Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

FY10 e-Government Act Report 

October 14, 2010 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

Information Technology Policy and Regulatory Compliance Division 

888 1st Street NE 

Washington, DC 20426 
FY10 e-Government Act Report Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 

 

Executive Summary 

FERC continues to support the E-Government Act with our FERC Online initiative. In 

FY10, we deployed the eTariff system, as described in FERC Order 714. In FY11, FERC 

plans to procure a new document management system to modernize and replace the existing 

eLibrary system. 

I. Innovation and Transportation: 

a. 3 Top E-Government IT Accomplishments 

i. In FY10, we completed our eTariff initiative in accordance with FERC 

Order No. 714; requiring revision of regulations to require that all tariffs 

and tariff revisions and rate change applications for the public utilities, 

natural gas pipelines, oil pipelines and power administrations be filed 

electronically according to a set of standards developed in conjunction 

with the North American Energy Standards Board. About half of the paper 

filings at FERC were tariff filings, which are now being filed 

electronically through the eTariff system. eTariff leverages the existing 

eFiling and eLibrary systems. 

ii. FERC also implemented an internal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 

tracking system to track all public requests for nonpublic or privileged 

FERC information. This system will provide FERC’s Office of External 

Affairs (OEA) the ability to capture FOIA requests expediently and 

deliver requested material quicker. It will also save time for OEA staff to 

prepare annual FOIA reports. 

iii. In addition, we created, published and maintain FERC’s Open 

Government Webpage. Included on this page are the Commission’s 

current strides to make FERC more transparent, participatory and 

collaborative. In addition, there is an option for all users to participate in a 

survey to provide feedback on how we can make FERC more open. 

Further, FERC contact information, news and events are also incorporated 

on our site. 

II. Compliance with Goals and Provisions of the Act 

a. Our Information Resources directly support our Strategic Plan. Our Enterprise 

Architecture (EA) Plan is currently under revision. 

b. Our top e-Government initiatives for FY10 include: 

i. eLibrary, which is FERC’s electronic document management system, 

provides staff and the public with access to over two million documents 

with over 10 million pages. In 2010, FERC started to document 

requirements for a replacement to the existing eLibrary system; the 

procurement is funded for 2011. 

ii. In FY10, FERC completed the eTariff project, which provides an interface 

for regulated entities to electronically submit tariff filings and the 

associated tariffs to the Commission. This project will also provide the 

public with improved access to those tariffs. eTariff provides 

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transparency to the public for tariffs filed at the commission for oil, 

natural gas and electricity. 

iii. FERC also uses eForms which provides an integrated interface for 

customers to file structured data. The eForms initiative provides cost 

savings to the taxpayer through the reuse of software for the purpose of 

obtaining data collections from public companies. 

iv. To identify eGovernment initiatives on a continued, ongoing basis we 

supplement our Capital Planning and Investment Control (CPIC) process 

by soliciting suggestion from customers and conducting regular reviews 

with component owners. As a result of customer suggestions and 

component owner feedback, we will implement enhancements to steadystate components. 

c. In order to improve and track performance at FERC, we use an internal Project 

Metrics Dashboard. This dashboard tracks the status, risk, priority, start/end 

dates, last updated and notes for each tasks areas’ project. It is reviewed and 

analyzed at least weekly by the DCIO, directors and contractor managers. 

d. Our FOIA guide, request forms and other FOIA related information can be found 

online; in addition, we have a FOIA Service Center. 

e. We do not fund research and development activities. 

f. We do not rely on agreements with other agencies to disseminate information. 

However; updates to the Commission’s regulations are readily available through 

the Federal Register. In addition, we maintain a citizen-centric web-page to 

facilitate dissemination. 

g. Our Comprehensive Records Disposition Schedules are being revised and will be 

made available on our website. We are also developing agency policy which will 

allow us to better manage our records in compliance with required regulations. 

Of the agency's total of 122 electronic systems or series of records in FY10, 54 

were approved, 12 were submitted and are pending approval and 21 still need to 

be scheduled. 

h. FERC does not currently use electronic signatures. 

i. In order to encourage public participation, FERC has published an Open 

Government Webpage (see I.a.i above). We also supplement our Capital 

Planning and Investment Control (CPIC) process by soliciting suggestion from 

customers and conducting regular reviews with component owners (see II.b.i 

above). In addition, we promote our news and conferences so that the public is 

aware what is going on at FERC and they are welcomes to attend various 

conferences. Further, we use eLibrary (see II.b.i); eComment—where individuals 

and other interested persons can submit text comments in various proceedings; 

and eSubscription—where individuals can subscribe to a specific docket and be 

notified via email about all future submittals and issuances. 

j. To collaborate and partner with other agencies, we: 

i. Participate actively in the Small Agency Council and the Small Agency 

CIO Council; 

ii. Participate actively in the Web Content Managers Forum group; 

iii. Regularly review other agency solutions and best practices; 

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iv. Cross pollinate web pages on websites of the Department of Energy, the 

Canadian Government, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission 

(CFTC), the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners 

(NARUC), and others. 

k. In order to reduce errors through electronic transmission we use eLibrary (see 

II.b.i) and eTariff (see II.b.ii), which incorporates electronic error checking. 

Electronic tariffs are filed at the commission using XML. FERC has provided an 

online utility that allows the filers to submit their XML files for validation and 

provides the filers with an emailed report detailing the outcome of the validation 

checks. Once the actual eTariff XML submissions are electronically filed, FERC 

checks the files electronically and provides the filers with an acceptance or 

rejection email, depending on the outcome of the validation. 

l. To ensure that availability of Government information and services is not 

diminished for FERC constituents without access to the Internet and for those 

with disabilities (in compliance with Section 508), we: 

i. Continue to make the electronic filing of documents voluntary, driven by 

benefit rather than mandate; 

ii. Allow parties to proceedings to waive electronic service of documents; 

iii. Continue to use regular mail when appropriate to notify land-owners and 

other constituents of any agency proceedings that affect them; 

iv. Continue to maintain a public reference room that provides access to both 

paper documents and FERC Online services; 

v. Comply with ADA Section 508 guidelines; 

vi. Continue to provide FERC constituents timely, informative customer 

service by telephone and e-mail 

m. In order to quantify cost savings and avoidances achieved through IT programs 

FERC uses: 

i. The e-Tariff project yielded cost savings at FERC through the reduction of 

paper and paper copies, plus the added efficiencies gained by having the 

tariffs electronically validated upon submission. Additionally, the manual 

process of reviewing tariffs and assigning them to a docket has been 

replaced with an auto-docketing function that requires no human input. 

Previously, tariffs were manually reviewed and then added to the eLibrary

system. The new eTariff system automatically submits the files directly to 

eLibrary after electronically validating the tariff submission. 

ii. The unified communications project has provided cost savings through 

work productivity gains at the desktop. Staff members are now able to 

teleconference and text from the desktop; this allows for fewer conference 

room meetings and less dependency on phone calls; it allows staff to be 

more efficient and effective. In addition, FERC no longer requires the 

telephone cabling and infrastructure because the new voice-over-IP system 

utilizes existing network cabling and infrastructure. 

iii. We are engaged in a datacenter consolidation initiative, which reduces 

redundant infrastructure, labor costs, operating costs and energy 

consumption—promoting the use of Green IT. It also increases overall IT 

security posture and creates a more efficient computing platform. 

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iv. FERC continues to leverage server virtualization to gain power and 

storage savings. FERC has virtualized servers for applications such as 

DAMS, Virtual Agenda, ATMS and eFiling.