FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

FISCAL YEAR 2018

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET JUSTIFICATION

May 23, 2017

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

Table of Contents

SUMMARY OF FY 2018 BUDGET JUSTIFICATION 2

MISSION STATEMENT 4

Section 1: Purpose and Priorities in FY 2018 5

1A: Commission Overview and Future Outlook 5

1B: FY 2018 Priorities 8

Section 2: Budget Overview 11

2A: OMB Budget Guidance Level 11

2A.1: Description of Budget Increases 12

2B: Appropriations Language 14

Section 3: FY 2018 Annual Performance Plan and FY 2016 Annual Performance Report 15

3A: Introduction 15

3A:1 Mission Statement 15

3B: Organizational Structure 16

3C: Performance Framework 19

3C:1 Strategic Goal 19

3C:2 Plans and Progress by Strategic Objective 19

3D: Implementation Factors 39

3D:1 Major Management Priorities, Challenges and Risks 39

3D:2 Data Validation and Verification 40

3E: Conclusion 41

Office of Inspector General’s Fiscal Year 2018 Budget Request 42
2

SUMMARY OF FY 2018 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 “Act”), as amended.1 As 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, the 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) 2018 Budget Submission, the FEC’s total requested funding level is 

$71.25 million, which is an increase of only $131,000 over the FEC's FY 2017 budget. Over the 

recent past, the FEC has increasingly focused on the Agency's efficiency, effectiveness and 

accountability. For example, the FEC has made a number of investments in various IT systems 

that have started to result in savings, and the agency anticipates future savings from previous 

investments as well as new investments that will result in further savings in the future. As a result 

of these efforts, and in order to limit this funding request to $71.25 million, this funding request 

represents a decrease from the projected 365 FTE funding requested for FY 2017 to funds for 345 

FTE in this request. Additionally, the requested amount for IT Contracts in this request is nearly 

nine percent less than the amount requested for the previous year, a reduction of more than 

$650,000. These savings in IT Contracts are the result of Agency staff’s efforts and commitment to 

reducing operational and maintenance expenses related to eliminating a legacy system and 

infrastructure. In total, the FEC’s funding request for FY 2018 is only a slight increase over its FY 

2017 budget; in fact, the requested increase is less than the amount needed to fund the mandatory 

1.9% salary increases for the 2018 calendar year.

Looking forward, the FEC has begun to consider its response to the President's Executive Order 

entitled Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch,

3 seeking to build on these 

improvements in efficiency, effectiveness and accountability. The Agency anticipates developing 

a plan that can achieve further savings.

FEC Budget Request

The FEC protects the integrity of the Federal campaign finance process by providing the public 

with accurate and accessible information about how candidates raise and spend funds to support 

their campaigns. In an average fiscal year, the FEC receives campaign finance reports, statements 

and other disclosure documents from more than 10,000 political committees and other filers. 

During FY 2016, these filers reported more than 83.4 million financial transactions, which were 

 1 Public Law 92-225, 86 Stat. 3 (1972) (codified at 52 U.S.C. §§ 30101-30145). 2 The Commission’s responsibilities for the Federal public funding programs are contained in the Presidential Election

Campaign Fund Act, Public Law 92-178, 85 Stat. 562 (1971) (codified at 26 U.S.C. §§ 9001-13) and the Presidential

Primary Matching Payment Account Act, Public Law 93-443, 88 Stat. 1297 (1974) (codified at 26 U.S.C. §§ 9031-42). 3 Exec. Order No. 13,781, 82 Fed. Reg. 13,959 (Mar.16, 2017). 
3

reviewed by FEC staff and disclosed to the public on the FEC’s website. The volume of financial 

transactions disclosed during FY 2016 represented a 200 percent increase over the number 

reported during the prior fiscal year, representing an escalation in the long-term trend toward an 

increasing volume of reported campaign finance data to be received, processed and disclosed by 

the Agency.

By providing the public with transparency regarding campaign financing and ensuring that 

campaign finance law is fairly and effectively enforced and administered, the Commission 

provides the public with crucial information. To support this mission, the FEC provides the public 

with campaign finance information and gives timely advice and support so that candidates, 

committees and the public can fully understand and comply with the requirements of campaign 

finance law. The Commission is committed to providing excellent service to the American people 

by offering timely and comprehensive access to reported campaign finance data and ensuring that 

information and data are provided in an intuitive and easy-to-use manner. In order to make certain 

that campaign finance disclosure data are quickly available and easily accessible to the public, and 

that the Commission provides legal and compliance information that is easy for a broad audience 

to search, understand and use, the Commission is undertaking multiyear efforts to modernize and 

redesign the Agency’s eFiling system and website, as well as the infrastructure that supports the 

FEC’s IT systems. The FEC’s FY 2018 request includes funds to continue these projects to 

increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the Agency’s service delivery to the public. These 

efforts will not only provide better and more accessible information to the public, but will also aid 

in the Agency’s FY 2018 priority to improve its cyber security posture. 

An appropriation for the FEC budgeted at $71.25 million for FY 2018 would permit the Agency to

carry out its mission and accomplish the priorities described herein during FY 2018.

FEC Lease Expiration Expenses

On September 30, 2017, the FEC’s current lease for its office space at 999 E Street, NW, 

Washington, D.C., will expire. The FEC has worked diligently with the General Services 

Administration (GSA) to plan for the Agency’s office space needs beyond the current lease and 

move to its new location at 1050 First Street, NE, Washington, D.C. Based on GSA and OMB 

guidance, the FEC requested appropriations of two year funds in FYs 2016 and 2017 to cover 

costs related to its lease expiration.
4

MISSION STATEMENT

To protect the integrity of the Federal campaign finance process by providing 

transparency and fairly enforcing and administering Federal campaign finance 

laws

Congress created the FEC to administer, enforce and formulate policy with respect to the FECA. 

The Act reflects Congress’s efforts to ensure that voters are fully informed of the sources of 

financial support for Federal candidates, political committees and others and to prevent corruption. 

Public confidence in the political process depends not only on laws and regulations to ensure 

transparency, but also on the knowledge that those who disregard the campaign finance laws will 

face consequences.

The primary objectives of the FEC are: (1) to engage and inform the public about campaign 

finance data; (2) to promote compliance with the FECA and related statutes; (3) to interpret the 

FECA and related statutes; and (4) to foster a culture of high performance.

Voluntary compliance with the requirements of FECA is a particular focus of the Commission’s 

efforts, and its educational outreach and enforcement programs are both designed to ensure 

compliance with the Act’s limits, prohibitions and disclosure provisions. Because of the large and 

rising number of political committees and the ever-growing number of financial disclosure reports 

filed with the FEC, voluntary compliance is essential to enforcing the requirements of the Act. 

Accordingly, the Commission devotes considerable resources to encouraging voluntary 

compliance through widespread dissemination of educational materials related to Federal 

campaign finance laws to the public, the press, political committees and State election officials.

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

and priorities in FY 2018. 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 2018.
5

Section 1: Purpose and Priorities in FY 2018

1A: Commission Overview and Future Outlook

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

and interpreting the 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. Each member serves a six-year statutory term, and two seats are subject to 

appointment every two years. Commissioners may continue to serve beyond their six-year terms 

until new Commissioners are confirmed. The Commission’s Chairmanship rotates for one-year 

terms among the members, with no member serving as Chairman more than once during a six-year 

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

administrative matters. The Act requires the affirmative vote of four members of the Commission 

to approve official actions, thus requiring bipartisan decision making.

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

disclosure reports all Federal candidates and Federal political committees must file, as required 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 the Act, 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 2014 through FY 2019, developed pursuant to the Government 

Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA)4 and the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010,5

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.

 4 Public Law 103-62, 107 Stat. 285 (1993) (codified at 31 U.S.C. § 1115 et seq.). 5 Public Law 111-352, 124 Stat. 3866 (2011) (codified at 31 U.S.C. §§ 1115-1124).
6

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. The Agency received 

two-year funds in FY 2016 and FY 2017 to cover expenses related to the expiration of the FEC’s 

office space lease. More than two-thirds of the Agency’s operational expenses are composed of 

personnel salary and benefits. Of the Agency’s remaining operational expenses, the largest 

categories are IT initiatives, including IT security initiatives, and facilities. These three 

requirements constitute over 90 percent of the Agency’s budget. Actual spending for FY 2016, 

which is shown in Figure 1 below, reflects the historical trend. The FEC expects the percentages in 

each category for its FY 2018 operational budget will be comparable to FY 2016. 

Figure 1 – FY 2016 Operational Obligations by Major Category

as of September 30, 2016

66.2% SALARIES 

and BENEFITS

FACILITIES 8.6%

OCIO 

INITIATIVES 

18.8%

OTHER 6.4% 
7

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 greater detail at http://www.fec.gov/about.shtml.

 6 Public Law 100-504, 102 Stat. 2515 (1988). 
8

1B: FY 2018 Priorities

The FEC priorities for FY 2018 are limited to those needs that will allow the Agency to fulfill its 

mission as required by law. Funding at the full amount of this request for operational expenses, 

$71.25 million, would permit the FEC to take measures to enhance the delivery of campaign 

finance data and legal resources. Full 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 cyber security and 

tools. These priorities will ensure that the Agency can make the best use of limited staff resources 

and continue to meet increasing public demand for its services. Continued usage of the additional 

$13 million two-year lease expiration funds, composed of $5 million in two-year funds received in 

FY 2016 and $8 million in two-year funds received in FY 2017, will pay for costs associated with 

the September 2017 expiration of the FEC’s lease. These are the FEC’s priorities for FY 2018, and 

they are discussed in more detail below.

Meeting the Public’s Information Needs while Improving Efficiency and IT Security

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 allow the public to make informed 

decisions in the political process. Transparency requires that information is not only kept by the 

FEC but also that it is provided to the public in a way that is intuitive to users and provides 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. The Commission is therefore committed to providing the public with robust access to 

campaign finance data, compliance information and legal resources. Funding at the full amount of 

this request, $71.25 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 in 

reporting their campaign finance activity to the FEC. During FY 2017 the FEC completed and 

published a study 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 The FEC seeks funds for FY 2018 to begin implementing improvements 

to its eFiling platform consistent with the study findings. Planned improvements to the 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 FEC’s recent study showed that 59 percent of electronic filers 

 7 Available at https://fec.gov/about/reports-about-fec/agency-operations/e-filing-study-2016/.
9

use the Agency’s software. Improvements to modernize this tool is an important priority for the 

Commission.

Funding at the full request level will also allow the FEC to continue work on a multi-year effort to 

redesign its website. In partnership with 18F, an organization within the General Services 

Administration (GSA), the FEC is developing an agile, navigable, user-based online platform to 

deliver campaign finance information to its diverse base of users. The FEC provides the public 

with a wealth of complex information, including current and historical campaign finance data, 

detailed information regarding the requirements of the campaign finance law and legal resources 

such as advisory opinions issued by the Commission and information on closed enforcement 

matters. The redesigned website provides open, intuitive ways for the public to access and utilize 

information such as campaign finance data, compliance tools and legal resources. 

In conjunction with the redesign of the Agency’s website, the FEC has begun the process of 

migrating appropriate data and systems, such as the campaign finance database, to a cloud 

environment. Cloud hosting offers a number of benefits for the FEC in particular. 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 work-day duties. With a cloud-hosted application and database infrastructure, the 

FEC will only need to pay for the 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.

In addition, the move to a cloud-hosted model provides the Commission with opportunities to 

retire a number of costly legacy systems and reduce the Agency’s data center footprint.8 The FEC 

anticipates that completing the migration of its campaign finance database and website will allow 

for the retirement of one physical datacenter. 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 our 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 allow the Agency to reduce the long-term costs of 

maintaining IT legacy systems. Funding at the level requested for FY 2018 will permit the 

Commission to continue the migration to cloud hosting with the goal of reducing costs associated 

with the Agency’s data center footprint and providing more responsive customer service.

The FEC is also committed to ensuring the security of its information, from protecting the integrity 

and accessibility of the database of campaign finance information made available to the public on 

the FEC website to protecting the Agency’s internal networks and data. In partnership with the 

Department Homeland Security (DHS), the FEC is currently undertaking a security architecture 

gap analysis (cyber.gov initiative) to determine vital steps to further strengthen its security 

perimeter. Funding requested for FY 2018 will allow the FEC to respond appropriately to the 

 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.
10

results of this gap analysis and enable the Commission to improve the capabilities for detecting, 

protecting against and responding to attacks on FEC networks.

Expenses Related to September 2017 Lease Expiration

The FEC currently maintains its headquarters in the heart of Washington, D.C. In FY 2018, the 

FEC is slated to move to 1050 First Street, NE, Washington, D.C. The Agency’s new lease is for 

15 years with a start date of October 1, 2017. As of May 2017, the Agency anticipates moving in 

the first calendar quarter of 2018. 
11

Section 2: Budget Overview

2A: OMB Budget Guidance Level

In this section, pursuant to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance, budget 

increases and decreases are identified, and the FY 2018 budget request is compared to the FY 2017 

appropriation. For FY 2018, the proposed operating budget is $131,000 more than the FY 2017 

operating budget. The increases and decreases shown below, which shift funding from NonPersonnel to Personnel, result from a hiring lag experienced by the Agency during FY 2017. The 

funding changes also reflect the 1.9% salary increase projected for 2018. The FEC continues to 

take steps to ensure the FEC staff is appropriately sized, as discussed below.

Table 1

Changes from FY 2017 Appropriation to FY 2018 Agency Request

Category Amount

FY 2017 President's Budget (Excludes Lease Expiration Expenses) $71,119,000 

 Personnel Changes

 Personnel Compensation and Benefits 2,081,104

 Personnel Changes Subtotal: $2,081,104 

Non-Personnel Changes

 Non Capitalized and Capitalized Equipment -713,111

 GSA Rent -582,459

 IT Contracts -654,534

 Non-Personnel Changes Subtotal: ($1,950,104)

Total Change: $131,000 

FY 2018 Budget Request 

71,250,000.00 
12

2A.1: Description of Budget Increases 

Program Increases and Decreases (excludes lease expiration expenses).....................$/+10 FTE 

Personnel Increases ..........................................................................................$2,081,104/+10 FTE

The funding would cover higher salary and retirement benefits. The FY 2018 Funding request 

takes into account full year funding for up to 345 FTE for FY 2018. While this level is an increase 

of 10 over the projected FTE for FY 2017, it also represents a decrease of 20 from the requested 

365 FTE for FY 2017. Total Funding at $71.250 million would allow the FEC to maintain the 

quality of services it delivers to the public and pursue the identified priorities in section 1. The 

FEC has long focused on ensuring that the Agency’s workforce is appropriately sized. The 

Agency lagged in filling approved vacancies in key positions in FY 2017. The Agency is 

projected to fill several priority positions for the full 2018 fiscal year in order to bring staffing to a 

level necessary to meet its mission. These positions have been identified as priority needs to meet 

the Agency’s mission requirements efficiently and effectively. The funding increase would also 

assist the FEC with recruiting and maintaining a mission driven, high-performing staff.

Non-Personnel Decreases (excludes lease expiration expenses) ............................... ($1,950,104)

GSA Rent.............................................................................................................................($582,459)

The $582,459 decrease in GSA rent is due to the Agency moving into new leased space. In FY 

2018, the FEC will begin a new office lease that represents a reduction in the total amount of space

occupied by the agency. This budget decrease also reflects one-time savings from favorable rent 

credits. 

IT Contracts ......................................................................................................................($654,534)

This decrease is due to the Agency realizing cost savings in its IT program resulting from 

efficiencies in servers and a reduction in the Agency’s overall data center footprint as the Agency 

migrates systems to a cloud-hosted environment.

Non Capitalized and Capitalized Equipment ....................................................................($713,111)

This decrease is related to the Agency realizing the efficiencies of the expenses associated with the 

website redesign. In partnership with GSA the FEC has developed an agile, navigable, usercentered online platform to deliver campaign finance information to its diverse base of users.

Status of Two-Year Funds

The Agency requested and was granted two-year funding for Lease Expiration expenses:

$5 million in FY 2016 and $8 million in FY 2017. Of the FY 2016 funds, $3.15 million is 

obligated with GSA in a Reimbursable Work Authorization and $1.43 million is obligated with a 

contractor to assist with project management and move coordination. As of May 15, 2017, none of 

the two year FY 17 funds were obligated.
13

Table 2 highlights the FY 2018 OMB Budget Request as compared to the FY 2017 Appropriation 

and the FY 2016 actual obligations. The FEC's FY 2018 Budget Request represents a $131,000 

increase, or less than 1 percent, over the amount the FEC received in the FY 2017 Appropriation. 

The $131,000 funding increase will assist with maintaining adequate staffing levels in order to 

accomplish our mission, The Agency is projected to fill several priority positions for the full 2018 

fiscal year. These positions have been identified as priority needs to meet the Agency’s mission 

requirements efficiently and effectively.

Table 2

FY 2018 Budget Request 

Object Class Data

Federal Election Commission *FY 2016 Actual **FY 2017 

Budget

FY 2018 Budget 

Request

change from 

FY 2017 to FY 

2018

% 

change 

from FY 

2017 to 

FY 2018

11 Personnel Compensation 35,070,250 35,494,695 37,104,545 1,609,850 4.54%

11.52 Cash Awards 410,574 - - 

12.1 Personnel benefits 10,790,096 11,030,596 11,466,105 435,509 3.95%

12.18 Transit Subsidy 394,818 380,000 415,745 35,745 9.41%

 Subtotal, Personnel $ 46,665,738 $ 46,905,291 $ 48,986,395 $ 2,081,104 4.44%

21 Travel & transportation of persons 310,515 374,765 374,765 0 0.00%

23.1 GSA Rent 6,058,864 5,923,879 5,341,420 -582,459 -9.83%

23.3 Communications, Utilities & Postage 486,891 469,259 469,259 0 0.00%

24 Printing & Reproduction 89,299 106,804 106,804 0 0.00%

25.11 Training, Commercial Fed. & Tuition 377,181 481,051 481,051 0 0.00%

25.14 IT Contracts 8,621,428 7,579,327 6,924,793 -654,534 -8.64%

25.2 Contracts & Other Services 983,553 1,239,570 1,239,570 0 0.00%

25.3 Federal Goods & Services 1,223,368 1,381,565 1,381,565 0 0.00%

26 Supplies and Materials 1,004,839 1,589,106 1,589,106 0 0.00%

31 Non-Capitalized and Capitalized 

Equipment 4,628,131 5,068,383 4,355,272 -713,111 -14.07%

 Subtotal, Non-Personnel $ 23,784,068 $ 24,213,709 $ 22,263,605 ($ 1,950,104) -8.05%

 TOTAL $ 70,449,806 $ 71,119,000 $ 71,250,000 $ 131,000 0.18%

Two-year Lease Expiration Funds $ 5,000,000 $ 8,000,000 $ -

*FY 2016 Actual does not include $5.0 million lease expiration expenses. 

**FY 2017 Budget does not include $8.0 million lease expiration expenses.
14

2B: Appropriations Language

The FEC is including the following Appropriations Language.

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

Federal Funds

Salaries and Expenses

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

$71,250,000, of which not to exceed $5,000 shall be available for reception and representation 

expenses.
15

Section 3: FY 2018 Annual Performance Plan and FY 2016 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) 2014-2019, and designed to provide a 

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

the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010. The FY 2018 Annual Performance Plan and FY 2016 

Annual Performance Report are combined in this document to present accomplishments through 

FY 2016 and performance targets associated with FYs 2016, 2017 and 2018. 

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. 

Therefore, this plan also addresses activities that include recruiting and retaining a diverse and 

high-performing workforce, updating Agency-wide policies and procedures, and updating the 

records management program.

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.
16

3B: Organizational Structure

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

and interpreting the Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act).

9 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 inquiries.

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. The Chairmanship of the Commission 

rotates among the members, with no member serving as Chair more than once during his or her 

term. The Commissioners are responsible for administering and enforcing the Act and regulations 

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 official actions, thus requiring 

bipartisan decision-making. The FEC has its headquarters in Washington, D.C. and does not have 

any regional offices.

 9 The Commission’s primary responsibilities pertain to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, Public Law 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, Public Law 92-178, 85 Stat. 562 (1971) (codified at 26 U.S.C. §§ 9001-13) and the

Presidential Primary Matching Payment Account Act, Public Law 93-443, 88 Stat. 1297 (1974) (codified at 26

U.S.C. §§ 9031-42).
17

Figure 1: FEC Organizational Chart

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 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 making enforcement, policy and 
18

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, the media and researchers, and the general public. The Equal Employment 

Opportunity 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 Officer 

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 Division; (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 

supervises 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.

 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-to-day 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 is responsible for complying with all financial 

management laws and standards, and all aspects of budget formulation, budget execution and 

procurement.
19

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

Leader: Assistant Staff Director for Reports Analysis 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 kept 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 ensuring that FEC staff has the tools and knowledge to help 

the public find and understand campaign finance information relevant. 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. 
20

Strategies and Next Steps 

The FEC’s e-filing 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. During 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.10 Based on the recommendations revealed 

through this study, the FEC plans 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 also 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.

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.11 The FEC is committed to providing timely and 

transparent campaign finance disclosure to the public and delivering data in accessible and easy-touse formats. The FEC has implemented an automated data capture process to convert paper-filed 

reports into structured, machine-readable data. Automating the data capture process decreases data 

processing time and increases the timeliness in making data available to the public. In addition, the 

Agency is undertaking a long-term project to convert all remaining microfilm reels of financial 

reports to images, making this historical campaign finance data easily accessible to the public.

The Commission is also completing the redesign of its website. In partnership with 18F, a data 

services delivery team within the General Services Administration (GSA), the FEC is developing a 

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.

The level of availability and accessibility of campaign finance data serves as a measurement of 

success in improving the public’s access to information about how campaign funds are raised and 

spent. Additional performance measures for assessing progress on this Strategic Objective include 

measures to ensure that data from campaign finance reports are quickly made available to the 

public on the FEC website and that staff has the tools and knowledge to provide excellent service 

to the public. 

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

11 The Commission’s mandatory electronic filing (“e-filing”) rules require any committee that receives contributions or 

makes expenditures in excess of $50,000 in a calendar year, or that has reason to expect to do so, to submit its reports 

electronically. Under the Act, these mandatory e-filing provisions apply to any political committee or other person 

required to file reports, statements or designations with the FEC, except for Senate candidate committees (and certain 

other persons who support Senate candidates only).
21

Progress Update for FY 2016

The FEC’s first publicly available offering as a result of its website redesign project was a 

campaign finance application programming interface (API) that provides disclosure data in a 

structured, machine readable format. The API allows for new features and visualizations to be 

quickly developed based on existing data, either by the FEC or any outside group. The FEC 

released its campaign finance API to the public on July 8, 2015. The campaign finance API 

received 12.6 million hits during FY2016.

Creation of the campaign finance API and infrastructure improvements to the FEC’s systems have 

allowed for the development of a new campaign finance search system on the newly redesigned 

FEC website. The Campaign finance data section, available at www.fec.gov, offers a suite of new 

features, including:

• interactive data visualizations that offer “election-at-a-glance” information;

• highest total fundraising and spending charts;

• features that allow users to toggle between raw and processed data;

• individual maps that show the sources of contributions by state for each committee;

• ability to sort contributions by size, committee, employer and occupation;

• capacity to sort and filter by purpose of disbursement and recipient (including by vendor);

• election pages that allow users to compare candidates within a single race according to the 

size of their contributions and the states from which those contributions were raised; and 

• a zip code search function that will allow users to easily find their Congressional district 

and identify all candidates in a particular race.

The new website additionally provides improved navigation, plain language compliance 

information and integrated search systems for legal resources, all in a mobile friendly format.

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

information. The FEC received 76,525 campaign finance disclosure documents filed during FY 

2016 disclosing more than 83.4 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 2016, the FEC ensured that 99 percent of paper filed reports were made 

available to the public within two business days, just shy of its goal of 100 percent, but met its goal 

of ensuring 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. The Agency’s goal is to code and enter 95 percent of the reports within 30 days of 

receipt and while the FEC has been challenged to meet this goal in recent years, in FY 2016 the 

Agency exceeded its goal processing 100 percent of reports within 30 days of receipt. 

One significant factor contributing to the Agency’s workload in processing and coding reports is 

the increasing volume of transactions reported in Senate campaign finance disclosure reports. 

While most filing entities submit their reports electronically, the FECA still requires Senate 

campaign finance disclosure reports to be filed with the Secretary of the Senate, which only 
22

accepts paper filed reports. A Senate campaign filing often consists of thousands of pages, and data 

from these filings consume a disproportionate amount of time to be integrated into the 

Commission’s searchable databases. After these reports are received by the Secretary of the 

Senate, that office must scan the reports and then deliver them electronically to the FEC. Once the 

FEC receives a paper report from the Secretary of the Senate, an additional 48 hours can be 

required to place the report on the Commission’s website, and additional time is required to enter 

the transaction-level data into the database for public consumption. The increasing volume of these 

reports can delay scanning and delivery to the FEC, and ultimately integration into the FEC’s 

searchable online database. 

House candidates have been subject to mandatory electronic filing regulations since 2000, ensuring 

that these candidates’ reports are integrated into the database within a few days of filing. If Senate

reports were electronically filed, disclosure will be similarly improved. In addition, the 

Commission estimates that mandatory electronic filing for Senate reports will yield savings of at 

least $876,000 per year in costs directly attributable to the current paper filing system at the FEC, 

with additional savings at the Secretary of the Senate. Since 2000, the Commission has 

unanimously recommended to Congress a legislative change to apply mandatory electronic filing 

rules to Senate reports. 

In order to address the difficulty in coding and entering transaction-level data from paper-filed 

reports and to make the data available to the public sooner, the FEC implemented an automated 

data capture process to convert paper-filed reports into structured, machine-readable data during 

FY 2016.
23

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

campaign funds are raised and spent.

Key Indicator: Enhanced availability of campaign finance data as measured by 

increased capabilities to retrieve and analyze data.

FY 2011 

Actual

FY 2012 

Actual

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Target

FY 2018 

Target

N/A N/A N/A 75% 86% 75% 81% 75% 75%
24

Supporting Indicators 1-1:

Measure Name FY 2011 

Actual

FY 2012 

Actual

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Target

FY 2018 

Target

Percent of 

reports and 

statements filed 

on paper with 

the FEC made 

available on the 

FEC website 

within two 

business days of 

receipt

100% 100% 100% 100% 91%12 100% 99% 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

N/A N/A N/A 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

Percent of 

reports 

processed within 

30 days of 

receipt

71% 94% 88% 79% 92% 95% 100% 95% 95%

Script staff 

responses to 

common 

disclosure 

inquiries for staff 

reference

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Complete 

by FY 

2016

100% N/A N/A

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

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

Deputy General Counsel—Law 

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 

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

assessment.
25

against these measures and supporting indicators is detailed in the charts below.

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 also operates Press and Congressional 

Affairs offices.

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 an E-Learning section on its Educational Outreach 

web page and its own YouTube channel, which can be found at http://www.youtube.com/FECTube. 

The E-Learning page offers instructional videos and tutorials, as well as interactive presentations that 

enable users to obtain guidance tailored to their specific activities. The curriculum currently includes a 

variety of presentations about the Commission and campaign finance law. 

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

online training service that enables political committees 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.
26

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. 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 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, audits, the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program and the traditional 

enforcement program.
27

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

objective to enhance 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 Federal Election Campaign Act. In 

addition, the Commission is required by law to audit Presidential campaigns and that accept public 

funds. 

Progress Update for FY 2016

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

During FY 2016, the Commission continued to meet its mandate to assist the public by providing 

access to campaign finance 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.

In keeping with the Agency’s commitment to providing excellent service to the public, the 

Commission met a significant performance milestone during FY 2016: the completion of an internal 

tool to help improve the service provided by staff members who give daily guidance to the public and 

the press. In order to better guide the public through the FEC’s vast quantity of campaign finance 

information and promote voluntary compliance with the campaign finance law, the Commission has 

created a web-based knowledge management tool for internal staff use. Like many Federal agencies, 

the FEC faces challenges in preserving staff knowledge lost through turnover and attrition, as well as 

finding meaningful ways to share this information with staff to achieve the Agency’s mission 

efficiently and effectively. This knowledge management tool captures and organizes staff knowledge 

in a way that is accessible and useful and will enable FEC staff to provide the public with quick, 

comprehensive and consistent responses. 

In addition, during FY 2016 the Agency launched an initiative to create an internal correspondence 

tracking system to help ensure FEC staff provide timely and consistent answers to inquiries from the 

public and to streamline the response process. This system, which will first be implemented to provide 

filers with the ability to identify and contact their Campaign Finance Analyst electronically through a 

web portal on the Agency’s website, will be expanded throughout FY 2017 to provide correspondence 

tracking for other divisions. 

During FY 2016 the FEC’s Information Division conducted a public survey of the Agency’s outreach 
28

efforts, which revealed overall satisfaction with the Agency's outreach efforts. More than 90 percent 

of callers to the toll-free line found staff responses helpful, and more than 65 percent rated them very 

helpful. Similarly, nearly 85 percent of survey respondents felt that information in the FEC's Record 

newsletter and Campaign Guides was clear. 

Not surprisingly, the survey results showed that customers prefer to access materials online. For 

example, more than 95 percent of survey respondents said they read FEC Campaign Guides online (on 

a computer, smart phone or tablet), while just 36 percent reported using a printed copy. The preference 

for webinars over in-person training workshops was also significant, but somewhat less pronounced. 

For instance, 45 percent of respondents said they would likely sign up for a 90-minute FEC webinar, 

while 22 percent would likely attend a 90-minute workshop at the Agency's headquarters.

Based in part on the information gained from this survey, the Agency has begun work to make its 

online materials more accessible to the public. The FEC’s redesigned, mobile friendly web interface 

will provide quick, intuitive access to educational and compliance information from any device. The 

first offerings of this new interface will become available on the FEC’s website in May 2017.

Additionally, consistent with the survey findings, the Commission now offers primarily web-based 

educational workshops, including an annual series of day-long webinars for each type of committee. 

Those seeking in-person training may attend two-day regional conferences that offer an opportunity to 

interact directly with Commissioners and Agency staff. In FY 2016, the FEC hosted regional 

conferences in San Diego, California, and Orlando, Florida.

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

programs.

Reports Analysis Division

During FY 2016, 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 72,087 documents totaling 21.4 million pages. RAD continued to demonstrate its 

commitment to assisting filers with compliance, handling 12,362 phone calls and meetings, 

developing YouTube reporting tutorials and participating in several FEC conferences, seminars and 

webinars during FY 2016. In addition, the Reports Processing Branch demonstrated its commitment to 

providing the public with timely data, coding 19.3 million transactions during FY 2016.

Office of General Counsel

OGC continues to meet its obligations to the Commission and the public to handle its caseload 

efficiently and effectively despite staffing challenges. In FY 2016, the Commission closed 148 

enforcement cases in an average of 22.2 months, which included $595,425 in negotiated civil 

penalties. The Commission closed 56 cases (38 percent) within 15 months.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

The ADR program continued to promote compliance with Federal campaign finance law and 

Commission regulations and to reduce the cost of processing complaints. During FY 2016, the 
29

Commission completed 38 ADR cases, which included $58,800 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. Ninety-seven percent of cases met the 140-day benchmark. 

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 2016, RAD processed 83 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 11 challenges submitted by committees in 

response to a reason-to-believe finding and/or civil money penalty. OAR reviewed 82 percent of these 

challenges within 60 days of receipt. The average completion time for challenges was 58 days. 

Overall, OAR has reviewed 715 challenges submitted from the Program’s inception through FY 2016. 

Audit Division

The Audit Division continues to enforce the FECA through an audit process approved by the 

Commissioners each cycle. During FY 2016, the Audit Division publicly released nine Audit Reports 

of which five, or 56 percent, were completed within the two-year performance goal period. During 

FY 2016 there were no challenges to preliminary audit findings under the Request for Legal 

Consideration by the Commission program established in 2011, nor were there any Audit Hearings 

requested. 
30

Performance Goal 2-1: Encourage voluntary compliance with FECA requirements 

through educational outreach and information.

Key Indicator: Percent of educational outreach programs (webinars, seminars, 

publications and E-Learning presentations) and events that achieve targeted 

satisfaction rating on user surveys.

FY 2011 

Actual

FY 2012 

Actual 

FY 2013 

Actual 

FY 2014 

Actual 

FY 2015 

Actual 

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Target

FY 2018 

Target

N/A N/A N/A Develop 

methods for 

surveying user 

satisfaction 

with webinars, 

publications 

and ELearning 

presentations.

4.34 4.0 or 

higher on 

a 5.0 

scale

4.53 4.0 or 

higher on 

a 5.0 

scale

4.0 or 

higher 

on a 5.0 

scale

Supporting Indicators 2-1:

Measure Name FY 2011 

Actual

FY 2012 

Actual

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Target

FY 2018 

Target

Increase in the 

number of ELearning 

presentations and 

webinars

available on the 

FEC website

N/A N/A N/A 13 new 

trainings

1 new 

trainings

4 new 

trainings

11 new 

trainings

4 new 

trainings

4 new 

trainings

Script staff 

responses to 

common 

questions for 

staff reference

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Complete 

by FY 

2016

100% N/A N/A
31

Performance Goal 2-2: Seek adherence to FECA requirements through fair, 

effective and timely enforcement and compliance programs.

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 2011 

Actual

FY 2012 

Actual

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Target

FY 2018 

Target

89% 70% 72% 28% 49% 75% 38% 75% 75%
32

Supporting Indicators 2-2:

Measure Name FY 2011 

Actual

FY 2012 

Actual

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Target

FY 2018 

Target

Percent of 

enforcement 

matters resolved 

through 

conciliation13

N/A N/A N/A 12% 16% N/A 19% N/A N/A

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

N/A N/A N/A 73% 93% 80% 86% 80% 80%

Percent of RFAIs 

sent within 40 

days of report 

review

76% 63% 72% 84% 92% 75% 92% 75% 75%

Percent of reports 

reviewed by RAD 

within 90 days of 

receipt

76% 87% 73% 85% 79% 75% 93% 75% 75%

Percent of 

Proposed Final 

Audit Reports

(PFAR) approved 

by the 

Commission 

within two years 

from the start of 

fieldwork

64% 68% 38% 93% 43% 60% 56% 60% 60%

Percent of 

Reviewing Officer 

Recommendations

circulated within 

60 days

77% 90% 93% 100% 97% 75% 82% 75% 75%

Percent of 

ADRO 

Recommendations

circulated within 

140 days of 

referral

N/A N/A 91% 72% 90% 75% 97% 75% 75%

 13 This measure is intended to provide context for the Commission’s activities in resolving enforcement matters during the year,

and the Commission does not intend to set a target for the number of enforcement matters resolved through conciliation.
33

Create an 

interdisciplinary 

quality control 

board

N/A N/A N/A 100% N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Summarize 

common 

violations and 

make this 

information 

available to the 

public

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Complete 

by FY 

2016

100% N/A N/A

3C:2.3 Strategic Objective 3: Interpret the FECA and Related Statutes

Leader: Deputy General Counsel—Administration; Deputy General Counsel—Law

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 courts and the courts of appeals. 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 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 courts and courts of 

appeals 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. 
34

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.

The Commission also continues to ensure that reporting forms are timely revised, when necessary, to 

facilitate the public’s compliance with regulations. The Commission must accurately and clearly 

explain what is required to be reported under the law, thus allowing filers to completely and correctly 

report their activity.

Progress Update for FY 2016

During FY 2016, the Commission met its goal to provide 100 percent of legal guidance within 

statutory and court-ordered deadlines. The Commission also met a separate goal to issue 100 percent 

of advisory opinions within the applicable 60- or 20-day statutory deadlines. During FY 2016, the 

Commission completed work on 18 AO requests and issued 15 opinions in response to those requests. 

Of the 18 AO requests that the Commission completed in FY 2016, 17 were 60-day AOs (six of which 

received extended deadlines) and one was a 20-day AO. These AOs addressed issues such as 

contribution limits for rescheduled elections; state party committee status; and affiliation of separate 

segregated funds. The average number of days from receipt of a complete AO request to Commission 

action on it was 48 days for 60-day requests that did not have extended deadlines, and 55 days for all 

requests. 

The Commission’s litigation docket at the close of FY 2017 included multiple cases challenging the 

Commission’s handling of enforcement matters in which entities were not found to be required to 

register and report as political committees, a challenge related to the Commission’s regulation for 

financing of election debates, a constitutional challenge to the Commission’s regulation implementing 

FECA's requirements regarding the use of candidate names in the names of political committees, two 

constitutional challenges to limits on contributions to political party committees, several other 

constitutional challenges, and several cases enforcing FECA prohibitions.
35

Performance Goal 3-1: Provide timely legal guidance to the public.

Key Indicator: Percent of legal guidance provided within statutory and courtordered deadlines.

FY 2011 

Actual

FY 2012 

Actual

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Target

FY 2018 

Target

N/A N/A N/A 100%14 100%15 100% 100%16 100% 100%

 14 The Commission obtained extensions to consider ten advisory opinion requests in FY 2014; four of those extensions were 

attributable to the Federal government shutdown during October 2013. The Commission did not have any rulemakings during 

FY 2014 with statutory or court-ordered deadlines. 15 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. 16 The Commission obtained extensions to consider six advisory opinion requests in FY 2016.
36

Supporting Indicators 3-1:

Measure 

Name

FY 2011 

Actual

FY 2012 

Actual

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Target

FY 2018 

Target

Percent of 

reporting 

forms 

revised 

within 90 

days of 

approval of 

regulations 

that require 

conforming 

changes to 

forms

N/A N/A N/A17 N/A18 N/A19 100% N/A20 100% 100%

Percent of 

advisory 

opinions 

issued within 

60-day and 

20-day 

statutory 

deadlines

100%21 100%22 100%23 100%24 100%25 100% 100%26 100% 100%

Percent of 

court filings 

that meet all 

deadlines and 

rules 

imposed by 

the courts

98% 97% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%

 

17 There were no regulations approved by the Commission in FY 2012 or FY 2013 that required conforming changes 

to forms. 18 The Commission did not complete any rulemakings during FY 2014 that required conforming changes to forms. 19 The Commission did not complete any rulemakings during FY 2015 that required conforming changes to forms. 20 The Commission did not complete any rulemakings during FY 2016 that required conforming changes to forms. 21 Four 60-day advisory opinions and one 20-day advisory opinion had extended deadlines. 22 Three 60-day advisory opinions and two 20-day advisory opinions had extended deadlines. 23 Four 60-day advisory opinions had extended deadlines. 24 The Commission obtained extensions to consider ten advisory opinions during FY 2014; four of those extensions were 

attributable to the Federal government shutdown during October 2013. 25 The Commission obtained extensions to consider two advisory opinion requests in FY 2015. 26 The Commission obtained extensions to consider six advisory opinion requests in FY 2016.
37

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 2014-2019, 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 engage and productive workforce. The FEC’s Office of 

Human Resources (OHR) is also focused on expanding recruiting efforts to attract the best 

talent, and decreasing the time to hire. As discussed in section 3:D:1, below, the FEC also took 

steps during FYs 2016 and 2017 to improve employee morale.

The FEC is participating in and contributing to the government-wide Records Management 

initiative. In compliance with the Federal Records Act, the FEC is updating its records 

management program. The updated program will increase efficiency and improve performance 

by eliminating paper and using electronic recordkeeping to the fullest extent possible. During 

FYs 2017 and 2018, the FEC will continue its efforts to preserve and disclose Agency activities 

and decisions by modernizing the Commission’s records management policies and procedures 

and implementing a training process regarding those modernized policies and procedures.

Progress Update for FY 2016

In addition to assessing the Agency’s progress in fostering a workforce that delivers results by 

ensuring that internal performance targets are met, the Commission tracks the Agency’s efforts 

to reduce staff turnover among high-performing employees and to ensure that staff members 

receive regular performance evaluations and feedback. 

The Commission continues to make progress updating its records management program in 

compliance with the Federal Records Act. Specifically, during calendar year 2016, each of the 

Agency’s records liaisons received required training, facilitated by the U.S. National Archives 

and Records Administration (NARA), to receive his or her Certificate of Federal Records 

Management Training. In addition, the Agency Records Officer and the core records 

management team met with each program office throughout the Agency to begin the concerted 

effort to update the Agency’s file plans and records schedules. These meetings aided in 

identifying unscheduled paper and other non-electronic records. Notably, in November 2016, 

the Senior Agency Official and Agency Records Officer also submitted the Agency’s Email 

Management Policy to the Commission, in accordance with the Managing Government Records 
38

Presidential Directive. This policy remains before the Commission for approval and 

implementation. 

During FYs 2017 and 2018, the FEC will continue revising its records management policies, 

practices and schedules to develop a 21st century framework for the management of government 

records by implementing an email retention policy, training Agency staff on the Commission’s 

modernized records management policies and procedures, and working toward the December 

2019 Presidential Directive deadline of managing all permanent electronic records in an 

electronic format. 

Performance Goal 4-1: Foster a workforce that delivers results.

Key Indicator: Commission-required quarterly updates meet targeted performance 

goals.

FY 2011 

Actual

FY 2012 

Actual

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Target

FY 2018 

Target

N/A N/A N/A 73% 80% 65% 76% 65% 65%

Supporting Indicators 4-1:

Measure 

Name

FY 2011 

Actual

FY 2012 

Actual

FY 2013 

Actual

FY 2014 

Actual

FY 2015 

Actual

FY 2016 

Target

FY 2016 

Actual

FY 2017 

Target

FY 2018 

Target

Reduced 

turnover of 

highperforming 

employees

N/A N/A N/A 3% 1% 3% 8% 3% 3%

Percent of 

eligible 

employees 

who receive 

an annual 

performance 

evaluation 

each 

performance 

period

N/A N/A N/A 100% 61% 99% 82% 99% 99%

Percent of 

agency IT 

initiatives 

within 15% 

variance of 

approved 

budgets

N/A N/A N/A 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
39

Meet 

Records 

Management 

Presidential 

Directive 

milestones

N/A N/A 100% 50% N/A27 As 

specified 

in Presidential 

Directive

60% As 

specified 

in Presidential 

Directive

As 

specified 

in Presidential 

Directive

3D: Implementation Factors

3D:1 Major Management Priorities, Challenges and Risks

The FEC identified in the Agency’s FY 2014-2019 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 2016, the FEC worked in collaboration with the 18F team from GSA to redesign the 

FEC website to ensure that the FEC provides campaign finance disclosure information in a 

manner that is most beneficial to the public. 18F relies on an agile development model, where 

new products are quickly developed in their simplest forms and put before users immediately in 

order to test the developers’ assumptions. This evidence-based development model allows user 

experience and feedback to drive the development process and ensures that the FEC can provide 

improved services to the public as they become available over time, rather than having to wait 

until the entire project is completed. The website redesign project is further detailed in section 

3C:2.1.

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 19, 2016, the IG identified three challenges facing management: Low Employee 

Morale, Governance Framework, and Information Technology Project Planning and 

Management. The IG’s assessment and the FEC’s response are included in the FEC’s FY 2016 

Agency Financial Report, available on the FEC website at https://fec.gov/resources/aboutfec/reports/budget/fy2016/FY2016_AFR.pdf.

Federal Employee Viewpoint Surveys show an employee morale issue at the Commission. 

Because the Commission believes that improved employee morale is important, the Agency has 

begun to seek collaborative solutions to address morale at the FEC and to identify concrete steps 

the Agency can take to improve the work environment. 

 27 There were no Records Management Presidential Directive milestones for calendar year 2015.
40

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 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 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. 
41

3E: Conclusion

As described in this section, the FEC’s plans and strategies for FYs 2017 and 2018 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.
42

Office of Inspector General’s Fiscal Year 2018 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. 3, 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 2018:

• the aggregate budget request for the operations of the OIG is $1,442,001;

• the portion of this amount needed for OIG training is $28,000; and

• the portion of this amount needed to support the CIGIE is an estimated $3,893.

I, J. Cameron Thurber, certify as the Deputy IG of the Federal Election Commission that the

amount I have requested for training satisfies all OIG training needs for fiscal year 2018.