Office of the Executive Director
The Office of the Executive Director (OED) formulates and implements the administrative policies and operations of the agency. The OED staff formulates budget strategies, supervises the allocation and use of agency resources, promotes management controls and financial integrity, oversees the development and implementation of the agency's automated information systems, and provides the agency's library services. In addition, the OED staff ensures the agency's compliance with federal requirements enacted by Congress and imposed by the Office of Management and Budget, the General Accounting Office, the Office of Personnel Management, and other Federal agencies. The administrative support offices under the supervision of the Executive Director are the Offices of Administrative Services, Financial Management, Information Resources Management, Human Resources, and the Library. The Office of Proceedings is under the administrative direction of OED.
In FY 1997, the Office of the Executive Director assumed the responsibility for the development of the Commission's Strategic Plan as required by the Government Performance and Results Act. An internal task force developed the plan. The Commission approved the plan and submitted it to Congress on September 30, 1997.
OED continued to work with the End-User Advisory Group and appropriate subcommittees to assist in the establishment of priorities for all aspects of information resources management. The Advisory Group, which has representatives from all divisions and regions of CFTC, grew out of a National Performance Review initiative to provide employees with greater input into the allocation and use of the agency's information resources. This year, the Group provided recommendations on systems development projects for the next fiscal year, automated legal research tools and the approach to several information policy issues. OED also prepared the agency's annual report to Congress and continued to work on its long range information resources management plan.
OED worked with the Office of General Counsel, as well as other Commission offices, to update the Commission's annual Privacy Act System of Records. The Office also published five new systems of records under the Privacy Act and amended another system in response to recent welfare reform legislation.
OED also completed its extensive review of internal instructions, which resulted in elimination of approximately two-thirds of those instructions. OED offices revised many of the remaining instructions. OED made all instructions available to employees in electronic form through the agency Bulletin Board.
Office of Information Resources Management
The Office of Information Resources Management (OIRM) provides automated data processing and information resources management, which includes: (1) operating and maintaining computer and data communications network hardware and software, (2) enhancing existing information systems, (3) developing new information systems, (4) providing user information services, and (5) ensuring information security and integrity. During FY 1997, OIRM activities included the following:
- Completed the upgrade of the Commission's mainframe based Financial Management System.
- Provided full Internet browsing capability to all Commission staff.
- Began planning and development of an Intranet for the Commission.
- Replaced CFTC's point-to-point Fractional T1 wide area network with a Frame Relay wide-area network.
- Enhanced the CFTC Home Page and added web pages for the Divisions of Enforcement and Trading and Markets on the Internet.
- Continued to work on the Surveillance System Re-engineering project. Completed the portion of this project that provides for the processing of both futures and option large trader data. Up until this time futures data was processed daily while option data was only processed weekly.
- Continued to work on the conversion of all systems currently running on the Commission's mainframe computer to the new client/server architecture in compliance with OMB Bulletin 96-02.
Office of Financial Management
The Office of Financial Management (OFM) manages the agency's financial and budget functions, including administrative accounting, voucher audit and budget formulation and execution. During FY 1997, OFM formulated the FY 1999 Budget request and FY 1999 Annual Performance Plan as required by the Government Performance and Results Act. OFM also performed Year-End closing of FY 1996, developed and executed the FY 1997 Operating Budget and assisted in the development of the FY 1998 President's Budget. OFM streamlined travel operations by implementing an automated system for processing travel related documents. A new Electronic Certification system with the Department of the Treasury allows electronic transmission of disbursement data to the Philadelphia Financial Center.
Office of Human Resources
The Office of Human Resources (OHR) provides advice and services to the Commission in recruiting, pay administration, employee-labor relations, benefits, diversity programs, performance management, and employee development. During FY 1997 OHR developed a new performance and awards system which went into effect in July. In addition, OHR implemented an Alternative Dispute Resolution pilot project to help employees resolve employment disagreements more effectively. OHR provided support for the hiring of additional staff and coordinated the Commission's annual awards ceremony.
Office of Administrative Services
The Office of Administrative Services (OAS) manages the agency's procurement and contracting, property, contracts and leases, telecommunications, supplies, space, mail, and printing. During FY 1997, major accomplishments of the OAS staff included the implementation of a bar coding system for ordering administrative supplies and the automation of reference requests to recall records from the Washington National Records Center.
Library
The Library enhanced electronic access to research materials during FY 1997. Late in the fiscal year, the Commission signed a contract with West Publications which provides access to WESTLAW to all Commission employees from their desktops. This allowed the Commission to eliminate many of its CD-ROM and hard copy publications. The Commission also anticipates savings in time for legal research and costs of subscriptions. The Library also activated its automated circulation system which provides up-to-date information on all of the items included in the Library's collection.
Proceedings
The Office of Proceedings is under the administrative direction of the Office of the Executive Director. The Office contains two sections--the complaints section and the hearings section. The complaints section receives customer claims (called "reparations complaints") against persons or firms registered under the Commodity Exchange Act, prepares claims for forwarding to the hearings section and dismisses claims which are clearly outside the Commission's jurisdiction or which are pending in another forum. Judgment Officers decide reparations complaints in voluntary and summary proceedings and Administrative Law Judges conduct formal proceedings. The Administrative Law Judges also decide administrative enforcement cases brought by the Commission against persons or firms who have violated the Commodity Exchange Act or the Commission's rules and regulations.
The Office of Proceedings provides information about the complaints process and the number of complaints filed against specific firms in response to about 16,000 telephone inquiries during the year. Many telephone calls come from members of the public who are considering investing with these firms. Computerized information on the number of complaints against each firm allows the staff to retrieve this information and respond quickly to requests. During FY 1996, the Office of Proceedings implemented a new case tracking system which tracks the progress of each case from receipt through disposition in the Office of Proceedings, appeal to the Commission and appeal to Federal court. This system not only assists case management within the agency, but also allows the Office of Proceedings to provide better information on the status of cases in response to public inquiries. The Office continues to refine the new case tracking system.
Both the complaints and the hearings sections maintain a current Reparations Sanctions In Effect List and Enforcement Sanctions in Effect List. The Reparations Sanctions in Effect List contains a record of individuals and firms who have not paid reparations awards. The Office publishes the Reparations Sanctions in Effect List annually and mails updates bi-monthly. The Enforcement Sanctions In Effect List, which the Office publishes annually and updates quarterly, contains a record of individuals and firms who have enforcement sanctions such as trading prohibitions outstanding against them. The Office makes the lists available to the public, primarily through the Commission's web site (www.cftc.gov). The Office also distributes the lists to the exchanges, the National Futures Association, the Futures Industry Association, the National Association of Securities Dealers and the Securities and Exchange Commission for use in their compliance efforts.
During FY 1997, customer complaints resulted in $487,386.45 in reparations awards. The decisions rendered in reparations cases provide valuable guidance to the commodities industry on a wide variety of legal issues.
The following statistics reflect the status of reparation
complaints and administrative enforcement cases at the end of
fiscal year 1997:
| Status of Reparation Complaints Processed | ||
| FY 1996 | FY 1997 | |
| Complaints pending beginning of fiscal year |
30 |
39 |
| Complaints filed or reinstated |
172 |
155 |
| Complaints dismissed or settled |
27 |
29 |
| Complaints forwarded for all types of proceedings |
136 |
117 |
| Complaints pending end of fiscal year |
39 |
48 |
| Status of Enforcement Caseload Statistics | ||
| FY 1996 | FY 1997 | |
| Cases pending beginning of fiscal year |
25 |
21 |
| Cases received for adjudication |
23 |
23 |
| Cases settled |
4 |
6 |
| Decisions issued |
23 |
16 |
| Cases pending end of fiscal year |
21 |
22 |
| Status of Reparation Cases | ||
|
FY 1996 |
FY 1997 |
|
| Cases pending beginning of fiscal year |
92 |
93 |
| Cases received for all types of proceedings* |
147 |
128 |
| Cases dismissed for cause |
5 |
8 |
| Cases settled |
61 |
64 |
| Cases disposed of by default |
13 |
9 |
| Cases disposed of by initial decision |
67 |
50 |
| Cases pending end of fiscal year |
93 |
90 |
*Includes cases forwarded for adjudication, severed cases, remands
and motions for reconsideration.