DC OFFICE OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE
WEBSITE AND ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM
February 14, 2013
Response to Pre-Hearing Question No. 22
22.
Please identify all electronic databases maintained by your agency, including
the following:
▪ A detailed description of the information tracked within each system;
▪ The age of the system and any discussion of substantial upgrades that have
been made or are planned to the system
▪ Whether the public can be granted access to all or part of each system
RESPONSE:
1. Identify all electronic databases maintained by your agency:
The Office of Campaign Finance maintains electronic databases of required financial
information reported by the following filers, either using the Electronic Filing System or
by paper submission:
1. Candidate/Principal Campaign Committees(PCC)
2. Political Action Committees (PAC) (Includes Initiative, Referendum and Recall)
3. Lobbyists
4. Senators and Representatives/Statehood Funds
5. Constituent Services Programs (CSP)
6. Financial Disclosure Statements (FDS) by Public Officials
7. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Candidates (ANC) , and
8. Honoraria and Outside Income Statements (HOIDS) by Public Officials.
1a) Detailed description of the information tracked within each system:
1. The agency tracks data from registration statements of all filer types, reports of receipts
and expenditures, lobbyist activity reports, financial statements; reporting deadline
compliance; and hard copy filings for the following filers:
1)
Candidate/Principal Campaign Committees
2)
Political Action Committees (Includes Initiative, Referendum and
Recall)
3)
Lobbyists
4)
Senators and Representatives Statehood Funds
5)
Constituent Services Programs
6)
Financial Disclosure Statements (FDS) by Public Officials
7)
Advisory Neighborhood Commission Candidates
8)
Honoraria and Outside Income Disclosure Statements (HOIDS) by
Public Officials.
2. The agency also maintains and tracks the following electronic information through
search features which are accessible by the Public:
1)
2)
Contributions and Expenditures of political committees and
constituent services programs by amount, contributor, recipient,
date, location, payer, and payee
Digital Images of the Financial Reports filed with OCF, both
electronically, and by paper based filings, beginning 2005, by
a. Candidates and Political Committees
b. Political Action Committees (Includes Initiative, Referendum
and Recall)
c. Lobbying Program
d. Constituent Services Program
e. Senator/Representative Statehood Fund Program
f. Filers of the Financial Disclosure Statement and HOIDS
g. Advisory Neighborhood Commission Candidates
3. The Agency also maintains the following information at its Website, which is available to
the Public:
1)
Administrative Dismissal and Vacated Orders of
a. Candidates and Political Committees
b. Lobbying Program
c. Constituent Services Program
d. Financial Disclosure Program
2)
Complaints & Final Decisions
3)
Final Audit Reports
4)
Informal Hearings on Delinquent Filers including:
a. Candidates and Political Committees
b. Lobbying Program
c. Constituent Services Program
d. Financial Disclosure Program
5)
Interpretative Opinions
6)
Biennial Reports (under News Room)
7)
Calendar of Events
8)
OCF Regulations and Campaign Finance Guide
9)
Summary Reports of Contributor and Expenditure Information
with Graphs
10)
Educational Brochures and Online Tutorials
11)
Geographical Information System of Contributions by Zip Code
12)
Registration information of political committees, candidates,
lobbyist and constituent services and statehood fund programs.
13)
Lobbying activity/communication and Financial Disclosure
Statement information
1b) Identification of persons who have access to each system, and whether the public can be
granted access to all or part of each system:
Administrator
Section
User Filing
Section
1. Candidate/Principal Campaign Committees EFS
OCF Staff
Filer
2. Political Action Committees (Includes Initiative,
Referendum and Recall) EFS
OCF Staff
Filer
3. Lobbyists EFS
OCF Staff
Filer
4. Senators and Representatives Statehood Funds EFS
OCF Staff
Filer
5. Constituent Services Programs EFS
OCF Staff
Filer
6. Financial Disclosure Statement (FDS) EFS
OCF Staff
Filer
7. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners EFS
OCF Staff
Filer
8. Administrative Dismissal and Vacated Orders
OCF Staff
Public Viewing
9. Complaints & Final Decisions
OCF Staff
Public Viewing
10. Final Audit Reports
OCF Staff
Public Viewing
11. Informal Hearings on Delinquent Filers
OCF Staff
Public Viewing
12. Interpretative Opinions
OCF Staff
Public Viewing
13. Images of Financial Reports submitted, beginning
2005, and Contribution and Expenditure Search
Feature
OCF Staff
Public
Interaction
14. Biennial Reports and Summary Reports
OCF Staff
Public Viewing
15. Calendar of Events, Regulations, Campaign Finance
Guide, News Items, Online Tutorials, and Educational
Brochures, Geographical Information System
OCF Staff
Public Viewing
Modules
1c) The age of the system and any discussion of substantial upgrades that have been made or
are planned to the system:
1. The Electronic Filing System (EFS) is about 11 years old. This was implemented and
commissioned in August, 2002
2. The scanning system was integrated into the EFS in November, 2003
3. Biennial Reporting module was integrated into the system in 2007
4. The Electronic Signature modules integration that enables filers to file their online
report without the need for a hard copy filing requirement was implemented in FY 10.
5. The Database download that enables the public to download the reports of receipts
and expenditures for political committees, constituent services and statehood fund
programs, and lobbyists and the financial disclosures of public officials in CSV and XML
formats was implemented and integrated into the EFS module in 2010.
6. Implemented Cross-Browser Compatibility in 2010, so that the Electronic filing
Application will be compatible for all browsers, including IE6.0 and above, Firefox,
Safari and Chrome.
7. November, 2011: Upgraded OCF web server from Windows Server 2000 to Windows
Server 2008 R2 and upgraded OCF database from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2008
R2.
8. Feb, 2012: Upgraded OCF e-Filing Online tutorials from PowerPoint to Adobe
Presenter.
9. July, 2012: Added Chairperson to Citizen-Service Programs
10. August, 2012: Implemented “Flagged Contributions Search” for Principal Campaign
Committees. A contribution is flagged when the year to date amount contributed by
the Filer exceeds the Contribution limit set for the specific Office.
11. During FY13, the planned upgrades to the System will include the development of the
registration, online filing, and reporting modules for the exploratory, inaugural,
transition, and legal defense fund committees.
34. Provide a status update on the efficacy of the E-Mail Subscription Service, including the
number of subscription requests received by OCF:
OCTO maintains the subscription module and there are currently 678 subscriptions.
39. Are there any remaining high-value datasets that OCF does not currently make available to
the public that it could offer beginning in FY13 or FY14:
Registration, Online Filing, and Reporting Modules for the following Filers will be
developed and implemented during FY13:
i)
Exploratory
ii)
Transition
iii)
Inaugural, and
iv)
Legal Defense Committees.
The two (2) existing high-value datasets which OCF does not currently make available to
the public on the website would be the Informational Reports from Exploratory
Committees and Independent Expenditure Reports which are not electronically filed.
The Reports of Both filer types are made available in the OCF offices for review.