each budget of the U.S. Government submitted to Congress: 

• a separate statement of the budget estimate submitted by each IG;

• the amount requested by the President for each OIG;

• the amount requested by the President for training of OIGs;

• the amount requested by the President for support of the CIGIE; and 

• any comments of the affected IG with respect to the proposal if the IG concludes that the budget submitted 

by the President would substantially inhibit the IG from performing the duties of the OIG. 

Following the requirements as specified above, the OIG of the Federal Election Commission submits the following 

information relating to the OIG’s requested budget for fiscal year 2022: 

• the aggregate budget request for the operations of the OIG is $1,962,277.

• the portion of this amount needed for OIG training is $41,590; and 

• the portion of this amount needed to support the CIGIE is an estimated $7,039. 

I, Christopher L. Skinner, certify as the IG of the Federal Election Commission that the amount I have requested 

for training satisfies all OIG training requirements for fiscal year 2022.
52 

OIG Summary of Outstanding FEC Audit Recommendations

The FEC OIG provides the table detailed herein for informational purposes only. It 

provides an update to FEC management as to the status of the total outstanding 

recommendations reported inthe OIG’s most recent semiannual report for the period 

ending March 31, 2021. Please note that the recommendations below have been open for

at least a year as of July 31, 2020. 

OIG Audits/Inspection

Total Outstanding

Recommendations

as of October 2020 

Total 

Closed

Total Open as of 

March 202150

2010 Follow-up Audit of Privacy

and Data Protection

9 years outstanding

9 0 9 

Inspection of the FEC’s Disaster

Recovery Plan and Continuity of 

Operations Plans

8 years outstanding

5 2 3 

Audit of the FEC’s Office of

Human Resources

8 years outstanding

2 1 1 

Audit of the FEC Telework

Programs

5 years outstanding

1 0 1 

2017 Required Review Under the

DATA Act

3 years outstanding

2 2 0 

Outstanding Recommendations from 

prior Annual Financial Statement 

Audits 

At least 1 year outstanding

5 2 3 

Total Outstanding Recommendations 1751

 

50 These numbers include recommendations that management has disagreed with or has not adequately 

implemented, and the OIG concludes that these recommendations are still open.

51 OIG notes that the total outstanding recommendations include open recommendations from prior financialstatement audits, which are 

normally not reported in the semiannual report. The total number of outstanding recommendations excluding financial statement audit

recommendations is 14.