Soon the FEC will start producing the transaction level FTP files in a new format. The FTP files that we will produce in the new format are:
INDIVxx (Contributions by Individual)
PASS2xx (Contributions to Candidates (and other expenditures) from Committees)
OTHxx (Any Transaction from One Committee to Another)
We are requesting your input about these file formats. The sample files we have produced are fixed width and semicolon delimited. These sample files are attached to this e-mail. There are numerous differences in the file formats when compared to the current fixed width file formats. We've tried to make the new file formats as consistent as possible. PAS2 has an additional data column - Candidate ID.
Here are a few of the changes. The FEC Record number is now 19 digits instead of 7 digits. We include both employer and occupation as separate data fields. The transaction date is in a single data field. There are numerous changes highlighted in red in the downloadable file format spreadsheet. Please review the file formats carefully.
Should we exclude employer and occupation from OTH? Do you want these files in both formats? We are not ready to produce additional formats but that's coming. Does a semicolon delimiter work or would some other delimiter work better?
Once we start producing the files in the new format(s) we will no longer produce the files in the old format. The last update for the current format will be 02/26/2012. We will put the new files into production the week of February 27, 2012 and the files produced on March 4, 2012 will be in the new format.
Posted by Di Cook on February 02, 2012 at 08:17 AM EST #