FEC Launches Final Phase of Project to Make All Closed Enforcement Cases Available Online

FEC Launches Final Phase of Project to Make All Closed Enforcement Cases Available Online

WASHINGTON – The Federal Election Commission has launched the final phase of a project to make its full archive of closed enforcement matters, called Matters Under Review, or MURs, available online. This will result in approximately 4,000 closed MURs – consisting of approximately 770,000 pages of documents covering the 24-year period from the inception of the Agency to 1999 – being  accessible in digital form on the FEC web site.  Upon completion, this project will be the largest expansion of the digitization of enforcement matters in the history of the Agency.

 The project is part of the FEC’s ongoing effort to improve disclosure and transparency, and to deepen public understanding of the development of campaign finance law and practice.

“The FEC has a complete library of all MURs going back to its inception in 1975, but access to this invaluable resource has been limited by its storage on microfilm and in paper files.  This has significantly restricted actual disclosure because it has been necessary to visit the FEC’s Washington D.C. offices in person to scroll through multiple rolls of microfilm, and then have copies made of the pages needed.  When this project is complete, which is expected by September of this year, all candidates, campaign committees, public officials, the press, researchers, and the public generally will have access to all our MURs online from their offices or homes.  It will be a tremendous step toward completion of our goal to make our work transparent to all, not just those in close proximity to our offices.” said Steven T. Walther, the Chair of the Commission.

“This project is the result of a collaborative effort of many members of our fine staff at the FEC, including members of the Public Disclosure Division, the Office of Information Technology and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer.  All of the Commissioners join me in thanking these staff members for their hard work on this very important project.”

Documents related to all investigations closed January 1, 1999 or later are already available on the FEC web site.

The FEC has put out a Request for Proposal, RFQ369397, seeking a contractor to provide a digitization service.  Each enforcement case will be made available as a separate, searchable PDF file. The deadline for receipt of proposals is July 13, 2009.

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces federal campaign finance laws. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Established in 1975, the FEC is composed of six Commissioners who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

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