[Senate Hearing 113-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2015
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TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2014
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met at 3:30 p.m., in room SD-192, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Jeanne Shaheen (chairwoman)
presiding.
Present: Senators Shaheen, Coons, and Hoeven.
UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE
STATEMENT OF CHIEF KIM C. DINE, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE,
WASHINGTON, DC
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JEANNE SHAHEEN
Senator Shaheen. Good afternoon, everyone. I think we have
some other members who will be joining us, but Senator Hoeven
and I will begin. The Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch
will come to order.
I want to welcome everyone to the second hearing of the
Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch for
fiscal year 2015. I want to just say, we're hoping to get Chief
Dine out of here as quickly as possible, since he's not feeling
well. And we would like to hold on to Mr. Gainer as long as
possible.
And, Nancy, you can do whatever.
Just kidding.
Today we continue our work reviewing the budget requests of
the legislative branch agencies and offices for fiscal year
2015.
Like many agencies in the executive and judicial branches,
agencies in the legislative branch share the goal in 2015 to
return to normal business after years of budget uncertainty and
sequestration. The same is certainly true for the Capitol
Police, the Sergeant at Arms, and the Office of the Secretary
of the Senate, who are represented today by Chief Dine, who is
the head of the Capitol Police, by Senate Sergeant at Arms
Terry Gainer, and by Secretary of the Senate Nancy Erickson.
Thank you all for being here.
And, Mr. Gainer, as I think most people here know, you
recently announced that you will soon retire from the Senate
after 7 years as Sergeant at Arms and 5 years as Chief of the
Capitol Police. We will certainly miss you very much and are
very appreciative of all of the service that you have given,
not just to the Senate and to Congress, but to this country.
Thank you very much.
All three of the agencies represented today work together
seamlessly to ensure that our democratic process can be carried
out in a safe and transparent manner, from protecting Americans
and our guests from around the world visiting the Capitol, to
hosting foreign dignitaries, meetings with Senators and
Representatives, to ensuring that live video and transcripts of
Senate proceedings are available to all Americans and the
world. I look forward to discussing with our witnesses how
their agencies are shifting from putting out the fires caused
by sequestration and the shutdown to focusing strategically on
how to best meet their core missions at the best value for the
taxpayer. I also look forward to discussing other challenges
that you expect to face and that you would like to raise as you
look at 2015.
Now I'd like to turn to Ranking Member Senator Hoeven for
his comments.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN HOEVEN
Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Madam Chairman. Appreciate being
here with you.
And I want to thank all of you for being here, not only the
three at the head table, but all of you that are here. I think
you do a tremendous job for the citizens of this country, and I
want to express my appreciation, right up front, for the
professional way that you do your job. We appreciate it, and we
see it every single day.
And, to Terry Gainer, 47 years is--amazing track record.
And I think that you really exemplify the professionalism that
we see with all of you here, in terms of the legislative branch
staff, the professionalism that you have demonstrated over 47
years. And, I have to say, on behalf of the members, we have
just an incredible level of confidence in you and your ability
and your skill set. How you handle things, I think, really sets
a great tone for those that follow you. And so, you've got a
tremendous legacy here, and I always have this vision of you,
you know, as you come in leading the President at the State of
the Union events, and how, again, you just have done a
tremendous job of instilling confidence on the part of
everybody that works here at the Capitol complex. So, you know,
very best wishes, good luck, and believe me, we will miss you,
without a doubt.
All of you have had to do more with less, and that is a
challenge. We understand that. But, that is the reality we
face. We have a government that is running a large deficit and
a debt, and it's something that we need to overcome for the
good of our country, both now and for future generations. That
is the reality. There is no question about it. And so, you have
to lead by example. And you have been, and you've been doing a
good job of it. We continue to be pressed for resources. So,
our job is really to work with you to figure out how we can do
the very best job possible with the limited resources we have.
And I think you've demonstrated a lot of creativity, in terms
of all the things that you've done, and we're going to need to
continue that kind of creativity here as we work to make sure
that we not only address the deficit, but the long-term debt.
I do think that, ultimately, we've got to get--economic
growth is a big part of getting out of the deficit, but, at the
same time, we've got to find ways to husband our resources and
do as much as we possibly can with the dollars that we have.
Again, that being said, we'll try to help you do the very
best possible job. And again, thank you for all that you do.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you very much, Senator Hoeven.
I would ask that each of you keep your comments to about 5
minutes, if you will, so we have plenty of time for Q&A, and we
will take the rest of your testimony for the record.
Chief Dine, if you would begin, followed by Mr. Gainer and
Ms. Erickson.
SUMMARY STATEMENT OF CHIEF KIM C. DINE
Chief Dine. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Shaheen, Ranking
Member Hoeven, and members of the committee. I'm honored to be
here today, and I appreciate the opportunity to present the
United States Capitol Police budget request for fiscal year
2015.
I'm joined here today by Assistant Chief Daniel Malloy, our
Chief of Operations, as well as some members of my executive
management team and a representative from our Office of
Inspector General.
I consider the United States Capitol Police to be America's
police department, a premier Federal law enforcement agency
that works to ensure that the Legislative Branch of our
Government can function without disruption or lapses in
security or safety. Our mission is to protect the facilities we
all work in and around, to protect you and your fellow members,
your staff, the Capitol Hill community, and the millions of
visitors who come here to be part of the democratic process on
a regular basis. We practice the best in American policing,
represent the country we serve, and protect the democratic
process. We consider all the people that--and facilities that
we protect, and the legislative business that we secure, as one
community. Although we are professionals dedicated to public
service and public safety, the employees of the Department gain
strength and encouragement from your recognition of our
accomplishments.
My management team and I are aware that the fiscal
situation in the Federal Government requires that we manage
ourselves and plan for our future responsibly and accurately.
Therefore, I believe it is our responsibility to submit a
budget request that is accurate, reasonable, responsible, and
based on critical requirements necessary to mitigate and
address both identified and emerging threats and risks.
Our fiscal year 2015 budget request focuses on those
critical mission requirements necessary for the Department to
address the security of the Congress so that it may conduct its
constitutional responsibilities in an open and safe manner
without disruption from crime or terrorism.
Our fiscal year 2015 request again includes funding for
1775 of our 1800 sworn, authorized positions and 370 of our 443
civilian positions. These are the staffing levels funded
through fiscal year 2014.
Our officers provide a safe environment for the facilities
of Capitol Hill. In fiscal year 2013, the Department performed
over 9.8 million screenings of people entering congressional
buildings, including 1.6 million visitors to the Capitol
Visitor Center. Outside the buildings, we kept the Capitol
grounds safe by conducting more than 150,000 K-9 vehicle sweeps
and over 27,000 offsite vehicle inspections. And these are just
a few examples of our efforts to keep the campus, and you,
safe.
PREPARED STATEMENT
I'm grateful for your time today. We will continue to work
closely with you to make sure that we meet the demands of our
mission in a reasonable and responsible manner.
I want to thank the women and men of the USCP for their
support.
I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today,
and would be glad to answer any questions you may have at this
time.
Thank you.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Chief Kim C. Dine
Chairwoman Shaheen, Ranking Member Hoeven and members of the
subcommittee, I am honored to be here today, and I appreciate the
opportunity to present the United States Capitol Police budget request
for fiscal year 2015. I am joined here today by Assistant Chief Daniel
Malloy, our Chief of Operations, and Mr. Richard Braddock, our Chief
Administrative Officer, as well as some of the members of my Executive
Management Team and our Inspector General.
At the outset, we at the Capitol Police are proud of the role we
play in enabling a safe environment on Capitol grounds for the people
of this great country. As the persistent threats to safety and security
continuously evolve, we must adapt and evolve as well to effectively
address them and maintain our readiness to mitigate threats and tactics
of groups trying to do the Capitol Complex harm. We strive to
accomplish that through collaborating with all stakeholders and other
Federal partners, employing robust and timely capabilities, and
maintaining world-class readiness.
I have the distinct honor of leading this great organization that
is made up of extraordinarily professional and capable women and men,
who are dedicated to their work. I also have come to appreciate the
interests of the Congress, and especially this Committee, in the
continued safety and security of the legislative process. My management
team and I are very proud of the close partnership that has evolved
between us to make this possible. Your confidence in us, and the
support you have provided to the Capitol Police over the years, has
indeed been a remarkable contributor to our success in achieving our
mission. You and your staffs have taken the time to work closely with
the Department's leadership team and have shown a keen awareness of the
complexity of our mission and the challenges we face.
I consider the United States Capitol Police to be America's Police
Department: a premier Federal law enforcement agency that works to
ensure that the legislative process of our Government can function
without disruption or lapses in security or safety. Our mission is to
protect the facilities we all work in and around; to protect you and
your fellow members, your staff, the Capitol Hill community and the
millions of visitors who come here to be a part of the democratic
process on a regular basis. We practice the best in American policing,
represent the country we serve, and protect the Democratic process. We
consider all of the people and facilities we protect and the
legislative business that we secure as one community that we serve.
Although we are professionals dedicated to public service and public
safety, the employees of the Department gain strength and encouragement
from your recognition of our accomplishments.
Before I begin the specifics of my fiscal year 2015 budget request
I would like to express again our appreciation to the Committee and the
Congress for providing the essential salaries and general expenses
funding for fiscal year 2014 to support our personnel and operations,
which has ensured a high-level of capability and mission readiness. In
fiscal year 2013, the Department realigned resources to meet the
mission under reduced funding without compromising safety and security,
which was accomplished with the oversight the Capitol Police Board. We
reduced a number of manned access points to the Capitol, thus reducing
the total manpower needs and resulting overtime costs. We also delayed
expenditures for many of the General Expenses related to training,
lifecycle replacement, equipment and technology upgrades to maintain
our operations within our funding limits. I assure the Committee that
my team understands the need to maintain a balance between security and
facilitation of Congress, and as such, we continue to look at our use
of personnel and resources to meet the mission in an efficient manner.
My management team and I are aware that the fiscal situation in the
Federal Government requires that we manage ourselves and plan for our
future responsibly and accurately. Having worked a large portion of my
38-year law enforcement career in local government, I can tell you that
I have a first-hand understanding of the hardships faced by all levels
of government and by average citizens in communities across the
country. Therefore, I believe it is our responsibility to submit a
budget request that is accurate, reasonable, responsible, and based on
critical requirements necessary to mitigate and address both identified
and emerging threats and risks. Our fiscal year 2015 budget request
focuses on those critical mission requirements necessary for the
Department to address the security of the Congress, so that it may
conduct its constitutional responsibilities in an open and safe manner
without disruption from crime or terrorism.
Our mission-focused request is grounded in the framework of our
Strategic Plan. To achieve our mission as a premier law enforcement
organization, the Department continues to reinforce a culture that
supports effective planning, communication, accountability and employee
empowerment. We are developing the internal framework to employ smart
policing; by taking a results-oriented, data-driven approach that
effectively meets current and future threats and challenges. We will
continue to deliver safety and security by deploying effective law
enforcement services through collaboration, adaptability and
innovation. We will strive for organizational excellence to maximize
efficiency and effectiveness through best practices, while promoting
accountability through employee engagement and a positive work
environment. We believe that our people are the key to our continued
strength and success; and we want to focus on the future, keeping our
employees at the top of their game.
One project that I know you have provided a great deal of support
for is our Radio Modernization Project. I am pleased that our new state
of the art radio system is operational, as it allows our officers to
have reliable situational awareness and the ability to communicate
effectively, which keeps all of us safe in the process. The planning,
building, and implementation of this system has eliminated considerable
risk in our future capability to communicate and to direct mission-
critical activities. Because the ability to communicate is critical to
life and safety of our officers, we took the necessary time to design,
procure, install and test the new radio system. We appreciate the
patience of the Congress during this journey. I also want to express my
gratitude to our partners in this endeavor; the Capitol Police Board,
the Architect of the Capitol and Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
Not only were we able to complete the project within the planned scope,
and within the funding you provided--but we found efficiencies that
allowed us to include the O'Neill Building in the project.
At this time, I would like to offer the Committee an overarching
summary of our fiscal year 2015 request. I will follow this summary
with a discussion of specific budget items of particular significance
to you and the Department.
The Department's fiscal year 2015 request totals nearly $356
million and represents an overall increase of 5 percent, or $17 million
over the fiscal year 2014 enacted funding level of $338 million.
As with other law enforcement agencies, personnel salaries and
overtime represent the majority of our budget each year. After all, we
are a service organization, and we need the dedicated and trained
professionals to provide that service.
The Department's fiscal year 2015 personnel request reflects our
continuous efforts at all levels of management to effectively and
prudently manage our existing resources to achieve the best possible
balance of staff versus overtime to meet mission requirements. We are
constantly analyzing our workforce to align job functions, assignments,
workload, risk management, and organizational readiness along with the
ever-changing threat assessments and mandatory mission requirements of
a dynamic Congressional community.
In light of the fiscal constraints of the Department and the entire
Federal Government, our fiscal year 2015 request again includes funding
for only 1,775 of our 1,800 sworn authorized positions and 370 of our
authorized 443 civilian positions. These are the staffing levels funded
during fiscal year 2014. While the staffing levels remain static in the
2015 request, the funding request represents an overall increase of
approximately 4 percent over the fiscal year 2014 enacted level. This
increase is necessary to addresses the natural cost of living and
within grade salary increases incurred by the Department.
As you are aware, the Department's current sworn staffing levels do
not entirely provide the necessary resources to meet all our mission
requirements within the established sworn officer utility or the number
of work-hours in a year that each officer is available to perform work.
This ``utility'' number is used to determine overall staffing
requirements, and balances the utility of available staff with annual
salary and overtime funding along with known mission requirements such
as post coverage, projected unscheduled events such as demonstrations,
late sessions, holiday concerts, et cetera, and unfunded requirements
that occur after the budget is enacted, such as unforeseen critical
emergency situations. Because of the need to fill the mission
requirement gap through overtime, the Department has struggled to pull
our sworn personnel offline to conduct training. In order to achieve
mandatory training, we must utilize overtime to ensure that the
officers may be offline for training, while meeting our daily mission
requirements. There are flexibilities in other law enforcement agencies
in offsetting or deferring daily requirements to allow for training
that our unique mission does not afford and we are grateful that you
have provided us the means to conduct this training in fiscal year
2014.
Thus, mission requirements in excess of available personnel must be
addressed through the identification of efficiencies such as post
realignment and/or reductions, technology, and cutbacks within the
utility. Where necessary, we meet this requirement through the use of
overtime. The Department is currently implementing an action plan that
is simultaneously evaluating our staffing processes to find more
efficiency through information-based management, while developing
training and guidance for supervisors on methods for reducing overtime.
At the same time, we are considering enhancements to a number of
policies and procedures that have an indirect impact on overtime needs.
At the requested funded staffing levels, the Department's fiscal year
2015 overtime projection is $23.45 million, which is just over a half
million dollars more than our overtime allocation for fiscal year 2014.
This amount will cover base mission requirements, support of non-
reimbursable events at the Library of Congress and an offset to allow
for appropriate security staffing so that sworn employees can be
backfilled while they attend necessary and mandatory training.
The second area I want to cover in some detail is our requested
general expenses budget, which includes protective travel; hiring,
outfitting, and training of new sworn personnel; supplies and
equipment; management systems; and other non-personnel needs. We are
requesting $64 million for general expenses, which is an increase of
nearly $5 million over the fiscal year 2014 enacted level. No new
initiatives or program increases are included in this request. The
increase results from normal increases in costs and restoring annual
levels reduced in previous fiscal years to meet immediate needs. The
amount of the general expense request is slightly lower from last
year's request and we will continue to identify areas that we can
target for further efficiency or elimination.
With your support, the Department continues to successfully perform
our operational mission and has achieved several key accomplishments
over the last year, some of which have resulted in greater efficiencies
for the Department, which include addressing several administrative
challenges and improving corresponding business practices.
Our officers provide a safe environment for the facilities of
Capitol Hill. For the U.S. Capitol Building alone, we provided a secure
and open environment for well over 1.5 million square feet, over 600
rooms, approximately 850 doorways and miles of corridors; which speaks
to the vast magnitude of our mission and how our ability to remain
agile and prepared to respond is key to the accomplishment of our
mission. In fiscal year 2013 the Department performed over 9.8 million
screenings of people entering congressional buildings (including over
1.6 million visitors to the Capitol Visitor Center). Outside the
buildings we kept the Capitol grounds safe by conducting more than
150,000 K-9 vehicle sweeps and over 27,000 offsite vehicle inspections.
The Department continues to implement uniform procedures to
effectively measure and justify U.S. Capitol Police planning, program,
and resource requirements through a comprehensive, standardized, and
repeatable management process, which we call the ``Force Development
Business Process.'' It provides for a transparent decisionmaking
process, including reviews and approvals by an Investment Review Board
made up of key agency management, and provides a structure that is
results-driven and based on meeting operational needs. In addition, in
order to ensure the accuracy of our budget request, our fiscal year
2015 budget went through multiple layers of review and validation, and
is traceable to supporting documentation for each budget element.
Further, we continue our work to close audit recommendations and to
address our material weaknesses from prior audits by working closely
with our Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office to
address identified issues and by providing the evidence necessary to
close findings. In particular, I am pleased to report that the
Department received a third consecutive unqualified ``clean'' opinion
on our financial statements. Also thus far in fiscal year 2014, we have
worked closely with the Office of Inspector General to close 18
recommendations and have completed actions that we believe could lead
to closure of another eight recommendations. Further, we are working on
the resolution of a number of other recommendations in order to achieve
efficiency and effectiveness of our administrative programs. The long-
term resolution of recommendations related to internal controls,
business processes and material weaknesses remains of the highest
importance to our management team.
Before I close my remarks, I want to talk a little bit about our
future. The Department has evolved from a lone watchman in the early
1800s to a professional and unique law enforcement and homeland
security force. Over the past 13 years, we have adopted new
capabilities to address our fluid threat environment. These changes
have led to an increase in personnel, tools, special skills and new
levels of accountability. Over the past year, we have been in the midst
of updating our Strategic Plan to ensure that our existing structures
are sufficiently aligned and resourced to support our mission
requirements into the future. While I gave you a high level summary
earlier in my testimony, in the near future we will be unveiling our
new Strategic Plan in its entirety.
As we look towards the future, we will be transforming and
strengthening our culture to continue to meet 21st Century challenges
with a focus on results. We will be engaging you and our other
stakeholders more as we further develop this new plan of action. Some
of our transformational priorities include improving our management and
planning processes; improving communications; enhancing our future
leadership capacity; establishing clear expectations and accountability
for all personnel; and evolving the Department into an organization
that learns from our experience and shares knowledge within our
workforce. These will be the foundations upon which we will build a
nimble, data-driven, community-focused law enforcement agency for the
future.
I am grateful for your time today. As I said earlier, we realize
that we have to function within the parameters of the economic and
fiscal realities facing the country and specifically the legislative
branch. We will continue to work closely with you to make sure that we
meet the needs of our mission in a reasonable and responsible manner. I
want to thank the women and men of the USCP for their support; I
appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today and would be glad
to answer any questions you may have at this time.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you very much.
SERGEANT AT ARMS AND DOORKEEPER
STATEMENT OF HON. TERRANCE W. GAINER, SENATE SERGEANT
AT ARMS, WASHINGTON, DC
Senator Shaheen. Mr. Gainer.
Mr. Gainer. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman and Ranking Member
Hoeven. I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you this
afternoon on behalf of the Sergeant at Arms team to present our
budget request for the upcoming fiscal year.
I ask that my written testimony be submitted and made part
of the record.
As you mentioned, this will be the last time testifying
before you in my capacity as the Senate Sergeant at Arms. I
want to thank this committee and your staff for all you have
done to support our organization and the Capitol Police during
my 12 years on the Hill.
Our total budget request for fiscal year 2015 is just under
$200 million, which is an increase of $3.6 million, or 1.8
percent, over the fiscal year 2014 enacted level. This includes
a salary request of $71 million and an expense request of
$128.8 million. As in previous years, our budget and operating
plans have been formulated with service, safety, and security
of the Senate community as our highest priorities.
First, allow me to recognize our professional SAA staff who
consistently do an outstanding job. Behind me is Drew Willison,
the nominated replacement for Sergeant at Arms, and Mike
Stenger, a long-term member of the Secret Service who has been
nominated to be the Deputy Sergeant at Arms. I am sure that
they will continue guiding the organization in the right
direction.
Over this past year, we reduced the size of our
organization by 68 people using the VSIP retirement plan. Over
the last 4 years, we have reduced the size of the organization
by nearly 100. This action resulted in annual savings of
approximately $5 million in salary expenses. Utilizing
efficiencies gained through reorganization, technology
enhancements, hard work, and strong leadership, we were able to
achieve that result.
On the expense side, we renegotiated our largest IT
contract, resulting in a sizable reduction. We anticipate that
change will save about $10 million per year. We also
consolidated our retail postal service into one location by
closing our Post Office in the Russell Building.
Although we have been diligent in our efforts to reduce
costs, there are several elements of our budget that are not
directly under our control and continue to climb each year. For
instance, our organization is responsible for maintaining the
leases of the Senate's 454 State offices across the country.
The fiscal year 2015 budget request to fund these leases is $21
million. Lease costs increase by an average of 3 percent each
year. In addition, the cost for our suite of services, known as
the Constituent Service Systems, or CSS, continue to climb. In
2009, these services totaled $3.9 million. In fiscal year 2015,
we anticipate these services will be $5.2 million.
Next I want to mention the breadth of services we provide
and a few accomplishments from our team during this past year.
You are now familiar with the Watson Unified Conferencing
System and our new telephone system. These new systems save
time and money through reduced maintenance and support. This
year, we will begin to expand the Watson phone service to all
of the State offices.
Second, all of the State offices and committees migrated to
an enterprise mail system, which has vastly increased our
ability to support and protect our email systems while reducing
the costs required for maintaining the systems.
Third, we successfully processed 306 million Internet email
messages while protecting our customers from spam and malicious
messages.
Fourth, we started a project to upgrade State offices to
broadband Internet services using local providers. This will
significantly improve bandwidth and Internet usage
capabilities, allowing the members to respond to their
constituencies far more quickly.
Fifth, we continue to update and expand the tools that
Senators and staff use to stay connected with each other and
their constituents. This includes several new models of the
Apple iPhone, iPad services and the newest BlackBerry devices.
We also plan to add Windows 8 smartphones into our catalog
later this year.
Sixth, we continue to provide our customers with
photocopying, graphic design, printing, mailing, and
presentation documents. Last year, our PGDM operation produced
over 61 million items.
PREPARED STATEMENT
Finally, our offices work closely with the Secretary of the
Senate, the Capitol Police, the Architect of the Capitol, the
Senate Committee on Rules, and this committee to provide
quality service to the Senate.
I am grateful for the support of my staff, led by Drew
Willison, and the great people who work very hard to make your
work easier.
I, too, am happy to answer any questions.
Thank you.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Terrance W. Gainer
introduction
Madam Chairwoman, Ranking Member Hoeven, and members of the
subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify before you today. I
am pleased to report on the progress the Office of the Senate Sergeant
at Arms (SAA) has made over the past year and our plans to enhance our
contributions to the Senate in the coming year.
For fiscal year 2015, the Sergeant at Arms respectfully requests a
total budget of $199,800,000, 1.8 percent above the current enacted
level. Although this budget is nearly at the 2007 level, we will
continue to provide the necessary and high-quality services that the
Senate community has come to expect from us. Since 2007, we have
realized cost savings from the staff buyouts completed in 2013 and from
rigorous contract management and restructuring.
Our challenge for last year was to minimize the effect of this
staffing reduction on services to the Senate. I believe we have taken
extraordinary steps to mitigate the impact of those reductions and that
the changes have appeared seamless in the way we support our customers.
We had major successes in a number of key areas over the last year.
In information technology, for example, the continuation of our server
virtualization efforts allowed us to reduce energy, maintenance, and
support costs by running more than 887 servers in a virtual
environment. Our Help Desk team continued to perform extremely well,
with a customer satisfaction rating of more than 99 percent at the very
satisfactory or excellent level. Since we moved to the new Watson
system, we have processed almost 89 million telephone calls. This year,
we will be expanding our telephone and voicemail systems and evaluating
the technology associated with expanding the service to State offices.
We continued to benefit from the consolidation of our e-mail, mobility,
and network authentication systems, which has yielded improved
functionality and a reduction of over $700,000 in yearly contractor
support costs. We continued to update and expand the tools that
Senators and staff can use to stay connected with each other and their
constituents--supporting the latest Apple and BlackBerry smartphones
and tablets and enhancing the user experience.
We consistently evaluate new equipment and vendors to ensure that
office equipment offerings stay current. Some examples include adding
new models of copiers to the Technology Catalog, providing current
functionality with a smaller footprint, and offering secure travel
pouches for iPads. We completed a project to provide office
administrators with the ability to update the person and location
associated with a specific piece of equipment and enhanced workflows
allowing staff to trace their requests for repairs, moves,
reassignments, returns to stock, inaccuracy alerts, and lost/stolen
equipment reports. In addition, a new project is under way to provide
office administrators with the ability to return multiple wireless
devices to stock using automated workflow to prepopulate configuration
sheets, reducing the potential for user error.
We also improved our information technology security posture, so
that the Senate has not suffered any major compromises of information
security. But, again, continued reductions in our budget continue to
challenge our ability to support our customers with information and
communications technology.
For our Capitol Operations team, 2013 was another busy and
productive year serving Senators and their staff members, visitors to
the Capitol, members of the news media who cover Congress, and the
broader public who have a fundamental interest in knowing what the
Senate does. Using both traditional and new media, as well as good old-
fashioned customer service, Capitol Operations helped to bring people
to the Senate--and to bring the Senate to the people across the country
and around the world. Our Twitter account surpassed 5,000 followers,
and we used the Twitter Alerts emergency notification feature to keep
staff and others informed about the shooting incident that occurred on
October 3.
Last year, for example, the Senate Recording Studio provided 794
hours of gavel-to-gavel coverage of Senate floor proceedings and
provided broadcast coverage of 730 Senate committee hearings--an
increase of 33 percent over the previous year. In addition, Recording
Studio staff produced a total of 922 television productions for
Senators, an 11 percent increase over 2012. And, last year Doorkeepers
assisted 210,164 visitors in viewing the Senate Chamber, both when the
Senate was in session and during recess, which reflected a 13 percent
increase from the 2012 visitor total.
Our continuity and emergency preparedness staff completed over 20
exercises, tabletops, tests, and guided discussions in 2013. These
covered all aspects of emergency response including primary and
alternate emergency operations centers, Chamber protective actions,
briefing center transportation, contingency telecommuting, evacuation,
internal relocation, shelter-in-place, mass casualty response, alert
notification, and continuity of government.
Our Printing, Graphics and Direct Mail department saved $1 million
in postage costs by pre-sorting 5.89 million pieces of outgoing Senate
franked mail and another $72,820 in postage by using new software to
identify 161,822 undeliverable addresses before they were introduced
into the United States Postal Service mail stream.
During fiscal year 2013, our Capitol Facilities team completed
3,263 special event setups in the Capitol and Capitol Visitor Center
(CVC) Senate expansion space, an increase of 33 percent from fiscal
year 2012. Service requests from Capitol offices for moving furniture,
delivering supplies, and providing picture frames to Senate offices
totaled 5,320, an increase of nearly 87 percent from fiscal year 2012.
Our customer satisfaction levels remain high. And as you can see,
the Sergeant at Arms team continually works toward the vision of our
Strategic Plan: Exceptional Public Service . . . Exceeding the
Expected.
Leading the efforts of the Office of the Sergeant at Arms is an
outstanding senior management team including Drew Willison, who serves
as my Deputy; Republican Liaison Mason Wiggins; General Counsel Terence
Liley; Legislative Liaison Nancy Olkewicz; Assistant Sergeant at Arms
for the Office of Protective Services and Continuity Mike Stenger;
Assistant Sergeant at Arms and Chief Information Officer Vicki Sinnett;
Assistant Sergeant at Arms for Operations Bret Swanson; Assistant
Sergeant at Arms for Capitol Operations Kevin Morison; and Chief
Financial Officer Chris Dey. The many goals and accomplishments set
forth in this testimony would not have been possible without this
team's leadership and commitment, as well as the dedication of the
women and men who work for these leaders.
protective services and continuity
Emergency Preparedness
Our emergency plans and procedures are designed to ensure the
safety of Senators, staff, and visitors within our facilities by
equipping them with the necessary tools to prepare for and respond to
emergency situations. Throughout 2013, we remained committed to
improving life safety and emergency procedures using best industry
practices, lessons learned, and scheduled events. We continued to
ensure staff preparedness through enhanced Emergency Action Plans,
mobility-impaired evacuation procedures, internal relocation and
shelter-in-place protocols, and the annual Chamber protective actions
exercise.
The Emergency Action Plan is a central document that reflects our
preparedness efforts across the Senate. Each Senator's office
maintained a customized plan based on its unique circumstances and
needs in 2013. This past year, over 65 percent of these plans were
reviewed and validated using guidelines set forth by the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration and the Congressional Accountability
Act. The remaining 35 percent of Emergency Action Plans were in various
stages of verification or completion at the end of 2013. We worked
closely with Office Emergency Coordinators (OECs) to update 210 of the
322 plans maintained Senate-wide to ensure each plan's accuracy. We
assisted new Senate offices with developing their Emergency Action
Plans as they moved from transition space to permanent offices. We
provided individual training sessions on Emergency Action Plan
procedures, ALERTS account maintenance, personnel accountability, and
emergency equipment use to 17 new Senators and their offices. Fifteen
new Senators also received personal emergency preparedness training and
escape hood orientation. Postal Square Emergency Action Plans were
updated and staff was trained on new protocols and notification
procedures after the United States Capitol Police (USCP) post was
discontinued.
The protection and preparedness of Senators, staff, and visitors
within the Senate Chamber continues to be one of our main focus areas.
We conduct a full-scale exercise annually to test and validate the
Chamber Protective Actions Guide, which serves as the collective
Chamber Emergency Action Plan. The 2013 exercise was the most attended
event to date with over 161 staff members from SAA, Secretary of the
Senate, USCP, and member offices participating. This was also the first
time that active shooter response procedures and the AIRCON picket line
were used during the exercise. Additional areas of emphasis included
using emergency escape hoods, setting up portable comfort stations,
preparing the Capitol Visitor Center gallery check-in room, activating
the fourth floor ALERTUS notification system, and transporting
mobility-impaired Senators to the Briefing Center during AIRCON
evacuations.
Emergency Communications and Accountability
We continue to improve notification and communication programs to
ensure devices and systems are ready to support the Senate during local
or large-scale emergencies. The Accountability and Emergency Roster
System (ALERTS) is the primary single-interface alert and notification
system for delivering emergency e-mail, PIN, and voice messages to the
Senate community and accounting for staff during emergencies.
Throughout 2013, we conducted an exhaustive review of staff names
entered in the database to ensure alert messages and accountability
information are delivered correctly.
We conducted regular emergency notification tests for staff and
biannual tests for Senators in conjunction with the USCP, Secretary of
the Senate, party secretaries, and other stakeholders. These tests are
designed to ensure our emergency messaging systems reach intended
recipients and that staff understand the multiple ways alerts may be
delivered. Monthly communications tests were also held with executive
branch agencies to verify contact information between continuity sites.
Video teleconferencing equipment continues to be tested monthly at
various Senate contingency sites. Additionally, secure and unsecure
satellite phones, the Wireless Priority Service, and the Government
Emergency Telecommunications Service are all tested quarterly.
In 2013, we also routinely tested the Senate contingency radio
system that provides radio coverage throughout Capitol Hill and at
other continuity sites. The system is used by Sergeant at Arms and
Secretary of the Senate staff who have responsibilities during
emergencies and special events. The radio system allows staff to
coordinate activities that directly support the Senate's essential
functions when cellular phones, e-mail, and text messaging have been
severely degraded during large-scale emergencies. The radio system was
used during both the Presidential Inauguration and State of the Union
address in 2013.
We support staff accountability operations at assembly areas with
tablets and laptops, remote check-in procedures, PIN messaging to OECs,
and accountability desk activation. In 2013, we conducted over 60 in-
office trainings for new and existing OECs on emergency staff
accountability procedures. We also had over a 90 percent reporting rate
for the Hart, Dirksen and Russell Senate Office Building drills this
year.
Our staff that serves in the USCP Command Center--after normal
business hours whenever the Senate is in session and during emergency
incidents and special events--were trained to use the Senate Dialogic
and Chyron systems to assist USCP and provide senior leadership with
amplifying information regarding ongoing events. Dialogic emergency
message templates were updated this year to provide operators with
additional scenario options to improve efficiency and quicker message
delivery. We also implemented a new Chyron Web interface to improve our
ability to quickly edit, review, and release alert messages to the
Senate community via the cable television system.
We continue to administer and improve WebEOC, a crisis information
management application utilized by the Senate Emergency Operations
Center (EOC) during emergencies and special events. SAA departments can
now report their operational status and ability to carry out mission-
essential functions. The application can also track offices and staff
assigned to alternate office space as needed. Collaboration continued
with the House of Representatives, Architect of the Capitol (AOC),
other Government branches, and local and State National Capital Region
WebEOC users for seamless information sharing across different
networks. The WebEOC system was used during the Presidential
Inauguration and State of the Union address to increase the situational
awareness of SAA staff supporting these events.
In 2013, we developed an informational Website to launch during a
large-scale emergency which will provide event and accountability
information about Capitol Hill visitors and staff. The general public
would be directed to this Web site to prevent overwhelming the Capitol
switchboard with a high volume of phone calls.
Training and Equipment
Training and outreach programs are designed to provide interactive
classroom and personalized instruction to the Senate community. These
valuable programs provide a wealth of preparedness and life safety
awareness information to enhance office personnel preparedness. This
past year, we conducted 246 training sessions on a variety of
preparedness topics with over 4,555 staff participants. Training
sessions covered Emergency Action Plans, escape hoods, emergency
equipment, internal relocation, shelter-in-place, responding to an
active shooter, accountability actions, and life safety procedures.
Last year, we issued six OEC certificates to recognize staff who
enhanced their professional knowledge and readiness by completing
requisite emergency preparedness training courses.
We hosted the sixth annual Senate Emergency Preparedness Fair to
highlight our training and outreach programs during September's
National Preparedness Month. Over 24 members of the emergency
management community throughout the National Capital Region set up
equipment displays, provided preparedness information, and demonstrated
new products. The 2013 keynote speaker was the Mayor of Avalon Borough
and Cape May County Emergency Manager, Martin Pagliughi. A record 142
staff members attended the event.
Our continued management and support of protective emergency
equipment caches in each Senate office have been crucial to the
preparedness program. Our office ensures equipment functionality
through an extensive annual inventory that replaces expired and faulty
items. Over 268 offices with 28,500 pieces of emergency equipment--
escape hoods, emergency supply kits, and wireless emergency
annunciators--were inventoried in 2013. Additional portable comfort
stations were placed at multiple internal relocation sites, and 39
green beacons were deployed to assist staff and visitors in more easily
locating their nearest internal relocation site.
Exercises
We continue to manage a comprehensive exercise program structured
to ensure Senate plans are practiced and validated regularly. The Test,
Training, and Exercise (TT&E) program validates our ability to respond
in times of crisis as well as identifies areas where better planning
and procedures would be beneficial. Our program is outlined in an
annual guidance document that is coordinated with stakeholders and
jointly signed by the Secretary of the Senate and myself. This document
provides overarching guidance for three TT&E program areas:
--A 6-year exercise program that focuses on areas relating to our key
capabilities;
--Recurring TT&E support activities throughout the year; and
--A calendar of annual exercises that reflects contingency program
goals and objectives.
During 2013, we conducted several joint exercises with the
Secretary of the Senate, USCP, AOC, Office of Attending Physician,
party secretaries, and other key congressional stakeholders, including
the chamber protective actions, active shooter, chemical response, mass
casualty response, internal relocation, and classified continuity
exercises. We completed over 20 exercises, tabletops, tests, and guided
discussions in 2013, covering all aspects of emergency response,
including primary and alternate emergency operations centers,
transportation, contingency staffing, evacuation, shelter-in-place, and
Alternate Chamber media operations. We regularly exercised the offsite
EOC to test our ability to quickly move staff to a distant location and
maintain Senate operations. This past year we also conducted the first
evacuation drill for both day and night shift staff at the Senate
storage and printing facilities in Maryland. This was also the first
year that we conducted a shelter-in-place exercise for SAA staff
assigned to the sixth floor of the Postal Square building.
The Senate EOC is utilized during emergencies and special events to
coordinate information, resources, and response efforts. Last year, we
conducted an online EOC exercise allowing staff to work at their normal
office location to simulate a shelter-in-place situation. ``Take at
Your Desk'' exercises are also e-mailed multiple times per year for
staff to practice using the emergency management information software.
After-action reports are often generated for each exercise by
documenting lessons learned into a remedial emergency action tracking
system (REACTS) for future plan improvement and to track identified
issues. A classified version of REACTS was developed in 2013 to track
lessons learned from our growing classified exercise program.
Contingency Programs
Our staff, in collaboration the Joint Continuity Office (JCO),
further developed and refined contingency transportation and relocation
site plans in 2013. The Office of Protective Services and Continuity
details staff to this office to support the planning process, policy
guidance, and direction from congressional leadership. Over the last
year, JCO continued developing plans for classified relocation sites,
leadership evacuation sites, transportation operations, and embarkation
points. Continuity of Government plans coordinated with our
congressional planning partners and supporting agencies are on schedule
to be finalized, validated, and exercised.
This year, we launched the Senate Emergency Relocation Group (ERG)
to address the Senate's unique staffing requirements during contingency
operations. Skilled SAA staff were identified and trained to support
Senate continuity operations during an emergency event requiring
relocation. This program provides information, training, supplies and
support to 60 SAA staff members who may relocate to alternate sites
during a contingency event.
Maintaining a viable COOP program is critical to the Senate's
ability to perform constitutionally-mandated functions during local
emergencies. Drafting, developing, and finalizing COOP plans for member
offices and committees is often challenging during periods of demanding
legislative activity. Nonetheless, our team continued working closely
with member offices and committees to ensure their continuity plans
were developed, regularly updated, and ready for execution by using a
simplified template. In 2013, our office began sending reminder
messages to all new member offices emphasizing the importance of
developing their office emergency preparedness and COOP plans. We
developed a new program to assist committees with creating and
maintaining a fly-away kit to be stored at a secure offsite location
for future emergency relocation events.
Our organization also continues to ensure existing plans and
capabilities are regularly maintained and updated. We completed
physical expansion and IT upgrades at the local Alternate Chamber
continuity site. The Alternate Chamber plan was also revised to reflect
these upgrades to better support site operations.
Validating existing contingency plans is critically important and
best accomplished through exercise design and execution. In 2013, our
office again conducted three major exercises at classified continuity
sites in collaboration with the JCO. One exercise validated the use of
pre-staged materials at local departure points and a new automated
Congressional Personnel Accountability System in our emergency boarding
and manifesting plans. Over 40 staff members were identified,
manifested, and transported using emergency bus assets during this
functional exercise. These exercises allowed us to validate draft
plans, confirm critical supply and equipment set-up, develop space
allocation plans, and conduct mock Chamber and broadcast operations.
After-action reports were completed for each exercise and remedial
activities were tracked until completion.
Security Planning and Police Operations
The Police Operations program coordinates with the USCP to process
security requests and services for Senate offices, committees, and
support offices on Capitol Hill. Police Operations staff also
coordinate security assessments, security sweeps, and installations of
proximity card readers and duress buttons. They facilitate security
briefings and police outreach for Capitol Hill Senate staff. Over 260
DC and field committee hearing security assessments were coordinated in
2013.
The Senate Campus Access program facilitates vehicle and delivery
requests to access the Capitol's secure perimeter from congressional
offices, constituents, outside vendors, and other groups. During 2013,
the Senate Campus Access program facilitated 928 access requests
including 269 Senate military liaison office and other Department of
Defense agency requests; 236 member offices requests; 273 USCP, AOC,
and House of Representatives requests; and 150 Federal and foreign
government agencies requests. Senate staff rely heavily on this program
to ensure their guests and constituents, materials, and equipment for
special events are screened and approved by USCP before entering the
Capitol complex.
A USCP Command Center Duty Representative is stationed in the
Command Center to monitor events on or near Capitol Hill and ensure the
Senate community is alerted to any security incident or emergency event
whenever the Senate is in session, including late nights, weekends, and
holidays. In 2013, the Command Center Duty Representative monitored 373
incidents or events including demonstrations, suspicious packages,
evacuations, and local law enforcement responses.
For the upcoming year, the Police Operations program will continue
providing security assistance to Senate offices and serve as the
Sergeant at Arms USCP liaison. The Senate Campus Access program is
essential to screen and inspect materials and items used by outside
groups for events, exhibits, and displays.
The State Office Readiness Program provides security and
preparedness resources to State offices, mirroring programs currently
available to Capitol Hill Senate offices. Participating offices receive
a variety of security enhancements, including secure reception areas to
screen visitors, duress and burglar alarm systems, and closed-circuit
camera systems. The Sergeant at Arms office pays for installation,
maintenance, and alarm monitoring services, including annual
inspections and equipment tests. The program also assists State offices
with completing Emergency Action Plans to identify unique security and
emergency preparedness procedures.
We're always looking for ways to leverage technology to provide
long-distance services as both the program's budget and contract staff
have steadily decreased. We distribute a monthly OEC Bulletin to all
State offices that contains relevant security, preparedness, and hazard
awareness articles. We also provide two Webinars, Security and
Emergency Response for State Offices and State Offices: Responding to
Physically Threatening Individuals, three times each month.
Intelligence, Threat Assessment, and Special Projects
Our office recognizes the value of maintaining collaborative
partnerships with the intelligence community, various Federal, State,
and local law enforcement agencies, and force protection departments in
order to identify potential security risks, monitor threat streams, and
maintain situational awareness. Collaborative partnerships ensure
appropriate mitigation and prevention strategies are deployed to
protect and promote the safety and security of the U.S. Senate, both
domestically and internationally.
Our office, in coordination with the USCP and other law enforcement
entities, ensures appropriate outreach to and coordination among
Senators and staff who receive specific threats. We continuously
review, evaluate, and conduct vulnerability, risk, and threat
assessments to determine and implement appropriate security measures
and Senator protective operations coverage. Additionally, our office
provides a regular situational awareness outreach campaign to the
Senate community regarding upcoming significant events or planned
activities on and in close proximity to the Capitol complex which may
adversely impact Senate business.
This program also supports comprehensive contingency planning,
oversees security operations planning, and creates comprehensive
incident management and response action plans for major events
including the Presidential Inauguration, State of the Union address,
Senatorial retreats, nationally televised concerts at the Capitol, and
various joint sessions of Congress.
information technology
From a budgetary standpoint, more than half of the CIO
organization's fiscal year 2015 request will cover the installation and
support of the equipment acquired by offices through the economic
allocation, and for other programs that benefit offices directly. One
third will be devoted to providing services at the enterprise level,
such as information security, the Senate data network, electronic mail
infrastructure, and telephone systems. The remainder is almost equally
divided between supporting the office of the Secretary of the Senate
with payroll, financial management, legislative information, and
disclosure systems, and our own administrative and management systems.
Enhancing Service, Security and Stewardship
We continue to provide a wide range of effective information
technology solutions to facilitate the Senate's ability to perform its
legislative, constituent service, and administrative duties; safeguard
the information and systems the Senate relies upon; and remain ready to
respond to emergencies and disruptions. As in our other areas, we also
emphasize stewardship--the careful use of all of our resources,
including the funding we are provided, our personnel, and the external
resources that we consume--in all aspects of our information technology
operation.
As we do each year, we have updated our 2-year Information
Technology Strategic Plan. The current version, under which we will be
operating in fiscal year 2015, continues to emphasize our five
strategic information technology goals and their supporting objectives
that drive our programmatic and budgetary decisions:
--Secure: A secure Senate information infrastructure
--Customer Service Focused: A customer service culture top-to-bottom
--Effective: Information technology solutions driven by business
requirements
--Accessible, Flexible & Reliable: Access to mission-critical
information anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances
--Modern: A state-of-the-art information infrastructure built on
modern, proven technologies
Our fourth information technology strategic goal--Accessible,
Flexible & Reliable--may be the most impactful of the five goals. This
goal undergirds everything we do from a technology standpoint. We must
ensure that almost every system and every service we deploy can
withstand disruptions to our operating environment, can be reconfigured
if necessary to cope with disruptions, and can be used regardless of
whether the person trying to use it is located within one of our spaces
or elsewhere. We continuously reevaluate existing services and systems
to identify areas for improvement and make those improvements as soon
as we can, in an effort to ensure the Senate can continue to do its
work under any circumstances.
Enhancing Service to the Senate
Customer Service, Satisfaction, and Communications
Our information technology strategic plan stresses customer service
as a top priority, and we actively solicit feedback from all levels and
for all types of services. For instance, we ask for customer feedback
on every Help Desk ticket opened. In major contracts that affect our
customers, we include strict service levels that are tied to the
contractors' compensation--if they do well, they get paid more; if they
do poorly, they get paid less. Because of reductions to our budget, we
have had to relax the service level requirements, reducing services to
our customers. During the past year, the percentage of on-time arrivals
for the IT installation team never dropped below 99 percent, and 99
percent of customer surveys rated the IT Help Desk and installation
services as either ``very satisfactory'' or ``excellent.'' We expect
this excellent level of performance to continue through fiscal year
2014 under the renegotiated service levels.
We satisfy our customers' demands for the latest in mobile wireless
technology by keeping our technology catalog up to date with the latest
offerings. Last year, we made available several new models of Apple
iPhone and iPad devices. We enhanced our BlackBerry 10 server
environment to support the newest BlackBerry 10 devices, including the
high-end Z30, and plan to add Windows 8 smartphones into our technology
catalog. Microsoft's Enterprise tablet, Surface Pro 2, is already
available to offices in the technology catalog. Our CIO staff also
continues to work extensively with third-party software providers to
enhance our iPhone and iPad corporate e-mail client, looking toward
alternatives that will allow for greater iOS feature integration while
maintaining a solid security posture. Finally, we continue to monitor
and test Android devices with the goal of supporting Android devices
when we can do so with adequate security.
We have made strides in further protecting our mobile devices,
using a service known as LoJack for Laptops. In the event of a loss or
theft, this service enables us to lock or remove all data from the
physical laptop once it is connected to the Internet. Once initiated,
the lock or data wipe command cannot be overridden, even if the laptop
is taken off the Internet. Information provided by the LoJack client
and service may also be used by law enforcement agencies to track and
recover the laptop.
We have enhanced file-sharing and collaboration services to provide
the ability to synchronize your data with all the devices you use. The
Box Enterprise service gives you access to your most recent files, and
makes it possible for you to collaborate with individuals and groups
anywhere, anytime, from any Internet-connected desktop, laptop, tablet
or smartphone. Moreover, my staff has negotiated a purchasing agreement
for this service that will save our customers from $96 to $216 per user
annually on top of the General Services Administration (GSA)-scheduled
discount, depending on the number of user licenses they purchase.
In fiscal year 2015 we will continue to communicate effectively
with our customers through a well-developed outreach program that
includes the CIO area on Webster, information technology newsletters,
periodic project status reviews, information technology working groups,
weekly technology and business process review meetings with customers,
and joint project and policy meetings with the Committee on Rules and
Administration, the Senate Systems Administrators Association, and the
administrative managers steering group.
Robust, Reliable and Modern Communications
We provide modern, robust and reliable data network and network-
based services that the Senate relies upon to communicate
electronically within and among offices on Capitol Hill and in the
States; to and from other legislative branch agencies; and through the
Internet to the public, other agencies and organizations.
In coordination with the four major cellular carriers (AT&T,
Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon), we are in the process of upgrading the
Senate's in-building cellular wireless system to provide 4G/LTE
wireless service throughout the Senate campus. To date, three carriers
have completed their installations, and the fourth should be done by
the end of June.
As part of an effort to improve network performance at the Senate
Support Facility (SSF) located in Maryland, we extended conduit and
fiber-optic cable to the Printing, Graphics and Direct Mail (PGDM)
facility located in the same office park. The PGDM facility is
connected to the Senate campus across a high-speed, direct fiber-optic
connection, while the SSF uses a lower-speed connection through our
Wide-Area Network (WAN) provider. The investment of conduit and cabling
between the sites allows us to utilize the high-speed fiber-optic
connection for both facilities, while utilizing the lower-speed
connection as a redundant connection to both sites.
In 2013, we completed the campus-wide replacement of all wireless
access that comprise the Senate's Enterprise wireless local area
network (LAN) service, commonly referred to as Odyssey. This was a
significant project that required staff to replace more than 500 access
points with newer models. This project increases the overall throughput
of an individual wireless client.
Providing Services that meet Business Requirements
In 2014, we anticipate the rollout of a new wireless LAN service
called Discovery. This service will provide both an enhancement to our
customer base and improve the overall security of the wireless LAN. As
part of the rollout, customers will be able to gain access to the
Discovery network using their Active Directory login credentials, which
is the same username/password combination they use to access their
local LAN. Once authenticated, wireless clients will be placed in their
appropriate local LAN and be afforded the same level of network access
as they have when working from their desktop. This will no longer
require clients to log in to the wireless LAN and establish a virtual
private network (VPN) connection to access the internal Senate data
network. As part of the rollout to Discovery, and from a security
perspective, wireless clients will also undergo an assessment of their
laptop or mobile devices that will verify their devices are compliant,
with up-to-date virus software and definitions, and operating system
updates. This is a significant enhancement to the Senate's wireless LAN
service, as this security assessment has never been an option before
now.
Providing wireless LAN service to the Senate State offices was once
a significant obstacle to overcome from a security perspective but has
now become a common service the Senate offices can obtain. A secure and
cost-effective solution has been made available to the Senate offices
and at the close of 2013, more than 50 State offices had this
capability installed. The wireless access point bundle is available in
the Technology Catalog and extends service beyond the simple
convenience of WiFi service, as it provides a flexible solution for
Senators and staff visiting a State office without the cost of
additional LAN connections. Senate staff are able to seamlessly
transition between their DC office and State offices by using the same
login credentials to access the wireless network.
Providing a Robust and Scalable Network Environment
We deeply understand the importance of Internet service and the
value it brings to our customers in their communication with
constituents, and the ability to conduct online research and facilitate
the legislative process, so in 2013 we upgraded the connections between
the Senate network and the Internet at both the primary and alternate
computing facilities. We doubled the amount of bandwidth at the primary
facility, to 1.0Gbps, and increased the service at the alternate
facility to 0.8Gbps. These upgrades provide higher performance speeds
and ensure that each facility can independently support Internet
traffic in the event that one of the two circuits fails.
Support for COOP and COG
In 2013, we enhanced the LAN capabilities for one of our critical
District of Columbia contingency facilities. As part of an overall
effort to increase our ability to respond to an emergency event that
requires the activation of this location, we worked with the host staff
to install dedicated LAN cabling in both of the buildings planned for
our use. By now having dedicated cabling in these locations, no
additional patching is required and we have significantly reduced the
number of LAN switches that have to be installed inside rooms. This
allows us to more quickly react to a contingency event and reduces the
amount of time required to bring up LAN service at both buildings.
Additionally, we have increased the involvement of networking staff
to support other more outlying emergency operation locations. This
allows us to ensure that all data networking requirements and services
are appropriately addressed and that we offer the full capabilities to
staff reporting to these areas without burdening them with new
processes and procedures.
Meeting New business Requirements
We recognize that growth in requirements for support of personal
computing devices is inevitable, due to the decreasing cost of these
smart devices and their increasing availability. We are actively
evaluating technology that will enable us to assess the security
features of such devices. If a device does not pass the security check,
we will be able to provide online remediation.
A project started in late 2013 and expected to progress in 2014 is
the use of broadband Internet service to support Senate State office
locations. The 460-plus State office locations are currently connected
to the Senate campus using a wide-area service that operates at
relatively low speeds. Although we have made investments of additional
circuits to increase the amount of bandwidth at select State office
locations, the WAN service cannot compete with available bandwidth
through business-class Internet services. We are currently in the pilot
stage of this project; however, the results have been very encouraging.
Using broadband Internet service will allow us to significantly
increase the amount of bandwidth at each location and thus increase the
performance at each site for both intranet and Internet services. The
increased bandwidth also affords us the ability to support emerging
technologies such as increased video-conferencing capabilities between
DC and a State office, and the potential introduction of Watson voice
services to the State offices. As part of the overall project, we are
adding technical capabilities such as Power over Ethernet (PoE). Adding
PoE allows us to more seamlessly support ancillary equipment, such as
wireless access points and IP-based phones, without requiring separate
power sources.
Customer Service Culture
The Network Operations Center (NOC) is tasked with monitoring the
overall health of the Senate's Enterprise data network and is the main
troubleshooting point of contact for problem resolution. In 2013, the
NOC received and serviced 2,184 Service Center ``incident'' tickets,
processed more than 2,000 change requests, and processed more than 550
LAN drop requests.
In 2013, Senate offices completed 605 customer satisfaction
surveys, of which 94 percent of respondents indicated they were very
satisfied with the level of service provided to them, with 85 percent
indicating the service was excellent. In order to maintain this level
of service and exceed these percentages in 2014, the NOC has instituted
a process that requires a call back to any office that submits a survey
indicating they were just ``satisfied'' or worse with the service
provided to them.
Ensuring Security of the Senate's Network Environment
To continue to strengthen the security at our border with the
Internet, we upgraded the firewalls between the Senate network and the
Internet to new appliance-based units. This upgrade accomplished two
things: it ensured we remained on the most current product; and it
allowed us to separate the firewall from the network known as the
``demilitarized zone'' that supports all publicly-available services.
That last benefit provides an easier way to accommodate future upgrades
and enhances our failover capabilities.
We are looking into upgrading to ``smart'' power distribution
strips in our server racks in the two data centers, which would allow
us to control power per outlet and to continue our greening efforts. We
will be modernizing the management of data centers with a centralized
system which will include collecting and reporting detailed power usage
and environmental statistics, capacity planning, workflow and
dashboards resulting in improved efficiency and reduced risk of
failures and outages.
Our robust messaging infrastructure processed approximately 306
million Internet e-mail messages during the past calendar year. In
addition, we support effective communication through the use of
videoconferencing.
We continued to enhance our videoconferencing infrastructure that
supports hundreds of calls per day, including calls to anyone in the
world through a secure, publicly-available client. With this
capability, communication with those outside the Senate enjoys the same
quality, reliability, and security as calls within the Senate. We also
extended these videoconferencing capabilities to include the iPad.
We improved the multi-user/multi-site video call services to
increase video quality, streamline the connection process, and more
accurately reflect the way we have found our customers use the service.
We also strengthened the resiliency of the core videoconferencing
services by enhancing our high availability infrastructure to protect
services such as our directories and the mobile client registration
process resulting in less downtime and increased reliability.
The Senate will be one of the first major Government institutions
to offer full support of Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows
8.1. Our support strategy began by introducing Windows 8.1 on a newly-
supported tablet, the Microsoft Surface Pro 2. Offices wishing to adopt
Windows 8 on their desktops, either partially or widely, now have that
option as well. Full support for Windows 7 remains an available desktop
operating system option and will be for the foreseeable future.
This past year, Watson Unified Conferencing replaced our legacy
audio conferencing system and yielded additional savings in maintenance
and support. It also increases our total audio conferencing capacity
and better integrates with our e-mail system for simplified scheduling.
More than 6,000 people in 130 offices take advantage of the service. We
continue to pursue opportunities to deliver additional unified
communications capabilities by further integrating the Microsoft Lync
platform with our telecommunications and videoconferencing
infrastructures.
Committees extensively use streaming video to broadcast their
hearings over the Internet. This past year we completed the transition
of our own internally-supported infrastructures and decommissioned
them. We also renegotiated our contract with our content delivery
network provider, saving $35,000 per year and adding the capability to
easily stream to Apple iPhones and iPads. As we reported last year,
we've realized huge benefits since moving to this service, including
the capability to serve virtually unlimited numbers of simultaneous
viewers, DVR-like capabilities for live streaming events, protection
against denial of service attacks, and the elimination of the impact
that large numbers of viewers created on the Senate's Internet
connections.
The Large File Transfer System continues to perform, after 4 years,
with virtually no downtime. Currently, 71 offices use it to efficiently
transfer large files with other offices in the Senate as well as
external entities including other Government agencies, the media, and
constituents. The Senate Recording Studio also uses the system to send
video files to Senators' offices, both on Capitol Hill and in their
home States. Between January 2013 and January 2014, the system
processed more than 2,000 files and nearly 2,000 gigabytes of data.
Web-Based and Customer-Focused Business Applications
We continue to add functionality to TranSAAct, which is our
platform for moving business online. Based on the requirements of
offices and the Committee on Rules and Administration, we continue to
develop TranSAAct to eliminate paper-based manual processes and move
them to the Web. Because it is built on an extensible modern database
framework, TranSAAct allows indefinite expansion as new requirements
are identified.
Over the last year we expanded our asset management features to
include the ability to relocate, reassign, return to stock, and request
repairs for assets assigned to an office. Office staff can initiate
full-service and self-service requests according to defined business
rules. Some requests that follow specific business rules, such as
reassigning an asset from one person to another, can be completed
efficiently in real time with no SAA staff intervention through
integration with the asset management system. For requests that require
staff involvement, TranSAAct facilitates the workflow by integrating
with the Service Manager system (to automatically generate a work
order) or the Senate Technology Catalog, as appropriate. This approach
provides faster customer service through increased efficiencies and the
reduction of duplicative data entry. Offices can link to Service
Manager tickets for up-to-date status information for service requests
initiated in TranSAAct. We have also provided enhancement to enable our
Equipment Services team to more effectively support TranSAAct initiated
requests.
This past fall, we completed our work with the Secretary of the
Senate to add Stationery Room usage and billing information to
TranSAAct. We have also added Economic Allocation Funds (EAF) reports,
allowing offices to view their EAF transactions and balances through
TranSAAct. We are currently planning a technology refresh, upgrading
versions of infrastructure components. We have also begun planning to
update some of the earliest service request pages, such as parking and
ID request pages, to take advantage of our current development tools
and techniques to improve the customer experience and update business
rules as needed. We continue to work with offices to prioritize
features including moving additional business processes to the Web,
delivering increased functionality to administrative staff, and
reducing the time, paper and errors associated with manual processes.
We continue working in collaboration with the Secretary of the
Senate to support and enhance the newly-implemented PeopleSoft Senate
Payroll system. Phase I, replacement of the 20-year-old mainframe-based
system, was successfully completed in September of last year. Phase II,
implementation of employee self-service, will be coming in the next few
months. This new system provides the Senate a state-of-the-art
technological platform that should serve the Senate well over the
coming years.
After passage of the Stock Act, S. 4038, we began work with the
Secretary of the Senate and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics to
develop a new Electronic Financial Disclosure (eFD) application and
database. This new system supports electronic filing of financial
disclosure reports and public access to those reports. Member and
candidate financial disclosure reports are now available for the public
to search, view, and download. The second phase, which went live as
planned on January 1, 2014, provided for online periodic and annual
report filing, and public access to all financial disclosure reports in
the Secretary of the Senate's Office of Public Records. The system also
supports administrative processing and reporting for the Senate Ethics
Committee, Government Accountability Office, and Office of Public
Records. We will complete a third phase with additional features and
tools in April 2014.
We expanded the options available to offices for content management
systems to support their www.senate.gov Web sites. This was in response
to requests for open source, rather than proprietary, systems that are
more prevalent in Web site development and have a much larger market
share than our existing offerings. Senate offices and vendors now have
more choices of development platforms. Both Drupal and WordPress are
now in use as content management systems on some of our public-facing
Web sites. We expect more offices to migrate to the Drupal platform in
the future, and Drupal sites are being developed at a reduced cost over
previous sites using the Cold Fusion-based products.
We provide numerous Web-based systems to enhance the productivity
of office staff, such as one for the Placement Office that allows
external applicants to electronically submit job applications for
positions in Senate offices. We also enhanced the Lobbyist Registration
application to create a more robust reporting functionality for general
public consumption.
Showcasing and Promoting Modern Information Technology in
the Senate
We will continue to highlight new technologies in the Information
Technology Demonstration Center through demo days, which have been
well-attended in the past. After products are tested and validated in
our technology assessment laboratory, they are then available for staff
to try in the Demo Center. The demo days feature live demonstrations of
new and emerging technologies.
In order to perform technology assessments, feasibility analyses,
and proof of concept studies to ensure we are considering technologies
that will directly support the Senate's mission, we continue to improve
the capabilities in our technology assessment laboratory. Technologies
and solutions are vetted and tested here prior to being announced for
pilot, prototype, or mass deployment to the Senate. To ensure we focus
on the most relevant technologies and solutions, the highly successful
Technology Advisory Group, consisting of CIO staff and our customers,
performs high-level requirements analysis and prioritizes new
technologies and solutions for consideration for deployment in the
Senate.
We continue to make progress in providing unified communications
capability, tying together voice, video, and data communications into a
single tool that presents the user the available communication options
to make contact with those with whom they work. This is based on the
ways the person with whom they are communicating wants to be
communicated with and the capabilities of the device used. With the
rollout of Watson Unified Conferencing, our instant messaging, audio
and Web conferencing, desktop sharing, and presence information are now
accessible from a single client that is integrated with our
telecommunications and e-mail systems. Efforts to extend the
capabilities of our videoconferencing infrastructure to the unified
client are under way and will continue this year.
We will continue or intensify these efforts in fiscal year 2015 to
ensure that the Senate is always well equipped to perform its
functions. To keep our customers informed of our efforts, we publish
the results of our studies on the emerging technology page of the CIO's
area on Webster.
Enhancing Security for the Senate
Enhancing Security through System and Information
Resiliency
As I mentioned earlier, we build security, accessibility,
flexibility, and reliability into every system and service. We continue
to test our technology in scenarios in which our primary infrastructure
and primary work locations have become inaccessible. This includes the
simulated loss of our primary data and network facilities, as well as
simulated loss of staff work spaces. All mission-essential Senate
Enterprise information systems continue to be replicated at our
Alternate Computing Facility, using our upgraded optical network and
storage area network technology. We have created a high-availability
videoconferencing infrastructure that operates simultaneously at the
primary and alternate facilities, allowing for automated recovery from
a loss of either the primary or alternate facility without loss of core
videoconferencing network services.
We conduct a variety of exercises to ensure we are prepared from an
information technology standpoint to cope with events ranging from a
burst water pipe, to a pandemic, to an evacuation of Capitol Hill.
These exercises demonstrate our ability to support mission-essential
systems under adverse conditions, and the ability to support
substantial numbers of people working from home. We continue to
exercise the ability to support our Senate customers in the event of an
emergency situation which may limit our ability to get to work. This
includes weekly and monthly exercises designed to ensure technical
support is available from the Alternate Computing Facility and other
remote locations. Our diligence to this initiative has proved
worthwhile during various weather events. With the knowledge that the
business of the Senate continued and that State office locations were
not affected by the weather in Washington, DC, our staff continued to
support the Senate community remotely throughout these events. This
included answering the phones from home-based locations, highlighting
the capabilities that our current migration to IP telephony will bring
to the rest of the Senate.
Securing our Information Infrastructure
We are now deploying critical non-Apple software patches to about
two-thirds of the Macintosh computers in the Senate environment, a
number that continues to increase over time. We have deployed a
configuration to ensure that the Macs download and install available
Apple application patches, and we plan to expand to patching Apple
operating system and Microsoft Office suite patches in the coming year.
Active and aggressive adversaries continue to target the Senate's
information and technology assets. Over the last year we have found
that keeping the Senate information technology infrastructure secure
against these threats is becoming increasingly more complex. We strive
to satisfy our customers' demands for the latest in technological
innovations, but find that the new technologies come with new,
undocumented vulnerabilities. As a consequence of performing
vulnerability assessments and through work with our technology vendors,
we have found that even ``mature'' technologies are often vulnerable
and require periodic security patches. To compound things further,
there are a growing number of adversaries using tools with increasing
sophistication in their attempts to destabilize the Internet in order
to take advantage of the previously-mentioned vulnerabilities.
These challenges create circumstances where the IT Security group
must continue to:
--intensify our cybersecurity intelligence coordination and
analytical processing ability;
--improve our vulnerability identification and mitigation processes;
--increase our end user awareness training; and
--continuously evaluate new technologies and improve our existing
information technologies to compensate for the inherent
insecurity of those technologies and the increasingly
destabilized nature of the Internet.
Over the past 3 years, our IT security staff has noted a marked
decrease in the number of security incidents handled by the Security
Operations Center. The number of security incidents decreased from 408
incidents in 2011, to 310 incidents in 2012, to 249 incidents in 2013.
This continued decrease in the number of incidents represents a 24
percent reduction from 2011 to 2012 and a 20 percent decline from 2012
to 2013, with an overall decrease of 39 percent from 2011 to 2013. The
decrease in overall security incidents can likely be attributed to a
combination of factors: our increased level of end user awareness
through cyber threats briefings and end user information security
awareness training, better cyber intelligence sharing with other
agencies, and our continual hardening of Senate devices through
patching and better integration of security controls.
In the past year, we have analyzed over 2,000 incidents involving
potential malware and have shared attack indicators with other Federal
agencies, thus raising the level of awareness and protecting the U.S.
Government as a whole. Our analysis of malware identified a number of
instances where previously unknown zero-day attacks have been attempted
against newly identified vulnerabilities that did not yet have security
fixes. These attacks would have otherwise gone undetected and could
have eventually compromised our entire network. By working with other
organizations, not only have we protected the Senate's IT environment,
we have raised awareness with our colleagues in the rest of the Federal
Government.
Calls to the Help Desk for assistance with remediating virus
infections have decreased over the past year. In calendar year 2011,
the Help Desk received 121 requests for help with virus-related issues,
while in calendar year 2012, the number of requests increased to 165.
In 2013, the number of virus-related calls decreased to 105.
We still observe ``spear phishing'' to be a significant avenue for
potential exploitation. While the number of targeted attacks against
Senate assets decreased in 2013 from 2012, the adversaries conducting
these attacks use techniques we assess to be among the most
resourceful, persistent, and technologically advanced. We have also
seen targeted attacks by known adversaries against personal accounts of
Senate personnel, including through social media, apparently attempting
to leverage access beyond the reach of our countermeasures.
Using open source intelligence, we have seen attempts to target
users by compromising Web sites that are commonly used by members of
the Senate community or by the general public in what are called
``watering hole attacks.'' The recent wtop.com Web site infection and
several other popular site infections suggest that adversaries are
adjusting their tactics by targeting ``watering holes'' that are
outside the Senate security perimeter in attempts to infect Senate
devices that visit the infected Web pages.
To protect against these ``watering hole'' attacks, we have
deployed a Secure Web Gateway service to provide the Senate with
increased protection against compromised Web sites that house malware
staged by cybercriminals or other malicious actors. The solution scans
browser traffic for malicious activity and blocks connection attempts
to known malicious Web sites. It also analyzes the data stream to
recognize and block malware that might be carried by compromised sites.
Our Vulnerability Assessment program and Systems Management Service
directly contribute to our strategic goal to provide a secure Senate
information infrastructure. The Vulnerability Assessment program
routinely scans every computer on the Senate network to examine the
configuration and identify vulnerabilities. The Systems Management
Service (SMS) provides automated critical security patches to non-
Microsoft software on both Windows and Apple Mac computers. We have
seen lower levels in the average security vulnerability of systems
since SMS was implemented.
We continue to sharpen and update our defenses in order to be able
to successfully defend against advanced persistent threats and to
compensate for the destabilizing Internet. Our ability to detect and
neutralize these attacks is only possible with our continued close
cooperation with our user community and the wider Federal Government.
We must continue to coordinate and share information regarding all
attack vectors with other Federal agencies so that we can all be better
able to defend against these threats.
Using information gained through close coordination with Federal
agencies, we continue to conduct threat briefings for system
administrators, office leadership, and other staff. Our vigilant
monitoring and analysis of the evolving threat environment enable us to
better develop effective countermeasures. Since even the best
countermeasures can eventually be defeated, we augment our technical
countermeasures with educating end users on the current threats, the
techniques that are often used, and how to counter them. Over the last
year, such training and awareness briefings have paid off in the form
of increased situational awareness. Many of our tips come from Senate
staff who have been targeted by adversaries. These tips have proven to
be a wealth of information for our external partners, who are better
able to protect their networks by deploying technical countermeasures.
Enhancing Stewardship
Enhancing Stewardship through Fiscal and Environmental
Responsibility
Stewardship of our resources is intertwined with everything we do,
as well as being a driving force for some of our activities. We are
always looking for ways to improve our processes or technologies so
that we save time, money, electricity, paper, or other resources. Our
CIO organization is a good steward of the fiscal resources of the
Senate, consistently and continuously improving on the services offered
to our customers while seeking only modest increases in funding. Many
initiatives save offices hundreds or thousands of dollars in costs that
would otherwise be borne out of their official accounts. As most of
these initiatives save money due to a reduction in the purchase of some
commodity, they also fit in with our efforts toward environmental
stewardship. Following are some examples of our efforts to enhance
fiscal and environmental stewardship:
--The consolidation of our e-mail, mobility and network
authentication systems has yielded significant savings in
ongoing support and innovation costs. Contractor support costs
have already been reduced by over $700,000 annually. Through
the use of fewer, scaled servers that each support larger
numbers of users, we are realizing additional hardware and
software cost savings as these systems are replaced at the
conclusion of their normal lifecycle. We have already removed
more than 30 physical servers as part of the effort.
--Our Systems Management Service for automated deployment of
applications and updates to workstations and servers reduce the
maintenance burden on users and aid in maintaining a secure
systems baseline.
--We have continued our virtualization efforts, where we now reduce
energy, maintenance, and support costs by running more than 887
of our servers in a virtual environment. We will continue an
aggressive campaign to virtualize servers until every server
that can be virtualized has been virtualized.
--Offices have taken great advantage of our virtual machine
infrastructure that allows us to centrally host their file and
application servers on shared hardware at our primary and
alternate facilities. This approach greatly increases server
hardware efficiency, and, through system duplication and data
replication, offers enterprise-class data redundancy and
recovery in the event of a critical local failure or crisis.
The virtual solution also relieves offices of considerable
noise and excess heat, and increases usable working areas for
staff. It removes the single point of failure from existing
office servers and meets continuity of operations and data
replication requirements for approximately half the cost of
existing solutions. To date we are hosting 101 member and
committee office file servers with a total of 124 virtual
servers. Virtual servers running in the data center consume
only 25 percent of the energy of a comparable number of
physical servers. This means a reduction in power consumption
and air conditioning requirements, saving Senate funds, while
enhancing our ability to provide reliable and redundant
services. Fewer servers used by the Senate also means fewer
servers that need to be manufactured and, therefore, have to be
disposed of at their end of life, which is ``greening'' on a
national scale.
--We renegotiated the contracts with both of our Content Distribution
Network providers for streaming the Senate floor and committee
hearings and realized a combined $150,000 per year savings.
--We continue to use our technology catalog to highlight the energy-
efficient aspects of our supported information technology and
general office equipment, and we participated in the Senate
Environmental and Energy Showcase.
--We continue our efforts to dispose of surplus electronic equipment
by identifying non-supported equipment and preparing it for
disposal by the General Services Administration. We also send
more sensitive equipment like magnetic media and mobile
communications equipment to the National Security Agency. Last
year we sent over 8,500 pieces of IT equipment to GSA for
redistribution or resale and over 2,500 pieces of equipment to
National Security Agency (NSA) for destruction.
--We also ensure that the devices we recommend to the Senate meet the
applicable EnergyStar guidelines and, where feasible, the
guidelines for the responsible manufacture of information
technology equipment.
operations
Central Operations
Smart Card Programs--ID Office
The Senate ID Office continues to work with other Government
agencies on infrastructure for Smart Cards based on HSPD-12 (Homeland
Security Presidential Directive--the policy for a common identification
standard for Federal employees and contractors). SAA staff from the ID
Office and Technology Development Services are collaborating with
executive branch counterparts to implement smart access cards.
Currently, in conjunction with the Secretary of the Senate, the SAA is
issuing Senate Smart Cards, to provide digital signatures on paperless
transactions for the Disbursing Office.
Parking Operations
Improving communication to enhance customer service continues to be
a primary focus of the Parking Operations team. The recently
implemented parking system now allows direct communication to
individual permit holders when a situation unique to their permitted
area arises. Social media will be explored to provide additional
methods of communication in the upcoming fiscal year.
We anticipate that preparing for long-term parking displacements
will require the attention of Parking Operations during fiscal year
2015. The Architect of the Capitol is planning renovations of the
Russell Legislative Garage and the Thurgood Marshall Judiciary Office
Building Garage. The Russell Legislative Garage renovation will
displace the parking permit issuance booth and over 100 spaces, which
are under the control of the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Parking Operations will work closely with the committee's staff and AOC
personnel to ensure customer service can be maintained and displaced
garage permit holders are accommodated in other Senate areas. The
renovation of the Thurgood Marshall Judiciary Office Building Garage
will create another set of challenges, as it is anticipated that the
number of spaces after the renovation will be reduced. Parking
Operations will ensure all stakeholders are aware of the plans for both
renovations.
Transportation and Fleet Operations
Transportation and Fleet Operations procures, manages, and
maintains SAA vehicles; provides transportation information to offices;
and manages, maintains, and operates the Fleet Parking Shuttle service.
The SAA fleet includes trucks, vans, buses, SUVs, electric vehicles,
Segways, and a handicapped-accessible van to support the Senate
community. Transportation and Fleet Operations is responsible for
vehicle service maintenance and repair, completing work orders,
equipment installations, tag/registration renewals, and inspections for
all fleet vehicles. Fleet staff transported more than 20,000 Senate
staffers through the Parking Shuttle service during fiscal year 2013.
Transportation and Fleet Operations is a leader in ``go green''
initiatives with flex-fuel/E-85 vehicles, gas-electric hybrids, all-
electric vehicles, Segway Personal Transports, diesel exhaust fluid
(DEF)-certified trucks, and a MAXXFORCE-equipped diesel engine truck
with Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) to meet latest Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) standards.
Photography Studio
The Photography Studio provides photography and imaging services
for Senate offices, capturing more than 82,263 photo images and
producing more than 78,172 photo prints during fiscal year 2013. The
studio's popular image archiving service was used to digitize 3,845
images from film and prints, and transferred 26,321 images to digital
media (CD, DVD or PHD), during fiscal year 2013.
During fiscal year 2013, the Photo Studio coordinated with the
House and the Architect of the Capitol photo divisions to expand and
enhance the coverage of the 57th Presidential Inauguration ceremony.
The photo browser application continues to provide a secure location to
store and organize, download, and upload photos, as well as place
orders for photo prints through a Web interface. Testing on green
screen technology for portraits is close to completion, allowing
Senators to have their portrait images photographed on a green screen
and digitally combined with different unique backgrounds and locations
that are difficult to access, or seasonal images that Senators may
otherwise find inconvenient or inaccessible when the Senate is in
session.
Printing, Graphics and Direct Mail
The Printing, Graphics and Direct Mail (PGDM) branch provides high-
level, direct customer support to the Senate community through
photocopying, graphic design, printing, mailing, document preservation,
logistics, and security, producing over 61.8 million items during
fiscal year 2013. Over the past year, PGDM has dramatically increased
its output for our Senate customers, while at the same time holding the
line on personnel and other costs. We are making the most of technology
and other innovations to expand our service offerings and enhance
efficiency and security.
To continuously improve and maintain a flexible and responsive
organization, PGDM introduced our new and improved Web-based Online
Ordering service. PGDM received and confirmed 379 work orders
requesting over 4 million printed documents that were electronically
submitted using this easy and convenient option.
As a good steward of fiscal resources, PGDM garnered notable
savings for the Senate. More than $1 million was saved in postage costs
by pre-sorting and discounting 5.8 million pieces of outgoing Senate
franked mail. Another $54,000 in postage was saved by using new
software to identify 123,778 undeliverable addresses before they were
introduced into the United States Postal Service (USPS) mail stream.
Additionally, we saved approximately $823,000 by producing 9,260 charts
in-house for Senate floor proceedings, committee hearings, and special
events.
PGDM offers a variety of finishing options for books: plastic coil
bind, thermal, and perfect bind. During fiscal year 2013, PGDM
completed 773,040 books using these binding options.
The branch continued to improve operations and responded to 60,533
individual Senate job requests during fiscal year 2013. PGDM met Senate
office demands for document preservation by scanning and digitizing
over 5.1 million pages of Senate documents, generating more than 13.5
million searchable PDFs during fiscal year 2013, compared to 4.6
million during fiscal year 2012. PGDM also scanned 994,484 pieces of
unprocessed constituent mail during fiscal year 2013, compared to
747,659 pieces during fiscal year 2012, an increase of 33 percent. This
service allows offices to electronically route mail to staff and import
into their Constituent Services Systems.
PGDM has implemented a system called Multimedia Digitization to
convert analog media (VHS and Beta tapes, cassette tapes, and 35mm
slides) to Movie Picture Experts (MP3 and MPG) and Waveform Audio File
(WAV) formats for preservation. To date, PGDM has used this new service
to convert 2,839 tapes or slides from obsolete media to digital.
The document management system, OnBase, continues to be a useful
and popular tool among Senate offices. PGDM creates customized, Web-
accessible, secure, searchable document databases for Senate offices
that are populated with documents sent to PGDM for scanning and by
Senate offices entering their own digital documents. During fiscal year
2013, PGDM loaded 39,799 full documents, ranging in page count from 1
to 1,000 pages each, into Members' OnBase accounts.
PGDM produced 3,423 rolls of microfilm, converting over 3.9 million
microfilm frames to searchable PDF pages, for Senate offices during
fiscal year 2013, compared to just 950 during fiscal year 2012. PGDM
offers secure disposal for obsolete documents and, during fiscal year
2013, shredded and disposed of 9,253 boxes of obsolete documents,
compared to 3,387 during fiscal year 2012.
The branch also introduced Secure Scanning, a service that
digitizes sensitive documents such as personnel files and case work
using secure transport, a secure room for production, and a separate
stand-alone scanning system. This program safeguarded over 123,868
confidential documents for the United State Capitol Police during
fiscal year 2013.
PGDM picks up boxes that are prepared for the offsite storage
facility and scans the contents to DVDs, or to the office's OnBase
account. Once scanning is complete, PGDM will repack and deliver the
boxes to the facility for storage. This helps Senate offices prepare
for future donation to a repository and allows the office to have
immediate digital access to documents for research or auditing
purposes. Using this new service, PGDM assisted Senate offices in
transporting and scanning over 500 boxes of Senate documents before
shipment to the storage facility.
Customer focus is a priority with PGDM; we are committed to be
flexible and explore new opportunities to improve the quality of
services to the Senate community. PGDM maintains a high level of
service in our satellite copy centers for Senate offices by providing
reliable, user-friendly copiers. In fiscal year 2013, the satellite
copy centers produced more than 3.9 million pages utilizing the nine
robust self-serve copiers, an 11 percent increase over fiscal year
2012.
More than 28 million pages were printed during fiscal year 2013. Of
these, there were 2 million color copies produced; 16 million produced
utilizing conventional full-color offset printing; and 3.8 million
personalized constituent letters printed using variable print
technology. In an effort to assist Senate offices to efficiently direct
constituent mailings, PGDM can individually address and seal mail
pieces simultaneously. During fiscal year 2013, PGDM individually
addressed over 1.9 million mail pieces to target specific constituents.
Foil stamping/embossing/die cutting continues to gain in popularity;
PGDM produced 449,438 pieces during fiscal year 2013, compared to
248,542 during fiscal year 2012, an increase of 81 percent.
PGDM's commitment to teamwork and excellent customer service
extends to its legislative branch partners as well. We worked
collaboratively with the Architect of the Capitol to fulfill 86,118
flag requests during fiscal year 2013. We assisted the AOC by storing
and delivering 3,359,000 tickets, brochures, and pamphlets to support
the Capitol Visitor Center and the Capitol building; an increase of 129
percent from fiscal year 2012. By working in tandem with the Government
Printing Office, PGDM delivered more than 3.4 million documents (Pocket
Constitutions, Our Flag, Our American Government, etc.) to requestors;
and increase of 55 percent from 2.2 million documents in fiscal year
2012.
Through effective communication and teamwork, PGDM's Senate Support
Facility upheld the SAA mission for operational security during fiscal
year 2013 by receiving 575,088 items from the USCP off-site inspection
facility and transferring them to the Senate Support Facility (SSF),
our warehouse facility. This process eliminated 421 commercial truck
deliveries to Capitol Hill, reducing traffic and allowing the USCP to
focus on other aspects of safety.
The branch continues its commitment to assist the USCP with
innovative methods of managing crowds and access for special events
taking place on Capitol Hill. PGDM provides large format printing of
signs and banners for major events, plus security enhancements for
tickets, badges, and placards. To make it extremely difficult to
reproduce counterfeit items, PGDM uses clear toner technology along
with a custom USCP hologram that is foil stamped on credentials.
Senate Post Office
The Senate Post Office delivers mail and packages to over 180 mail
stops within the Capitol complex and multiple other locations within
the Washington metropolitan area. Same-day pickup and desk-to-desk
delivery of ``Inside Mail'' documents, commercial carrier packages, and
United States Postal Service mail is provided. All incoming mail and
packages addressed to the Senate's DC offices are thoroughly tested
prior to delivery.
In an effort to promote greater efficiency and to meet the demands
of a reduced budget, the Senate Post Office underwent a thorough
operational review over the past year. Through attrition and the SAA
Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP), the Senate Post Office
reduced staff from 75 to 66 FTEs. Furthermore, a thorough review of the
two retail unit locations determined the Russell Post Office (located
in Room SR-B34B) lacked sufficient revenue and customers to support
staffing, and was permanently closed.
The Senate Post Office introduced handheld scanners for the purpose
of online mail tracking and reducing the use of paper receipts. The
handheld devices use the latest barcode tracking software, mobile
computing hardware, and package shipping software to monitor and
control the flow of inbound, outbound, and inter-office mail. The
handheld data collection devices provide signature capture, desktop
syncing, and in-depth reporting, and they allow a mail carrier to track
any mail piece and monitor its distribution. The Senate Post Office
continues to explore emerging technology to promote better efficiency.
The Senate Post Office continuously strives to be a good steward of
taxpayers' dollars while elevating performance. Credit and debit card
transactions accounted for 22 percent of overall retail sales totaling
slightly under $1.7 million during fiscal year 2013. The Contract
Access Retail System (CARS) implemented in February 2013 has been
successful at providing automatic updates and allowing customers' real
time tracking capabilities through the USPS Web site.
While competing against digital broadcast and social media, mail
remains an active medium for constituent communication with Senators
and their staff. During fiscal year 2013, the Senate Post Office
received, tested, and delivered 17,149,915 safe items to Senate
offices, including 13,553,040 pieces of USPS mail; 3,166,560 pieces of
internal mail routed within the Senate and to/from other Government
agencies; 195,547 packages; and 234,768 courier items. Even as overall
mail volume nationwide has declined sharply in recent years, USPS mail
received by the Senate has continued to trend upward over the past 5
years.
All mail and packages addressed to the Senate's DC offices are
tested and delivered by Senate Post Office employees. During fiscal
year 2013, highly trained Senate Post Office off-site mail staff
intercepted 27 articles containing potentially harmful and suspicious
substances. The United States Capitol Police Hazardous Material
Response Team examined those and 48 other items, and Senate Post Office
management screened 8,313 items requiring further scrutiny. These
mailings were addressed to Senators with the intent to disrupt Senate
business.
All suspicious items were reported to the Capitol Police and
investigated. On Tuesday, April 16, 2013, the Senate Mail Facility that
services Senators' DC offices received mail that tested positive for
the toxin ricin. Mail delivery resumed on Monday, April 22, 2013, as we
activated our continuity of operations plan by processing Senate mail
at the House screening facility while additional testing and cleanup of
the Senate facility was accomplished. The Senate Mail Facility returned
to normal operations on May 1, 2013. As a safety precaution, all of the
U.S. Senate mail processed during the ricin event was scanned and then
printed. This digitization process ensured that all mail affected by
the incident was safely and securely transmitted to the intended
Senator or committee without risk of potential contamination. You can
be confident that our mail processing system worked precisely the way
it was designed.
Senate Post Office management worked with the Committee on
Appropriations and the Committee on Rules and Administration to build
and operate one of the best facilities within the Government to process
time-sensitive documents delivered to the Senate. The Congressional
Acceptance Site ensures all same-day documents are x-rayed, opened, and
tested, and are safe for delivery to Senate offices. During fiscal year
2013, more than 234,000 items were successfully tested and delivered.
The Senate Post Office, in conjunction with the Senate State Office
Readiness Program, educates offices on the importance of the continued
use of the Postal Sentry. The Postal Sentry, if used properly, provides
the best level of protection should State offices receive mail
containing a potentially harmful substance. The Senate Postmaster has
requested that all Senate State office staff utilize the Postal Sentry
mail processing system whenever mail is opened. The Senate Post Office
participates in monthly Webinars educating State offices on the proper
use of the Postal Sentry. Currently, 348 State offices have the Postal
Sentry.
Capitol Facilities
Capitol Facilities serves the Senate community by providing a clean
and professional work environment in the Capitol. Through its
Environmental Services division, it cleans Capitol spaces, moves
Capitol furniture, and provides special event setups in the Capitol--
including ten event spaces in the Capitol Visitor Center Senate
expansion space. Capitol Facilities Furnishings division provides
furniture, carpeting, and window treatments to Capitol offices.
Staffing in the department was reduced by over 15 percent in fiscal
year 2013, resulting in cost savings of over $520,000. To meet cyclical
customer demands during peak event setups and furniture moves, Capitol
Facilities ensures labor cost efficiency by supplementing the full-time
workforce with contracted labor in place of additional FTEs.
As with many other SAA departments, Capitol Facilities truly is
``doing more with less.'' During fiscal year 2013, Capitol Facilities
completed 3,263 special event setups in the Capitol and CVC Senate
expansion space, an increase of 33 percent from fiscal year 2012.
Service requests from Capitol offices for moving furniture, delivering
supplies, and providing picture frames to Senate offices totaled 5,320,
an increase of nearly 87 percent from fiscal year 2012.
The Furnishings division provides furnishings for Capitol offices
on the Senate side by maintaining an inventory of stock items as well
as designing and producing custom pieces. The Cabinet Shop designed,
built, and installed 57 pieces of furniture including new public
corridor sign holders and a custom upholstered bench for the Finance
Committee. In addition, the Cabinet Shop responded to 348 service calls
during fiscal year 2013. During fiscal year 2013, there were 2,121
requests for construction of frames and specialty framing.
The division provided the chairs and tables that are used by the
President and the Vice-President during the Inauguration. In addition,
the division also provides carpeting and draperies to Capitol offices
and is responsible for facilitating moves of the private Capitol
offices. In fiscal year 2013, 53 offices were moved and 15 new offices
were selected.
To increase customer service to the Senate community, Capitol
Facilities continues to look for efficiencies in its operations and is
utilizing the latest technologies available, including the Computer
Numerical Control (CNC) machine, which is essentially a computer-
controlled router/shaper. This machine will dramatically reduce the
time needed to fabricate cabinetry and furniture. Additional
enhancements of the online ordering system, CapFOR, are planned,
further improving the level of service to the Capitol offices.
Comprised of seven modules, CapFOR allows customers to submit requests
online for furniture, special events, supplies, and framing; the system
is also accessible for the first time to outside constituents to
facilitate placing their special event setup requirements online. The
system increases efficiency and reduces errors in the customer request
process.
Office Support Services
Through timely communication and consistent high quality standards,
the Office Support Services team continues to ensure all SAA services
to Senate offices are provided efficiently.
Office Support Services staff serve as the liaison between
Senators' State offices and the commercial or Federal landlords. The
State Office Liaison oversees 450 State offices. They work with Senate
offices to negotiate the most comprehensive State office lease
agreements that are both cost effective and competitive to the
commercial market rates within the location where the office is
located. The State Office Liaison negotiated 68 new commercial space
leases for State offices, 17 Federal space assignments, one new mobile
office lease, 26 lease renewals, and 46 lease amendments.
Customer Support continues to consult members, leadership, and
committees regarding the most efficient use of office automation, and
analyzes functional operations and workflow in Senate offices to
determine how new office technology might improve efficiency and
productivity. During fiscal year 2013, this team coordinated 34 office
moves in DC, numerous State office moves and, post-election,
coordinated the opening and closing of nine additional Senators'
offices.
capitol operations
Providing exceptional service to our customers--internal and
external--remains the focus of our Capitol Operations team. Over the
past year, team members once again provided a range of services to
Senators and their staffs, visitors to the Capitol, members of the news
media who cover Congress, and the broader public. A major focus was
providing our customers with timely, accurate and useful information
that promotes safety and enhances the experience of those who work in
and visit the Senate.
Senate Appointment Desks
Every day, thousands of people visit the Senate office buildings,
the Capitol, and the Capitol Visitor Center. For some of these
visitors, their first stop is one of our five Senate Appointment Desks,
where they are greeted with professionalism and a smile. Collectively,
our five appointment desks processed 190,348 visitors during 2013, an
increase of almost 7 percent from the previous year. Our computer-based
logging and badging system allows visitors to be processed in an
efficient, safe and customer-friendly manner, while also helping the
United States Capitol Police better identify and protect visitors, as
well as staff and members.
Our network of appointments desks--in the Capitol near the North
Door, in the Capitol Visitor Center, and in the Russell and Hart Senate
office buildings--provides for more efficient processing of visitors,
allowing them to get their destinations quickly and safely. For
example, the Capitol Appointment Desk processed about 19 percent of our
visitors during 2013, a total of 36,128 guests. The fact that the other
81 percent of the visitors were able to enter through the other desks
contributed to shorter wait times for official business visitors
entering through the North Door and reduced congestion within the
Capitol proper.
As noted, our other appointment desks were busy last year. More
than 48,000 visitors entered the Capitol through the Capitol Visitor
Center to attend meetings and functions in the CVC meeting rooms.
Assisting guests with getting to the Capitol and the CVC from the
Senate office buildings is an important role of the Senate Appointment
Desks. In 2013, more than 94,000 guests, a record total, entered the
Capitol via the Russell Appointment Desk, including 73,680 who were
destined for the CVC. Another 11,717 visitors received badges from our
Hart Appointment Desk. The SAA worked collaboratively with the Senate
Committee on Rules and Administration, the USCP, and the Architect of
the Capitol to design a secure and welcoming process for staff who
escort Senate guests to the Capitol from the Hart building.
In an effort to improve understanding of how the Senate Appointment
Desks work and how they promote safety at the Capitol, Appointment Desk
personnel began providing regular ``roll call'' training to USCP
officers in 2012, explaining the process of logging visitors,
distributing badges, and the different types of access each badge
allows. During 2013, appointment desk staff made approximately 24
presentations, reaching hundreds of officers at various USCP roll
calls. In addition, Appointment Desk staff now makes similar
presentations at the Capitol tour training sessions put on by the
Capitol Visitor Center for Senate staff and interns. During 2013, more
than 4,000 staff and interns attended 63 separate trainings at which
the Appointment Desk presented information about their operations.
Through these information sharing and coordination efforts, everyone
involved in the issuing, receiving, and enforcing of visitor badges has
a better understanding of the procedures in place and how they
contribute to safety and security of the Senate.
Senate Doorkeepers
Our Doorkeepers play a critical role in supporting the legislative
process of the Senate. They provide access to those with Senate floor
privileges and enforce the rules of the Senate, while also facilitating
the needs of Senators, Senate floor staff, and Pages. Each year,
Doorkeepers also provide exceptional support for a number of special
events attended by Senators, their families, and special guests. Over
the past year, these events included various Joint Meetings of
Congress, including the movement and seating of Senators for the State
of the Union address, as well as congressional tributes, statue
dedications, and Congressional Gold Medal ceremonies. These and other
events require the expertise of the Doorkeepers who assist with
professionalism and poise on these historic occasions.
In addition to their work directly supporting Senators, the
Doorkeepers have the responsibility--and the privilege--of assisting
tens of thousands of people who visit the Senate Gallery each year. For
many who visit the Capitol, the opportunity to sit in the Senate
Gallery is a highlight of their trip. Doorkeepers ensure their
experiences are educational, memorable, and safe. Last year,
Doorkeepers assisted 210,164 visitors in viewing the Senate Chamber,
both when the Senate was in session and during recess. That was nearly
a 13 percent increase from the 2012 visitor total.
Over the past year, we have worked to enhance the visitors'
experience through greater collaboration with our partners such as the
CVC, ongoing training of Doorkeeper staff, and refinement of the
materials that are distributed to visitors. As a result, our
Doorkeepers have become increasingly skilled at welcoming visitors to
the Capitol and educating them on the history and operation of the
Senate. The feedback has been consistently positive from visitors,
Senate offices, and our partners. In particular, Senate Gallery
visitors comment on our Doorkeepers' ability to process larger groups
in an efficient, friendly, and helpful manner.
Over the past decade and more, Senate Doorkeepers have taken on an
expanded role in security and safety. Using lessons from September 11,
2001, the Doorkeepers--working with the United States Capitol Police
and the SAA Office of Protective Services and Continuity--developed a
comprehensive Continuity of Operations Plan. During 2013, the
Doorkeeper team conducted regular drills and exercises with the USCP
and others on various scenarios such as shelter-in-place, evacuations,
and setting up alternate locations. Currently, all of our Doorkeepers
are trained in first aid, CPR, and AED.
Our Doorkeepers take their security support responsibilities very
seriously, and they are a trained and reliable group of professionals
who can be counted on to act decisively in any number of situations.
This was demonstrated during two potentially serious situations over
the past year. On September 16, 2013, a mass shooting occurred at the
Washington Navy Yard. Then on October 3, there were gunshots fired on
Capitol Hill, and the Senate Chamber and Galleries were ordered to
shelter-in-place. Our Doorkeepers were able to draw on their training
to offer a reassuring presence to staff and guests during both of these
incidents.
Senate Doorkeepers are responsible for numerous emergency
preparedness responses, from setting up and managing a Briefing Center
to supporting on- and off-site Alternate Chamber locations. These
varied and pivotal duties require ongoing cross-training among
Doorkeeper staff, the USCP, Secretaries for the Majority and Minority,
Secretary of the Senate, and other SAA departments. Doorkeepers are
among the first responders during any Chamber protective incident. At
the onset of an event, Doorkeepers must assess member, staff, and
visitor needs; take action to assist USCP in creating a safe
environment within the Chamber and areas of the CVC; and, if the
situation requires, provide safe egress from the Capitol for all
individuals who may not have the ability or knowledge to safely get
themselves out of harm's way.
Senate Recording Studio
In a time of instant communication and rapidly changing technology,
the Senate Recording Studio strives to stay abreast of the latest
solutions that allow the Senate to remain accessible to the public and
enable Senators to communicate with their constituents across the
country. The Recording Studio was busy and productive in 2013. Last
year, the studio provided 794 hours of gavel-to-gavel coverage of
Senate floor proceedings and provided broadcast coverage of 730 Senate
committee hearings, an increase of 33 percent over the previous year.
In addition, Recording Studio staff produced a total of 922 television
productions for Senators, an 11 percent increase over 2012.
In addition to the coverage of Senate floor, committee proceedings,
and in-house radio and television production, the Recording Studio
plays an important role in providing broadcast support of major
congressional events. This past year, for example, the Recording Studio
provided full coverage of three Gold Medal Ceremonies, the unveiling
ceremonies for the Rosa Parks statue and Winston Churchill bust, and
the dedication ceremony for the Frederick Douglass statue.
Since 2011, the Recording Studio has provided support for the live
streaming of the Senate floor on the Senate's Web site, www.senate.gov.
Studio staff played a vital role in upfront planning, technical
specifications, and installing, testing and maintaining equipment in
the Recording Studio. They worked closely with the SAA Chief
Information Officer, Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, and
the contractor to make sure this new and important service went online
smoothly and on time in January 2012. Now, anyone with access to a
computer can witness the Senate at work with the click of a mouse. The
studio continues to be an active partner in the live streaming and
archiving of Senate Webcasts on www.senate.gov.
Media Galleries
For members of the news media, the U.S. Congress--the people's
house--remains one of the most open and accessible institutions of our
Government. On any given day, hundreds of reporters, producers,
photographers, videographers, and technical support personnel can be
found in our hearing rooms and hallways covering Senate events and news
conferences, and bringing the news of the Senate back to people across
the country and around the world.
Much of the responsibility for ensuring that the news media can
conduct their business efficiently, safely, and in a manner that
comports with Senate rules and traditions falls on our four Senate
Media Galleries: the Daily Press Gallery, Periodical Press Gallery,
Press Photographers' Gallery, and Senate Radio and Television Gallery.
The unique structure of the Media Galleries, dating back to the early
days of the Senate, requires them to work closely with their respective
Standing and Executive Correspondents' Committees, the United States
Capitol Police, and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration in
order to facilitate media arrangements and credentials for the more
than 7,000 members of the media who cover the Senate.
With the explosion of online and social media in recent years, the
demand for news has become constant. As a result, Congress is being
covered in more detail by more different types of media than ever
before. Given this dynamic, the staff of the Media Galleries has worked
diligently to accommodate the ever changing technology environment and
how the world gets its news. For example, the four Media Galleries
worked with the SAA's Office of the Chief Information Officer to
upgrade the technical infrastructure, including incorporating Wi-Fi in
all four Media Galleries and across the Senate campus. The Senate press
wireless system, accessible through a secure log-in script, supports
immediate transmission of media reports, including coverage of
committee hearings.
Senate Daily Press Gallery
Daily Press Gallery staff supports those reporters who work for
daily newspapers and online publications. The Gallery's first
responsibility--ever since the Senate and House assigned press
accreditation to the Standing Committee of Correspondents more than 140
years ago--has always been the maintenance of high standards of
journalistic independence through the press credentialing process.
The annual reaccreditation may seem automatic to Gallery members,
but it takes hundreds of hours of staff work each year to sustain the
daily congressional press pass as the gold standard of media
credentials in Washington. In 2013, the Senate Daily Press Gallery
credentialed approximately 1,800 correspondents. At a time when online
communications and social media are continually changing the media
landscape, the Standing Committee also relies on the Press Gallery to
supply the research and the institutional judgment needed for tough and
sometimes precedent-setting decisions about who does, and who does not,
qualify for media credentials.
Gallery staff supports its correspondents, as well as Senate Press
Secretaries and communications staff, in a variety of ways. A basic
duty is to ensure that reporters have the access they need to cover the
Senate, while at the same time honoring Senate traditions of decorum
and recognizing the safety and security requirements of the Capitol
Police.
As custodians of the largest press complex on Capitol Hill, Gallery
staff effectively acts as ``doorkeepers'' at the entrance to the press
gallery inside the Senate Chamber. Simultaneously, the staff serves the
100 or more reporters who work in the Daily Press Gallery on a typical
day in a variety of ways. For example, staff provides reporters with
copies of bills and amendments, as well as transcripts of floor debate;
generates hand-tallies of roll call votes; tracks Senate floor
activities and schedule changes; prepares for major events and
ceremonies; and troubleshoots problems with the physical plant. On any
given day, Daily Gallery staff are monitoring and assisting with access
on the Capitol's second floor and other busy locations where news is
breaking; facilitating coverage of committee hearings; and answering a
steady stream of media and Senate staff inquiries about legislation,
floor action, and parliamentary procedure.
To improve its ``coverage'' of floor action and enhance
communication with Gallery members and others, the Daily Press Gallery
launched a newly redesigned Web site in 2013 (http://
www.dailypress.senate.gov/). The site has more information that is
easier to access than ever before. In 2014, the Gallery will begin to
use online tools to streamline its accreditation process and
communications efforts.
Senate Periodical Press Gallery
The Periodical Press staff focuses much of its effort on
credentialing over 1,200 members of the news media who work for non-
daily periodicals and their online publications, and supporting Senate
staff with media arrangements and logistics for Senate activities. For
2014, the Gallery remains focused on improving communications with
Gallery members and Senate staff, reviewing new applications for
accreditation to the Gallery, and day-to-day credentialing of
periodical reporters on Capitol Hill.
Among the ongoing duties of Gallery staff is to monitor news
conferences, ``stakeouts,'' Rotunda events, and various other media
events in the Capitol and Senate office buildings throughout the year.
Staff continues to help facilitate media logistics at Senate hearings,
including confirmation hearings for Cabinet-level positions and other
high-profile hearings. In addition, most press secretaries and
communications directors for Senators and Senate committees utilize the
Gallery to help distribute information to members of the periodical
press community that they might otherwise miss.
During 2013, Periodical Press Gallery staff completely overhauled
and updated their Gallery Web site (http://
www.periodicalpress.senate.gov/). The new site was launched in
September 2013 and has received positive feedback from Senate staff and
members of the media. On the site, Gallery staff maintains a daily
Senate floor log and tracks legislative activity, votes, and schedule
updates. These regular updates assist reporters covering the Senate and
staff monitoring floor activity.
The Periodical Press Gallery's Twitter account, @SenatePPG,
continues to grow. The number of followers has more than doubled over
the past year to more than 2,600. Twitter is proving to be an efficient
and effective platform for keeping reporters and Senate staff up to
date on floor schedules, votes, hearings, and Gallery activity. It is
also a useful way to drive visitors to the Gallery's Web site, where
information is presented in a consolidated, comprehensive manner. The
Periodical Press Gallery was the first of the Senate Media Galleries to
adopt Twitter; in 2013, Gallery staff received an SAA Outstanding Team
Award for their work and contributions to social media.
Press Photographers' Gallery
The primary role of the Press Photographers' Gallery is to
credential photographers and to assist at news events throughout
Capitol Hill. Unlike the other three Media Galleries, which have
counterparts on the House side, Press Photographers' Gallery staff has
the unique responsibility of credentialing media representatives who
cover both the Senate and the House of Representatives, and assisting
at large news events and hearings in both Houses of Congress, including
Gold Medal ceremonies, State of the Union addresses, VIP visits, and
other special ceremonies.
In recent years, the demand for news images, and the need to get
them out almost instantaneously, have increased dramatically, as Web-
based news content has expanded and social media has become an integral
part of modern-day news coverage. The Press Photographers' Gallery has
responded to this demand in a number of ways. To keep news
photographers informed and to facilitate coverage of Congressional
events, Gallery staff recently updated its Web site (http://
www.pressphotographers.senate.gov/) to provide one reliable, easy-to-
use source of information. This year, the Gallery plans to implement a
Twitter feed and possibly other social media platforms to communicate
even more effectively with Gallery members and Senate staff.
Radio and Television Gallery
Members of the broadcast media have unique needs and equipment. The
task of ensuring that the broadcast media's needs are met while the
Senate's rules are followed falls largely to the staff of the Radio and
Television Gallery. Gallery staff works closely with Senate staff and
more than 3,900 credentialed members of the electronic media to
facilitate coverage of Senate news events that occur in various
locations throughout the Capitol and Senate office buildings. Gallery
staff also assists in organizing equipment access as well as managing
the broadcast technical infrastructure throughout the Senate campus.
In order to modernize its communication efforts, Gallery staff
recently updated its Web site (http://www.radiotv.senate.gov/) to
better organize information and incorporate social media tools such as
Twitter and Facebook. As a result, the staff has been able to
streamline communications and manage press demands more efficiently.
The Gallery also worked with the SAA Office of the Chief
Information Officer to improve the press wireless system. Committee
press secretaries appreciated this modern technical convenience, which
aided in the press coverage of their hearings. Senate IT technicians
placed additional wireless relays throughout the Gallery and improved
connectivity speeds.
Updating the broadcast infrastructure of Senate committee hearing
rooms and other news event locations throughout the Senate campus
remained a priority for Gallery staff during the past year. Working
with other partners, Gallery staff has nearly completed the upgrade of
the broadcast infrastructure of the Senate hearing rooms. While most
hearing rooms have been outfitted with new broadcast technology such as
LED lights and fiber optic cables, other news event locations in the
Capitol Building still need to be renovated. In addition to hearing
room improvements, technical upgrades to the Senate ``swamp'' site in
the North Legislative Egg supported news coverage of many events,
including the Government shutdown in October 2013 and the Supreme
Court's historic decision regarding the Defense of Marriage Act.
Radio and Television Gallery staff also assisted Senators in their
regular use of the Gallery's studio that is located across from the
Senate Chamber on the third floor of the Capitol. In 2013, the studio
hosted several important news conferences, including such topics as the
Government shutdown, raising the debt ceiling, proposed changes to
healthcare legislation, and the bipartisan budget agreement. The
studio's lighting system was recently renovated to LED lighting to
accommodate digital broadcasting and to reduce energy costs; the cost
of this upgrade was paid for entirely by the credentialed members of
the Gallery through their annual dues. Discussions continued with
respect to upgrading the studio's audio system and adding backdrops for
conducting one-on-one interviews.
Internal Communications
The Office of Internal Communications (OIC) was created 2 years ago
to streamline communication within the SAA organization and to the rest
of the Senate community. OIC provides SAA employees and other members
of the Senate community with timely, accurate, and useful information
that highlights SAA services and furthers efficiency and effectiveness.
The office supports consolidated communications; better promotion
and utilization of SAA services; and more clear, consistent and
accurate organizational messages. OIC coordinates communication efforts
through multiple channels--print, online and social media. The office
created and continuously updates two important intranet sites: an SAA
homepage on Webster accessible to the Senate community and the SAA
community page accessible to SAA employees. These sites provide
important information about campus safety and SAA services, as well as
regular features that enhance community understanding and boost
employee morale.
OIC also reviews and edits publications that are distributed from
SAA offices to the Senate community and sends electronic Dear Colleague
messages. The office has sent nearly 150 electronic Dear Colleague
messages since the program began. OIC also manages and maintains the
Notice system, and edits and distributes Notices to the Senate
community. During 2013, the office sent nearly 500 Notices and reviewed
hundreds of publications for content and grammar. OIC also publishes
the SAA Source newsletter every other week for SAA employees.
Finally, like most other organizations, the SAA is using social
media--Facebook and Twitter--to communicate with the Senate, our
employees, and the public, and to receive feedback from them. Social
media has become an important element of our everyday communications
efforts and has been used successfully to disseminate information about
traffic issues around the campus and Senate session information, as
well as to highlight SAA services and employees and other useful
information. Our Twitter account (@SenateSAA) has more than 5,500
followers and Facebook has garnered more than 1,600 ``likes.''
The value of these social media platforms during emergencies was
demonstrated on October 3, 2013, when gunshots were fired on the
Capitol campus and the Senate sheltered in place. The SAA immediately
pushed out a series of ``Twitter Alerts''--special emergency messages
that are highlighted in followers' Twitter feeds and can also be sent
as text messages to their mobile devices--alerting followers to the
gunfire reports, providing direction on sheltering in place, updating
the status, and eventually providing an ``all clear.'' The SAA was part
of the initial roll-out of Twitter Alerts in September 2013, and our
use of this function during the October gunfire incident has been
recognized nationally as a best practice.
Additionally, the SAA social media team meets approximately every
other month with communications staff from all of our partners on the
Hill, including representatives from the Architect of the Capitol,
Secretary of Senate, House of Representatives, Library of Congress, and
many others. This inter-agency working group is supporting the
dissemination and sharing of information and best practices in social
media.
Lastly, OIC currently is crafting a survey to gather information on
which of their communication efforts are working and what can be
improved. This survey will be distributed first to SAA employees and
eventually to the larger Senate community.
senate office of education and training
The Senate Office of Education and Training provides training and
development opportunities for Senate staff in Washington, DC, and the
State offices. We continue to develop job-specific training and
resources for Senate staff. Currently we are identifying the job skills
required for each member and committee office job and creating a set of
recommended classes to improve or learn those job skills. We are using
a holistic view to make these recommendations. There are two branches
within the office: Education and Training, and Health Promotion.
The Education and Training branch provides training for all Senate
staff in areas such as management and leadership development; human
resources management; legislative and staff information; new staff and
intern orientation; and training support for approved software and
equipment used in Washington, DC, and State offices. This branch also
coordinates and provides major training events for state and DC staff.
Training and education are provided through instructor-led classes;
one-on-one coaching sessions; specialized vendor-provided training;
computer-based training; Webinars; video teleconferencing; informal
training and support services; documentation, job aids and ``quick
cards.''
The Health Promotion branch provides seminars, classes, and
screenings on health and wellness. This branch also coordinates an
annual Health Fair for all Senate employees and plans blood drives
throughout the year.
We successfully trained many offices in the Senate on the use of
the new Watson Unified Conferencing and Jabber Telepresence. We used a
variety of learning methods, including online, documentation,
classroom, and individual coaching.
Our Learning Management System has over 3,000 staff accounts. This
system provides Senate staff with a user-friendly method for finding
and registering for training. It is part of our Education and Training
resource suite, which provides a variety of means for staff to obtain
the training and documentation they need.
We will continue to expand our online training options for Hill and
State staff. We are rolling out an Online Leadership curriculum for
Senate managers and continue to work with our training partners to
provide just-in-time training.
Capitol Hill Training
The Office of Education and Training offered over 1,000 instructor-
led and online classes and events in 2013, in which over 5,800 staff
enrolled. This office's registration desk handled approximately 10,000
e-mail and phone requests for training and documentation.
We provided customized training to 121 offices for over 800 staff
members. These sessions include conflict resolution, organizational
development, strategic planning, Senate office systems training, and
meeting facilitation. We also provided individual in-depth training to
the Senate office system administrators and management coaching.
We coordinate the Aides for the Senators-Elect training and new
office Admin Directors training after every election. This consists of
eight sessions of 20-30 staff at each session. Once the Senators are
sworn in, we coordinate another 10 session orientation series for the
office managers, attended by 15-20 staff.
This office also coordinates the Senate's Intern Program. We
provide training for intern coordinators as well as 10 orientation and
training sessions for approximately 1,500 interns throughout the year.
We work year round with the Intern Coordinators to provide training and
support.
State Office Training
The Office of Education and Training provided learning
opportunities to State offices for which over 300 State staff
registered. Our office continues to offer conference-style networking
and training opportunities. In 2013, 32 State staff attended the
Virtual State Training Fair. We also presented the State Directors
Forum and the Outreach Conference virtually. The 70 staff who attended
these conferences selected to take part in 20 different virtual
sessions. The Constituent Services Conference, held in DC, was attended
by 42 State staff. Additionally, our office offers weekly video
teleconferencing or Webinar classes just for State staff. Each of these
offerings is attended by between 10-50 staff.
We provide 5,000 online self-paced-based training courses covering
technical, performance, and language skills and an online research
library of 19,900 publications. This allows staff in both DC and the
States to take training at their convenience. This past year, 398 DC
and State office staff registered and accessed 921 unique courses.
During 2013, over 8,400 book pages had been accessed.
Health Promotion
In the Health Promotion area, 450 staff participated in health
promotion activities, including lung function and kidney screenings,
blood drives, and seminars on health-related topics. We also coordinate
Weight Watchers, Yoga, and Pilates sessions using the revolving fund
for health promotion.
Cost Saving Impacts
The Office of Education and Training has worked diligently to save
money while continuing to offer a varied and robust training program.
For example, we eliminated all printed announcements and calendars. We
have expanded our offerings of VTC and Webinars to include State and
DC. We continue to add self-paced training modules to our catalog to
allow State and DC staff to learn at their own time and place. Our
Learning Center, created by SAA staff, reduces the support costs of our
commercially-purchased system and provides a superior product.
employee assistance program
Our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) continues to offer a variety
of services to staff and their family members, Pages, and interns. In
2013, nearly 1 in 20 Senate employees utilized the services of an EAP
counselor; 174 employees took a mental health online screening; 1,631
employees attended an EAP training activity; and 2,008 employees
accessed resources for personalized information and referrals
addressing childcare, parenting, adult care, aging, education, legal
concerns, or financial issues.
Early problem recognition and referral is a critical component of
the EAP. To that end, EAP counselors work closely with Senate managers
and supervisors. Through presentations, handouts, and individual
consultations, the EAP supports managers and supervisors who are
addressing challenging employee or staff issues. In 2013, EAP consulted
with 191 managers or supervisors.
An invaluable characteristic and goal of EAP services is to utilize
outreach to effectively serve our client base. Working toward this goal
in 2013, EAP initiated the electronic distribution of the quarterly EAP
Focus newsletter through e-mail. In addition, the EAP continued to
update and maintain materials on a wide array of mental health topics
while offering a variety of time-sensitive and community-focused
training programs, including video teleconference programs for State
offices. Last year, EAP also continued to hone, expand, and utilize the
skills of the 32-member Senate Peer Support Team through a series of
presentations, trainings, and informational lectures.
With regard to specific incidents in 2013, the EAP responded to a
multitude of events, including the emotional needs and concerns that
arose from those impacted by winter storms in the Northeast;
devastating fires in Colorado; Boston Marathon bombings; Washington
Navy Yard shooting tragedy; threatening mail incidents; the deaths of
employees and the family members of employees; and employees and
offices who requested support after other critical incidents.
Appendix A--Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Request
Attachment I
financial plan for fiscal year 2015
OFFICE OF THE SERGEANT AT ARMS--UNITED STATES SENATE
Executive Summary
[Dollar amounts in thousands]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2015 vs. Fiscal
Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Year 2014
2014 Budget 2015 --------------------------------
Request $ Amount % Incr/Decr
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
General Operations & Maintenance
Salaries......................................... $68,000 $71,000 $3,000 4.4%
Expenses......................................... $76,735 $76,142 ($593) -0.8%
----------------------------------------------------------
Total General Operations & Maintenance......... $144,735 $147,142 $2,407 1.7%
Mandated Allowances & Allotments..................... $45,306 $45,641 $335 0.7%
Capital Investment................................... $653 $1,082 $429 65.7%
Nondiscretionary Items............................... $5,516 $5,935 $419 7.6%
----------------------------------------------------------
Total.......................................... $196,210 $199,800 $3,590 1.8%
==========================================================
Staffing............................................. 892 892 0 0.0%
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To ensure that we provide the highest levels and quality of
security, support services, and equipment, we submit a fiscal year 2015
budget request of $199,800,000, an increase of $3,590,000 or 1.8
percent compared to fiscal year 2014. The salary budget request is
$71,000,000, an increase of $3,000,000 or 4.4 percent, and the expense
budget request is $128,800,000, an increase of $590,000 or 0.5 percent.
The staffing request remains at 892.
We present our budget in four categories: General Operations and
Maintenance (Salaries and Expenses), Mandated Allowances and
Allotments, Capital Investment, and Nondiscretionary Items.
--The general operations and maintenance salaries budget request is
$71,000,000, an increase of $3,000,000 or 4.4 percent compared
to fiscal year 2014.
--The general operations and maintenance expenses budget request for
existing services is $76,142,000, a decrease of $593,000 or 0.8
percent compared to fiscal year 2014.
--The mandated allowances and allotments budget request is
$45,641,000, an increase of $335,000 or 0.7 percent compared to
fiscal year 2014. This budget supports State office rents,
$21,552,000; purchase of computer and office equipment,
$10,118,000; voice and data communications for Washington, DC,
and State offices, $7,263,000; procurement and maintenance of
member office constituent services systems, $3,686,000;
wireless services and equipment, $1,177,000; and State office
security enhancements, $1,472,000.
--The capital investments budget request is $1,082,000, an increase
of $429,000 or 65.7 percent. This budget is for data networking
initiatives and expansions.
--The nondiscretionary items budget request is $5,935,000, an
increase of $419,000 or 7.6 percent compared to fiscal year
2014. The request funds projects that support the Secretary of
the Senate: contract maintenance for the Financial Management
Information System, $2,777,000; support for the payroll system,
$2,628,000; and maintenance and necessary enhancements to the
Legislative Information System, $530,000.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
U.S. SENATE
Office of the Secretary
STATEMENT OF HON. NANCY ERICKSON, SECRETARY OF THE
SENATE, WASHINGTON, DC
Senator Shaheen. Ms. Erickson.
Ms. Erickson. Chairman Shaheen, Senator Hoeven, this past
year has presented many challenges for the offices within the
purview of the Secretary of the Senate.
From the Disbursing Office that developed a new payroll
system, implemented a new healthcare law under a very tight
schedule, and ensured timely paychecks when the Government
reopened after the shutdown, to our legislative clerks and the
legislative support staff, who worked around the clock for 48-
plus hours to support the Senate floor, all of the Secretary's
staff are a credit to this institution. And I continue to
admire their grace and resiliency in meeting new challenges.
Since you've asked us to limit our statements, I ask that
my written statement and Department reports be submitted for
the record.
With the exception of a potential cost-of-living increase
for our employees, my budget request of $31,169,000 for fiscal
year 2015 would hold outlays to current fiscal year 2014
levels. To put my operating budget request in perspective, it
is lower than our appropriation when I became Secretary in
2007.
In short, I'd like to highlight several of our departments:
Meeting a January 2014 statutory deadline, the Office of
Public Records, partnering with the Sergeant at Arms and the
Ethics Committee, launched an electronic filing system for
members and staff to file financial disclosure reports as well
as periodic transaction reports. Our office takes seriously its
many education responsibilities, and, in a cost-effective
manner, substantially increased training to staff located in
State offices by our Senate Library and Senate Chief Counsel
for Employment.
Senate history also became more social with the debut of a
Twitter account, expanding the audience for Senate history. The
daily tweets help raise awareness of the considerable resources
available on Senate.gov to students, teachers, researchers,
reporters, and the public.
One hundred fifty-five years ago, the Senate moved into its
current chamber. The Office of the Senate Curator has launched
a program to improve the preservation of the Senate chamber
desks, which include 48 of the mahogany desks made by Thomas
Constantine after the old Senate chamber was destroyed by fire
in 1814.
January 22nd of this year marked the 10th anniversary of
the introduction of the first Senate bill composed using LEXA.
LEXA is the system used by the Senate's Legislative Counsel and
committees like Appropriations to author, print, display, and
share legislative documents with Senate and House clerks, the
Government Printing Office, and the Library of Congress. LEXA
has proven to be an example of a highly successful government
IT program, and the Senate is fortunate to rely on our small
and very smart Legislative Information System Office to provide
the technical expertise that built and supports this system.
I'm proud of another small legislative office, its staff
members rarely seen on the Senate floor. For 20 years, our
Office of Captioning Services has provided realtime captioning
of legislative proceedings for the deaf and hard of hearing.
The office has achieved an impressive accuracy level of 99
percent.
Finally, given the reality that an updated Riddick's
publication could be years away, our Parliamentarian staff,
with the help of our Web Technology staff, are developing an
online precedents database. While it will be a continuous work
in progress, tackling thousands of precedents, I'm confident it
will be a valuable supplement to Riddick's for members and
staff.
PREPARED STATEMENT
Our office said farewell to several colleagues who retired
after long careers with the Office of the Secretary. We're
grateful for their hard work, high standards of excellence, and
mentoring of staff. We are a better organization because of
their contributions, and we look forward to another year of
serving this great institution.
Thank you.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Nancy Erickson
Chairman Shaheen, Senator Hoeven, members of the subcommittee, this
past fiscal year has presented many challenges for the offices within
the purview of the Secretary of the Senate. From the Disbursing Office
that developed a new payroll system, implemented a new healthcare law
under a very tight schedule, and ensured timely paychecks when the
Government reopened, to our legislative clerks and the legislative
support staff who worked around the clock for 48 plus hours to support
the Senate Floor, all of the Secretary's staff are a credit to this
institution, and I continue to admire their grace and resiliency.
It is with pride in the work of our staff and our historic role in
providing legislative, financial and administrative support to the
Senate since 1789 that I present testimony on behalf of the Office of
the Secretary of the Senate.
I am requesting a fiscal year 2015 budget of $31,169,000. The
request includes $24,919,000 for salaries, which reflects a potential
$395,000 increase for a cost-of-living adjustment for our employees.
The remainder of the budget request, $1,900,000 for operating expenses
for our legislative, financial and administrative departments and
$4,350,000 to fund the research and news services provided to the
Senate community through the Senate Information Services (SIS) program,
would hold outlays to current fiscal year 2014 levels.
My testimony is a snapshot of the work carried out by the
professional staff within the 26 departments in the Office of the
Secretary, and I ask that my written statement and our department
reports be submitted to the record.
During sequestration, our Senate Librarian worked with vendors to
continue providing online research services to Senate offices at
reduced rates. Funding limitations reduced access to one research
service, a change that generated numerous complaints from our Senate
clients. We were pleased that the fiscal year 2014 appropriation
allowed us to restore full access. Notably, the fiscal year 2014
appropriation was the first increase for the SIS program since our
office assumed responsibility for the program in 2011. SIS funding
should be protected by a fiscal firewall to ensure transparency.
With the launch of the new payroll system, our Disbursing Office
staff members are turning their attention to the eventual replacement
of the Financial Management Information System (FMIS), the core
accounting system that supports all Senate offices. Staff has started
gathering requirements for a new system, as well as drafting a business
plan that will be shared with the committee for possible phased
implementation over the next several years.
Meeting the January 2014 statutory deadline, the Office of Public
Records (OPR), partnering with the Sergeant at Arms (SAA) and the
Senate Ethics Committee, launched an electronic filing system for
members and staff to file financial disclosure reports due in May, as
well as periodic transaction reports. OPR also received over 113,500
electronically filed lobbying registrations and reports and copied,
scanned, indexed and transmitted 4,882 campaign reports, containing
over 490,000 pages, up 110,000 from the previous year, to the Federal
Election Commission (FEC) within the 48 hours required by law.
Our Office takes seriously its many education responsibilities, and
in a cost-effective manner, substantively increased training webinars
provided to Senate offices' State-based staff by our Senate Library and
our Senate Chief Counsel for Employment. Library training class
attendance was up 4 percent this year, despite the fact that many
classes were cancelled during the Government shutdown. Senate history
also became more social with the debut of a Twitter account, expanding
the audience for marking Senate events and milestones. The daily tweets
help raise awareness of the considerable resources available on
Senate.gov to students, teachers, researchers, reporters and the
public. There are roughly 36,500 daily visits to Senate.gov, which is
managed by our Office of Web Technology.
One hundred and fifty-five years ago, the Senate moved into its
current chamber. The office of Senate Curator has launched a program to
improve the preservation of the Senate Chamber desks, which include 48
of the mahogany desks made by Thomas Constantine after the Old Senate
Chamber was destroyed by fire in 1814, as well as other historic
furnishings in the Senate's public and ceremonial spaces.
Speaking of history, the Stationery Room has identified a way to
achieve possible cost savings by amending an 1815 law that requires the
procurement of stationery products through sealed bids from one or more
newspaper advertisements. Advertising on FedBizOpps.gov and using the
GSA Schedule could increase competition and lower some stationery
product costs for our customers. The Stationery Room also increased
efficiency and reduced costs by posting monthly account statements on
TranSAAct, the online business services portal used by Senate offices.
January 22 of this year marked the 10th anniversary of the
introduction of the first Senate bill composed using LEXA. LEXA is a
system used by the Senate's Legislative Counsel and committees, like
Appropriations, to author, print, display and share legislative
documents with Senate and House legislative clerks, the Government
Printing Office and the Library of Congress. LEXA has proven to be an
example of a highly successful Government IT program, and the Senate is
fortunate to rely on our small and very smart Legislative Information
System (LIS) office to provide the technical expertise that built and
supports the system.
I'm proud of another small legislative office, its staff members
rarely seen on the Senate Floor. For 20 years, our Office of Captioning
Services has provided real-time captioning of legislative proceedings
for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. The office has achieved an impressive
accuracy level of 99 percent. This year, they will launch new digital
captioning software that will be more user-friendly for staff that
relies on the real-time closed-caption log.
Finally, given the reality that an updated Riddick's publication
could be years away, our Parliamentarian staff, with the help of our
Web Technology staff, are developing an online precedents database.
While it will be a continuous work in progress, tackling thousands of
precedents, I'm confident it will be a valuable supplement to Riddick's
for members and staff.
Our Office has said farewell to several colleagues who retired
after long careers with the Office of the Secretary. We are grateful
for their hard work, high standards of excellence and mentoring of
staff. We are a better organization because of their contributions, and
we look forward to another year of serving this great institution.
______
office of the secretary of the senate department reports
Presenting the Fiscal Year 2015 Budget Request
I am requesting a total fiscal year 2015 budget of $31,169,000. The
request includes $24,919,000 in salary costs and $6,250,000 for the
operating budget of the Office of the Secretary. The salary budget
represents an increase of $395,000 over the fiscal year 2014 budget as
a result of the costs associated with the annual cost of living
adjustment. In addition, the operating budget for the administration of
Senate Information Services Program (SIS) that was assumed by this
office in 2011 has not changed and remains at $4,350,000.
21
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY APPORTIONMENT SCHEDULE
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amount Budget
available estimates
Items fiscal year fiscal year Difference
2014 2015
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Departmental operating budget:
Executive office............................................ $500,000 $500,000 ..............
Administrative services..................................... 5,601,600 5,601,600 ..............
Legislative services........................................ 148,400 148,400 ..............
-----------------------------------------------
Total operating budget.................................... 6,250,000 6,250,000 ..............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
implementing mandated systems
Two systems critical to our operation are mandated by law, the
Financial Management Information System (FMIS) and the Legislative
Information System (LIS), and I would like to spend a few moments on
each to highlight recent progress and to thank the committee for your
ongoing support of both.
Financial Management Information System
The Financial Management Information System is used by
approximately 140 Senate offices. Consistent with our strategic plan,
the Disbursing Office continues to modernize processes and applications
to meet the continued demand by Senate offices for efficiency,
accountability, and ease of use. Our goals are to move to an
integrated, paperless voucher system, improve the Web FMIS system, and
make payroll and accounting system improvements or replacements.
During fiscal year 2013, specific progress made on the FMIS project
included several releases and upgrades of Web FMIS:
--FMIS 2013.2 (March 2013): corrected over 100 user-reported defects
primarily associated with procurement functions, incorporated
pilot user feedback for new expense summary report (ESR), and
consolidated Web FMIS and Web PICS applications; and
--FMIS 2013.2.1 through FMIS 2013.2.7 (May-November 2013):
implemented performance enhancements, platform upgrades, and
defect corrections related to imaging functionality to
facilitate continued Senate-wide rollout of paperless workflow.
In addition, work continued related to document imaging and
electronic signatures in FMIS, as required by the imaging task order as
follows:
--Phase 1: imaging-only pilot (completed in 2011);
--Phase 2: office imaging and signatures pilot (completed in 2012);
full rollout beginning with new offices (seven offices
implemented in 2012 and an additional 35 offices implemented
and full rollout to Disbursing's accounts payable and
accounting staff completed in 2013); and
--Phase 3: planning and development to support imaging and signatures
for Sergeant at Arms (SAA) and staffer users (in progress).
During 2013, the Disbursing Office worked with the SAA to extend
the life of existing FMIS applications to ensure ongoing support of
Senate business processes given limited fiscal resources. IT worked
collaboratively with these organizations to:
--Achieve cost savings to continuously improve the Senate's ability
to make application changes without the need for software
releases, saving significant application development dollars;
--Prepare for a continuity of operations situation and perform a
failover and failback of financial data as part of the year's
financial systems disaster recovery exercise;
--Improve customer service to the Senate community by supporting over
4,000 active FMIS users and continue to improve FMIS
applications; and
--Be more environmentally responsible by advancing towards a
paperless financial system through the system-wide rollout of
imaging and digital signatures.
Since March 2012, the Disbursing Office, the SAA, and the new
systems integrator have worked together to implement the new Senate
payroll system (SPS). The initial phase was to implement functions for
processing payroll and managing Senate office budgets and payroll
projections. The second phase will implement a pilot test for self-
service applications which will allow Senate employees to enter and
change certain personal data and benefits selections. The third phase
will replace the current Senate Office Personnel System (SOPS).
After several months of parallel testing, the first phase and the
transition to the new system was completed in September 2013 and went
as smoothly as possible. Post-go-live testing continued and minor fixes
to data, programming, and processes were worked on by all groups
involved. Phase II is in the planning stages and will start soon after
all major issues identified during the original implementation have
been resolved.
During the remainder of fiscal year 2014 and beyond, the following
FMIS activities are anticipated:
--Imaging and digital signatures: Continue with Senate-wide rollout
of imaging and digital signatures for the remaining offices and
committees, implementation of imaging and digital signatures
for SAA, and development of imaging to support staffers
creating online ESRs;
--FMIS streamlining and modernization: Implement multiple
infrastructure upgrades to extend the life of FMIS applications
and enhance system performance;
--FMIS releases: Implement two FMIS releases in April and November;
--Disaster recovery: Conduct multi-day test of FMIS failover and
failback;
--Strategic planning: Document requirements for future FMIS needs;
--Payroll system: Continue to document incidents and test system
fixes, software updates, and new functionality; and
--Treasury reporting requirements: Implement required changes
necessary to support Treasury's Payment Information Repository
(PIR) initiative.
As part of our strategic planning, we continue to prioritize
requirements to extend the life of existing FMIS applications and their
platforms to allow time to develop a phased approach and to budget for
the replacement of the various components of the financial system to
reduce the Senate's total cost of ownership over time. This strategy is
designed to enable the high efficiency in financial management
operations while reducing cost, increasing business agility, and
providing the Senate with an integrated, auditable, and paperless
financial system that enables the various Senate user groups to achieve
their business objectives in a timely, effective, and secure manner.
Legislative Information System
The LIS Project Office continued to provide support to the SLC; the
Committee on Appropriations; the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation; and the Senate Enrolling Clerk in their use of LEXA for
drafting, engrossing, and enrolling. With the addition of the Commerce
Committee drafters, all measures in the first session of the 113th
Congress were produced in XML. Enhancements to LEXA in the past year
included additional table templates, improvements specific to
Appropriations Committee drafters, and additional printing formats for
the enrolling clerks to produce printed-as-passed bills.
The LIS Project Office has been working with staff from the GPO and
the Legislative Computer Systems (LCS) in the Office of the House Clerk
to create and print committee reports in XML. Two other group projects
with the GPO and LCS include participants from the Law Revision Counsel
and the Senate and House Legislative Counsels. The first project with
the Law Revision Counsel will result in applications to convert and
maintain the U.S. Code in an XML format. The second project with the
Legislative Counsels continues work toward the editing and printing of
the compilations of existing law in their XML format.
Legislative Offices
The Legislative Department provides support essential to Senators
in carrying out their daily chamber activities as well as the
constitutional responsibilities of the Senate. The Legislative Clerk
sits at the Secretary's desk in the Senate Chamber and reads aloud
bills, amendments, the Senate Journal, Presidential messages, and other
such materials when so directed by the presiding officer of the Senate.
The Legislative Clerk calls the roll of members to establish the
presence of a quorum and to record and tally all yea and nay votes. The
office staff prepares the Senate Calendar of Business, published each
day that the Senate is in session, and prepares additional publications
relating to Senate class membership and committee and subcommittee
assignments. The Legislative Clerk maintains the official copy of all
measures pending before the Senate and must incorporate into those
measures any amendments that are agreed to. This office retains custody
of official messages received from the House of Representatives and
conference reports awaiting action by the Senate. The office staff is
responsible for verifying the accuracy of information entered into the
Legislative Information System (LIS) by the various offices of the
Secretary.
Additionally, the Legislative Clerk acts as supervisor for the
Legislative Department, responsible for overall coordination,
supervision, scheduling, and cross-training. The department consists of
eight offices: Bill Clerk, Captioning Services, Daily Digest, Enrolling
Clerk, Executive Clerk, Journal Clerk, Legislative Clerk, and Official
Reporters of Debates.
Summary of Activity
The Senate completed its legislative business and adjourned on
January 3, 2014. During the first session of the 113th Congress, the
Senate was in session 156 days and conducted 291 roll call votes. There
were 221 measures reported from committees with 117 measures having a
written report and 14 special reports submitted to the Senate. There
were 356 total measures passed or agreed to, of which 73 were enacted
into law. In addition, there were 2,602 amendments submitted to the
desk.
Cross-Training and Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
Recognizing the importance of planning for the continuity of Senate
business, under both normal and possibly extenuating circumstances,
cross-training continues to be strongly emphasized among the
Secretary's legislative staff. To ensure additional staff are trained
to perform the basic floor responsibilities of the Legislative Clerk,
as well as the various other floor-related responsibilities of the
Secretary, approximately half of the legislative staff are currently
involved or have recently been involved in cross-training.
Each office and staff within the Legislative Department
participated in numerous ongoing COOP discussions and exercises
throughout the past year. These discussions and exercises are a joint
effort involving the Office of the Secretary, the party secretaries,
the U.S. Capitol Police, the Government Printing Office, and the Office
of the Sergeant at Arms.
Succession Planning
The average length of Senate service among the Secretary's
Legislative Department supervisors is 23 years. It is critical that the
Secretary's Legislative Department attract and keep talented employees,
especially the second tier of employees just behind the current
supervisors, because of the unique nature of the Senate as a
legislative institution. Institutional experience and knowledge are
extremely valuable.
bill clerk
The Office of the Bill Clerk collects and records data on the
legislative activity of the Senate, which becomes the historical record
of official Senate business. The Bill Clerk's Office keeps this
information in its handwritten files and ledgers and also enters it
into the Senate's automated retrieval system so that it is available to
all House and Senate offices via the Legislative Information System
(LIS). The Bill Clerk records actions of the Senate with regard to
bills, resolutions, reports, amendments, cosponsors, public law
numbers, and recorded votes. The Bill Clerk is responsible for
preparing for print all measures introduced, received, submitted, and
reported in the Senate. The Bill Clerk also assigns numbers to all
Senate bills and resolutions. All the information received in this
office comes directly from the Senate floor in written form within
moments of the action involved, so the Bill Clerk's Office is generally
regarded as the most timely and most accurate source of legislative
information.
Legislative Activity
For comparative purposes, below is a summary of the first sessions
of the 112th and 113th Congresses:
SUMMARY OF THE FIRST SESSIONS OF THE 112TH AND 113TH CONGRESSES
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
112th Congress--1st 113th Congress--1st
Session Session
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senate Bills................................................ 1,685 1,894
Senate Joint Resolutions.................................... 18 29
Senate Concurrent Resolutions............................... 32 30
Senate Resolutions.......................................... 279 327
Amendments Submitted........................................ 1,983 2,602
House Bills................................................. 299 204
House Joint Resolutions..................................... 4 16
House Concurrent Resolutions................................ 18 16
Measures Reported........................................... 224 221
Written Reports............................................. 136 131
---------------------------------------------------
Total Legislation..................................... 4,678 5,470
Roll Call Votes............................................. 235 291
House Messages.............................................. 205 198
Cosponsor Requests.......................................... 6,621 6,193
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Assistance from the Government Printing Office (GPO)
The Bill Clerk's Office maintains an exceptionally good working
relationship with the Government Printing Office (GPO) and seeks to
provide the best service possible to meet the needs of the Senate. GPO
continues to respond in a timely manner to the Secretary's request,
through the Bill Clerk's Office, for the printing of bills and reports,
including the expedited printing of priority matters for the Senate
Chamber.
captioning services
The Office of Captioning Services provides realtime captioning of
Senate floor proceedings for the deaf and hard-of-hearing and
unofficial electronic transcripts of Senate floor proceedings to Senate
offices on Webster.
General Overview
Captioning Services strives to provide the highest quality closed
captions and is comprised of some of the most seasoned and respected
captioners in the industry. The overall accuracy average rate for the
Office is a stellar 99.6 percent. This marks the 20th year in a row the
Office has achieved an accuracy level above 99 percent. Overall caption
quality is monitored through daily translation data reports, monitoring
of captions in real-time, and review of caption files on Webster. In an
effort to decrease paper consumption and printing costs, accuracy
reviews and reports were mostly completed and archived in electronic
form. Also, newspaper and magazine subscriptions used for preparation
and research were cancelled to achieve added cost savings and replaced
with already available electronic copies.
The realtime searchable closed caption log, available to Senate
offices on Webster, continues to be an invaluable tool for the entire
Senate community. Staff from the floor, cloakrooms, Senate Recording
Studio (SRS), and member offices continue to depend upon its
availability, reliability, and contents to help them in the performance
of their duties. In conjunction with the SRS, a complete overhaul of
the caption log was designed in 2012-2013. Roll-out of this new digital
version of the software is anticipated in 2014.
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
In support of the Office of the Secretary's commitment to COOP,
emergency planning and preparation continue to be a top priority for
the Office of Captioning Services to ensure the office is prepared and
confident about the ability to relocate and successfully function from
multiple locations in the event of an emergency. Real-world
implementation of the plan successfully occurred twice in 2012. As is
usually the case during emergencies, the plan's strengths and flaws
were identified and changes have been made and implemented. In 2013,
the office began testing one of its COOP relocation sites on a weekly
basis. This has proved an invaluable tool for the entire staff to gain
confidence in their individual ability to get up and running quickly
and accurately in an emergency.
Continual updates and review of the COOP plan, as well as group
discussion throughout the year, prepare individuals to have confidence
when called upon to execute multiple aspects of the plan. In addition,
the office participates with the SRS in two off-site COOP exercises
annually by conducting emergency notification tests and testing laptop
remote access procedures.
daily digest
The Office of the Senate Daily Digest is pleased to transmit its
annual report on Senate activities during the first session of the
113th Congress.
Chamber Activity
The Senate was in session a total of 156 days, for a total of 1,095
hours and 12 minutes, with 291 recorded votes (see the chart on the
next page).
20-YEAR COMPARISON OF SENATE LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------
Senate Convened....................................... 1/25 1/4 1/3 1/3 1/27 1/6 1/24 1/3 1/23 1/7 1/20 1/4 1/3 1/4 1/3 1/6 1/5 1/3 1/3 1/3
Senate Adjourned...................................... 12/1 1/3/96 10/4 11/13 10/21 11/19 12/15 12/20 11/20 12/9 12/8 12/22 12/9 12/31 1/2/09 12/24 12/22 1/3/12 1/3/13 1/3/14
Days in Session....................................... 138 211 132 153 143 162 141 173 149 167 133 159 138 189 184 191 158 170 153 156
Hours in Session...................................... 1,243'33 1,839'10 1,036'45 1,093'07 1,095'05 1,183'57 1,017'51 1,236'15 1,043'23 1,454'05 1,031'31 1,222'26 1,027'48 1,375'54 988'31 1,420'39 1,074'40 1,101'44 930'12 1,095'12
Average Hours per Day................................. 9.0 8.7 7.8 7.1 7.7 7.3 7.2 7.1 7.0 8.7 7.7 7.7 7.4 7.2 5.37 7.44 6.8 6.5 6.1 7.0
Total Measures Passed................................. 465 346 476 386 506 549 696 425 523 590 663 624 635 621 589 478 569 402 479 356
Roll Call Votes....................................... 329 613 306 298 314 374 298 380 253 459 216 366 279 442 215 397 299 235 251 291
Quorum Calls.......................................... 6 3 2 6 4 7 6 3 2 3 1 3 1 6 3 3 8 5 0 13
Public Laws........................................... 255 88 245 153 241 170 410 136 241 198 300 169 313 180 280 125 258 90 193 73
Treaties Ratified..................................... 8 10 28 15 53 13 39 3 17 11 15 6 14 8 30 1 6 2 0 0
Nominations Confirmed................................. 37,446 40,535 33,176 25,576 20,302 22,468 22,512 25,091 23,633 21,580 24,420 25,942 29,603 22,892 21,785 23,051 23,327 19,815 24,296 17,328
Average Voting Attendance............................. 97.02 98.07 98.22 98.68 97.47 98.02 96.99 98.29 96.36 96.07 95.54 97.41 97.13 94.99 94.36 96.99 95.88 97.08 96.65 97.31
Sessions Convened Before 12 Noon...................... 120 184 113 115 109 118 107 140 119 133 104 121 110 156 147 148 116 127 106 107
Sessions Convened at 12 Noon.......................... 9 2 15 12 31 17 25 10 12 4 9 1 4 4 4 2 6 4 6 6
Sessions Convened after 12 Noon....................... 17 12 7 7 2 19 24 21 23 23 21 36 24 32 33 41 36 39 40 39
Sessions Continued after 6 p.m........................ 100 158 88 96 93 113 94 108 103 134 129 120 129 144 110 152 116 120 101 111
Sessions Continued after 12 Midnight.................. 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 8 2 3 3 4 4 2 2 1 1 3 7
Saturday Sessions..................................... 3 5 1 1 1 3 1 3 0 1 2 2 2 1 3 5 2 2 0 2
Sunday Sessions....................................... 0 3 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 1 4 1 1 1 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prepared by the Senate Daily Digest_Office of the Secretary_01/27/14
Committee Activity
Senate committees held a total of 831 meetings during the first
session of the 113th Congress, as contrasted with 649 meetings during
the second session of the 112th Congress.
All hearings and business meetings (including joint meetings and
conferences) are scheduled through the Office of the Senate Daily
Digest and are published in the Congressional Record, on the Digest's
website on Senate.gov, and in Legislative Information System (LIS.
Meeting outcomes are also published by the Daily Digest in the
Congressional Record each day and continuously updated on the website.
Computer Activities
This past year, the Digest staff worked closely with Senate
computer staff to refine to the Daily Digest Scheduler application
(LIS/DDS), which will improve the data entry process and help to make
the Daily Digest Scheduler public reports (css.senate.gov) more user
friendly. The Digest office continues to electronically transmit the
complete publication at the end of each day to the Government Printing
Office.
enrolling clerk
The enrolling clerks prepare, proofread, correct, input amendments,
and print all legislation passed by the Senate prior to its transmittal
to the House of Representatives, the National Archives, the Secretary
of State, the United States Claims Court, and the White House.
During the first session of the 113th Congress, the office prepared
the enrollment of 16 Senate bills (transmitted to the President), 13
Senate concurrent resolutions (transmitted to the National Archives),
and 118 Senate appointments (transmitted to the House of
Representatives). In addition, 49 House of Representatives bills, 14
House concurrent resolutions, and 2 House joint resolutions were
enrolled; prior to passage, some were amended or acted on in the Senate
requiring the Enrolling Clerk's Office to work the amendments in a
tightly managed schedule before messaging the legislation to the House
of Representatives for further action. In all, there were 73 messages
delivered to the House Clerk's office and 37 to the House Chamber by
the Enrolling Clerk's Office relative to Senate action and passage of
legislation. The office also handled the delivery to the House Clerk's
Office of 39 House enrolled bills and 2 House enrolled joint
resolutions after they had been signed by the President pro tempore, as
customary.
A total of 356 pieces of legislation were passed or agreed to by
the Senate during the first session of the 113th Congress, including 57
House bills, 2 House joint resolutions, and 14 House concurrent
resolutions. Four Senate bills were placed on the calendar, all of
which were processed in the Enrolling Clerk's office, including the
Senate engrossment of 57 Senate bills, 16 concurrent resolutions, and
210 simple resolutions, 6 of which were sent to the House of
Representatives. The Enrolling Clerk's Office keeps the original
official copies of bills, resolutions, and appointments from the Senate
floor through the end of each Congress.
The Senate Enrolling Clerk's Office is also responsible for
transmitting the original files of all Senate bills and resolutions
engrossed and enrolled in the Senate to the Government Printing Office
(GPO).
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
Enrolling Clerk staff participated in two COOP exercises, testing
the office's ability to prepare legislation for engrossment and
enrollment, as well as connectivity with GPO. In addition, a GPO
detailee trained with the Enrolling Clerk's office to provide backup
should a COOP event occur.
executive clerk
The Executive Clerk prepares an accurate record of actions taken by
the Senate during executive sessions (proceedings on nominations and
treaties), which is published as the Journal of the Executive
Proceedings of the Senate at the end of each session of Congress. The
Executive Clerk also prepares the daily Executive Calendar, as well as
all nomination and treaty resolutions for transmittal to the President.
Additionally, the Executive Clerk's Office processes all executive
communications, Presidential messages, and petitions and memorials.
Nominations
During the first session of the 113th Congress, there were 1,048
nomination messages sent to the Senate by the President, transmitting
19,074 nominations to positions requiring Senate confirmation and 11
messages withdrawing nominations. Of the total nominations transmitted,
489 were for civilian positions other than lists in the Foreign
Service, Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
and Public Health Service. In addition, there were 1,737 nominees in
the ``civilian list'' categories named above. Military nominations
received this session totaled 16,848 (5,479--Air Force; 6,726--Army;
3,881--Navy; and 762--Marine Corps). The Senate confirmed 17,328
nominations this session. Pursuant to the provisions of paragraph six
of Senate Rule XXXI, 153 nominations were returned to the President
during the first session of the 113th Congress.
Treaties
There were three treaties transmitted to the Senate by the
President during the first session of the 113th Congress for its advice
and consent to ratification, which were ordered printed as treaty
documents for the use of the Senate (Treaty Doc. 113-1 through 113-3).
The Senate did not give its advice and consent to any treaty during
the first session.
Executive Reports and Roll Call Votes
There were no executive reports relating to a treaty ordered
printed for the use of the Senate during the first session of the 113th
Congress. The Senate conducted 108 roll call votes in executive
session, all on or in relation to nominations and treaties.
Executive Communications
For the first session of the 113th Congress, 4,147 executive
communications, 165 petitions and memorials, and 25 Presidential
messages were received and processed.
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
COOP planning continues to be a priority in the Executive Clerk's
Office. The office participates in annual COOP exercises, cross-trains
with other offices in the Secretary's legislative staff, and maintains
and accesses electronic files and emails on secure network servers
backed up remotely.
journal clerk
The Journal Clerk takes notes of the daily legislative proceedings
of the Senate in the ``Minute Book'' and prepares a history of bills
and resolutions for the printed Journal of the Proceedings of the
Senate, or Senate Journal, as required by Article I, section V of the
Constitution. The content of the Senate Journal is governed by Senate
Rule IV and is approved by the Senate on a daily basis. The Senate
Journal is published each calendar year.
The Journal staff members take 90-minute turns at the rostrum in
the Senate Chamber, noting the following by hand for inclusion in the
Minute Book: (i) all orders (entered into by the Senate through
unanimous consent agreements), (ii) legislative messages received from
the President of the United States, (iii) messages from the House of
Representatives, (iv) legislative actions as taken by the Senate
(including motions made by senators, points of order raised, and roll
call votes taken), (v) amendments submitted and proposed for
consideration, (vi) bills and joint resolutions introduced, and (vii)
concurrent and Senate resolutions as submitted. These notes of the
proceedings are then compiled in electronic form for eventual
publication of the Senate Journal at the end of each calendar year.
Compilation is efficiently accomplished through utilization of the LIS
Senate Journal Authoring System. The Senate Journal is published each
calendar year, and in 2013, the Journal Clerk completed the production
of the 845-page 2012 volume. It is anticipated that work on the 2013
volume will conclude by October 2014.
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
In 2013, in support of the Office of the Secretary's commitment to
COOP programs, the Office of the Journal Clerk team participated in
annual emergency preparedness exercises. Additionally, monthly tests of
emergency notification and laptop remote access procedures are
conducted, permitting office function during possible emergencies. The
Journal Clerk continued the established practice of scanning the daily
Minute Book pages into a secure directory. The files are also copied
onto a flash drive storage device weekly and transported off-site each
night. Although the actual Minute Books for each session of a Congress
are sent to the National Archives a year following the end of a
Congress, having easily accessible files, both on a remote server and
on a portable storage device, will ensure timely reconstitution of the
Minute Book data in the event of damage to, or destruction of, the
physical Minute Book.
Cost Savings
In 2013, the Office of the Journal Clerk continued efforts to
reduce its already conservative consumption of paper used in a
traditionally paper-driven office. Reduced consumption of paper
resulted from reduction in printing of draft copies of work product as
updated. Additionally, the office increased reuse of previously
printed-on paper by printing draft documents on both sides.
official reporters of debates
The Office of the Official Reporters of Debates is responsible for
the stenographic reporting, transcribing, and editing of the Senate
floor proceedings for publication in the Congressional Record. The
Chief Reporter acts as the editor-in-chief and the Coordinator
functions as the technical production manager of the Senate portion of
the Record. The office interacts with Senate personnel on additional
materials to be included in the Record.
When the Senate is in session, electronic and paper transcript
delivery to the Government Printing Office (GPO) begins in the early
evening, and the last delivery occurs approximately 2 hours after the
Senate adjourns or recesses. The year 2013 was the sixth year of the
online Record correction process available only to the offices of the
Secretary. This procedure has allowed for the up-to-date correction of
miscellaneous errors caused by personnel of the Secretary or GPO. The
number of errors corrected online has continued to be intermittent and
minor in almost every instance. Errors in need of immediate attention
are fixed in coordination with GPO on an expedited basis.
Cost Savings
To save on printing costs and duplication, the printing of
unamended Senate resolutions and concurrent resolutions is now only
shown in one portion of the Record.
parliamentarian
The Office of the Parliamentarian continues to perform its
essential institutional responsibilities to act as a neutral arbiter
among all parties with an interest in the legislative process. These
responsibilities include advising the chair and Senators and their
staff, as well as committee staff, House members and their staffs,
administration officials, the media, and members of the general public,
on all matters requiring an interpretation of the Standing Rules of the
Senate, the precedents of the Senate, and unanimous consent agreements,
as well as provisions of public law affecting the proceedings of the
Senate.
The parliamentarians work in close cooperation with the Senate
leadership and their floor staffs in coordinating all of the business
on the Senate floor. The Parliamentarian or one of her assistants is
always present on the Senate floor when the Senate is in session, ready
to assist the presiding officer in his or her official duties, as well
as to assist any other Senator on procedural matters. The
Parliamentarians work closely with the staff of the Vice President of
the United States and the Vice President himself whenever he performs
his duties as President of the Senate.
The Parliamentarians monitor all proceedings on the floor of the
Senate, advise the presiding officer on the competing rights of the
senators on the floor, and advise all Senators as to what is
appropriate in debate. The Parliamentarians keep track of time on the
floor of the Senate when time is limited or controlled under the
provisions of time agreements, statutes, or standing orders. The
Parliamentarians keep track of the amendments offered to the
legislation pending on the Senate floor and monitor them for points of
order. In this respect, the Parliamentarians reviewed nearly 3,000
amendments during 2013, nearly half of those in the days during which
the Senate considered a concurrent resolution on the budget, to
determine if they met various procedural requirements such as
germaneness.
The Office of the Parliamentarian is responsible for the referral
to the appropriate committees of all legislation introduced in the
Senate and all legislation received from the House, as well as all
communications received from the executive branch, State and local
governments, and private citizens. In order to perform this
responsibility, the Parliamentarians do extensive legal and legislative
research. During 2013, the Parliamentarian and her assistants referred
2,168 measures and 4,338 communications to the appropriate Senate
committees. The office worked extensively with Senators and their
staffs to advise them of the jurisdictional consequences of countless
drafts of legislation, and evaluated the jurisdictional effect of
proposed modifications in drafting. In 2013 as in the past, the
Parliamentarians conducted several briefings on Senate procedure to
various groups of Senate staff and visiting international parliamentary
staff on a nonpartisan basis.
Following the Presidential and Senate elections in 2012, the
Parliamentarian's Office was heavily involved in the processing of
certificates of election and appointment for Senators in the class of
2013 and with the processing of certificates of vote and ascertainments
for the election of the President and Vice President of the United
States. The Parliamentarian's Office reviewed the certificates of
election and appointment for 34 Senators who were sworn in on January
3, 2013, in some cases having to request resubmission of materials that
did not appear to be in compliance with the Senate rules and this
process was repeated as other new Senators joined the body during the
year. The Parliamentarians worked closely with the Office of the Vice
President, the National Archives and Records Administration, the House
Parliamentarian, the House Clerk, and other staff of the Secretary of
the Senate to prepare for the joint session to count the electoral
ballots on January 4, 2013. Both of these electoral processes require a
tremendous amount of groundwork and attention to detail and involve a
great deal of paperwork from the States which must be reviewed and
cataloged before being acted upon and archived. The Parliamentarian and
her staff also participated in an orientation session for new Senators
and have met one-on-one with several new Senators to prepare them for
the duty of presiding over the Senate.
During 2013, as has been the case in the past, the staff of the
Parliamentarian's Office was frequently called on to analyze and advise
Senators on a great number of issues arising under the Congressional
Budget Act of 1974, the Budget Control Act, the Congressional Review
Act, and many other provisions of law that authorize special procedural
consideration of measures. Additionally, in 2013 the Senate considered
a concurrent resolution on the budget. As noted earlier, there were
over 1,000 amendments drafted to this measure (many of which were not
proposed) that the office reviewed and numerous, complicated questions
related to the complexity of the Congressional Budget Act and its use
in the Senate.
Throughout 2013, the Parliamentarians held many meetings with the
proponents and opponents of changes in the Senate's rules and
procedures, and counseled all interested parties in the historical
context of previous changes to the rules, as well as the intricacies of
both the content of these proposals and the disputed processes for
bringing about these changes. The Parliamentarian and her staff spent
long hours with Senators and staff crafting two resolutions with
respect to Senate Rules and practices which were adopted at the
beginning of the Congress as part of the Senate's quest to streamline
the consideration of legislative and executive business. In subsequent
months, the Parliamentarian and her staff spent a great deal of time
researching and fielding questions on further developments with respect
to the processing of nominations, some unusual and high profile
procedures with respect to the handling of a House message, amendments
between the Houses, and appeals of the ruling of the chair.
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
The Parliamentarians serve as the agents of the Senate in
coordinating the flow of legislation with the House of Representatives
and with the President, and they ensure that enrolled bills are signed
in a timely manner by duly authorized officers of the Senate for
presentation to the President. The Parliamentarians have taken the lead
in the Senate in analyzing the need for emergency procedural
authorities. Each Parliamentarian has been trained to remotely access
the office's computers and hard drives, facilitating communications,
research, and other work after hours, and enabling them to have the
office function during emergencies. The Parliamentarian's Office
continues to participate extensively in emergency preparedness training
for the Senate Chamber. The Parliamentarian has been involved for years
with Sergeant at Arms Office of Continuity and Emergency Preparedness
Operations (CEPO) in the planning phases of the Senate's evacuation and
shelter-in-place procedures, and regularly attends such meetings on
behalf of the Secretary of the Senate and the legislative staff,
affording their concerns and ideas a voice.
Financial Operations
disbursing office
The mission of the Senate Disbursing Office is to provide efficient
and effective central financial and human resource data management,
information, and advice to the offices, members, and employees of the
United States Senate. The Senate Disbursing Office manages the
collection of information from the distributed accounting locations
within the Senate to formulate and consolidate the agency level budget,
disburse the payroll, pay the Senate's bills, and provide appropriate
counseling and advice. The Senate Disbursing Office collects
information from members and employees that is necessary to maintain
and administer the retirement, health insurance, life insurance, and
other central human resource programs, and provides responsive,
personal attention to members and employees on an unbiased and
confidential basis. The Senate Disbursing Office also manages the
distribution of central financial and human resource information to the
individual member offices, committees, administrative offices, and
leadership offices in the Senate while maintaining the confidentiality
of information for members and Senate employees.
The organization is structured to enhance its ability to provide
quality work; maintain a high level of customer service; promote good
internal controls, efficiency, and teamwork; and provide for the
appropriate levels of supervision and management. The long-term
financial needs of the Senate are best served by an organization
staffed with highly trained professionals who possess a high degree of
institutional knowledge, sound judgment, and interpersonal skills that
reflect the unique nature of the United States Senate.
This past year the Disbursing Office took on several projects that
required a significant level of staff resources and presented many
interesting challenges. Among these projects were the final
implementation of the web-based Senate payroll system (SPS), rollout of
the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and application of changes to Federal
retirement plans.
Executive Office
The primary responsibilities of the Executive Office are to:
--oversee the day to day operations of the Disbursing Office
(Disbursing);
--respond to any inquiries or questions;
--maintain a fully and properly trained staff;
--ensure that the office is prepared to respond quickly and
efficiently to any unique situation that may arise;
--provide excellent customer service;
--assist the Secretary of the Senate in the implementation of new
legislation affecting any of her departments;
--handle all information requests from the Committee on
Appropriations and the Committee on Rules and Administration;
and
--provide budget information and financial assistance to all
accounting locations within the Senate.
During the year, the Financial Clerk and senior Disbursing staff
attended weekly status meetings on the SPS held by the payroll
implementers, received additional training on the new payroll system,
and completed its implementation in September 2013. The additional
workload created by the implementation of the SPS was exacerbated by
the quickly approaching deadline of the ACA. To lessen the workload on
the benefits section, the Executive Office assisted with the
preparation of bar examiner, mortgage, and unemployment verification
forms. In addition, the executive office provided assistance with the
distribution of health plan confirmation letters and several other
notices disseminated to senators and staff.
Financial Management
Headed by the deputy for financial management, the mission of the
financial management division is to coordinate all central financial
policies, procedures, and activities; to process and pay expense
vouchers within reasonable timeframes; and to provide professional
customer service, training, and confidential financial guidance to all
Senate accounting locations. In addition, the financial management
group is responsible for the compilation of the annual operating budget
of the United States Senate for presentation to the Committee on
Appropriations and for the formulation, presentation, and execution of
the budget for the Senate. On a semiannual basis, this group is also
responsible for the compilation, validation, and completion of the
Report of the Secretary of the Senate.
Financial management is segmented into three functional
departments: accounting, accounts payable, and budget. The accounts
payable (A/P) department is further subdivided into three sections:
disbursements, vendor administration, and audit. The deputy coordinates
the activities of the three functional departments, establishes central
financial policies and procedures, and carries out the directives of
the Financial Clerk and the Secretary of the Senate. In this role, the
deputy was able to work with the payroll section to pay member and
staff salaries without delay despite the October Government shutdown.
This was no small feat after going live with the Senate payroll system
(SPS) and just before implementing the new Affordable Care Act (ACA)
provisions. Their efforts are to be commended.
Accounting Department
During 2013, the accounting department approved over 44,000 expense
reimbursement vouchers and vendor uploads including deposits for items
ranging from receipts received by the Senate operations, such as the
Senate's revolving funds, to cancelled subscription refunds from member
offices. General ledger maintenance also prompted the entry of
thousands of adjustment entries that include the entry of all
appropriation and allowance funding limitation transactions, all
accounting cycle closing entries, and all non-voucher reimbursement
transactions such as payroll adjustments, budget uploads, stop payment
requests, travel advances and repayments, and limited payability
reimbursements. The department continues to scan all documentation for
journal vouchers, deposits, accounting memos, and letters of
certification to facilitate both storage concerns and continuity of
operations (COOP) planning. The section also began testing the 2013
year-end process to close and reset revenue, expense, and budgetary
general ledger accounts to zero.
The Disbursing Office also continued working with member offices
and the Senate Stationery Room to establish and design an online flag
ordering system using the Department of the Treasury's Pay.gov system.
Three more offices began using Pay.gov, for a total of 13 offices, and
six more offices had the initial conference call with Pay.gov by the
end 2013. The pilot is expected to expand to include additional offices
and new member offices during 2014.
The Department of the Treasury's monthly financial reporting
requirements includes a ``Statement of Accountability'' that details
all increases and decreases to the accountability of the Secretary of
the Senate, such as checks issued during the month and deposits
received, as well as a detailed listing of cash on hand. Also,
Disbursing provides the ``Statement of Transactions According to
Appropriations, Fund and Receipt Accounts,'' to the Department of the
Treasury on a monthly basis. The statement is the summary of activity
of all monies disbursed by the Secretary of the Senate through the
Financial Clerk of the Senate. All activity by appropriation account is
reconciled with the Department of the Treasury on a monthly and annual
basis. The annual reconciliation of the Treasury Combined Statement is
also used in the reporting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
as part of the submission of the annual operating budget of the Senate.
The FAMIS system report, tested and implemented in 2010, was used again
in 2013 to calculate the Treasury Combined Statement, which is used for
the OMB budget submissions.
Accounting continues to use the Treasury's Central Accounting
Reporting System (CARS) to report the ``Statement of Accountability''
and the ``Statement of Transactions According to Appropriations, Fund
and Receipt Accounts'' when Treasury decommissioned the old system. In
2013, the accounting department continued using the Treasury's OTCNet
system to enter electronic deposit tickets for all check and cash
deposits. The system is also used to scan and electronically deposit
all checks, which enables a faster collection time.
The accounting department continues to transmit Federal tax
payments for Federal, Social Security, and Medicare taxes withheld from
payroll expenditures, as well as the Senate's matching contribution for
Social Security and Medicare to the Federal Reserve Bank through the
IRS Electronic Federal Payment System. Payments for employee
withholdings for State income taxes were reported and paid on a
quarterly basis to each State with applicable State income taxes
withheld. The system modifications installed in 2008 allow automated
clearing house (ACH) payment of quarterly State taxes, which has
resulted in a 100 percent participation rate by taxing jurisdictions.
Monthly reconciliations were performed with the National Finance Center
regarding the employee withholdings and agency matching contributions
for the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).
The accounting department also works to meet internal reporting
requirements, such as monthly ledger statements. These ledger
statements detail all of the financial activity for the appropriate
accounting period with regard to official expenditures in detail and
summary form. It is the responsibility of the accounting department to
review and verify the accuracy of the statements before Senate-wide
distribution.
Accounting also has a budget division whose primary responsibility
is compiling the annual operating budget of the United States Senate
for presentation to the Committee on Appropriations. The budget
division is responsible for the preparation, issuance, and distribution
of the budget justification worksheets. The budget justification
worksheets for fiscal year 2015 were mailed to the Senate accounting
locations and processed in December 2013. The budget baseline estimates
for fiscal year 2015 will be reported to OMB by mid-February 2014. The
budget analyst is also responsible for the preparation of 1099s and the
prompt submission of forms to the IRS before the end of the January.
Accounts Payable: Disbursements Department
The disbursements department is the entry and exit point for
voucher payments. The department physically and electronically receives
all vouchers submitted for payment. It also pays all of these vouchers,
as well as the items submitted by upload and the various certifications
and adjustments that are submitted periodically. The department
received approximately 93,000 vouchers. All of these items were paid by
the department via Treasury check or ACH. Multiple payments to the same
payee are often combined. As a result, 15,012 checks were issued, while
58,046 ACH payments were required.
After paper vouchers are paid, they are sorted and filed by
document number. Vouchers are grouped in 6-month ``clusters'' to
accommodate their retrieval for the semiannual Report of the Secretary
of the Senate. Files are maintained in-house for the current period and
one prior period, as space is limited. One result is that more
documents are stored in the Senate Support Facility (SSF). The
inventoried items are sorted and recorded in a database for easy
document retrieval. Document retrieval missions increased, but were
successfully conducted, and the department continues to work closely
with warehouse personnel. The renovated area has led to more efficient
use of space here and at the SSF. Paper volume has decreased
significantly as 44 offices are submitting vouchers via an imaging
process through Web FMIS. Paper volume and related filing times are
expected to decrease further as more offices convert to imaging of
expense vouchers.
A major function of the department is to prepare adjustment
documents. Adjustments are varied and include reissuance of items held
as accounts receivable collections, reissuance of payments for which
nonreceipt is claimed, and various supplemental adjustments received
from the payroll department. Such adjustments are usually disbursed by
check, but an increasing number are now handled through ACH. The
department maintains a spreadsheet that tracks cases of nonreceipt of
salary checks, including stop payment requests and reissuance. The
section prepared 823 adjustment documents in 2013.
The department also prepares the stop payment forms as required by
the Department of the Treasury. Stop payments are requested by
employees who have not received salary or expense reimbursements and by
vendors claiming nonreceipt of expense checks. The Treasury Check
Information System (TCIS) allows the department to electronically
submit stop payment requests and provides online access to digital
images of negotiated checks for viewing and printing. During 2013, only
69 digital images of negotiated checks were provided, and an additional
95 requests were received for stop payments. The stop payment requests
resulted in reissuance of 85 checks. These levels are lower than 2012,
reflecting greater efficiency in the overall payment process. TCIS is a
web-based system that saves the Disbursing Office time, charges a $7.50
processing fee for each request, and is accessible from multiple
workstations in Disbursing. As more vendors begin receiving payments
via ACH, these levels can be expected to further decrease.
Accounts Payable: Vendor Administration
The vendor administration section maintains the accuracy and
integrity of the Senate's central vendor (payee) file for the prompt
completion of new vendor file requests and service requests related to
the Disbursing Office's web-based payment tracking system. This section
also assists the information technology (IT) department by performing
periodic testing and monitoring the performance of the vendor system.
Currently, more than 20,500 vendor records are stored in the vendor
file, in addition to approximately 11,000 employee records. Daily
requests for new vendor addresses or updates to existing vendor
information are processed within 24 hours of receipt. Besides updating
mailing addresses, the section facilitates the use of ACH by switching
the mode of vendor payment from paper check to direct deposit. Whenever
a new remittance address is added to the vendor file, the default
method of payment is paper check. A standard letter is mailed to the
vendor requesting tax and banking information, as well as contact and
email information. If a vendor responds indicating they would like to
receive ACH payments in the future, the method of payment is changed.
All Web FMIS users are using a staffer functionality tool which
allows Senate employees to electronically create, save, and file
expense reimbursement forms; track their progress; and get detailed
information on payments. The most common service requests are for
system user identification and passwords and for the reactivation of
accounts. Employees may also request an alternative expense payment
method. Employees can choose to have their payroll set up for direct
deposit or paper check but can have their expenses reimbursed by a
method that differs from their salary payment method.
The vendor section works closely with the accounts payable
disbursements group to resolve returned ACH payments. ACH payments are
returned periodically for a variety of reasons, including incorrect
account numbers, routing numbers, and, in rare instances, a
nonparticipating financial institution.
The vendor section electronically scans and stores all supporting
documentation of existing vendor records and new vendor file requests.
When this section receives replies asking for ACH participation, the
vendors are asked if they wish to be notified by email when payments
are sent. Currently, over 95 percent of ACH participants also receive
email notification of payment.
During 2013, the vendor section processed 1,725 vendor file
additions, completed 2,335 service requests, mailed 820 vendor
information letters, and converted 340 vendors from check payment to
direct deposit.
During calendar year 2013, the vendor group section assisted the
accounting department in converting the remainder of State taxing
authorities to ACH payment of tax withholdings. In addition to those
entities converted to ACH payment in 2012, payments to the Federal
Reserve Bank of Philadelphia are now electronic for 2013 and beyond.
Accounts Payable: Audit Department
The audit section is responsible for auditing vouchers and
answering questions regarding voucher preparation and the
permissibility of expenses and advances. This section provides advice
and recommendations on the discretionary use of funds to the various
accounting locations; identifies duplicate payments submitted by
offices; monitors payments related to contracts; trains new
administrative managers and chief clerks about Senate financial
practices and the Senate's Financial Management Information System; and
assists in the production of the Report of the Secretary of the Senate.
The Report continues to be issued electronically, concurrent with the
printed version. The printed version is available as always, and the
online version is available through the Senate and Government Printing
Office (GPO) Web sites.
The section is organized at three different levels. The first level
is the supervisor. In addition to performing managerial tasks, the
supervisor audits and sanctions vouchers as needed and coordinates
testing related to system implementation and upgrades. Eleven auditors
process all incoming vouchers and uploads, and four of them have the
authority to sanction, on behalf of the Committee on Rules and
Administration, vouchers not exceeding $100. They also sanction all
travel and petty cash advances as well as noncontingent fund items
generated by Legal Counsel, Legislative Counsel, and the Office of
Congressional Accessibility Services.
A major function of the section is monitoring the fund advances for
travel and petty cash. Travel advances must be repaid within 30 days of
trip completion, and petty cash advances must be repaid whenever new
funding authority is established. The system accommodates the issuance,
tracking, and repayment of advances. It also facilitates the entry and
editing of election dates and vouchers for Senators-elect. In addition
to other functionality, an advance type of petty cash was created and
is in use. Regular petty cash audits are performed by the section, and
all petty cash accounts were successfully audited in 2013.
The audit section processed over 93,000 expense vouchers and an
additional volume of 23,500 uploaded items in 2013. Audit sanctioned
approximately 47,000 vouchers under authority delegated by the
Committee on Rules and Administration. This translates to roughly
10,500 vouchers processed per auditor, and almost 12,000 vouchers
posted per certifier. The voucher processing consisted of providing
interpretation of Senate rules, regulations, and statutes and applying
the same to expense claims, monitoring of contracts, and direct
involvement with the Senate's central vendor file. On average, vouchers
greater than $100 that do not have any issues or questions are
received, audited, sanctioned electronically by the Committee on Rules
and Administration using Web FMIS, and are expected to be paid within 8
to 10 business days. The actual average payment time for these vouchers
was 5.46 days. These vouchers comprised approximately 50 percent of all
vouchers, and, as in the previous year, Disbursing passed two post-
payment audits performed by the Committee on Rules and Administration
for items of $100 or less. In 2013, the average payment time for
Disbursing-sanctioned items was 2.96 days, roughly the same as the
previous year.
Uploaded items are of two varieties: certified expenses and vendor
payments. In use since the 1980s, certified expenses include items such
as stationery, telecommunications, postage, and equipment. Currently,
the certifications include mass mail, franked mail, excess copy
charges, Senate Photo Studio charges, and Senate Recording Studio
charges. Expenses incurred by the various Senate offices are certified
by the Sergeant at Arms (SAA) to the Disbursing Office on a monthly
basis. The expenses are detailed on a spreadsheet which is also
electronically uploaded. The physical voucher is audited and
appropriate revisions are made. Except for telecommunications charges,
a concentrated effort is put forth to ensure certified items appear as
paid in the same month they are incurred. Telecommunications charges
usually run 1 month behind as the SAA must wait for the bills from
external vendors.
Vendor uploads are used to pay vendors for the Senate Stationery
Room, Senate Gift Shop, and State office rentals, and to refund
security deposits for the Senate Page School. The methodology is
roughly the same as that for certifications, but the payments rendered
are for the individual vendors. Although these items are generally
processed and paid quickly, the State office rents are generally paid a
few days before the month of the rental, which is consistent with the
general policy of paying rent in advance.
The audit section provided training sessions in the use of new
systems, the process for generation of expense claims, and the
permissibility of expenses. They also participated in seminars
sponsored by the Secretary of the Senate, the SAA, and the Library of
Congress. The section trained seven new administrative managers and
chief clerks and conducted three informational sessions for Senate
staff through seminars sponsored by the Congressional Research Service.
The audits section also routinely assists the IT department and other
groups as necessary in the testing and implementation of new hardware,
software, and system applications. The use of imaging has steadily
grown and now includes 44 offices with several more slated to adopt the
functionality in 2014.
The audit section continued offering feedback to the IT department
on system-related problems, system restraints, and areas that need
improvement. The section has devoted significant amount of time in
detailing system problems and reporting them to the IT department.
Once operations resumed after the Government shutdown, there was a
large volume of vouchers waiting to be processed and paid. The crunch
was felt throughout the financial management division, but the backlog
was met head on. During the latter part of October 2013, 5,168 vouchers
were posted for payment in A/P and accounting versus 3,939 for the last
half of October 2012. This represents an increase in volume of 31.2
percent.
Voucher audit alone processed 5,795 vouchers compared to 4,284
during the same timeframe a year earlier. This represents an increase
of 35.3 percent.
Benefits and Financial Services
The principal responsibility of the deputy for benefits and
financial services is to provide expertise and oversight on Federal
retirement, benefits, payroll, and financial services processes. The
deputy also coordinates the interaction between the front office,
payroll, and employee benefits sections, and is responsible for the
planning and project management of new computer systems and programs.
The deputy ensures that job processes are efficient and up to date,
modifies computer support systems as necessary, implements regulatory
and legislated changes, and designs and produces up to date forms and
information for use in all three sections.
General Activities
Early in 2013, the Disbursing Office assisted outgoing staff with
retirements, continuation of pay, unemployment, and transitions to
other positions. Disbursing also provided training and guidance to new
members and their staffs on their benefits eligibility.
FERS-Revised Annuity Employee, the new retirement program, was
implemented at the first of the year and follow-up testing and process
modification was performed on the human resources management system
(HRMS). In addition, the new program was designed, tested, and adapted
to the Senate payroll system (SPS), which was still in development. The
Disbursing Office also designed, tested, and implemented new processes
to assist the SAA with their Separation Incentive Payment program.
The primary project for the deputy and the Disbursing Office during
2013 was the final phases of development, testing, and the
implementation of the SPS. The scope of the project was extensive and
required the coordination and cooperation of the deputy, the payroll
section, the employee benefits section (EBS), the Financial Clerk, and
assistant financial clerk with the SAA Technical Support group, the
project management officer, and the project implementation team. Heavy
and in-depth parallel testing and analysis was conducted throughout the
first three quarters of the year. EBS created new documents and
procedures to accommodate the new payroll system. In addition, the
student loan program (SLP) administrator participated extensively in
the development and testing of the new payroll system, including design
assessment, test scenario development, reports, and testing all aspects
of the system and providing feedback. The payroll section worked
tirelessly to prepare for this and then follow up.
The transition to the new system occurred in September and went as
smoothly as could be hoped for. Post-go-live testing continued and, as
expected during the following months, inconsistencies were identified
and minor fixes were implemented by all groups involved. Overall, the
system implementation was a success. At the end of the year, the system
did not perform in several instances as the contracted implementation
group had confirmed that it would. A large-scale effort was undertaken
to correct issues with Federal Flexible Spending Account, Thrift
Savings Program (TSP) catch-up, and TSP withholdings. This posed a
unique challenge to Disbursing staff and the SAA technical support
group to coordinate with contracted implementation staff to make fixes,
notify staff, and upgrade and test required programming changes.
Throughout this project, the Disbursing staff, in tandem with the SAA
technical support staff, exceeded expectations with their tireless
efforts, contributions and demonstration of their expertise.
During 2013, the deputy and the Disbursing Office staff were
required to implement the portions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)
that impacted health insurance eligibility for Senate members and
staff. Late in the year, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), in
conjunction with other stakeholders, drafted and issued regulations to
facilitate the implementation of the ACA provisions. During this time,
the deputy worked extensively with OPM and the DC Small Business Health
Options Program (SHOP) to ensure manageable administration within the
guidelines of the legislation. The process for ``designation of
official staff'' was drafted and implemented. Designations were made by
members, and staff was notified of their health insurance eligibility.
Benefits, front office staff, and the deputy were trained on the DC
Health Link (DCHL) system and were so inundated with staff questions
and enrollment issues that DCHL enrollment became their primary
function, limiting time available for other priorities. The Disbursing
Office and eligible Senate staff worked diligently with the DC SHOP to
educate themselves and complete their enrollments. There were
significant challenges to employee education and technical challenges
working within the DC SHOP system. The Disbursing Office, in
conjunction with DC SHOP, provided numerous educational opportunities
and help sessions. The benefits and front office staff should be
commended for their dedication to this complex effort. The deputy
worked with the SAA technical support group and payroll system
contractors to make significant modifications to the new system to
accommodate the new health insurance provisions. These modifications
continue in 2014.
Front Office--Administrative and Financial Services
The front office is the main service area for all general Senate
business and financial activity. The front office staff maintains the
Senate's internal accountability of funds used in the group's daily
operations. The reconciliation of such funds is executed on a daily
basis. The front office staff also provides training to newly
authorized payroll contacts along with continuing guidance to all
contacts in the execution of business operations. It is the receiving
point for most incoming expense vouchers, payroll actions, and employee
benefits--related forms, and it is the initial verification point to
ensure that paperwork received in the Disbursing Office conforms to all
applicable Senate rules, regulations, and statutes. The front office is
the first line of service provided to Senators, officers, and
employees. All new Senate employees (permanent and temporary) who will
work in a Capitol Hill Senate office are administered the required oath
of office and personnel affidavit in the front office. Staff is also
provided verbal and written detailed information regarding pay and
benefits.
Advances are issued to Senate staff authorized for official Senate
travel through the front office. Travel advances (cash and/or check)
are entered and reconciled in Web FMIS. After the processing of
certified travel expenses is complete, cash travel advances are repaid.
Numerous inquiries are handled daily on topics such as benefits,
taxes, voucher processing, reporting laws, and Senate regulations.
Inquiries must always be answered accurately and fully to provide the
highest degree of customer service. Cash and checks received from
Senate entities as part of their daily business are handled through the
front office and become part of the Senate's accountability of
federally appropriated funds and are then processed through the
Senate's general ledger system. The front office maintains the official
office information authorization forms that authorize individuals to
conduct various types of business with the Disbursing Office. The front
office also provides notary services for members and staff. Staff can
visit the Disbursing Office front office for notary services while
front office staff will provide members notary services in their Senate
offices.
General Activities
--Processed approximately 500 cash advances during the year and
initiated over 1,200 check/direct deposit advances.
--Received and processed over 15,000 checks and reconciled the Senate
cash advance system.
--Administered oath of office and personnel affidavits to more than
1,000 new Senate staff and advised them of their benefits
eligibility. Such staff includes full-time employees, interns,
and Senate pages.
--A major initiative this year was rolling out the ACA as it applied
to Senators and Senate staff. The front office assisted with
the receipt of and explanation of official office designations.
They also issued confirmation letters providing staff and
members proof they successfully enrolled in DCHL, as well as
assisted in compiling lists of members and staff who were
unable to enroll due to technical difficulties. This new
program was unlike previous coverage and the enrollment process
was unfamiliar. The front office underwent training on DCHL and
assisted staff, to the degree possible, in understanding the
enrollment process.
--Assisted employees with electronic resources for researching and
comparing benefit plans and programs to further reduce the
reliance on paper documents.
--Provided training sessions to new and existing administrative
managers and assisted them in getting their offices up and
running. Offered guidance in closing outgoing offices.
--The front office oversaw the distribution of paychecks to staff
displaced as a result of the 2012 elections and 2013 special
elections.
--In 2013, the front office staff attended training on the new SPS.
Upon implementation of the SPS in September 2013, front office
staff members have been successfully using the system on a
daily basis and learning new skills.
--The front office advises eligible staff of their TSP catch-up
provisions and advises enrollees of changes in their plans.
Payroll Section
The payroll section maintains the HRMS and is responsible for
processing, verifying, and warehousing all payroll information
submitted to the Disbursing Office by Senators, committees, and other
appointing officials for their staff, including appointments of
employees, salary changes, title changes, transfers, and terminations.
The section is also responsible for the input of all enrollments and
elections submitted by members and employees that affect their pay
(e.g., retirement and benefits elections, tax withholding, TSP
participation, allotments from pay, address changes, direct deposit
elections, levies and garnishments) and for the issuance of accurate
salary payments to members and employees. The payroll section is
responsible for the administration of the Senate Student Loan Repayment
Program (SLP) and for the audit and reconciliation of the Flexible
Spending Accounts (FSAs) and Federal Employees Dental and Vision
Insurance Program (FEDVIP) bill files received each pay period. The
payroll section jointly maintains the ACH FedLine facilities with the
accounts payable section for the normal transmittal of payroll deposits
to the Federal Reserve. Payroll expenditure, projection, and allowance
reports are distributed electronically to all Senate offices
semimonthly. The payroll section issues the proper withholding and
agency contribution reports to the accounting section and transmits the
proper TSP information to the National Finance Center. In addition, the
payroll section maintains earnings records, which are distributed to
the Social Security Administration and employees' taxable earnings
records, which are used for W-2 statements. This section is responsible
for the payroll expenditure data portion of the Report of the Secretary
of the Senate. The section calculates, reconciles, and bills the Senate
Employees Child Care Center for their staff employee contributions and
forwards payment of those contributions to the accounting section. The
payroll section provides guidance and counseling to staff and
administrative managers on issues of pay, salaries, allowances, and
projections.
General Activities
In January 2013, the payroll section conducted all year-end
processing and reconciliation of pay records and produced W-2 forms for
employees and Federal and State tax agencies. They also facilitated the
imaging of those documents to the document imaging system. The payroll
section maintained the normal schedule of processing TSP election
forms.
The payroll section continued preparing for the new payroll system.
This included developing and testing payroll queries. The testing and
training process continued throughout the year. There were countless
meetings involving issues such as security, payroll reports, data
conversion, business processes, etc.
Parallel tests of the new payroll system continued in April, June,
and July. This included entering duplicate data into both the current
and new systems. The staff dealt with system performance issues, bugs,
and needed coding changes. This data was checked daily for accuracy and
system function and required changes were logged and implemented. This
presented a steep learning curve and system modifications were
recommended as identified. Data comparisons were performed and
scrutinized after the close-out of both systems. Variances and
discrepancies were analyzed and feedback was provided to the contracted
implementation team.
The payroll section participated in the testing and implementation
of Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP) for the SAA. Other
minor changes were made to the HRMS as a result of regulated and policy
changes.
As a result of the 2012 elections, the resignations of two
Senators, and the death of another, the payroll section spent January
2013 assisting the staff of 15 offices with their outgoing/incoming
office inquiries and prepared for staff transitions.
In August, the payroll section participated in W-2, COLA, and
payroll report demonstrations and testing for the new payroll system.
While launching the new payroll system, the payroll section also
prepared for the pending Government shutdown and tested potential
shutdown and post-shutdown scenarios. As a result, once the shutdown
ended the payroll section was able to meet the October 18th payday on
time and without disruption.
The payroll section administers the student loan program (SLP),
which includes initiation, tracking, and transmission of the payments,
determination of eligibility, and coordination and reconciliation with
office administrators and program participants. Because of regulatory
changes within the Department of Education, extensive vendor processing
changes were necessitated which results in many payments to vendors not
being routed correctly once received at the designated address. This
leads to a higher-than-usual need for payment tracking, reconciliation,
and check reissues. The SLP administrator continues to improve
processes for administration of the program and documenting procedures.
The administrator also continues to train a member of the payroll staff
so they are able to administer the SLP in the administrator's absence.
Employee Benefits Section
The primary responsibilities of the employee benefits section (EBS)
are administration of health insurance, life insurance, TSP, and all
retirement programs for members and employees of the Senate. This
includes counseling, processing of paperwork, research, dissemination
of information, and interpretation of retirement and benefits laws and
regulations. EBS staff is also expected to have a working knowledge of
the Federal Flexible Spending Account (FSA) program, the Federal Long
Term Care (LTC) Insurance program, Federal Employees Dental and Vision
Insurance program (FEDVIP), and the DC Health Link (DCHL). In addition,
the sectional work includes research and verification of all prior
Federal service and prior Senate service for new and returning
appointees. EBS provides this information for payroll input. It also
verifies the accuracy of the information provided and reconciles, as
necessary, when official personnel folders and transcripts of service
from other Federal agencies are received. Senate transcripts of
service, including all official retirement and benefits documentation,
are provided to other Federal agencies when Senators and staff are
hired elsewhere in the Government. EBS is responsible for the
administration and tracking of employees placed on leave without pay to
perform military service. The responsibilities include counseling with
regard to continued benefits, TSP make-up contributions, and reservist
differential payments. EBS participates fully in the Centralized
Enrollment Clearinghouse System sponsored by OPM to reconcile all
Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) enrollments with carriers
through the National Finance Center. EBS is responsible for its own
forms inventory ordering and maintenance, as well as all benefits, TSP,
and retirement brochures, for the Disbursing Office. EBS processes
employment verifications for loans, bar exams, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, OPM, and the Department of Defense, among others.
Unemployment claim forms are completed and employees are counseled on
their eligibility. Department of Labor billings for unemployment
compensation paid to Senate employees are reviewed in EBS and submitted
by voucher to the accounting section for payment, as are the employee
fees associated with FSAs. Beneficiary designations for Federal
Employees Group Life Insurance (FEGLI), retirement, and unpaid
compensation are filed and checked by EBS.
General Activities
The year began with EBS finalizing retirement estimates and
processing many retirement cases associated with 12 outgoing senators
(including one resignation) and their staffs, as well as those staff on
committees who were affected by the changes. All outgoing offices were
given an ``outgoing office presentation'' by a member of EBS. Many
regular retirement, death, and disability cases were also processed
throughout the year.
EBS met with all new Senators to review benefit options available
to them. New members appointed numerous employees from the House of
Representatives and the executive branch, and many other employees left
with their outgoing members, many of whom were appointed to positions
in the executive branch. This caused a dramatic increase in
appointments to be researched and processed, retirement records to be
closed out, termination packages of benefits information to be compiled
and mailed out, and health insurance enrollments to be processed.
Transcripts of service for employees going to other Federal agencies,
and other tasks associated with employees changing jobs were at a high
level this year. These required prior employment research and
verification; new FEHB, FEGLI, FSA, FEDVIP, CSRS, FERS, and TSP
enrollments; and the associated requests for backup verification. EBS
also counseled many employees who were affected by these SAA employment
changes. The Sergeant at Arms offered the first ever Voluntary
Separation Incentive Program (VSIP) in the Senate. EBS received a
number of requests for retirement estimates and counseling.
Beginning January 1, 2014, one provision of the ACA changed the
FEHB eligibility for some Senate staff and all Senators. EBS was
involved in meetings with the deputy financial clerk, OPM, and
representatives from DCHL. EBS had to create various documents, assist
countless employees enrolling in DCHL plans, and keep abreast of the
numerous changes. EBS hosted a panel discussion including
representatives from OPM, DCHL, health insurance carriers, and the
Disbursing Office. This presentation was attended by staff and
televised and Webcast live. The televised program was repeated during
the entire open season and the Webcast was available online for all
Senate employees to view. EBS provided support to DCHL during the
enrollment process, assisting with special sessions conducted
throughout open season. Numerous hours were spent providing guidance to
Senators and staff. EBS worked closely with the deputy financial clerk,
DCHL, and carriers in implementing the new healthcare regulations.
EBS expanded participation in the annual benefits open season. In
addition to the representatives of all of the FEHB health insurance
carriers, EBS included all carriers and representatives from DCHL. The
Disbursing Office also hosted an open season benefits fair, which was
informational and well attended. The benefits fair included
representatives from local and national FEHB plans, DCHL
representatives, and representatives from LTC, FSA, and FEDVIP. EBS
worked with the Secretary's webmaster to ensure that links and
information on Webster were current regarding the DCHL and other
benefits choices during the open season.
EBS conducted agency-wide FERS seminars for Washington, DC area
employees, as well as a live video seminar for offices located in the
States. EBS attended interagency benefits officers and TSP meetings.
This was especially important this year due to the numerous ongoing
changes to many of the benefits programs, including the upcoming
offering of a Roth investment option in the TSP program.
Information Technology--Financial Management Information System
The information technology (IT) department provides both functional
and technical assistance for Senate financial management activities and
the financial management information system (FMIS) applications used by
staff in all Senate accounting locations (i.e., Senate personal
offices, committees, leadership and support offices, the Office of the
Secretary of the Senate, the Sergeant at Arms (SAA), the Committee on
Rules and Administration audit section, and Disbursing).
Responsibilities of the department include:
--Supporting current financial systems, users, and operational
processes;
--Providing oversight for the FMIS program;
--Coordinating and testing FMIS infrastructure changes;
--Administering Disbursing's local area network; and
--Managing Disbursing's continuity of operations planning.
Disbursing is the FMIS business owner and is responsible for making
functional decisions related to FMIS. SAA technology services is
responsible for providing the technical infrastructure, including
hardware (e.g., mainframe and servers), operating system software,
database software, and telecommunications; technical assistance for
these components, including migration management and database
administration; and regular batch processing. Disbursing also utilizes
contractor support for application development and to augment
operational support as needed. During 2013, IT worked collaboratively
with these organizations to:
--Achieve cost savings: continued to improve the Senate's ability to
make application changes without the need for software
releases, saving significant application development dollars,
by:
--consolidating applications and platforms to reduce support and
licensing costs;
--designing a framework for quickly customizing and modifying
system inquiries without developer support; and
--continuing to expand the use of an application rules engine to
facilitate implementation of changes to business rules more
quickly and economically.
--Prepare for a continuity of operations (COOP) situation: performed
a failover and failback of financial data as part of the year's
financial systems disaster recovery exercise;
--Improve customer service to the Senate community: supported over
4,000 active FMIS users and continued to improve FMIS
applications by:
--implementing multiple software releases to provide additional
user-requested functionality and address user-reported
issues;
--completing the Senate-wide rollout of the new online expense
summary report (ESR) which is easier to use and provides
itinerary formatting consistent with requirements for the
semiannual Report of the Secretary of the Senate; and
--working to enhance system performance and the end-user experience
both through software corrections and additional
infrastructure upgrades.
--Be more environmentally responsible: continued to advance towards a
paperless financial system through the systemwide rollout of
imaging and digital signatures.
Supporting Current Financial Systems, Users, and
Operational Processes
IT supports over 4,000 active FMIS users in all accounting
locations, the departments in Disbursing (i.e., accounts payable,
accounting, disbursements, vendor administration, and front office
sections), and the Committee on Rules and Administration audit staff.
Activities performed include:
--User support: provided functional and technical support to all
Senate FMIS users; staffed the FMIS help desk; answered
hundreds of questions; and met with chiefs of staff,
administrative managers, chief clerks, and directors of various
Senate offices;
--System user communication: gathered feedback from its FMIS user
communities to ensure their needs are met by:
--regularly meet with representatives from accounting, accounts
payable, and the SAA; and
--periodically meet with targeted user groups to document and
review requirements for new functionality.
--Technical problem resolution and system performance monitoring:
ensured technical problems were quickly resolved; checked
system availability, error logs, and statistics to identify
system problems; and coordinated performance tuning activities;
--Security and system administration: maintained user rights for all
FAMIS, Web FMIS, and Web PICS users, and designed, tested, and
made entries to core system tables;
--Accounting support activities: performed functional testing and
production validation of cyclic accounting system activities,
including the rollover process for preparing for a new fiscal
year, and the archive/purge process for removing lapsed fiscal
year data from the current year transactional tables while
maintaining this information for reporting purposes;
--Post-payment voucher audit process support: facilitated process for
the Committee on Rules and Administration audit staff for
selecting and reviewing a statistically valid sample of
vouchers for $100 or less, sanctioned under authority delegated
to the Financial Clerk; and
--Training: developed and published user materials and help content
and provided functional training to FMIS users.
Providing Oversight for the FMIS Program
The responsibility for managing the FMIS program and related
projects includes:
--Strategic planning: continued to prioritize requirements to extend
the life of existing FMIS applications and their platforms to
allow time to develop a phased approach and budget for
replacement of the various components of the financial system
that will reduce the Senate's total cost of ownership of the
financial system over time. This strategy is designed to enable
the high efficiency in financial management operations while
reducing cost, increasing business agility, and providing the
Senate with an integrated, auditable, and paperless financial
system that enables the various Senate user groups to achieve
their business objectives in a timely, effective, and secure
manner.
--Schedule coordination: planned and coordinated a rolling 18-month
FMIS program schedule and facilitated meetings between
Disbursing, the SAA, and support contractor staff to coordinate
schedules and activities, including:
--project-specific working meetings: as-needed meetings related to
individual projects and topics such as archive/purge
meetings and FMIS release design meetings; and
--project management meetings: monthly meetings to discuss the
integrated project schedule and the status of active FMIS
projects, and to address any existing project issues and
risks;
--Development of new system features: supervised development,
performed extensive integration system testing, and implemented
changes to FMIS subsystems. Implementation and production
verification activities were typically completed over weekends
to minimize system downtime to users. Since 2006, multiple
subsystem upgrades have been consolidated into two or three
releases each year. During calendar year 2013, Disbursing:
--Implemented the following releases:
-- FMIS 2013.2, March 2013: corrected over 100 user-reported
defects primarily associated with procurement functions,
incorporated pilot user feedback for new ESR and
consolidated Web FMIS and Web PICS applications; and
-- FMIS 2013.2.1 through FMIS 2013.2.7, May--November 2013:
implemented performance enhancements, platform upgrades,
and defect corrections related to imaging functionality to
facilitate continued Senate-wide rollout of paperless
workflow.
--Continued work related to document imaging and electronic
signatures in FMIS:
-- Phase 1: imaging-only pilot (completed in 2011);
-- Phase 2: office imaging and signatures pilot (completed in
2012); full rollout beginning with new offices (seven
offices implemented in 2012 and an additional 35 offices
implemented in 2013; full rollout to Disbursing's accounts
payable and accounting staff completed in 2013); and
-- Phase 3: planning and development to support imaging and
signatures for SAA and staffer users (in progress).
Coordinating and Testing Infrastructure Changes
The SAA provides the infrastructure on which FMIS operates,
including the mainframe, the database, security hardware and software,
and the telecommunications network. Activities for changes to the
infrastructure include facilitating scheduling of changes and upgrades
to this infrastructure, testing functionality prior to implementation,
and validating critical functionality post implementation. During 2013,
the Disbursing Office continued to work with the SAA to extend the life
of existing FMIS applications to ensure ongoing support of Senate
business processes given limited fiscal resources. This included
upgrades to the Linux operating system and WebSphere application server
to support Web FMIS and digital signing applications; upgrades to
Microsoft SharePoint and the underlying SQL Server database, which
supports the imaging and help functions of the system; as well as an
upgrade of the DB2 database, which supports the FAMIS general ledger
system, Web FMIS, and reporting functions. Additionally, Disbursing
worked with the SAA to transition away from the use of DB2 Connect
Server for FMIS-related applications and support, which eliminated its
associated licensing and platform costs.
Administering the Disbursing Office's Local Area Network
Disbursing continued to administer its own local area network
(LAN), which is separate from the network used by the rest of the
Secretary's Office. It is used by over 50 staff. Upkeep of the LAN
infrastructure, including performing routine daily tasks and replacing
equipment regularly, is critical to providing financial services for
the Senate. In addition, there are a number of specialized
administrative applications that are housed on Disbursing's LAN. During
2013, LAN administration activities included:
--Performing maintenance on the LAN;
--Installing specialized software;
--Maintaining projects for the payroll and benefits section,
including:
--imaging system, developed by SAA and critical for the payroll and
employee benefits sections, for electronically capturing
and indexing payroll documents submitted at the front
counter;
--CLER application, a health insurance benefits validation service;
and
--retirement benefit software, which enables benefits counselors to
easily estimate retirement benefits based on different
scenarios;
--Replacing VPN hardware at the Alternate Computing Facility;
--Upgrading existing workstations with appropriate upgrades
including:
--imaging of critical PCs for easy recovery from hard disk crash or
other PC failure;
--deploying Virtual Machines to support critical systems that were
not compatible with Windows 7; and
--deploying Virtual Machines to test new patches and updates to
support Web FMIS.
Managing the Disbursing Office's Continuity of Operations
(COOP) Planning
Disaster recovery activities are an important part of Disbursing's
COOP plan, and the Disbursing Office's IT section works closely with
the SAA to coordinate planned exercises. During 2013, basic tests were
performed to ensure recovery capabilities for financial systems
including historically performed failover activities in addition to a
failback of FMIS-related data.
Administrative Offices
chief counsel for employment
The Office of the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment (SCCE) is a
nonpartisan office established at the direction of the Joint Leadership
in 1993 after enactment of the Government Employee Rights Act (GERA),
which allowed Senate employees to file claims of employment
discrimination against Senate offices. With the enactment of the
Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA), as amended, Senate
offices became subject to the requirements, responsibilities, and
obligations of 12 employment laws. The CAA also established the Office
of Compliance (OOC). Among other things, the OOC accepts and processes
legislative employees' complaints that their employer has violated the
CAA.
The SCCE is charged with the legal defense of Senate offices in all
employment law cases at both the administrative and court levels. The
SCCE attorneys also provide legal advice to Senate offices about their
obligations under employment laws. Accordingly, each of the employing
offices of the Senate is an individual client of the SCCE, and each
office maintains an attorney-client relationship with the SCCE.
The areas of responsibilities of the SCCE can be divided into the
following categories:
--Litigation (defending Senate offices in courts and at
administrative hearings);
--Mediations to resolve lawsuits;
--Court-ordered alternative dispute resolutions;
--Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) compliance;
--Union drives, negotiations, and unfair labor practice charges ;
--Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance;
--Layoffs and office closings in compliance with the law;
--Management training regarding legal responsibilities; and
--Preventive legal advice.
Litigation, Mediation, and Alternative Dispute Resolutions
The SCCE provides legal advice to and defends Senate employing
offices in court actions, hearings, proceedings, investigations and
negotiations relating to labor and employment laws. The SCCE handles
cases filed in the District of Columbia and cases filed in any of the
50 States.
Compliance with the OSHA and the ADA
The CAA mandates that at least once each Congress the OOC shall
inspect each Senate office to determine whether each office complies
with the OSHA and the public accommodation portion of the ADA. The CAA
authorizes the OOC to issue a public citation to any office that is not
in compliance.
The SCCE provides legal assistance and advice to each Senate office
to ensure that it is complying with the OSHA and the ADA. The SCCE also
represents each Senate office during the OOC inspections and advises
and represents each Senate office when a complaint of an OSHA or ADA
violation is filed against the office or when a citation is issued.
In 2013, the SCCE pre-inspected various Senate work areas to ensure
that Senate offices are complying with the OSHA and the ADA.
At the conclusion of the OOC's inspection process, Senate offices
had no significant ADA problems and no citations were issued in 2013.
Management Training Regarding Legal Responsibilities
The SCCE regularly conducts legal seminars for the managers of
Senate offices to assist them in complying with employment laws,
thereby reducing their liability.
In 2013, the SCCE gave 67 live legal seminars to Senate offices.
These seminars included, among others:
--The Congressional Accountability Act of 1995: Management's Rights
and Obligations;
--The Staffer Said WHAT? The ABC's of Conducting an Effective
Harassment Investigation;
--The Americans with Disabilities Act: What Managers Must Know about
Complying with the Law;
--The Fair Labor Standards Act: Understanding Overtime Pay and Equal
Pay;
--The Family and Medical Leave Act: When Are Employees Entitled to
Leave, and How Much do They Get?;
--Hiring the Best Employees, Part I: Identifying Red Flags in Resumes
and Conducting Effective Interviews;
--Hiring the Best Employees, Part II: Conducting Background Checks,
Searching Social Media, and Checking References; and
--Interns 360: Managing an Intern Program in Compliance with the Law.
The purpose of the seminars was to educate all Senate management
staff about their responsibility to ensure that their respective
offices comply with the CAA. The series was open to all chiefs of
staff, staff directors, administrative directors, chief clerks, and
office managers. Individuals who complete the series receive a
certificate of completion signed by the Secretary of the Senate.
In recent years, the SCCE began offering electronic access to
seminars, allowing State office managers to participate in Webinars,
reducing the need for and expense of travel. The SCCE, working with the
Senate Recording Studio and using video teleconferencing (VTC)
equipment, enabled all State managers to participate in the seminars
and enabled the managers of the Washington, DC offices to view the
seminars from their offices. The SCCE also uses the VTC equipment to
conduct harassment seminars for State offices. In addition, the SCCE
rebroadcasts its monthly seminars upon request on the SCCE website to
accommodate managers who were unable to attend the initial seminars.
Further, the SCCE online registration technology was used extensively
by Senate management staff in 2013 to register online for attending the
seminars in the series.
In addition to the above seminars, the SCCE presented Webinars that
Senate management views at their convenience, and harassment Webinars
that Senate management requires all new hires to view.
The SCCE also held eight 1-hour lunchtime meetings, referred to as
``Brownie Brown Bags,'' open to all office managers, administrative
directors, and chief clerks. The Brownie Brown Bags provide attendees
with an informal forum to discuss legal issues and legal developments.
These meetings have been very well received and very well attended.
Legal Advice
The SCCE meets daily with members, chiefs of staff, administrative
directors, office managers, staff directors, chief clerks, and counsel
at their request to provide legal advice. For example, on a daily
basis, the SCCE advises Senate offices on matters such as disciplining
and terminating employees in compliance with the law; handling and
investigating harassment complaints; accommodating individuals with
disabilities; determining wage law requirements; meeting the
requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act; management's rights
and obligations under union laws and the OSHA; management's obligation
to give leave to employees for military service; veterans' rights; and
interviewing, hiring, and counseling employees. In 2013, the SCCE had
over 2,740 client legal advice meetings.
Also, the SCCE provides legal assistance to Senate offices to
ensure that their office policies, supervisors' policies, intern
policies, job descriptions, interviewing guidelines, and performance
evaluation forms comply with the law. In 2013, the SCCE significantly
revised or prepared 225 policy manuals for member offices and
committees.
Finally, to keep clients abreast of legal developments, the SCCE
prepares and distributes timely client alerts to all Senate offices and
committees explaining the impact of newly enacted employment-related
laws.
E-Discovery
The SCCE attorneys have developed a particular expertise in
identifying, preserving, and culling electronic documents. Although the
SCCE developed and uses this expertise for litigation purposes, several
Senate offices have used the SCCE's expertise in this area to identify,
preserve, and cull electronic documents they need for purposes other
than litigation. By relying on the SCCE, these Senate offices have been
able to identify and preserve electronic documents they were not
otherwise able to find and use for investigation purposes unless they
retained a consultant.
conservation and preservation
The Office of Conservation and Preservation develops and
coordinates programs directly related to the conservation and
preservation of Senate records and materials for which the Secretary of
the Senate has statutory and other authority. Initiatives include
deacidification of paper and prints, phased conservation for books and
documents, replacement of Congressional Serial Set maps (the Serial Set
contains all House and Senate documents and reports), collection
surveys, exhibits, and matting and framing for the Senate leadership.
Senate Library
The Senate Library sent 564 books to the library binding section of
Government Printing Office (GPO) for binding. GPO has been returning
books to the Senate Library on schedule. The Office of Conservation and
Preservation assists the Senate Library with technical issues involving
books being sent and returned from GPO to ensure the quality of
services provided.
Conservation and Preservation will continue training eight Senate
Library staff members to repair Senate Library materials. The Senate
Library staff repaired 331 Congressional Records and Serial Set
volumes.
The office has repaired, scanned, and replaced 54 large maps from
seven volumes of the Serial Set. The originals are too fragile to be
used and will be stored.
Preservation
The Office of Conservation and Preservation completed 49 volumes of
House and Senate hearings and Congressional Records for the Senate
Library. These books were re-bound with new end sheets and new covers,
using the old spines when possible. The office also fabricated a
slipcase for a collection of Serial Set maps.
Committees
Conservation and Preservation assisted the Committee on the Budget,
Select Committee on Ethics, Veterans' Affairs Committee, Historical
Office, Legislative Counsel, Joint Committee on Taxation, and Joint
Economic Committee with books sent to the GPO for binding. The office
matted and gold embossed 430 official photographs from the 57th
Presidential Inauguration. In addition, 29 photos of chairmen and
committee members were matted and embossed to reflect changes in
committee leadership for the 113th Congress.
Cost Savings
The office continues to incorporate the use of lower-cost molding
that will result in savings of $3,000 to $3,700 per year. Training of
Senate Library staff to repair bound copies of the Congressional Record
reduces the need for contract support for book binding and repair.
Conservation and Preservation worked with the Senate curators to
replace portrait signage in the Capitol using in-house sources,
resulting in a significant savings by eliminating the need to use
outside contractors. The office is currently working with other offices
to utilize in-house resources to meet their needs.
curator
The Office of Senate Curator, on behalf of the Senate Commission on
Art, develops and implements the museum and preservation programs for
the United States Senate. The Curator collects, preserves, and
interprets the Senate's fine and decorative arts, historic objects, and
specific architectural features; and the Curator exercises supervisory
responsibility for the historic chambers in the Capitol under the
jurisdiction of the Commission. Through exhibitions, publications, and
other programs, the Curator educates the public about the Senate and
its collections.
Collections: Commissions, Acquisitions, and Management
Four hundred forty-one objects were accessioned into the Senate
Collection this year. A large number of the items catalogued included
tickets, invitations, programs, and other ephemera related to recent
events in which the Senate participated, most notably from the 2013
Presidential Inauguration. The Curator's Office actively collects
contemporary artifacts in an effort to preserve and document the
present for future generations. Other items added to the collection
included 300 containers (inkwells, sanders, and liners) associated with
the historic Senate Chamber desks; seven gallery passes; five armchairs
and four sofas made for the Senate Chamber in 1900; two stereographs;
and an early 19th-century cylinder-fall desk and a glass-front bookcase
associated with the Supreme Court when it met in the U.S. Capitol.
The office catalogued 39 objects into the Architectural Fragment
Collection, which comprises original, significant, or unique objects or
building fabric from Senate spaces. Recent additions to the collection
extend the collecting scope beyond the Capitol and include decorative
elements from the Russell and Dirksen office buildings. The collection
was established to better understand the architecture, ornamentation,
and decoration of Senate spaces within the Capitol complex; to serve as
a resource for historic reconstructions; and to enhance knowledge of
the Senate.
Twenty-four new foreign gifts were reported to the Select Committee
on Ethics and deposited with the Curator's Office, in accordance with
the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act. Disposition of 36 foreign gifts
was completed following established protocol.
In keeping with scheduled procedures, all Senate Collection objects
on display were inventoried this year, noting any changes in location.
In addition, as directed by S. Res. 178 (108th Congress, 1st session),
the office submitted inventories of the art and historic furnishings in
the Senate to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration (Rules
Committee). The inventories, which are submitted every 6 months, are
compiled by the Curator's Office with assistance from the Senate
Sergeant at Arms (SAA) and the Architect of the Capitol's
Superintendent of Senate Office Buildings (AOC Superintendent).
Additionally, the Commission and Rules Committee approved guidelines
for Senate historic furnishings. The Senate Curator's internally used
Collections Management Policy is consistent with these guidelines. Over
one thousand historic engravings and prints were rehoused and relocated
to the Curator's climate-controlled paper storage room, located in the
Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), which maintains a cooler temperature for
paper-based collections. The move improves the care of the images by
providing sturdier protection, inspection of both the front and back of
the objects, and easier access to the collection. More than 1,600
ephemera artifacts also were transferred into the climate-controlled
CVC storage room. Additionally, 56 foreign gifts were moved to another
Curator's storage space that provides increased security and an
improved environment for long-term preservation. Ongoing efforts to
photograph collection objects continued, and the resulting images were
added to the collection database.
Staff worked with the Senate Photo Studio and the AOC Photography
Branch to capture special events and projects, including moving art,
photographing objects, and documenting restoration. These images are
important for recordkeeping; disaster preparedness; use on Senate.gov,
the Senate's website; and publications highlighting the Senate's
collections.
The most significant addition to the collection this year was the
acquisition of a graphite on paper sketch by Constantino Brumidi, one
of only two known pencil sketches by the artist that still exist.
Created by Brumidi in preparation for his mural in the lunette on the
south wall of the Senate Reception Room, the sketch depicts George
Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson seated together and
flanked by two rondels with portraits of James Madison and James
Monroe. The drawing documents the artist's original plan to illustrate
portraits of the first 16 Presidents in the room. Brumidi modified the
scene before painting the final fresco, substituting Alexander Hamilton
for Adams, thus representing Washington and his two principal cabinet
officers--Jefferson and Hamilton. While Brumidi worked in the Reception
Room for over 20 years, he never completed his elaborate plans for the
space, and this is the only historical scene he painted in the room.
The office continued to advance the preservation and documentation
of the historic Russell Senate Office Building furnishings through
several initiatives this year. Chief among them was the advancement of
educational initiatives aimed at informing Senate staff about the
history of the furnishings. The program is important, as only 33
percent of the original 3,109 furnishings made for the Russell Building
remain in the Senate. Regarding documentation, the yearly occupant
inventory of the Russell flat-top desks was conducted and the results
were added to the Curator's database, thus recording the use and
location of the remaining 63 historic desks. Efforts continue to locate
and document Russell furnishings in other collections.
Conservation and Restoration
Providing for the conservation needs of the Senate's historic
collections is a priority. In 2013 a 5-year program was implemented to
improve the preservation and care of the Senate Chamber desks and other
historic furnishings in the Senate's public and ceremonial spaces. The
project was divided between two conservation studios in order to
accomplish as much of the on-site care and treatment as possible during
the August State work period. Conservators evaluated the condition of
each of the 100 Senate Chamber desks and 30 other historical objects in
use. The findings were recorded in the Curator's database, allowing
staff to prioritize treatment needs. Conservators completed necessary
repairs, cleaning, and other routine care. During the first year,
treatment of the Senate Chamber desks included repairs to broken or
cracked feet, warped lids, and chipped or severely damaged finish, and
replacement of wood losses. The desk in the Vice President's Ceremonial
Office received extensive treatment, and the largest Senate Reception
Room bench required repairs to two legs. Yearly examinations, care and
cleaning, and repairs to new damage will ensure the long-term
preservation and appearance of the Senate's historic objects.
The 5-year care program also allows for more extensive treatment of
the historic furnishings at the conservators' studios. This year, two
objects were sent out for treatment: the case for the floor clock in
Vice President's Ceremonial Office and an armchair from the set of
chairs and sofas currently in the main corridor of the Senate wing and
used in the Senate Chamber from 1900 to 1949. Both objects required
extensive cleaning and improvements to the finish. The clock case also
needed repairs to replace missing wood and hardware. The conservator
provided a report on microscopic analysis of finish samples from the
armchair and recommendations for re-upholstery procedures that will
improve preservation. The Senate Curator's Office plans to collaborate
with the SAA's Capitol Facilities Office to re-upholster the set, as
well as have the remaining pieces repaired and refinished according to
the treatment protocol developed by the conservator. The goal of
treatment is to return this historic furniture to its appearance when
it was in the Senate Chamber, while preserving as much original
material as possible.
The project to clean and repair the metal inkwells with glass
liners and glass sanders associated with the historic Senate Chamber
desks began this year. The containers, manufactured in the 1930s, are
no longer used as originally intended and show signs of deterioration.
The inkwells have a significant amount of corrosion and many of the
hinges are loose or detached and require structural reinforcement,
repair, and, in some cases, soldering. The glass liners and sanders
require significant cleaning to remove dried ink and other corrosive
substances. Treatment includes cleaning and stabilization, while
preserving the original object as manufactured. The work is being
conducted at a local studio during Senate State work periods. Half of
the project was completed in 2013. Thus far the project is ahead of
schedule and under budget.
Taking advantage of Architect of the Capitol (AOC) restoration
projects, the office coordinated the conservation of two historic 19th
century over-mantel mirrors. As part of the mirror project, a
protective plinth was installed to keep the mantel clock and display
items from damaging the frame, to minimize contact with anything
spilled on the mantel, and to reduce abrasions on the lower rail caused
by dusting the mantel. Another way the office works to protect the
mirror frame is by sending an information letter to new occupants of
rooms with historic mirrors.
The collection of historic clocks displayed in the Senate wing of
the Capitol receive regularly scheduled care and repairs. This year,
the floor clock in the President's Room, the French mantel clock in the
SAA's office, the historic calendar clock in the Secretary's office,
the ``Ohio'' clock, and the shelf clock in the Old Senate Chamber all
received care to keep them properly lubricated, timed, and cleaned. The
mechanism for a floor clock was sent to a clock conservation specialist
for treatment at the beginning of August, at the same time as treatment
began on the clock case. The dials, hands, weights, bells, and movement
all required cleaning and care. In early December, the case and the
mechanisms were returned to the Capitol and the clock was reassembled
in working order by the clock conservator.
Conservation treatments were carried out in 2013 to prepare for or
improve the display of artwork in the Capitol. Four oil on canvas
Brumidi sketches were professionally glazed by a conservator and
installed in the Trophy Room on the first floor of the Capitol. A
conservator cleaned the bust of George Washington that previously was
exhibited outside the LBJ Room. The bust is scheduled to be displayed
in front of the President's Room, and the conservator also reviewed and
approved a mount maker's design to secure the bust on the marble
pedestal. The pedestal is currently being fabricated and will be
completed and installed in 2014. With the conservator's help, the mount
maker also designed and installed a new mount to keep the arrows in
place for the Eagle and Shield sculpture in the Old Senate Chamber.
Staff of the Curator's Office continued to perform routine cleaning
for objects on display according to a schedule established to prevent
harmful or unsightly build-up of dust and grime. Repeatedly touching of
an object can damage the patina of the marble, requiring the
specialized skills of conservators to clean. The conservator who
cleaned the bust of Washington also treated the bust of Vice President
James Sherman. A disfiguring stain along the side of the plinth where
people rested their arms was removed, as well as other stains and dried
paint drips.
In conjunction with the installation of new interpretive labels for
the paintings in the Senate wing of the Capitol, a conservator removed
old labels attached to 23 painting frames and repaired the holes and
discolorations left in the gilding. This project was part of the
ongoing program for on-site treatment of gilded frames. Other work
included on-site frame work to address losses on two frames and
critical consolidation on three other frames. One frame required
extensive work to improve its appearance, which was done in the
conservator's studio.
The Curator's Office identified a potential location for the
installation of the circa 1857 Cornelius & Baker armorial gasolier in
the Senate Collection. The fixture needs to be conserved and
electrified in preparation for installation. The staff undertook
extensive research into Cornelius & Baker's unique finishes, historic
lighting conservation, and electrification of gasoliers. The office
expects to initiate the project in 2014. All of the Senate extension's
original chandeliers, with the exception of the chandelier in the
President's Room, were removed in the late 19th century. The return of
this armorial fixture offers an exciting opportunity to interpret the
Capitol's historic lighting and for the public to see this rare
Cornelius & Baker gasolier.
Historic Preservation
The Curator's Office continued to work closely with the AOC and SAA
to review, comment, plan, and document Senate-side construction
projects (many of which are long-term initiatives) that involve or
affect historic resources. Such construction and conservation efforts
this year included the Senate Reception Room restoration, Brumidi
Corridors restoration, Senate-side plaster repairs, and the Small
Senate Rotunda proposed restoration. Through this effort, the Curator's
Office works to ensure that the highest preservation standards are
applied to all Senate projects in the Capitol. The close working
relationship fostered with the AOC historic preservation officer (HPO)
and AOC curator has broadened the reach of curatorial review and
strengthened preservation efforts. In an effort to formalize this
collaboration and the dissemination of opinions, the Curator's Office
and the AOC HPO drafted preservation guidelines that will require
project review and written comment by the AOC and Senate
preservationists for all projects submitted to the Senate Committee on
Rules and Administration.
After assisting the AOC in moving toward a 5-year plan for
finishing the Brumidi Corridors conservation, the Curator's Office
worked with the AOC to establish an internal working group to consider
the full scope of the corridor restoration and ensure that a consistent
philosophy is applied. This group has addressed furnishings, signage,
and protective measures to date. The Curator's Office took the lead on
the issue of signage (honorary, current occupant, and historic overdoor
cartouche) and conducted extensive research and drafted a comprehensive
position statement.
Following the success of the Brumidi Corridor conservation effort,
the Curator's Office assisted in the Senate Reception Room
conservation. While a phased plan for wall conservation exists, the
office has emphasized a need for a comprehensive plan that includes
ceiling testing and conservation, mirror conservation, and door and
window enframement restoration. In addition, the office has taken the
lead in educating the Senate community on the significance of the space
and the conservation work.
Historic Chambers
The Curator's staff continued to maintain the Old Senate and Old
Supreme Court Chambers and coordinated periodic use of both rooms for
special occasions. The staff worked with the U.S. Capitol Police and
the SAA to record after-hours access to the historic chambers by
current Members of Congress. One hundred and twenty-three requests were
received from current members for after-hours access to the Old Senate
and Old Supreme Court Chambers. Of special significance in the Old
Senate Chamber were the re-enactment swearing-in ceremonies for
senators elected to the 113th Congress, as well as four senators
elected during the course of the Congress. In addition, a joint caucus
was held in the Old Senate Chamber. Both historic chambers were used to
support the 2013 Presidential Inauguration.
Loans to and from the Collection
A total of 54 historic objects and paintings are currently on loan
to the Curator's Office on behalf of Senate leadership and officers in
the Senate wing of the Capitol. The staff returned 12 loans, renewed
loan agreements for 29 other objects, and acquired 2 new loans. Over 17
loans are projected to be renewed in 2014.
For the 2013 Presidential Inauguration, the office assisted the
Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies with coordinating
the loan of a painting from the State Department, the eagle podium from
the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Lincoln Bible from the
Library of Congress, and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s personal Bible from
the King Estate. The office was responsible for the management of all
loan agreements and legal documentation associated with the loans,
shipping arrangements, and installation of the objects.
Publications and Exhibitions
In the spring of 2014, the office is scheduled to publish the 150-
page book, ``To Make Beautiful the Capitol'': Rediscovering the Art of
Constantino Brumidi, which highlights the extensive conservation and
recent scholarship on Brumidi's work in the Senate wing of the Capitol.
The Office of Senate Curator utilized the resources of the AOC
Photography Branch to generously illustrate the publication, and is
working extensively with the Government Printing Office to coordinate
the printing of the art book with over 160 color images of murals,
collection objects, and historic graphics related to Brumidi.
Four educational brochures were reprinted for public distribution:
The Old Supreme Court Chamber 1810-1859, The Senate Vestibule, The
President's Room, and The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee.
New interpretive labels were installed for the 49 paintings on
display in the Senate wing of the Capitol. The labels were fabricated
using in-house resources at minimal cost to the Senate in a
collaborative effort coordinated by the Curator's Office with the
assistance of the Secretary's Office of Conservation and Preservation
and the Senate Gift Shop, the SAA's Printing and Graphics Office, as
well as the AOC's Painting and Decorating Division and Carpentry Shop.
The office continued to increase its presence on Senate.gov by
adding artifact pages and including new information to existing
artifacts pages. Objects highlighted include the four Brumidi sketches,
as well as several stereographs depicting Senate rooms and corridors.
The office is currently developing a Web site featuring the Senate's
collection of ephemera and historic artifacts, and the site is
anticipated to be launched in 2014. The growing number of artifacts and
virtual exhibits added to Senate.gov directly correlates to the
increased number of inquiries received from the public, students,
congressional staffers, and others regarding the Senate's collections.
This effort supports the office mission to ``make known the
collection.''
Collaborations, Educational Programs, and Events
Curator's staff assisted with numerous CVC-related projects
throughout the year, including participating in the morning briefings
to the Capitol Visitor's Services, conducting exhibit talks in the CVC
for the public, reviewing exhibition text and images, and evaluating
products and publications for the CVC Gift Shop.
The Curator's staff also gave lectures on the Senate's art and
historical collections to various historical groups and art museums, as
well as to members of the Capitol Police Chamber Division. The office
continued to assist with the Secretary's Senate staff lecture and tour
series. For Unum, the Secretary of the Senate's newsletter, the staff
has created a regular series entitled ``Artifacts & Oddities,'' which
highlights old and new objects from the Senate Collection.
With approval of the Office of Senate Curator, the United States
Postal Service released a ``Forever'' stamp on September 10, based on
the Senate Collection image of the Battle of Lake Erie by William Henry
Powell. The stamp commemorates the 200th anniversary of the War of
1812.
At the request of the Rules Committee, the Curator's Office worked
with the staff of Senate Conservation and Preservation and Senate
Historian to prepare a new exhibit for the Senate Dining Room in the
Capitol Building. The exhibit features menus, photos, and coffee
service sets associated with the Senate Dining Room over the years, and
provides interesting historical information for diners waiting to be
seated.
Office Administration and Automation
In 2013 the Senate Commission on Art empanelled the Senate
Curatorial Advisory Board for the 113th Congress. This board,
authorized by 2 USC Sec. 2108, is made up of experts in the fields of
arts, historic preservation, and other appropriate fields, and provides
expert advice and assistance to the Commission on Art in furtherance of
its duties.
An office intranet was created that enables Curator staff to access
quickly the most important legislative records, precedents, and
official rules and policies relevant to the establishment and operation
of the Senate Commission on Art. In addition, the intranet provides
convenient access to more than 660 documents that detail the
jurisdiction and authority of the Commission on Art, and the history of
the implementation of the Commission's duties. In addition, staff
developed a new system to track office finances and contract fund
disbursements.
In 2013 the Office of Senate Curator undertook efforts to reduce
costs by having staff pack items for shipping when possible instead of
hiring professional art handlers. This included paintings and small
sculptures on loan, the sanders and inkwells for conservation, and
retrofitting crates for reuse. The office was also able to consolidate
several shipments with professional art handlers, which reduced the
number of delivery stops and lowered the overall transportation and
fuel costs.
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
In 2013, in support of the Office of the Secretary's commitment to
COOP programs, the Office of Senate Curator participated in building
evacuation and relocation exercises carried out by the U.S. Capitol
Police. A tabletop exercise, in conjunction with the AOC's staff, was
conducted to better understand how the AOC responds to an emergency and
to ensure that contact information is shared by all. The office updated
the emergency preparedness database and made regular back-ups of the
office's electronic records to store off-site in a secure location.
Additionally, monthly tests of emergency notification, laptop remote
access procedures, and monthly remote desktop access were conducted to
facilitate staff preparedness in an emergency situation.
education and training
The Joint Office of Education and Training provides training and
development opportunities for Senate staff in Washington, DC and the
State offices. There are two branches within the office: Education and
Training and Health Promotion. The Education and Training branch
provides training for all Senate staff in areas such as management and
leadership development; human resources management; legislative and
staff information; new staff and intern orientation; and training
support for approved software and equipment used in Washington, DC, and
State offices. This branch also coordinates and provides major training
events for State and DC staff.
Training is provided through instructor-led classes; one-on-one
coaching sessions; specialized vendor-provided training; computer-based
training; Webinars; video teleconferencing; informal training and
support services; documentation, job aides and quickcards. The Learning
Management System, which has over 3,000 staff accounts, provides Senate
staff with a user-friendly method for finding and registering for
classes.
Education and Training will continue to expand its online training
options for Hill and State staff. The department is rolling out an
Online Leadership curriculum for Senate managers and continues to work
with its training partners to provide just-in-time training. Education
and Training also successfully trained many offices on the use of the
new Watson Unified Conferencing and Jabber Telepresence using a variety
of learning methods, including online, documentation, classroom, and
individual coaching.
The Health Promotion branch provides seminars, classes, and
screenings on health and wellness. This branch also coordinates an
annual health fair for all Senate employees and plans blood drives
throughout the year.
Capitol Hill Training
The Office of Education and Training offered over 1,000 instructor-
led and online classes and events in 2013, in which over 5,800 staff
enrolled. This office's registration desk handled approximately 10,000
email and phone requests for training and documentation.
The office also provided customized training to 121 offices for
over 800 staff members. These sessions included conflict resolution,
organizational development, strategic planning, Senate office systems
training, and meeting facilitation. Individual in-depth training to
Senate office system administrators and management coaching was
provided as well.
Education and Training coordinates the orientation program for
aides to senators-elect and new administrative directors after every
election. Twenty to 30 staff usually attend each of the eight sessions
in this program. Once the senators had taken office, another 10 session
orientation series for management, press and scheduling staff was held,
and was attended by 15 to 20 staff.
The Senate's intern program is a focus of the office, which
provides training for intern coordinators as well as 10 orientation and
training sessions for approximately 1,500 interns throughout the year.
State Office Training
The Office of Education and Training provided learning
opportunities to State offices for which over 300 State staff
registered. To reduce travel costs for offices, Education and Training
began offering virtual conferences in recent years. In 2013 the Virtual
State Training Fair was attended by 32 State staff, and another 70
participated in the State Directors Forum and the Outreach Conference.
Twenty different virtual sessions were offered at these two
conferences. The Constituent Services Conference, held in DC, was
attended by 42 State staff. Additionally, the office offers weekly
video teleconferencing or webinar classes just for State staff. Each of
these offerings is attended by anywhere from 10 to 50 staff.
The offices' online offerings include 5,000 self-paced-based
training courses covering technical, performance and language skills
and a research library of 19,900 publications. This allows staff in
both DC and the States to take training at their convenience. This
year, 398 DC and State office staff have registered and accessed 921
unique courses. During 2013, over 8,400 book pages had been accessed.
Education and Training also continues to develop job-specific
training and resources for Senate staff. The office is currently
identifying the job skills required for each position in member and
committee offices to create a set of recommended classes for improving
or learning those job skills.
Health Promotion
In the Health Promotion area, 450 staff participated in health
promotion activities, including lung function and kidney screenings,
blood drives, and seminars on health-related topics. Health Promotion
also coordinates fee-based classes such as weight managements, yoga,
and pilates to promote healthy lifestyles.
Cost Saving Measures
The Office of Education and Training has eliminated all printed
announcements and calendars and has expanded its video teleconferencing
and webinar offerings to include Washington, DC staff as well as State
staff. Additional self-paced training modules allow State and DC staff
to learn at their own time and place. The Learning Management System,
created by Sergeant at Arms staff, eliminated the support costs of the
commercially purchased system it replaced and provides a superior
product.
gift shop
Since its establishment in 1992 (2 U.S.C. 121d), the Senate Gift
Shop has continued to provide outstanding service and products that
maintain the integrity of the Senate while increasing the public's
awareness of its mission and history. The Gift Shop serves Senators and
their spouses, staff, constituents, and the many visitors to the U.S.
Capitol complex. The products available include a wide range of fine
gift items, collectables, and souvenirs, many created exclusively for
the U.S. Senate.
Facilities
In addition to providing products and services from three physical
locations, the Gift Shop has an online presence on Webster. The Capitol
Kiosk temporarily closed at the end of January 2013 to accommodate
continued restoration of the Brumidi Corridors. The Web site offers an
increasing selection of products that can be purchased by phone, email,
or by printing and faxing the order form provided on the site. Along
with offering over-the-counter and walk-in sales, as well as limited
intranet services, the Gift Shop administrative office provides mail
order service as well as special order and catalogue sales.
The Gift Shop maintains two warehouse facilities. The bulk of the
Gift Shop's stock is held in the Senate Storage Facility (SSF), an
offsite warehouse. While the Senate Sergeant at Arms (SAA) is in charge
of the overall management of the SSF, the director of the Gift Shop has
responsibility for the operation and oversight of the interior spaces
assigned for Gift Shop use. Storing inventory in this centralized,
climate-controlled facility provides protection for the Gift Shop's
valuable inventory in terms of physical security as well as improved
shelf life for perishable and nonperishable items alike.
The second Gift Shop warehouse is maintained within the Capitol
complex. This facility serves as the point of distribution of
merchandise to the Gift Shop store and the Capitol Gift Shop counter,
both of which have limited storage space. This warehouse accommodates
the Gift Shop's receiving, shipping, and engraving departments, as well
as supplying the inventory sold through the administrative and special
order office.
Sales Activities
Sales recorded for fiscal year 2013 were $1,372,279. Cost of goods
sold during this same period was $1,111,894, accounting for a gross
profit on sales of $260,385.
The Senate Gift Shop maintains a revolving fund and a record of
inventory purchased for resale. As of October 1, 2012, the balance in
the revolving fund was $4,137,132. The inventory purchased for resale
had an end of the year value of $2,427,187.
Environmental Fair and Senate Service Expo
The Gift Shop participated in the 2013 U.S. Senate Environmental
and Energy Fairs sponsored by the Architect of the Capitol.
Environmentally friendly products that were displayed included wooden
flag and desk boxes, wooden pens, custom-designed wrapping paper
produced from recycled paper, aluminum water bottles, BPA-free water
bottles, biodegradable travel mugs, and a travel mug produced from 100
percent U.S. natural corn products. The Senate Gift Shop was also part
of the Senate Service Expo where Senate staff were able to learn about
the wide range of services available, including engraving, customized
merchandise, bulk orders, and more.
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
Under the auspices of the Office of Senate Security, the Senate
Gift Shop participated in an off-site exercise designed to measure
preparedness to work off-site. Additional material was added to the Fly
Away Kit based on the results of this exercise. The Senate Gift Shop
also prepared a plan to cope with the possibility of a flu pandemic.
Selected Accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2013
Official Congressional Holiday Ornaments
The Official 2013 Congressional Holiday Ornament was introduced in
September 2013. The ornament takes its inspiration from the Old Senate
Chamber and the meticulous restoration that took place there. Working
with the Curator's Office, the Gift Shop was able to salvage and
incorporate pieces of the red draperies that had previously hung in the
Old Senate Chamber since 1976 within the ornament's design.
Sales of the 2013 holiday ornament exceeded 21,000 ornaments of
which almost 6,400 were personalized with engravings designed, proofed,
and etched by the Senate Gift Shop staff. This highly successful effort
was made possible by the combined efforts of the administrative,
engraving, and store staff. Consistent with past practice, a transfer
of $40,000 to the Senate Employees Child Care Center was made based on
the annual sales of the Congressional Holiday Ornament (see 2 U.S.C.
121d(3)).
Webster Site
The Senate Gift Shop's website continues to expand with the
addition of new merchandise, photographed by the Senate Photo Studio.
Product descriptions are written in-house.
The Gift Shop contributes an article highlighting products and
services to each issue of the Secretary's Unum newsletter. In turn, the
website links to the electronic version of Unum, a practice that has
increased traffic to the website and is responsible for an increase in
the use of Gift Shop services by State offices.
Projects Recently Produced and New Initiatives for 2014
Capitol Visitor Center and Other Venues
The Senate Gift Shop continues to supply the Capitol Visitor Center
and the House Gift Shop with a wide variety of inventory product,
offering service when needed and advice on purchase order, invoice, and
operational processes. This year the Senate Gift Shop expanded on this
service, providing merchandise and promoting the art and architecture
of the U.S. Capitol to other cultural institutions including the
National Archives, the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
Eastern National and the Lake Erie Maritime Museum. We will continue to
expand this operation in fiscal year 2014.
Congressional Plate Series
The latest 8 year, four-plate series of the 112th, 113th, 114th,
and 115th Congresses has been produced. The 112th and 113th plates are
currently being offered for sale. The plates for each of the future
Congresses will be made available during that respective congressional
session. The designs depict art and architecture from four of the most
historically significant rooms in the Capitol: the Senate
Appropriations Room, Old Senate Chamber, Old Supreme Court Chamber, and
President's Room.
Laser Engraver
The laser engraver has allowed the Senate Gift Shop to meet
customer demand by expanding engraving services to include additional
materials such as wood, acrylic, glass, plastic, stone, marking metals,
and anodized aluminum. We were also able to purchase stock merchandise
for resale from a number of vendors and brand the merchandise with
Senate logos or architectural motifs from the U.S. Capitol. Previously,
crystal and glass items could not be personalized without being sent
offsite at additional cost. The laser engraver has been used for
special projects: for the Curator's office, the Gift Shop created
signage for the Vice Presidential busts and for assorted artwork. The
laser engraver has also been used regularly on behalf of the
Conservation and Preservation Office.
Special Orders
The administrative office coordinated over 1,300 special orders
during fiscal year 2013 consisting of engraving projects and custom
orders of merchandise including mugs, binders, cufflinks, etc., for a
total of 44,521 units.
Capitol Kiosk
Gift Shop staff worked with the Curator's Office and SAA's Capitol
Facilities to design a new Capitol Kiosk. The design is both compact
and utilitarian, allowing for a better viewing of the Brumidi artwork
in the area and for a better display of the selected Senate Gift Shop
merchandise.
historical office
Serving as the Senate's institutional memory, the Historical Office
collects and provides information on important events, precedents,
dates, statistics, and historical comparisons of current and past
Senate activities for use by members and staff, the media, scholars,
and the general public. The archivists advise Senators, officers, and
committees on cost-effective disposition of their noncurrent office
files and assist researchers in identifying Senate-related source
materials. The historians keep extensive biographical, bibliographical,
photographic, and archival information on the nearly 2,000 former and
current senators. The staff edits for publication historically
significant transcripts and minutes of selected Senate committees and
party organizations, and conducts oral history interviews with senators
and Senate staff. The historians offer special talks and tours to
inform senators and Senate staff about important historical events, the
history of the Capitol, and the Senate's institutional development. The
photo historian maintains a collection of approximately 40,000 still
pictures that includes photographs and illustrations of Senate
committees and nearly all former Senators. The Office staff also
develops and maintains all historical material on the Senate website,
providing educational outreach through email and Twitter.
Research, Writing, and Editorial Projects
Social Media
In June 2013 the Historical Office launched a Twitter account as a
way to expand the audience for Senate history. Daily tweets help raise
awareness of the considerable resources available on Senate.gov to
Senate staff, students, teachers, researchers, reporters, and the
public. @SenateHistory highlights Senate-related events that occurred
``on this day'' in history, features specific Web pages and
collections, and announces new material and information posted on
Senate.gov. The Historical Office sent an average of almost 13 tweets a
week, had more than 75 percent of those tweets retweeted, and gained
2,000 followers, which has increased traffic to the Senate Web site.
Compiling information and material for tweets has also helped in
refining and editing existing material, as well as developing new
content for the Web site.
``Historical Series'' of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee
The historians continued the ongoing project to prepare the
executive transcripts of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC)
for publication. Both to work more efficiently and to create digital
copies of the hearings, secure equipment was set up in the Office of
Senate Security, where the assistant historian has scanned closed
transcripts from the year 1969 which will appear as volume XXI of the
``Historical Series'' of SFRC. She is now editing the transcripts for
declassification and publication.
Sesquicentennial of the Civil War
In connection with the ongoing commemoration of the 150th
anniversary of the Civil War, the Historical Office continued to post
monthly features relating to the Senate's Civil War experiences on the
Senate.gov. The historians also worked with the Capitol Visitor
Center's staff in selecting items for display related to the Civil War
and Reconstruction. The historians have developed and led special
Capitol tours to highlight historic spaces, events, and personalities
associated with the Senate's Civil War experience as well as providing
brown bag lunch talks on the topic.
Documentary Histories of the U.S. Senate
The Historical Office continued its work on this online documentary
history series, which presents case studies and primary-source
documentation for all contested Senate elections, censure, and
expulsion cases; impeachment trials; and major investigations. Intended
for use by the Senate and the general public, these documentary
histories are particularly valuable for teachers seeking to include
primary-source documents in their lesson plans. This project also
allows the Historical Office to update case studies of past events and
add recent case studies, eliminating the need for new print editions of
past publications, reducing costs and paper use. Completed case studies
in three categories (contested elections, censures, and expulsions) of
this five-part project are now included on the Senate Web site, with
new revisions and updated cases added periodically. In addition,
multiple case studies in the remaining two categories (impeachment
trials and investigations) are now completed and online, with more to
follow in the year ahead. The incorporation of more images, audio
clips, and historic video footage further enhances the interest and
usefulness of the site for teachers and students.
Administrative History of the Senate
The associate historian continued preparing a historical account of
the Senate's administrative evolution since 1789. This ongoing study
traces the development of the offices of the Secretary of the Senate,
the Sergeant at Arms, and the Senate's administrative infrastructure.
It explores 19th and 20th-century reforms that resulted in
reorganization and professionalization of Senate staff, and examines
how the Senate's administrative structure has developed and evolved.
Rules of the United States Senate, Since 1789
In 1980, Senate parliamentarian emeritus Floyd M. Riddick, at the
direction of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, prepared
a publication containing the eight codes of rules that the Senate
adopted between 1789 and 1979. In the 1990s, the Senate Historical
Office staff developed a project to incorporate into the eight codes of
rules an explanation of how and why the Senate's current rules evolved
from earlier versions. The Senate's historian emeritus continues to
work on this project, which will include the original text of all
standing rules and, for the first time in one publication, all changes
adopted between each codification.
Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, 1774-present
The Historical Office regularly updates the Biographical Directory
of the U.S. Congress, adding biographical entries for new Senators,
making sure that entries for sitting Senators are current and accurate,
and incorporating new bibliographical citations for former Senators.
The Senate historians work in tandem with the historical staff of the
House of Representatives to maintain accuracy and consistency in this
joint Senate-House database, and to promote this valuable resource
among historians, teachers, students, and the public. The Senate
archivist and her deputies expand and revise the ``Research
Collections'' aspect of the database, taking advantage of new resources
on archival collections.
Party Conference Minutes, 1965-1977
The Historical Office previously edited, indexed, and published the
minutes of the Senate Democratic and Republican Conferences covering
the years prior to 1964, and is currently preparing a similar volume
for the Democratic Conference including its minutes from 1965 to 1977.
Beginning in 1973, verbatim transcripts were prepared for each
Conference meeting, considerably enlarging the documentation. This
project has involved scanning and editing 2,869 pages of transcripts
for 102 meetings of the Conference and inclusion of an index and
explanatory annotations. With the approval of the Conference, the
minutes will be published, and a similar editorial project is being
pursued for the Republican Conference minutes for this time period. The
office has scanned an additional 3,115 pages of transcripts for the 73
conferences between 1977 and 1982 for future publication.
Dirksen Senate Office Building Exhibits
Senate historians have worked with the Senate Curator and the
Senate Library staffs on new exhibits for the entranceway to G-50 in
the Dirksen Building. This year's exhibits detailed the types of
committee rooms in which the Senate has conducted hearings, in the
Capitol and the Senate office buildings, and the notable investigations
that Senators have carried out. Quick Response (QR) codes are being
added to the exhibit cases to enable visitors to connect to additional
information on the Senate's Web site.
Oral History Program
The historians conduct oral history interviews to record personal
recollections of Senators, officers, and Senate staff members who
reflect on their careers and experiences. Over the past year,
interviews were conducted with Larry Bageant, who ran the mail
operations for five Republican and Democratic Senators; Burton V.
Wides, who served on the staff of Senator Phil Hart; Jane Calderwood,
former legislative assistant and chief of staff to Senator Olympia
Snowe; Julie Price and Ellen Blakeman, two of the Senate's first female
pages; Mary DeOreo, who served as an investigator on the Watergate and
Church Committees and the Judiciary Committee; Scott McGeary, a page
who served under the patronage of four Democratic and Republican
Senators; Rohit Kumar, former domestic policy advisor and deputy chief
of staff to Republican Leader Mitch McConnell; and David Hoppe, former
chief of staff for Republican Whip Jon Kyl.
These interviews with opened for research: Charles Ferris, former
staff director of the Democratic Policy Committee; Rufus Edmisten,
former staff of Senator Sam Ervin and deputy counsel for the Senate
Watergate Committee; and Elizabeth Letchworth, former Republican Party
secretary.
The complete transcripts of 44 interviews conducted since 1976 have
been posted on Senate.gov, the Senate Web site. The Web site now
features a different collection of oral history interviews each month
and includes images and audio clips with the interview transcripts. The
Historical Office has worked with the National Archives and Records
Administration to digitize recordings of past oral history interviews
previously archived on magnetic tape for both preservation and
presentation purposes. Many issues of Unum, the Secretary of the
Senate's newsletter, have included a feature titled ``Senate Voices,''
which excerpts the oral histories, focusing on different subjects.
Member Services
Educational Outreach
The historian and associate historian delivered a series of
``Senate Historical Minutes'' at the weekly Democratic and Republican
Conference luncheons. These ``minutes'' highlighted significant events
and personalities associated with the Senate's institutional
development. Many of them are now included on Senate.gov as ``Senate
Stories.'' The historian and associate historian also provided special
tours to members and their staff, highlighting the historic
significance of specific rooms and spaces of the Capitol.
Members' Records Management and Disposition Assistance
The Senate Archivist began meeting with all Senators' offices that
will be closing either before or at the end of the 113th Congress to
provide guidance on archiving their records. This service includes a
``closing an office'' notebook that features a closing timeline and
quick cards on topics ranging from selecting a repository and
inventorying a collection, to how to donate a collection. Following
these meetings, some retiring Senators have hired professional
archivists to assist with preparing their records for archival
preservation, while others have assigned dedicated staff to perform
this work. The Senate archivist provides a ready source for
troubleshooting on archival issues as the offices are closing, a
process that has grown increasingly complex with electronic records and
the many forms they take.
Of the 11 Senators who have left or plan to leave office by the end
of the 113th Congress, five have selected a repository for their
papers, four are in the process of doing so, and two have retained
their records personally. Because these collections have large digital
components, the members who are retaining their electronic records for
the time being were provided with electronic records preservation
guidance to follow until they are ready to donate the collections to a
research institution.
Senators are frequent users of portable communications devices and
their offices are making use of social media. YouTube, Facebook, and
Twitter are the most popular, but Senate offices are moving into such
other platforms as Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest. The archivists
have produced new guidance for systems administrators to address the
archiving issues raised by these devices and systems. Information
gathered during the briefings on closing offices and from meetings with
new offices was used to produce the second and third editions of the
Senator's Office Archives Toolkit, which has proved popular with both
new and established offices. The Records Management Disposition
Schedule was revised to incorporate new formats. The archivists urge
members to preserve their email and texts in order to preserve a full
record of their Senate service.
The archivists have also been working with the Senate Technology
Assessment Group (TAG) on evaluating available tools for social media
preservation. This has been necessary because some of the tools are
fee-based or require administrative access to the specific account in
order to implement platform-specific APIs (Application Programming
Interface that specifies how software components should interact). TAG
membership has made the project a high priority and formed a working
group to determine requirements and investigate the options. The goal
is to provide either a specific option or a suite of options that will
meet Senators' needs and adhere to archival best practices.
The Senate archivists hosted lunchtime discussions and individual
meetings for staff directors, administrative directors, archivists, and
systems administrators on committees and personal staffs on such themes
as ``What New Offices Need to Know about Archiving,'' ``What Shall We
Keep?,'' and ``Preserving the Senate's History in Times of Change.''
This last session was filmed and abstracted and is available of the
Secretary's site on Webster. The archivists began a new initiative to
include systems administrators in the archival meetings and have
promoted the benefits of offices creating an ``archiving team'' that
includes the systems administrator.
The archivists' listserv continues to be a major means for updating
staff with records management and archival guidance. The Senate
archivists also work with the repositories that receive senatorial
collections to promote adequacy of documentation and proper
inventorying and formatting of records prior to transfer. As a result,
the majority of Senators' collections have been inventoried before
shipment to the repository that will preserve them.
Outreach to members' spouses was initiated through a special
briefing for the Senate spouses group on ``Five Things Every Spouse
Should Know about the Senator's Archives.'' This was followed by an
Archival Treasures Open House at the Center for Legislative Archives,
designed to advise Senate families that they, too, have a role to play
in preserving Senate history.
Committee Records Management and Disposition Assistance
Senate Rule XI(2) directs that ``the Secretary of the Senate shall
obtain at the close of each Congress all the noncurrent records of the
Senate and of each Senate committee and transfer them to the National
Archives for preservation.'' During 2013, the Senate transferred
1,700.3 cubic feet and 3.1 terabytes of electronic records to the
Center for Legislative Archives. Senate archivists achieved this result
by providing Senate committees with guidance for records management,
preservation of electronic records, records appraisal and accessioning,
and questions of access.
Senate archivists continued to concentrate on the backlog of
committees' electronic records, which date back 20 years. They
encouraged committee staffs to adopt ``best practices'' for electronic
records management and to sustain those practices moving forward. The
Senate archivist continues to communicate with committee staff on an
ongoing basis. Sixteen of the Senate's 17 standing committees have
begun to preserve their electronic records. The archivist is also
working with the Select Committee on Intelligence to prepare for
archiving classified electronic records, and is expecting to begin this
process during 2014. Preservation of electronic records continues to be
a challenge due to the rate of staff turnover and the need for constant
outreach and persuasion.
Because electronic records archiving has been more consistent for
those committees with archivists on their staff, the Senate archivist
continues to encourage committees to hire a professional archivist.
Committee archivists are on the scene and able to respond immediately
when staff members depart and can provide contextual information for
the accessioning process. Recently, however, some of the committee
archivist positions have been lost due to budget cuts. The Senate
archivists are currently handling the preservation of electronic
records for eight committees until those committees can either create
or reinstitute their own archival positions.
In order to create an online catalog of Senate records at the
National Archives, the archivists have worked with the Center for
Legislative Archives' descriptive archivist to create an accessions
form that adequately describes modern electronic records.
Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress
This 11-member permanent committee, established in 1990 by Public
Law 101-509, meets semiannually to advise the Senate, the House of
Representatives, and the Archivist of the United States on the
management and preservation of the records of Congress. By law, the
committee is required to report to Congress every 6 years on the status
of Congress' and members' archival records. The Senate archivist serves
as principal liaison to the committee.
The Senate archivist served as lead editor of the Fifth Report of
the Advisory Committee. This report recommends that committees hire
professional archivists/records managers to improve preservation of
committee electronic records; that the Senate archivists build strong
bridges with the Senate IT community; and that Senate leaders continue
to promote archiving and serve as examples for Members of the Senate.
Photo Collections
The Senate photo historian continued to ensure history-focused
photographic coverage of the contemporary Senate by photographing
Senate committees, collecting formal photo portraits of new and
departing Senators, and capturing significant Senate events in
cooperation with the Senate Photo Studio. She provided timely
photographic reference service by phone and email, while cataloging,
digitizing, and expanding the office's 40,000-item image collection.
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
The Historical Office's COOP action officer and emergency
coordinator continued to update the office's COOP plan in the LDRPS
(Living Disaster Recovery Planning System) and make back-ups of the
office's electronic records for off-site storage. The COOP action
officer also trained summer interns in the office's emergency
evacuation procedures in addition to regularly updating staff members'
contact information in the ALERTS system, attending relevant emergency
preparedness training, and leading the office in shelter in place and
internal relocation drills.
Educational Outreach
The Historical Office's contact with the general public
increasingly occurs through the Senate's Web site. In anticipation of
such contact, the historians frequently update the Web site with timely
references and historical information, and each month they select
relevant and timely material to be featured on the site. During the
past year, the office responded to more than 1,200 inquiries from the
public, the news media, students, genealogists, congressional staff,
teachers, and scholars through the public email link, in addition to
daily requests by phone from staff, the media, and the public. The
diverse nature of these questions reflects varying levels of interest
in Senate operations, institutional history, and former members.
Working with the Office of Web Technology, the historians and the
historical writer continued to revise and update all of the principal
pages of the Web site to better utilize the online environment to
provide timely, accurate, and interesting historical material. Over the
past year, monthly features have focused on Black History Month,
Women's History Month, classic Senate speeches, the 40th anniversary of
the Watergate investigation, the ``Idea of the Senate,'' and the
centennial of the direct election of Senators, to name a few. New
archival documents were featured, historic photographs were included,
and audio and video clips further enhanced the historical pages. The
online collection of ``historical minutes'' was expanded and revised as
``Senate Stories'' to make these valuable features more interesting and
easier to navigate.
The historians offered talks, tours, and seminars on the general
history of the Senate and launched a new ``brown bag lunch'' series
with talks by the associate historian on ``Margaret Chase Smith: Senate
Pioneer'' and ``Beyond the Caning: The Rest of the Charles Sumner
Story,'' and a talk by the assistant historian titled ``The Senate's
Civil War Accomplishments.'' On September 17, 2013, the historians
joined forces with the Center for Legislative Archives to present a
special Constitution Day program, ``Amending the Constitution: One
Hundred Years of Direct Election of Senators,'' for Senators, staff,
and visiting students and teachers. Throughout the year, the historians
participated in Senate staff seminars, conducted briefings for
specially scheduled groups, and met with visitors, teachers, and
students.
Capitol Visitor Center
The historians continued to provide information and guidance to the
staff of the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) related to the educational
component of the exhibition gallery. On a regular basis, the historians
provided training and informative talks for the Capitol Guide Service,
the CVC visitor assistants, and other CVC staff. They gave morning
briefings to the Capitol Guide Service, advised volunteers and staff
giving exhibit talks in the CVC, contributed to the training of visitor
assistants who guide visitors through the exhibition gallery, and
consulted with the CVC staff on its educational outreach programs. The
historians routinely provided oversight for exhibit rotations, reviewed
the selection of exhibit documents and artifacts, participated in
planning for future exhibit rotations, and provided guidance and
oversight on the purchase of books and other materials for the CVC gift
shops.
human resources
The Office of Human Resources was established in June 1995 by the
Secretary of the Senate as a result of the Congressional Accountability
Act. The office focuses on developing and implementing human resources
policies, procedures, and programs for the Office of the Secretary of
the Senate that fulfill the legal requirements of the workplace and
complement the organization's strategic goals and values.
These responsibilities include recruiting, staffing, and verifying
eligibility to accept employment in the United States; providing
guidance and advice to managers and staff; training; performance
management and evaluation; job analysis and classification;
compensation planning, design, and administration; leave
administration; records management; maintaining the employee handbooks
and manuals; internal grievance procedures; employee relations and
services; and organizational planning and development.
The Human Resources staff administers the following programs for
the Secretary's employees: the public transportation subsidy program,
student loan program, Family and Medical Leave Act program, parking
allocations, and the Secretary's intern program.
Recruitment and Retention of Staff
Human Resources has the ongoing task of advertising new vacancies
or positions, screening applicants, interviewing candidates, and
assisting with all phases of the hiring process. Human Resources staff
coordinates with the Sergeant at Arms (SAA) Human Resources Department
to post all SAA and Secretary vacancies on the Senate intranet,
Webster, so that the larger Senate community may access the posting
from their own offices. In an effort to reach a larger and more diverse
applicant pool, the department uses multiple posting forums to reach
potential applicants for employment. During the past fiscal year, the
Human Resources Office processed more than 298 applications for
vacancies in the Secretary's Office, including review of applications,
coordinating scheduling of candidates for interviews, assisting
departments in the interview process, conducting reference checks,
making starting salary recommendations, and finalizing new hire
paperwork.
The application process is completed solely through an online
application management system, designed by the Secretary's Office of
Web Technology. The online application streamlines the application
process, reduces paperwork, and allows both Human Resources and
departmental supervisors to access applicant data on a secure network.
First Year Orientation and Integration
All new hires receive orientation from Human Resources staff when
they come on board. The office's Year One Program, a series of monthly
events, visits, and tours geared for staff in their first year of
employment, helps integrate new staff members into the Office of the
Secretary, providing a full understanding of the role and mission of
the office.
Training
In conjunction with the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment, Office
of Senate Security, and the Office of Education and Training, Human
Resources staff continues to develop, deliver, and help facilitate
training for department directors and staff. Training topics include
continuity of operations and emergency planning, sexual harassment,
interviewing skills, Family and Medical Leave Act administration, and
an overview of the Congressional Accountability Act. Human Resources
staff also works with different department directors on topics that can
enhance harmony, productivity, and teamwork in the workplace.
Employee Performance Appraisal
Human Resources has worked closely with the Executive Office and
with department directors to evaluate and improve the appraisal
process. In 2013, Secretary staff members were surveyed regarding the
annual performance appraisal process, and a small working group of
department directors will analyze the survey results and revise the
appraisal tool as needed.
HR Intranet
In 2013, working closely with the Office of Web Technology and
Information Systems, the Human Resources Office launched an HR
intranet, a convenient location for staff to access important links,
forms, news about upcoming events and trainings, and documents such as
the employee handbook.
Veterans Employment Opportunity Act of 1998
In 2011, the rights and protections of the Veterans Employment
Opportunity Act of 1998 (VEOA) became applicable to the Office of the
Secretary of the Senate through the Congressional Accountability Act of
1995. Eligible veterans now receive hiring preferences over nonveterans
for most of the job openings in the Secretary's Office. Consistent with
its obligations under the VEOA, the Secretary's Office has identified
over 204 VEOA preference-eligible positions within its organization,
has instituted a process for proper application of the veterans'
preference law, and in 2013 invited preference-eligible veterans to
apply for five job openings.
Interns
Human Resources manages the Secretary's internship program. From
posting vacancies; conducting needs analyses; and communicating,
screening, placing, and following up with all interns, the staff keeps
a close connection with these program participants in an effort to make
the internship most beneficial to them and the organization.
Congressional Internship for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities
The Office of the Secretary of the Senate participated in the
Congressional Internship Program for Individuals with Intellectual
Disabilities. The internship program, which lasts 12 weeks, gives
students with intellectual disabilities the same educational and
enrichment opportunities typically afforded to congressional interns.
Interns work one 2-hour session each week. The interns work with their
congressional offices, as well as with job coaches specifically trained
to assist the students, to complete various office tasks as assigned.
In 2013, Human Resources successfully recruited two students from the
program and will continue to be proactive in recruiting candidates.
Operation Warfighter
Human Resources participated in two recruiting events sponsored by
the Department of Defense's Operation Warfighter program. The unpaid
internship program is open to all wounded and ill service members
assigned to a Military Treatment Facility, an Army Warrior Transition
Unit, the USMC Wounded Warrior Regiment, the Air Force Wounded Warrior
Program, or the Navy Safe Harbor Program. The program positively
impacts the recuperation process and provides meaningful activity
outside of the hospital environment. In 2013, Human Resources
successfully recruited one Wounded Warrior intern and will continue to
be proactive in recruiting candidates.
Upward Bound Internship Program
The Office of the Secretary of the Senate participates in the
Upward Bound Internship program for low-income high school students,
many of which are the first in their family to eventually attend
college. The program is sponsored by a local university, and combines
congressional, community, and Federal agency internships along with
intensive history and literature seminars. This program's combination
of practical experience and rigorous academic curriculum has produced
wonderful results. For the past 4 years, 100 percent of the student
participants have gone on to enroll in 4-year colleges. The Secretary's
office hosted one Upward Bound student in 2013.
Combined Federal Campaign
The office has again taken an active role in the Combined Federal
Campaign for the Senate community at-large. The office serves as a co-
director of the program and participates in kick-off meetings,
identifies key workers in each office, and disseminates and collects
necessary information and paperwork.
information systems
The staff of the Department of Information Systems provides
technical hardware and software support for the Office of the Secretary
of the Senate. Information Systems staff also interface closely with
the application and network development groups within the Sergeant at
Arms (SAA), the Government Printing Office (GPO), and outside vendors
on technical issues and joint projects. The department provides
computer-related support for all local area network (LAN) servers
within the Office of the Secretary of the Senate. Information Systems
staff provide direct application support for all software installed
workstations, initiate and guide new technologies, and implement next
generation hardware and software solutions.
Mission Evaluation
The primary mission of the Information Systems Department is to
continue to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction and
computer support for the Office of the Secretary of the Senate.
Emphasis is placed on creating and transferring legislative records to
outside departments and agencies, fulfilling Disbursing Office
financial responsibilities to the member offices, and complying with
office-mandated and statutory obligations.
Fiscal Year 2013 Technology Initiative Summary
The department technology initiatives are concentrated in four
areas:
--Improvements in workflow process efficiency and security
--Deployment of improved hardware and software technologies
--Business continuity planning and disaster recovery improvements
--Network perimeter and end point security awareness
Improvements in Workflow Process Efficiency and Security
--Ongoing security awareness training continues to be mandatory for
all employees of the Secretary. In conjunction with SAA
Security Operation Center personnel, a series of training
seminars was completed in the fourth quarter of 2013 for all
Secretary staff.
--The finalized implementation of Web-based legislative reporting
occurred in 2012. This project provided staff with a process to
run Legislative Information System (LIS) reports via a Web
browser session and send legislative data to the GPO.
Eliminating the need to install additional applications in the
Senate Library and other legislative departments enhanced the
application access to a wider audience in 2013. This also
streamlined the 2013 Library workstation hardware replacement
effort and considerably shortened the installation project
timeline.
--New legislative applications were authored for the Executive Clerk,
Journal Clerk, and Daily Digest offices. These new software
applications facilitated the requirements needed to upgrade
these offices with improved hardware and updated operation
system software.
--All accounts assigned to transmit GPO legislative files were
updated in 2013 with a strong password protection scheme.
Additionally, a more secure transfer method was adopted to send
or receive data from the GPO. Floppy diskette media normally
sent by courier will be retired in 2014 with an alternative
email method developed for file transfers.
Deployment of Improved Hardware and Software Technologies
--Completed a series of milestones of the Senate-wide ADMA projects
in October 2012 and finalized the migration of all offices,
including Disbursing and the Chief Counsel for Employment in
February 2013, to enterprise architecture. All office messaging
applications now operate at this enterprise level ensuring a
higher level of email and messaging availability.
--Access to legislative server data, home, and shared directory
information is now available in the event that AC power is not
available in the Capitol.
--Migrating to an enterprise environment in October 2012 allowed for
streamlining the process to retire three physical servers and
transfer Secretary of the Senate data files to a virtual server
infrastructure. This data migration completed in November 2013
denotes a significant milestone in COOP readiness. SAA
continues to maintain the readiness for disaster recovery by
performing backups of this virtualized environment and can
successfully provide failover capability to an alternate
facility. This failover exercise was successfully tested in
August 2013.
--Installed new workstations and updated software applications.
--To date, 21 new multi-function network devices have been installed
as replacements for office copiers and scanners. These devices
support network printing, office document scanning, and fax
capability. Choosing a multi-function device in lieu of a
separate purchase for an office copier and fax system has
yielded a cost savings of almost $45,000 so far.
--Completed 14 major LIS software upgrades and installed updated
application software in all legislative clerk offices, the
alternate computing facility, and offsite home laptop
locations. Upgraded LIS applications to a more robust operating
system for workstations in the all legislative offices.
Completed the renovation of the applications in the offices of
the Daily Digest, Enrolling Clerk, Journal Clerk, and Executive
Clerk.
--Completed the hardware upgrade of all Blackberry hardware devices
for assigned staff users (74 devices).
--Implemented 43 Senate Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) email
accounts. This service provides an alternative solution to
larger mailboxes and electronic archival files by moving aged
messages from mailboxes to online archives that are available
through the standard Outlook client. Email archives are also
now available for ILM users when utilizing Outlook Web Mail.
Additionally, the ILM feature allows for improved performance
when failover procedures are required by system administrative
staff.
--In conjunction with House technical staff, upgraded the Senate
Historical Office's Bioguide software application to facilitate
data exchanges with the House database servers. Updated the
Archivists Tool Kit software application for designated staff
and provided network connections to an SQL database for
Historical Office staff in May 2013. This was accomplished by
utilizing an existing database server instance which negated
purchasing new hardware and software. This cost savings is
estimated at $4,500. Retired the development Archivist Toolkit
virtual instance in December 2013.
--The Stationery Room hardware and software upgrade commenced in
December 2013. This process required the replacement of all
workstation and server hardware. Information Systems staff and
Stationery technical staff combined technical efforts to reduce
on-site contracting hours. The office realized a reduction of
20 to 30 hours of vendor costs, an estimated $9,000 cost
savings.
--Added a Human Resource Department Web server for all Secretary
staff access. Provided an additional network access storage
(NAS) Web server for the Office of Web Technology. This device
serves as a much lower cost hardware platform to test Web-based
applications designed for Senate offices.
--Reduced the existing home directory file storage requirement by 30
percent in the last 6 months of 2013. Email archives presently
account for 34 percent of all home directory space. Extended
the capacity of the ``cold storage'' archival system which
realized a 50 percent increase in file server space in fiscal
year 2013. Utilizing a sound archival process ensures that
staff has access to current active server documents and that
overall system performance is optimized for failover operations
when needed.
Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery
Improvements
--Replaced and retired older offsite laptop hardware located for all
legislative departments. This hardware presents a unique
solution when office closures occur and ensures a higher level
of access when work is required away from the office.
--Replaced older laptops used by department heads and key legislative
staff. Added an enhanced encrypted feature to safeguard against
accidental loss or theft. The enhancement prevents unauthorized
access to the contents of a hard drive. After the drive lock
protection is applied to a drive, a password must be entered to
access the drive and the drive can be accessed only when it is
inserted into the notebook.
--In partnership with SAA Network Engineering, successfully completed
continuity of operations (COOP) testing from multiple offsite
locations. Information Systems staff continue to provide IT-
related support for office staff implementing COOP and
continuity of Government business plan activations.
--Enrolling Clerk staff retains the ability to print multiple types
of parchment style documents for delivery to the White House in
the event of an office closure or relocation. Partnered with
the GPO and House personnel to successfully stage and test this
offsite operation in 2013.
--Continued to provide updates to the member accountability client
application. This normally occurs bimonthly or whenever there
is a change in the Senate membership. Four virtual hosts are
presently configured, one reserved specifically for training
purposes and one virtual ``always on'' instance that resides at
the primary computer facility datacenter. Information Systems
staff continue to make this virtual solution available for the
Secretary of the Majority and the Secretary of the Minority
offices.
--Presently 70 percent of Secretary staff members have some method of
secure remote access to Senate network resources.
--Information Systems staff continues to manage the Alerts
notification database for all Secretary staff. Database
information is verified nightly to ensure email, voice, and
BlackBerry personal identification number information is valid
and will function during an emergency.
--Provided an improved and updated offsite COOP laptop solution for
the Office of Senate Security. This was accomplished without
any additional hardware or software expense to the office,
realizing a cost savings of $2,750.
Network Perimeter and End Point Security Awareness
--In partnership the SAA Security Operations Center, conducted
periodic testing for security vulnerabilities and compared
these measurements with the department patch deployment server.
Focused observations on spear phishing attempts from outside
messaging sources continued in 2013.
--IT staff continue to monitor email spam filtering applications.
Email messages delivered to staff email accounts no longer
employed by the Secretary's Office are removed from the
messaging server. Maintaining software updates will continue to
be a challenge. IT staff continue to maintain the inventory and
respective updates of all applications for 300 workstation
installations. In December 2013, Microsoft released 11
bulletins for the final Patch Tuesday of the year. In 2013
Information Systems saw a total of 106 Microsoft bulletins,
which is an increase of 22 percent over 2012's total count.
--Upgraded network connections at the offsite Emergency Operations
Center location. In addition to the onsite laptop hardware, an
additional nine workstations are now available for Secretary
staff at the ACF.
--Upgraded to improved version of BlackBerry security scanning
software. IT staff continue to provide this scanning service
for staff prior to travel outside of the United States.
BlackBerry devices continue to be directly supported and
updated by the Information System staff. Additionally, the
office has the ability to suspend cellphone services for lost
or stolen blackberry devices during non-business hours.
As a rule, the Secretary offices do not allow vendors or
contractors to access Senate equipment without a physical or visual
escort. The IT office worked with SAA to improve the Watson Unified
Conference (WUC) process to accommodate a more secure access policy.
WUC was leveraged to include the policy changes to accommodate ``secure
attended'' access so staff could monitor the contractor or vendor who
supplied the technical help in the office. Without this change, offices
would have to rely on a less secure method of vendor interaction or
purchase a non-Senate subscription for vendor support.
Ongoing and Future Projects in 2014
--Senate Chief Counsel for Employment Server hardware/software
upgrade.
--Migrate member status hardware server to enterprise network.
--Evaluate and deploy zero client device or thin client technical
solution for Public Records patron systems.
--Upgrade server hardware and workstation hardware in the Office of
Public Records and Gift Shop.
interparliamentary services
The Office of Interparliamentary Services (IPS) is responsible for
administrative, financial, and protocol functions for special
delegations authorized by the majority and/or minority leaders, for all
interparliamentary conferences in which the Senate participates by
statute, and for interparliamentary conferences in which the Senate
participates on an ad hoc basis. The office also provides appropriate
assistance as requested by other Senate delegations.
The statutory interparliamentary conferences include:
--NATO Parliamentary Assembly
--Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Group
--Canada-United States Interparliamentary Group
--British-American Interparliamentary Group
--United States-Russia Interparliamentary Group
--United States-China Interparliamentary Group
--United States-Japan Interparliamentary Group
In 2013, IPS staff was responsible for organizing the Mexico-U.S.
Interparliamentary Group conference.
As in previous years, all foreign travel authorized by the majority
and minority leaders is arranged by IPS staff. In addition to
delegation trips, IPS provided assistance to the President pro tempore,
individual Senators, and staff traveling overseas. Senators and staff
authorized by committees for foreign travel continue to call upon this
office for assistance with passports, travel arrangements, and
reporting requirements.
On behalf of the Senate majority and minority leaders, the staff
arranges official receptions for heads of state, heads of government,
heads of parliaments, and parliamentary delegations. IPS maintains
required records of expenditures on behalf of foreign dignitaries under
authority of Public Law 100-71.
IPS receives and prepares for printing the quarterly consolidated
financial reports for foreign travel from all committees in the Senate.
In addition to preparing the quarterly reports for the majority leader
and the minority leader, IPS staff also assists staff members of
Senators and committees in filling out the required reports.
IPS organizes visits for official foreign visitors and assists them
in setting up meetings with leadership offices. IPS maintains regular
contact with the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and
foreign Embassy officials. The staff works closely with other offices
of the Secretary of the Senate and the Sergeant at Arms in arranging
programs for foreign visitors. In addition, IPS is consulted by
individual Senate offices on a broad range of protocol questions.
Occasional questions come from state officials regarding congressional
protocol.
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
IPS regularly reviews our COOP plan, updates materials kept off-
site, and evaluates evacuation procedures and remote site working
procedures.
legislative information system (lis) project
The Legislative Information System (LIS) is a mandated system
(section 8 of the 1997 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2 U.S.C.
123e) that provides desktop access to the content and status of
legislative information and supporting documents. The 1997 Legislative
Branch Appropriations Act also established a program (2 U.S.C. 181) for
providing the widest possible exchange of information among legislative
branch agencies. The long-range goal of the LIS Project is to provide a
``comprehensive Senate Legislative Information System'' to capture,
store, manage, and distribute Senate documents. Several components of
the LIS have been implemented, and the project is currently focused on
a Senate-wide implementation and transition to a standard system for
the authoring and exchange of legislative documents that will greatly
enhance the availability and re-use of legislative documents within the
Senate and with other legislative branch agencies. The LIS Project
Office manages the project.
Background: LIS Augmentation Project (LISAP)
An April 1997 joint Senate and House report recommended
establishment of a data standards program, and in December 2000, the
Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the House Committee on
House Administration jointly accepted the Extensible Markup Language
(XML) as the primary data standard to be used for the exchange of
legislative documents and information. Following the implementation of
the Legislative Information System (LIS) in January 2000, the LIS
Project Office shifted its focus to the data standards program and
established the LIS Augmentation Project (LISAP). The overarching goal
of the LISAP is to provide a Senate-wide implementation and transition
to XML for the authoring and exchange of legislative documents.
The current focus for the LISAP is the continued development and
implementation of the XML authoring system for legislative documents
produced by the Office of the Senate Legislative Counsel (SLC); the
Senate Enrolling Clerk; the Senate Committee on Appropriations; the
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation; and the
Government Printing Office (GPO). The XML authoring application,
Legislative Editing in XML Application (LEXA), inserts tags during
drafting that provide more information about the document and can be
used for printing, searching, displaying, or repurposing parts or all
of a document. The XML tags also facilitate automating many functions
that provide a more efficient and consistent document authoring
process. The LIS Project Office has worked very closely with the SLC,
the Enrolling Clerk, and the editorial and printing staff of the
Committee on Appropriations to create an application that meets the
needs for legislative drafting.
LISAP: 2013
The LIS Project Office continued to provide support to the SLC; the
Committee on Appropriations; the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation; and the Senate Enrolling Clerk in their use of LEXA for
drafting, engrossing, and enrolling. With the addition of the Commerce
Committee drafters, all measures in the first session of the 113th
Congress were produced in XML. In addition, the GPO uses LEXA to
complete measures for printing. Several new features and fixes were
added in LEXA releases to improve the drafting process. LIS staff
trained new drafters and interns in the use of LEXA.
Enhancements to LEXA in the past year included additional table
templates, improvements specific to Appropriations Committee drafters,
and additional printing formats for the enrolling clerks to produce
printed-as-passed bills.
The LIS Project Office has been working with staff from the GPO and
the Legislative Computer Systems (LCS) in the Office of the House Clerk
to create and print committee reports in XML. This office released a
LEXA committee report application to the Commerce Committee which
already uses LEXA to draft bills and amendments. The committee drafters
were able to create several sections of their committee reports using
the application, and additional enhancements were subsequently added.
Two other group projects with the GPO and LCS include participants
from the Law Revision Counsel and the Senate and House Legislative
Counsels. The first project with the Law Revision Counsel will result
in applications to convert and maintain the U.S. Code in an XML format.
The second project with the Legislative Counsels continues work toward
the editing and printing of the compilations of existing law in their
XML format.
The LIS Project Office is also closely following the GPO's project
to replace Microcomp with a new composition system that can directly
ingest XML data without having to convert it to another format before
printing.
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
Several procedures have been implemented to provide for COOP. All
source code and data files are backed up nightly to a drive in the
office, and each LIS Project Office staff member carries an encrypted
flash drive containing the office COOP plan, documentation, and the
most recent version of LEXA. All the software and documentation
required to create the development environment and a LEXA end user
environment are available in duplicate copies of the LIS Project Office
fly-away kit. The COOP plan and the fly-away kits are updated
frequently, and one fly-away kit is kept at an off-site location.
Regular testing of the ability to work remotely is conducted via Senate
laptops and personal computers to ensure that application development
and user support can continue if access to the office is not possible.
LISAP: 2014
The LIS Project Office will continue to support all Senate offices
using LEXA and will continue to work with the House, GPO, and the
Library of Congress on projects and issues that impact the legislative
process and data standards for exchange. The office will continue to
produce enhancements to LEXA and to seek out new technologies to
improve the production of legislative documents.
library
The Senate Library provides legislative, legal, business, and
general information services to the United States Senate. The Library's
collection encompasses legislative documents that date from the
Continental Congress in 1774; current and historic executive and
judicial branch materials; an extensive book collection on American
politics, history, and biography; a popular collection of audiobooks;
and a wide array of online resources. The Library also authors content
for three Web sites--LIS.gov, Senate.gov, and Webster.
Senate Information Services (SIS) program service contracts were
renegotiated for fiscal year 2013 with existing program vendors to
continue services while meeting stringent program budget constraints.
Enterprise-wide access to the WestlawNext search platform was added and
approval was secured to add 802 new local newspaper titles from Westlaw
to the Senate NewsWatch site, expanding the scope of coverage for
finding, tracking, and reading news or creating news clips using 1,157
newspapers from all 50 States.
The Library continues to meet the Senate's increasing demand for
information through the creation of new Web-based content, judicious
selection and investment in online resources, expanded outreach and
training opportunities, and use of technology to support alternative
means for information delivery.
Notable Achievements
--Outreach and online research training efforts expanded to include
two new vendor-taught classes. A record number of 1,496 staff
members attended 288 classes, tours, and Webinars, a 4 percent
increase in the number of staff trained in 2012 despite the
cancellation of 15 classes during the Government shutdown.
--The Library catalog now provides Senate staff with desktop access
to over 46,113 full-text electronic documents and online
resources, an increase of 9 percent over 2012. A 2-year
collaborative project to digitize the Library's collection of
congressional bills and resolutions from the 16th through the
72nd Congresses was completed. Full-text access to the
digitized material will be made available through the ProQuest
Congressional platform.
--Senate Executive Calendars from 1990-1994 were digitized and will
be added to the archive that was expanded to include 1995 to
the present and is publicly available on Senate.gov through the
collaborative efforts of the Library, the Executive Clerk, the
Office of Web Technology, and the LIS Project Office.
--Two new hallway informational displays were created in 2013:
Inauguration Day and U.S. Senate Library Services. In addition,
the informational display What Issues Has the United States
Senate Investigated?, installed outside SD-G50, was updated
with Quick Response (QR) codes to allow easy access to
supplementary information provided online.
Senate Library Inquiries, Online Book Requests, and Patron Accounts
Reference librarians continue to assist Senate staff with
challenging research in areas including legal and public records,
legislative histories, and news and journal articles, and in finding
answers to difficult and complex requests. This year librarians
answered 23,018 walk-in, telephone, and email requests from Senate
staff, demonstrating a continued demand for high-quality Library
resources and services.
Senate staff continued to demonstrate an increasing preference for
Web-accessible resources. Use of Library-created resources on Webster
saw 28,223 page visits in 2013. The Library's popular Virtual Reference
Desk on Senate.gov received 2,267,372 page visits while appropriations
and active legislation pages accounted for an additional 342,136 page
visits from public users in 2013.
The Senate Library's FrontPage electronic resources portal received
16,005 page visits in its third year. Senate staff turned to SIS
program support 90 times for help with accounts, resource access, and
custom news profile requests. Program staff logged an additional 96
requests with program vendors related to program site maintenance and
support during 2013.
The Library received 856 online book requests in 2013, a 7 percent
decrease from the previous year. A total of 4,365 volumes were loaned
in 2013, an increase of 4 percent. Titles featured in monthly online
bibliographies on Webster and reference room displays saw a 25 percent
increase in loan activity in 2013, reflecting focused outreach and
promotion efforts.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Seventy-eight percent of the Library's patrons are Senate office
and committee staff members while the remaining 22 percent of users
include support office staff, members of the accredited press, and
Government agencies.
A total of 698 new patrons were registered for borrowing accounts
in 2013, a decrease of 14 percent over the number of new staff
registered in 2012. Although fewer permanent staff were registered for
Library accounts, new accounts for interns increased by 11 percent.
Other activities for 2013 included setting up 388 new computer
accounts for our patron workstations, an 8 percent increase from 2012.
INFORMATION SERVICE SUPPORT ACTIVITIES, 2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Circulation
Document Deliveries............................ 3,852
Item Loans..................................... 4,365
Pages Printed
Microform Pages Printed........................ 710
Photocopies.................................... 39,792
--------------------
Document Delivery Total...................... 48,719
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senate Library Content Creation
Senate.gov Web Site Content
Two bibliographies, Resources on Elections and Politics (http://
www.senate.gov/
reference/resources/pdf/electionsp.pdf) and Resources on Congress
(http://www.senate.gov/reference/resources/pdf/congress.pdf), were
revised and updated to reflect newer sources and editions published and
annotations were rewritten where necessary.
Senate Executive Calendars
A digital archive of Senate Executive Calendars, expanded to
include material from 1995 to the present, was made available on
Senate.gov and Webster as the result of a collaborative project
involving the Library, the Executive Clerk, the Office of Web
Technology, and the LIS Project Office. During 2013, Library staff and
interns completed the retrospective digitization of calendars for the
years 1990-1994; these files will be made available as part of the
online public archive. Work will continue on the digitization of the
remaining Executive Calendars in the Library's collection.
Senate Information Services Program Content
Senate NewsWatch, the Senate's custom news portal, was updated in
January to include new Web pages and pre-set news searches for all new
Senators of the 113th Congress. Similar updates were made to coincide
with the swearings-in of all Senators elected or appointed to the
Senate later in the year. During 2013, Senate users viewed 152,915 news
articles on Senate NewsWatch, the Senate's custom news portal, and
219,148 news articles using InfoViewer, the Senate's web-based news
tracking and news clip publishing tool.
In response to user feedback, the ``Newspapers'' page on Senate
NewsWatch was updated to include more prominent thumbnail images of
newspapers available in the NewspaperDirect PressDisplay database.
Although several other significant enhancements to NewsWatch and
InfoViewer were proposed in 2013, their implementation has been
significantly delayed due to budget sequestration and the Government
shutdown in October.
In February 2013, the custom user interface (CUI) working group
proposed more than 60 changes to the Senate's custom LexisNexis
interface to enhance its features and improve usability that were
implemented by LexisNexis in May. A second round of changes to the
LexisNexis custom layout, functionality, and account registration
features were proposed in December to facilitate the Senate's
implementation of Lexis Advance product offering in 2014.
The Library coordinated the launch of the new WestlawNext search
platform as an upgrade to the Senate's existing Westlaw research
services that adds new features for customization, saving research, and
searching across multiple content sources simultaneously. As part of
that process the Library's CUI working group proposed changes to the
organization, layout, text, and account registration features of the
Senate's Westlaw custom user interface which were implemented along
with the launch in July.
There were 2,802 searches and 1,754 documents viewed using the
Serials Solution A-Z list, 37 percent of which were the result of users
finding and using SIS program content from LexisNexis, ProQuest, and
Westlaw.
Library Web Site Working Groups
An external website working group with membership from all the
Library's teams was formed in February to review the Library's web
presence and to find ways to improve the presentation of information,
usability, and streamline the maintenance of the Senate Library's Web
pages. The group researched best practices for Web design and
usability, using principles to categorize the strengths and weaknesses
of current web pages; ranked the most common and important research
tasks performed by users of Library websites and created testing
personas representative of typical Senate Library Web site users;
inventoried the more than 600 pages for which the Library currently
maintains content; and drafted goals for the Library Web presence. At
the close of 2013, the group had begun to identify potential Web site
improvements and plan for outcome-based Web usability testing; these
efforts will form the foundation for significant enhancement of the
Library's future Web presence.
Senate Knowledge Base
The Senate Knowledge Base is an institutional repository of data to
support the Webster site taxonomy project and Webster search
enhancement. To date, 1,399 document records, 2,386 term records, and
516 organization records in the Senate Knowledge Base are supporting
the Webster taxonomy and search projects. The 14 percent increase in
the number of terms and 12 percent increase in the number of documents
created this year is a result of the addition of descriptive records
for ``Dear Colleague'' letters and continuing maintenance of the
database to support the online Senate Services Directory (Red Book);
the ``Legislative,'' ``News and Research,'' and ``About the Senate''
tabs on Webster; as well as daily reporting for keymatches.
Descriptive metadata was created for each of the 111 ``Dear
Colleague'' letters distributed via email during 2012 using records
modified to capture specific data elements in the Senate Knowledge
Base. The resulting XML data file was reviewed by the Office of Web
Technology and additional recommendations made to improve the title and
search result display. In the coming year, the pilot project will be
expanded to include letters issued since 2012. Requested by the Senate
Committee on Rules and Administration, the work will form the basis for
the development of a searchable internal online archive of Senate
electronic ``Dear Colleague'' letters beginning with the 112th
Congress.
Webster Search Enhancement
Librarians improve Webster search results by analyzing popular
search terms and matching them with topically relevant pages or search
engine ``keymatches'' (which are managed through the Senate Knowledge
Base). This improves the chances a searcher will find what he or she is
looking for on Webster. During 2013, 115 ``keymatches'' were
established, 50 were edited, and 25 were deleted to update Web page
links.
Instruction and Outreach Programs
Senate librarians teach a variety of classes for Senate staff. In
2013, a record 1,496 Senate staff attended the 288 research training
classes, Library tours, and Webinars offered by the Senate Library.
Total attendance increased by 4 percent over last year despite a
Government shutdown in October that forced the cancellation of 15
scheduled classes. All training-related pages on the Library's site
received 1,877 visits from Senate staff.
Among the 645 staffers who attended the Library's 134 in-person
class sessions, 372 completed class evaluation survey forms, offering
overwhelmingly positive feedback about class content and instruction.
In an analysis of the results, 98 percent of the respondents
characterized Library classes as either ``useful'' or ``highly useful''
and 99 percent of the respondents described Library instructors as
either ``effective'' or ``highly effective.'' Librarians also offered
74 tours of the Library to 541 staff and other interested groups
including the Senate Page School, Government document librarians, and
Government Printing Office (GPO) staff.
Webinars continue to be a popular option, reaching 310 Senate
staff, including many in State offices, in 91 class sessions. Webinar
registration procedures were modified to streamline processes,
incorporate new hosting requirements, and take advantage of new
functionality. As an example, the Library hosted a webinar co-taught by
an offsite vendor trainer for the first time in December. Enhanced
offsite vendor training capabilities will provide needed flexibility
for vendor trainers and library staff when hosting these sessions in
the coming year.
ProQuest Congressional training classes, offered monthly since
January, drew 32 Senate staff members. A single PressDisplay class was
offered for the first time in May for three attendees; this training
will be held on a quarterly basis in 2014. The Library also
experimented with a new targeted focus for CQ training: ``CQ for
Legislative Staff'' offered in March and ``CQ for Press and
Communications Staff'' offered in January and May. In total, 337 Senate
staff members attended vendor-taught Library course offerings in 2013,
an increase of 14 percent over 2012.
Using the Legislative Information System (LIS) was taught to 14
participants as part of the Legislative Survival Guide training series
in collaboration with the Joint Office of Education and Training in
July. Librarians answered questions and provided information about
research services and training to 90 participants in the Senate
Services Fair in May and to attendees at the CRS District State Staff
Institutes held on March 5 and October 28, 2013.
In November, new employees of the Office of the Secretary of the
Senate were introduced to the services of the Senate Library as part of
the new ``Year One'' program designed to familiarize new staff with the
different offices under the jurisdiction of the Secretary and sponsored
by the Secretary's Human Resources Department.
A total of 31 announcements for Library services, Senate Historical
Office talks, and three featured book talks were run on Webster and
1,756 promotional flyers were distributed to Senate staff during 2013.
Monthly book displays and online bibliographies highlight the
Library's collections and stimulate interest in reading new titles. To
support this effort, 15 bibliographies were created, revised, or
updated this year, including: The American Guide Series; Celebrate
National Book Month: Read an Award Winner; The Capitol and the Capital
City; The Emancipation Proclamation; Escape Into A Good Book: August
2013; Great Reads for New Staff and Interns; John F. Kennedy: A Look
Back; Library of America: Selections from the Best of American Writing;
Resources on Elections and Politics; Resources on Congress; United
States Senate History and Practice: A Selected Bibliography; Watergate
at 40; Women in Congress: A Bibliography; and Women in the United
States Military. All online bibliographies saw 11,239 page visits from
Senate staff and the public in 2013.
Collection Development
Audiobooks
The Library acquired 25 new audiobook titles in 2013, bringing the
total number to 214 titles. Designed to assist users with diverse
needs, including those who may be visually challenged, as well as to
draw patrons into the Library, the program remains popular with patrons
whose 634 loans were equivalent to circulating each item in the
collection almost three times over. The online bibliography of
audiobooks on Webster received 447 visits from Senate staff in 2013 and
contains links to the catalog and the online book request form.
Government Documents
As a participant in the GPO's Federal Depository Library Program
(FDLP), the Library receives selected categories of legislative,
executive, and judicial branch publications. Distribution of documents
on microfiche through the FDLP is limited to congressional documents
and is down by 83 percent due in large part to distribution problems
with a single supplier. The Library received 8,577 Government
publications in 2013. In response to the trend of issuing Government
documents in electronic format, 1,787 links were added to the Library
catalog, bringing the total number to 46,113, an increase of 9 percent
over last year. The links provide Senate staff desktop access to the
full text of each document.
ACQUISITIONS, 2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Category Total
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congressional Documents............................ 6,943
Executive and Judicial Branch Publications......... 1,634
Books (including audiobooks and e-books)........... 856
Electronic Links................................... 1,787
--------------------
Total Acquisitions........................... 11,220
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legislative Validation
The Library's Legislative Validation Clerk verifies and edits the
accuracy and consistency of data and legislative information published
by Secretary of the Senate staff in the Legislative Information System
(LIS), the document management system (DMS), the Congressional Record,
Senate.gov, and Webster. The clerk's work also requires the
verification of selected Congressional Record Index entries (print and
electronic) and includes comparing electronic entries made by
legislative staff or data entry clerks from various agencies with the
printed Congressional Record Index and notifying the offices of
discrepancies.
Between January and December 2013, the Legislative Validation Clerk
submitted 154 corrections out of hundreds of thousands of verified
legislative actions that took place during the year.
LEGISLATIVE VALIDATION CLERK CORRECTIONS, 2013
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Office # Submitted
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill, Enrolling, Executive, Journal, and 45
Legislative Clerks................................
Reporters of Debates, Morning Business Editor, and 80
Daily Digest......................................
GPO and Library of Congress_LIS.................... 29
--------------------
Total Corrections............................ 154
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cataloging
The Library's productive cataloging staff draws on years of
experience to produce and maintain a catalog of more than 224,000
bibliographic items. During 2013, they added 3,446 new titles to the
catalog and performed 27,983 record maintenance and enhancement
activities, including correcting subjects and names that have become
obsolete and retrospectively adding links to full-text content and book
jacket images to existing records.
Catalogers' time and skills at categorizing and describing content
are increasingly in demand for taxonomy-related projects designed to
enhance Webster. These include creating the records that drive
functionality in the online Senate Services Directory, analyzing logs
of unsuccessful searches to create ``keymatches'' that target Webster
search results, providing descriptive metadata for an internal online
archive of Senate electronic ``Dear Colleague'' letters, and developing
a topical framework to support the development of news alerts, improve
content organization, and enhance the effectiveness of searches in
Senate NewsWatch and the InfoViewer client.
Catalogers created 570 bibliographic records for Senate hearings
not yet printed using information in the Congressional Record Daily
Digest and the combined hearings schedule on Webster. This includes
field hearings that are not listed in the Daily Digest. These records
provide preliminary access for Senate staff and remain in the catalog
until the printed hearing is received and cataloged.
The catalog is updated nightly to ensure that Senate staff will
retrieve accurate and current information on Library holdings. The
addition of 535 book jacket images in 2013 enhanced the catalog's
visual appeal. The Library catalog was used by 3,503 Senate staff
accounting for 4,970 visits in 2013.
Preservation, Binding, and Collection Maintenance
Technical Services staff continued to participate in book repair
training sessions led by the director of the Office of Conservation and
Preservation. Trainees repaired 331 volumes, an increase of 3 percent
from 2012, making significant progress in the preservation of the
Library's bound book collection. A multi-year project to repair volumes
in the Congressional Record circulating collection was completed, a
preservation survey to identify volumes in the U.S. Congressional
Serial Set circulating collection in need of repair was begun, and a
project to assemble a third copy of the Serial Set in the Library's
offsite storage facility was begun.
The Library continues to preserve and protect rare and fragile
print materials in its collections using commercial binding services
procured through the GPO. In 2013, a total of 664 volumes were sent out
for binding, an increase of 118 percent from the previous year, with
excellent results.
Budget
Budget negotiations with database vendors resulted in flat or
reduced pricing for some online research services and price discounts
for print edition standing orders and multi-year subscriptions. Budget
savings from fixed-price contracts for the Library's 2013 online
research services, negotiated print edition price discounts and cuts in
standing orders, and multi-year subscription discounts totaled $15,319.
After 15 years of budget monitoring, savings total $178,924. This
continual review of purchases eliminates materials not meeting the
Senate's current information needs. This oversight is also critical in
containing and offsetting cost increases for core materials, in meeting
sequestration budget requirements, and for acquiring new materials with
reduced funding levels.
Special Projects
Unum, Newsletter of the Office of the Secretary of the
Senate
Unum, the Secretary's quarterly newsletter, has been produced by
Senate Library staff since October 1997 and is distributed throughout
the Senate and to former Senators. It serves as an historical record of
accomplishments, events, and personnel news in the Office of the
Secretary of the Senate. Highlights from the 2013 Unum issues include a
look at the ``Senate on the silver screen''--movies that focus on the
Senate, an article that was prompted by the release of the movie
Lincoln, as well as articles on how factual the Lincoln movie was and
the Senate action that was left out of the Lincoln movie; articles on
the 40th anniversary of Watergate; a feature on the new Year One
orientation program for recently hired Secretary employees; a piece by
Senate Archivist Karen Paul on the Advisory Committee on the Records of
Congress; an article by a Senate page about her experience working
through a vote-a-rama; an article about a gallery pass with a mystery
Senate signature; and the continuation of the ``Senate Voices'' series
prepared by Senate Historian Don Ritchie that contains excerpts of oral
histories of former staffers and Senators. A new feature was
introduced, called Artifacts and Oddities from the Senate Collection,
which showcases some of the more unusual objects in the Senate's art
and historical collections.
National Library Week
Guy Gugliotta, author of Freedom's Cap: The United States Capitol
and the Coming of the Civil War, was the featured speaker at the
Library's 15th annual book talk in honor of National Library Week. This
year 80 people attended the talk. The Library also hosted the popular
annual dessert reception which drew in over 135 Senate staff.
This year the Library also sponsored three other popular book
talks. Senate Historian Emeritus Richard A. Baker spoke about his new
book, The American Senate, coauthored by Neil MacNeil, before a crowd
of 115 in the Capitol Visitor Center. Author John T. Shaw drew an
audience of 100 for the discussion of his book JFK in the Senate:
Pathway to the Presidency. James Swanson drew 95 participants speaking
about his book End of Days: The Assassination of President Kennedy.
Unpublished Senate Hearings on Microfiche
A project to improve access to the Library's collection of
unpublished Senate hearings on microfiche (18th-98th Congresses) was
continued, resulting in the cataloging of 250 hearings in 2013. Each
catalog record was assigned a full array of name and subject headings
and enhanced with a link to the full-text version of the hearing in
ProQuest. A note summarizing the subject of the hearing was provided to
facilitate access via keyword searching and to impart useful
information not conveyed by the generic titles often used in these
hearings.
Display Cases
Hallway display cases continue to educate staff and visitors alike
while highlighting the Library's collections. Display cases featured
this year include: Inauguration Day and U.S. Senate Library Services.
In addition, one of the informational displays installed outside SD-
G50, What Issues Has the United States Senate Investigated?, was
updated with QR codes to allow easy access to supplementary information
provided online. The Dirksen exhibit and its subsequent enhancements
were developed through the joint efforts of the Library, the Office of
Senate Curator, the Historical Office, and the Office of Conservation
and Preservation.
Cooperative Projects
Hearing Universal Resource Locator (URL) data from the Library
catalog is exported weekly to provide LIS and THOMAS, now
Beta.Congress.gov, with full-text links to Senate hearings. Visitors to
the Library of Congress' THOMAS site were redirected to the new
Beta.Congress.gov site in November. The Library contributed 1,796 new
Senate hearing links to the LIS database during 2013.
Major Library Goals for 2014
--Continue team evaluation and enhancement of instructional course
offerings, review available applications to create online
course offerings, and expand Web-based training opportunities
to reach State staff.
--Continue to expand the online historical archive of the Senate
Executive Calendars on Senate.gov, in collaboration with the
Executive Clerk and the Office of Web Technology, by digitizing
calendars from the Library's collection.
--Enhance the Library's external Web presence through continued team
development efforts identifying potential Web site
improvements, planning for outcome-based web usability testing,
review, and evaluation of options.
--Continue the development of an internal searchable online archive
of Senate electronic ``Dear Colleague'' letters beginning with
the second session of the 112th Congress though the creation of
descriptive metadata about the documents distributed via email
using the Senate knowledge base.
--Continue the collaborative development of a topical framework for
Senate NewsWatch to support the development of news alerts,
improve content organization, and enhance the effectiveness of
searches in Senate NewsWatch and the InfoViewer client.
--Continue collaborative development of an organizational framework
and basic content set for a Library staff Web site that will
support the internal work requirements and information needs of
all Library staff members.
--Begin implementation of new cataloging rules, called Resource
Description and Access (RDA), in conjunction with the Library
of Congress and other libraries worldwide.
--Continue to improve access to the Library's collection of
unpublished Senate hearings on microfiche by adding item-level
records to the catalog with links to full-text content.
SENATE LIBRARY STATISTICS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2013--ACQUISITIONS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Books Government Congressional Publications
------------------- Documents ----------------------------------------
------------------ Reports/ Total
Ordered Received Paper Fiche Hearings Prints Bylaw Docs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January........................................................... 18 146 76 70 289 24 124 271 1,000
February.......................................................... 35 81 148 73 308 11 80 60 761
March............................................................. 17 50 65 21 185 32 134 123 610
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Quarter................................................. 70 277 289 164 782 67 338 454 2,371
=====================================================================================
April............................................................. 23 90 312 4 392 37 107 250 1,192
May............................................................... 15 59 113 2 307 29 134 188 832
June.............................................................. 27 93 39 0 228 11 100 237 708
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Quarter................................................. 65 242 464 6 927 77 341 675 2,732
=====================================================================================
July.............................................................. 20 58 74 126 303 3 86 397 1,047
August............................................................ 24 41 88 2 236 2 23 185 577
September......................................................... 102 35 72 123 308 13 83 292 926
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd Quarter................................................. 146 134 234 251 847 18 192 874 2,550
=====================================================================================
October........................................................... 8 142 64 2 107 4 158 107 584
November.......................................................... 31 28 47 66 136 4 60 202 543
December.......................................................... 13 33 47 0 269 5 70 229 653
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4th Quarter................................................. 52 203 158 68 512 13 288 538 1,780
=====================================================================================
2013 Total........................................................ 333 856 1,145 489 3,068 175 1,159 2,541 9,433
=====================================================================================
2012 Total........................................................ 276 689 1,130 484 3,297 101 1,082 2,440 9,223
=====================================================================================
Percent Change.................................................... 21 24 1 1 -7 73 7 4 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SENATE LIBRARY STATISTICS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2013--CATALOGING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bibliographic Records Cataloged
S. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hearing Books Government Documents Congressional Publications Total
Numbers ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Records
Added Docs./ Cataloged
to LIS Paper Audio/ Paper Fiche Electronic Hearings Prints Pubs./
E-books Reports
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January................................................. 31 102 4 1 0 17 381 4 97 606
February................................................ 55 49 4 3 0 6 96 3 69 230
March................................................... 37 37 2 6 0 8 39 0 27 119
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Quarter......................................... 123 188 10 10 0 31 516 7 193 955
===============================================================================================
April................................................... 17 33 6 1 0 7 200 38 69 354
May..................................................... 5 28 7 1 1 41 224 0 62 364
June.................................................... 57 11 1 2 0 6 28 0 67 115
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Quarter......................................... 79 72 14 4 1 54 452 38 198 833
===============================================================================================
July.................................................... 11 26 3 1 0 12 96 0 39 177
August.................................................. 25 13 1 7 0 10 194 5 97 327
September............................................... 14 50 3 3 0 8 162 3 59 288
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3rd Quarter......................................... 50 89 7 11 0 30 452 8 195 792
===============================================================================================
October................................................. 102 41 3 4 0 3 49 0 22 122
November................................................ 37 67 3 4 0 11 240 0 41 366
December................................................ 48 22 3 7 0 2 314 1 29 378
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4th Quarter......................................... 187 130 9 15 0 16 603 1 92 866
===============================================================================================
2013 Total.............................................. 439 479 40 40 1 131 2,023 54 678 3,446
===============================================================================================
2012 Total.............................................. 470 296 18 50 6 125 2,012 204 769 3,480
===============================================================================================
Percent Change.......................................... -7 62 122 -20 -83 4.8 0.55 -74 -12 -0.98
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SENATE LIBRARY STATISTICS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2013--DOCUMENT DELIVERY
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Micrographics
Center Photocopiers
Volumes Materials Facsimiles ----------------------------
Loaned Delivered Pages
Pages Printed Printed
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
January........................................ 479 424 13 17 4,146
February....................................... 371 273 13 76 4,837
March.......................................... 368 287 13 135 3,831
----------------------------------------------------------------
1st Quarter.............................. 1,218 984 39 228 12,814
================================================================
April.......................................... 403 512 27 33 2,599
May............................................ 486 332 14 55 5,158
June........................................... 485 315 20 46 2,817
----------------------------------------------------------------
2nd Quarter.............................. 1,374 1,159 61 134 10,574
================================================================
July........................................... 476 354 23 35 2,562
August......................................... 393 252 24 115 2,767
September...................................... 291 338 11 13 3,564
----------------------------------------------------------------
3rd Quarter.............................. 1,160 944 58 163 8,893
================================================================
October........................................ 211 244 13 152 1,993
November....................................... 220 262 32 33 3,110
December....................................... 182 259 36 0 2,408
----------------------------------------------------------------
4th Quarter.............................. 613 765 81 185 7,511
================================================================
2013 Total..................................... 4,365 3,852 239 710 39,792
================================================================
2012 Total..................................... 4,207 4,441 156 975 56,415
================================================================
Percent Change................................. 4 -13 53 -27 -30
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
page school
The United States Senate Page School exists to provide a smooth
transition from and to the students' home schools, providing those
students with as sound a program, both academically and experientially,
as possible during their stay in the Nation's Capital, within the
limits of the constraints imposed by the work situation.
Summary of Accomplishments
--In 2013 the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools awarded
accreditation renewal which continues until May 1, 2018. The
Page School is among schools throughout the world that meet the
internationally recognized Middle States Standards for
Accreditation.
--Two page classes successfully completed their semester curriculum.
Closing ceremonies were conducted on June 7, 2013 and January
24, 2014, the last day of school for each semester.
--Orientation and course scheduling for the spring 2013 and fall 2013
pages were successfully completed. Needs of incoming students
determined the semester schedules.
--Faculty administered English usage pre- and post-tests to students
each semester and reviewed the results to determine what usage
instruction or remediation was needed.
--Faculty administered calculator usage pre- and post-tests to
students each semester to determine what instruction or
remediation was needed.
--Staff provided a general study skills tutorial to all students, and
students identified in need of training in specific areas took
part in study skills sessions.
--Faculty and staff provided extended educational experiences to
pages, including 19 field trips, two guest speakers,
opportunities to play musical instruments and vocalize, and
world languages study. A panel of former pages also provided
information and answered current pages' questions. Summer pages
made eight field trips to educational sites and heard from two
guest speakers. Additionally, the Page School hosted visits for
current and former employees who have given service to the Page
School.
--Nineteen pages took 35 Advanced Placement (AP) exams in nine
subjects.
--The community service project embraced by pages and staff in 2002
continues. Pages collected, assembled, and shipped items for
gift packages to military personnel serving in various
locations. Pages included letters of support to the troops.
--All Page School staff attended continuing education and training
classes.
--Communication among Sergeant at Arms, Secretary of the Senate,
party secretaries, the Page Program, and the Page School is
ongoing.
--To update teaching efficiency, the school purchased a conductivity
probe for chemistry and modern visual technology aids for
social studies presentations by the instructor and students.
--Cost savings are realized as the school no longer distributes daily
schedules; instead, teachers have preprinted schedules for the
various possibilities. The Page School staff also make good use
of the recycling center and have picked up binders, writing
utensils, and print cartridges.
Continuity of Operations (COOP) Planning
The evacuation and continuity of operations (COOP) plan was updated
in the Living Disaster Recovery Planning System (LDRPS). Back-ups of
the office's electronic records are made for off-site storage and
regular updating of staff members' contact information for the ALERTS
system are made. Pages and staff continue to participate in evacuating
to primary and secondary sites. Pages also participated in escape hood
training. Additionally, remote laptop access procedures are reviewed
and practiced, as well as participation in emergency notification
tests. The Pandemic Essential Functions Staffing Plan was also
completed and provided to Human Resources and Senate Security.
Summary of Plans
Our goals include:
--Individualized small group instruction and tutoring by teachers on
an as-needed basis will continue to be offered, as well as
optional academic support for students preparing to take AP
tests.
--Language tutors will provide assistance to students.
--The focus of field trips will be sites of historic, political, and
scientific importance which complement the curriculum.
--English usage pre- and post-tests will continue to be administered
to students each semester to assist faculty in determining
needs of students for usage instruction. Calculator usage pre-
and post-tests will be administered to students each semester
to assist faculty in determining calculator use in both math
and science courses.
--Staff development options include attendance at seminars conducted
by the Joint Office of Education and Training and subject
matter and/or educational issue conferences conducted by
national organizations.
--The community service project will continue.
--Work to maintain accreditation will continue.
printing and document services
The Office of Printing and Document Services (OPDS) serves as
liaison to the Government Printing Office (GPO) for the Senate's
official printing, ensuring that all Senate printing is in compliance
with Title 44, U.S. Code as it relates to Senate documents, hearings,
committee prints, and other official publications. The office assists
the Senate by coordinating, scheduling, delivering, and preparing
Senate legislation, hearings, documents, committee prints, and
miscellaneous publications for printing, and provides printed copies of
all legislation and public laws to the Senate and the public. In
addition, the office assigns publication numbers to all hearings,
committee prints, documents, and other publications; orders all blank
paper, envelopes, and letterhead for the Senate; and prepares page
counts of all Senate hearings in order to compensate commercial
reporting companies for the preparation of hearings.
Printing Services
During fiscal year 2013, the OPDS prepared 3,150 requisitions
authorizing the GPO to print and bind the Senate's work, exclusive of
legislation and the Congressional Record. This number represents a 10
percent increase in the number of orders over the previous year. Since
the requisitioning done by the OPDS is central to the Senate's
printing, the office is uniquely suited to perform invoice and bid
reviewing responsibilities for Senate printing. As a result of its cost
accounting duties, OPDS is able to review and ensure accurate GPO
invoicing as well as play an active role in helping to provide the best
possible bidding scenario for Senate publications.
In addition to processing requisitions, the Printing Services
Section coordinates proof handling, job scheduling, and tracking for
stationery products, Senate hearings, Senate publications and other
miscellaneous printed products, as well as monitoring blank paper and
stationery quotas for each Senate office and committee. OPDS also
coordinates a number of publications for other Senate offices, such as
the Curator, Historian, Disbursing, Legislative Clerk and Senate
Library, as well as the U.S. Botanic Garden, U.S. Capitol Police,
Architect of the Capitol and the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. These
tasks include providing guidance for design, paper selection, print
specifications, monitoring print quality, and distribution.
Hearing Billing Verification
Senate committees often use outside reporting companies to
transcribe their hearings, both in-house and in the field. OPDS
processes billing verifications for these transcription services,
ensuring that costs billed to the Senate are accurate. OPDS utilizes a
program developed in conjunction with the Sergeant at Arms Computer
Division that provides more billing accuracy and greater information-
gathering capacity, and adheres to the guidelines established by the
Senate Committee on Rules and Administration for commercial reporting
companies to bill the Senate for transcription services. During 2013,
OPDS provided commercial reporting companies and corresponding Senate
committees a total of 794 billing verifications of Senate hearings and
business meetings. Over 54,000 transcribed pages were processed at a
total billing cost of $483,980, an increase of 35 percent over the
previous year.
During 2013, the office processed all file transfers and billing
verifications between committees and reporting companies
electronically, ensuring efficiency and accuracy. Department staff
continues training to apply today's expanding digital technology to
improve performance and services.
Secretary of the Senate Service Center
The Service Center within OPDS is staffed by experienced GPO
detailees who provide Senate committees and the Office of the Secretary
of the Senate with complete publishing services for hearings, committee
prints, and the preparation of the Congressional Record. These services
include keyboarding, proofreading, scanning, and composition. The
Service Center provides the best management of funds available through
the congressional printing and binding appropriation because committees
have been able to decrease, or eliminate, additional overtime costs
associated with the preparation of hearings. Additionally, the Service
Center provides work for GPO detailees assigned to legislative offices
during Senate recesses.
Document Services
The Document Services Section coordinates requests for printed
legislation and miscellaneous publications with other departments
within the Secretary's Office, Senate committees, and GPO. This section
ensures that the most current version of all material is available, and
that sufficient quantities are available to meet projected demands. The
Congressional Record, a printed record of Senate and House floor
proceedings, Extension of Remarks, Daily Digest, and miscellaneous
pages, is one of the many printed documents provided by the office on a
daily basis. In addition to the Congressional Record, the office
processed and distributed over 8,050 distinct legislative items during
the first session of the 113th Congress, including Senate and House
bills, resolutions, committee and conference reports, executive
reports, treaty documents, and public laws.
The demand for online access to legislative information continues
to be strong. Before Senate legislation can be posted online, it must
be received in the Senate through OPDS. Improved database reports allow
the office to report receipt of all bills and resolutions received in
the Senate which can then be made available online and accessed by
other Web sites, such as LIS, FDsys and THOMAS.
Customer Service
The primary responsibility of OPDS is to provide services to the
Senate. The office provides the same high level of customer service to
the general public, the press, and other Government agencies as it does
to the Senate. During 2013, over 10,000 requests for legislative
material were received at the walk-in counter, through the mail, by
fax, and electronically. Online ordering of legislative documents and
the Legislative Hot List link, where members and staff can confirm
arrival of printed copies of the most sought-after legislative
documents, continued to be popular. The site is updated several times
daily each time new documents arrive from GPO to the Document Room. In
addition, the office handled thousands of phone calls pertaining to the
Senate's official printing, document requests, and legislative
questions. The office stresses prompt, courteous customer service while
providing accurate answers to requests from Senate offices and the
public.
On-Demand Publication
The office supplements depleted legislation when needed by
producing additional copies in the DocuTech Service Center, staffed by
experienced GPO detailees who provide Senate offices with on-demand
printing and binding of bills, reports, and other legislation. On-
demand publication allows the department to cut the quantities of
documents printed directly from GPO, reducing waste. OPDS anticipates
that the need for on-demand printing will continue to increase over the
next year. The office produced 843 on-demand jobs during 2013, an
increase of 47 percent over the previous year. Documents were produced
on-demand for Senate committees and to replenish document room
inventory. The DocuTech is networked with GPO, allowing print files to
be sent back and forth electronically. This permits OPDS to print
necessary legislation for the Senate floor and other offices in the
event of a GPO continuity of operations (COOP) situation.
Accomplishments and Future Goals
OPDS anticipates that Senate offices' print-on-demand capabilities
will continue to grow in 2014, answering the Senate's needs in light of
decreased GPO distribution of legislative documents. The office
anticipates the installation of a new, faster, and more cost-efficient
digital copier in April 2014. The office works diligently to track
document requirements, monitor print quantities, and reduce waste and
associated costs. Also of particular note is OPDS's commitment to help
``green'' the Senate. During 2013, over 12 million sheets of 100
percent recycled copier paper were ordered by Senate offices.
The office continues working with GPO, on behalf of its customers,
to improve efficiency and help answer the evolving needs of the Senate.
Focus on COOP planning and emergency preparedness will continue.
public records
The Office of Public Records receives, processes, and maintains
records, reports, and other documents filed with the Secretary of the
Senate that involve the Federal Election Campaign Act, as amended; the
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as amended; the Senate Code of
Official Conduct; Rule 34, Public Financial Disclosure; Rule 35, Senate
Gift Rule filings; Rule 40, Registration of Mass Mailing; Rule 41,
Political Fund Designees; Rule 41(6), Supervisor's Reports on
Individuals Performing Senate Services; and Foreign Travel Reports.
The office provides for the inspection, review, and publication of
these documents. From October 2012 through September 2013, Public
Records staff assisted more than 3,000 walk-in individuals seeking
information from or about reports filed with the office. During that
same time period, the office responded to over 10,000 inquiries by
telephone or email, including assistance to individuals attempting to
comply with the provisions of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as
amended. The office works closely with the Federal Election Commission
(FEC), the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, and the Clerk of the U.S.
House of Representatives (Clerk) concerning the filing requirements of
the aforementioned acts and Senate rules.
Fiscal Year 2013 Accomplishments
Implementation of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act
(STOCK Act) was ongoing into fiscal year 2013. The STOCK Act, as
amended, required the Secretary to collaborate on the development of an
electronic filing system for member and employee financial disclosure
reports. Working in coordination with the Sergeant at Arms (SAA) and
the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, the Public Records Office
participated in the planning and development of the electronic filing
system which was successfully launched on January 1, 2014.
The office continued to maintain and update the Public Records Web
site that provides online access for documents in each area of
responsibility.
To continue implementation of the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) as
amended, the Public Records Office conducted two LDA Guidance reviews
in coordination with the Clerk of the House. The office referred 1,053
cases of potential noncompliance to the U.S. Attorney for the District
of Columbia.
The Public Records Office continued to test continuity of
operations (COOP) plans and pandemic response plans.
Plans for Fiscal Year 2014
The Public Records Office will be engaged with STOCK Act
implementation throughout fiscal year 2014, collaborating with the SAA
and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics as needed to implement and
finalize all aspects of the electronic filing system for financial
disclosure reports. The office also will continue to assess technology
infrastructure needs. The office will work with the House Clerk and her
staff to semiannually review and update the LDA Guidance as needed.
Additionally, the office expects to work with the House Clerk to
initiate further improvements to the LDA electronic filing system. The
office will continue to develop and implement educational information
and tools that will help all report filers comply fully with the law
and assist customers in accessing the information they seek.
Automation Activities
During fiscal year 2013, the Office of Public Records continued to
work with the SAA to update operating systems and enhance database
performance for all issue areas and improve public query programs and
compliance reviews. The office continued to maintain quality control
measures to ensure accuracy and integrity of report processing and
final database information.
Federal Election Campaign Act, as Amended
The Federal Election Campaign Act requires Senate candidates to
file quarterly and pre- and post-election reports. Filings totaled
4,882 documents containing 491,545 pages, which were scanned,
processed, and transmitted to the FEC, as required by law.
Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as Amended
The Lobbying Disclosure Act requires semiannual contribution
reports and quarterly financial and lobbying activity reports. As of
September 30, 2013, there were 4,525 registrants representing 16,351
clients. The total number of individual lobbyists disclosed on fiscal
year 2013 registrations and reports was 11,857. The total number of
lobbying registrations and reports processed was 113,517.
Public Financial Disclosure
The filing date for Public Financial Disclosure Reports was May 15,
2013. The reports were made available to the public and press by May
22, 2013, well within the 30 days as required by statute. Public
Records staff provided copies to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics
and the appropriate State officials. A total of 3,892 reports and
amendments containing 20,267 pages were filed. There were 121 requests
to review or receive copies of the documents, a significant reduction
from previous years due primarily to the online availability of
Senators' reports implemented in 2012.
Senate Rule 35 (Gift Rule)
The Public Records Office received 249 Gift Rule/Travel Reports
during fiscal year 2013.
Registration of Mass Mailing
Senators are required to file mass mailing reports on a quarterly
basis. Four hundred ten pages were submitted during fiscal year 2013.
stationery room
Since it was formally established in 1854, the Senate Stationery
Room has evolved into a highly diversified retail outlet serving the
needs of the Senate community by providing outstanding customer service
and a wide range of products such as office and administrative
supplies, health and personal security supplies, personalized
stationery, communication and computer accessories, and special order
items for official Government business. Additionally, the Stationery
Room provides U.S. flags flown over the Capitol for constituent
requests. The Stationery Room serves all members, both current and
retired; support offices; and other authorized organizations.
The Stationery Room fulfills its mission by:
--Utilizing open market, competitive bid, or GSA schedules for supply
procurement.
--Maintaining sufficient in-stock quantities of select merchandise to
best meet the immediate needs of the Senate community.
--Developing and maintaining productive business relationships with a
wide variety of vendors to ensure sufficient breadth and
availability of merchandise.
--Maintaining expense accounts for all authorized customers and
preparing monthly activity statements.
--Managing all accounts receivable and accounts payable
reimbursement.
--Ensuring the integrity and security of all funds and Government
assets under our control.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2013 Statistics Fiscal Year 2012 Statistics
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gross sales................................... $3,150,900.07 Gross sales..................... $2,915,708.38
Sales transactions............................ 34,785 Sales transactions.............. 33,881
Purchase orders issued........................ 5,664 Purchase orders issued.......... 4,930
Vouchers processed............................ 5,922 Vouchers processed.............. 5,282
Office deliveries............................. 6,102 Office deliveries............... 5,459
Number of items delivered..................... 135,000 Number of items delivered....... 121,408
Number of items sold.......................... 290,069 Number of items sold............ 303,520
Total cartons received offsite................ 23,000 Total cartons received offsite.. 20,909
Total of all items received................... 152,000 Total of all items received..... 133,988
Average office deliveries per day............. 22 Average office deliveries per 23
day.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fiscal Year 2013 Overview
Webster Online Ordering Portal
During fiscal year 2011, the Stationery Room, with the assistance
of the Office of Web Technology, launched an online Web ordering portal
through Webster, the Senate's intranet. The website offers an up-to-
date Stationery Room catalog with product description, price, and
pictures. Customers can place a stock order online and request direct
delivery to a location of their choice. During fiscal year 2013, the
Stationery Room received and processed 436 orders via that interface, a
20 percent increase over fiscal year 2012. Use of the Web site helps
reduce order time, increases customer convenience and order accuracy,
and reduces the use of paper through reduced reliance on hard copy
orders. Moving forward, the Stationery Room anticipates increased use
of this website as customers discover the benefits of its use.
Credit Card Payment for Flags
Utilizing the Pay.gov service offered by the U.S. Department of the
Treasury, the Stationery Room has been accepting online flag requests
and payments from constituents through member Web sites. At the end of
fiscal year 2013, 13 Senators were offering this payment option. The
benefits include a reduced wait time for constituents, elimination of
payment inaccuracies, and greatly reduced workload for office
representatives. The service has been so well received that several
participating offices have practically stopped accepting paper checks
altogether. The Stationery Room will continue to expand the service
during fiscal year 2014 to eventually include all interested member
offices.
New Initiatives for 2014
TranSAAct Statement Integration
The Stationery Room prepares activity statements for approximately
300 customer accounts on the last business day of each month. Those
statements are printed and either emailed to the customers or mailed
via inside mail. One upgrade most requested by our customers is for the
Stationery Room to post the account statements directly to TranSAAct,
the online business services portal for Senate offices, with supporting
documentation (e.g., itemized receipts or delivery tickets). This
integration required a custom application to enable that function. By
the end of fiscal year 2013, a functional utility had been completed
and fully tested. The inclusion of Stationery in the latest TranSAAct
release occurred in early fiscal year 2014, enabling customers to print
statements, current and historical, and research transaction details
directly from their desktop. The Stationery Room expects to save over
$500 a year in paper costs and, most importantly, reduce paper use by
45,000 individual sheets.
Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) Coordination
The Stationery Room contracts annually with various vendors to
provide United States flags. The flags are purchased by constituents
through individual member offices, and they are flown over the U.S.
Capitol building for commemoration of special occasions. While many
flags are flown for specific reasons, some are not and the Stationery
Room sells pre-flown flags for offices to meet those generic requests.
Late in fiscal year 2013, the Stationery Room began to work with the
Capitol Visitor Center (CVC) to supply pre-flown flags to its gift
shops. This cooperative relationship offers the CVC considerable
savings on flag purchases through the Stationery Room's existing
procurement contract and allows the Stationery Room to benefit from
larger volume discounts, possibly reducing the cost of U.S. flags on
future contracts. The relationship should be finalized in fiscal year
2014.
web technology
The Office of Web Technology is responsible for the Web sites,
along with the Web-based systems, servers, and technologies supporting
these Web sites, that fall under the purview of the Secretary of the
Senate:
--Senate.gov--available to the public;
--the Secretary's internal Web site (Webster.senate.gov/secretary)--
available to Senate staff;
--central portions of Webster--available to Senate staff; and
--the Senate legislative branch website (Legbranch.senate.gov)--
available to the Senate, House of Representatives, Library of
Congress, Architect of the Capitol, Government Accountability
Office, Government Printing Office, Congressional Budget
Office, and U.S. Capitol Police.
Senate.gov
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The Senate website content is maintained by over 30 contributors
from seven departments of the Secretary's Office and three departments
of the Sergeant at Arms (SAA). Content team leaders regularly share
ideas and coordinate the posting of new content. All content is
controlled through the Secretary's Web content management system (CMS),
managed by the Office of Web Technology.
Senate.gov enhancements in 2013 include:
Video Streaming
Senate.gov transitioned to a new streaming media solution to
leverage additional services, while migrating away from a deprecated
alternative. The newly implemented player offers more robust viewing
options for users, smoother streams, greater availability, and better
general experience. After completing the transition of legacy content,
Web Technology developed and administered a method for uploading future
video content in a secure and efficient manner.
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/video/
KefauverCommitteeNewsreel1_1.htm
Archived Floor Proceedings
Web Technology implemented a tabbed interface for historic floor
proceedings videos. This easy-to-use interface separates floor
proceedings by calendar year, facilitating browsing of historic
proceedings in an automatically updating and intuitive format. The new
tabbed view includes summary links to floor reports isolated by year.
Changes make management of the system more efficient as the quantity of
content increases and will lengthen the lifespan of existing systems.
http://floor.senate.gov
Member Office Streaming Video View
A new template and view for floor proceedings was developed based
on specifications requested by member offices. The new view is easily
embeddable on member Web sites and follows existing workflow, requiring
no additional tasks by offices to include live floor proceedings.
Having a common view used by members will facilitate seamless upgrades
as the streaming video infrastructure advances.
Idea of the Senate
A thoughtful analysis of the Senate's rules and procedures, its
history and traditions, and its personnel and prerogatives are shared
through this new exhibit. Using many historical documents, portraits,
quotes, and anecdotes, the exhibit engages a wide audience of how the
Senate has and continues to evolve. In total, 27 individual essays were
created as part of the exhibit ranging from 1787 to 2003. This is an
exhibit that will continue to grow with content and interactive
elements.
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/
IdeaoftheSenate.htm
Picturing the Senate Feature
This very complex feature highlights various illustrations,
photographs, cartoons, paintings, and sculptures where the Senate or
its members have been the subject. Unique slideshows highlighting the
following:
--Committees
--Senatorial Hall of Fame
--Senators in Caricature
--Photographing the Senate
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/collection_list/
CommitteeFeature.jsp
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/collection_list/
SenatorialHallofFame.jsp
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/slideshow/
SenatorsinCaricature.jsp
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/slideshow/
PhotographingtheSenate.jsp
Senate Voices Archive
The Senate Voices archive added a permanent navigational page
listing previously featured Oral History Project subjects. The new
feature allows easy access to the monthly pieces highlighting various
segments of interviews which are part of the Oral History Project. Some
of the subjects focused on during 2013 include:
--Maiden Speeches
--Celebrating Black History Month
--Classic Senate Speeches
--Watergate and the Senate
--Idea of the Senate
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/h_multi_sections_and_teasers/
Senate_Voices.htm
Civil War Sesquicentennial Exhibit
This continuing exhibit has provided a series of online features
exploring the Senate's wartime experiences. The components of this
exhibit have been updated monthly over the last several years to
highlight various events, people, and locations related to the Senate
during the war and connecting users to rich historical information
throughout the site. The exhibit expanded on the efforts of previous
years. Existing pages were expanded to add multimedia content on the
right hand side of the page, such as photographs and historical
documents. The sub-site contains a wealth of knowledge applicable and
engaging to a vast range of audiences.
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/civil_war/
CivilWar.htm
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/
CivilWar_chronology.htm
http://www.senate.gov/reference/Index/Civil_War_Senate.htm
Pending on Executive Calendar Report
Web Technology worked with staff from member offices and the
Sergeant at Arms to develop and automate a nightly report of executive
nominations, including mapping individual nominations with their
assigned calendar numbers. Previously, this information was unavailable
in a machine readable format. The new report provides a user friendly
and a machine readable version in XML that is updated nightly.
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/one_item_and_teasers/
nom_cal.htm
LIS/DMS XML Authoring and Transfer System
The existing XML content production authoring system and transfer
method was upgraded in a joint effort with the Sergeant at Arms. The
new reporting system allows for greater flexibility and stricter
enforcement of XML best practices. Establishing a testing environment
to run existing and future systems in parallel with production data
helped expedite the project and provided valuable quality control. Code
was modified to accommodate changes in the new system and established
business requirements with the assistance of legislative staff. This is
an ongoing project that will eventually replace all of the 30 plus
reports that are sent at least nightly. The changes are being
implemented seamlessly to end users as well as staff entering the
information. The new system increases the overall uptime of reports and
decreases the time for implementing requested changes.
Visitors Section
Using the wonderful photographs and tools for discovering them from
the Senate Photo Studio, Web Technology revamped the visitors section
to include more recent photographs of the many items of interest around
Washington, DC. The text was also thoroughly reviewed and updated as
applicable to ensure the accuracy of all information. Close to 100
primary photographs were replaced in this project, making for a much
more pleasing user experience.
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/visiting/
g_three_sections_with_teasers/visitingdc.htm
Funeral and Memorial Services in the Senate Chamber Exhibit
A new exhibit, built on advanced templates created last year and
enhanced this year, displays artifacts associated with funeral and
memorial services. Information regarding all 55 funerals is included as
part of the exhibit, increasing its potential audience.
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/collection_list/
Funeral.jsp
President Andrew Johnson's Impeachment Trial, 1868 Gallery
Passes Exhibit
The ephemera exhibit includes 25 images of gallery passes
associated with the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. An easy-
to-navigate, custom-built slideshow makes the viewing of these colorful
and historic documents interesting to a wide range of audiences. The
templates used for the creation of this exhibit are easily customizable
to display subjects of wide variety.
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/collection_list/
1868Impeachment.jsp
Gallery Passes Exhibit
A total of 74 unique gallery passes dating back to 1890 are now
available online thanks to the newly created Gallery Pass Exhibit. The
custom slideshow allows users to view 12 gallery passes at a time and
easily find ones associated with certain Congresses and contrast
changes over the years. A valuable list of data regarding the passes
back to the 51st Congress was also created as a useful cross reference.
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/collection_list/
GalleryPass.jsp
Updated and Enhanced Virtual Reference Pages and Research
Tips
The virtual reference desk pages were continually validated and
edited to contain the most valuable assets across legislative
institutions. Using this well-established format and associated
templates allowed us to quickly create new items and modify existing
ones to meet the needs of Senate.gov users. Other additions include
Sessions of Congress and Art in the Senate.
http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/
how_to_executivecommunications.htm
http://www.senate.gov/reference/Index/Sessions.htm
http://www.senate.gov/reference/Index/Art_in_the_Senate.htm
Direct Election of Senators Essay
A descriptive essay with supporting documents added to the
Institutional subsection of Origins & Development was authored in
conjunction with a monthly feature on the Constitution. This
historically focused piece includes information on the 17th Amendment,
primary source documents, related cartoons, and historical context in
an engaging way.
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/
Direct_Election_Senators.htm
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/
DirectElectionStateResolutions.htm
Converting Content from PDFs to HTML
In an ongoing effort to increase accessibility of all materials on
the Web site, several popular pdf files were converted to HTML pages.
The subjects of content included the following:
--Sitting Presidents and Vice Presidents Who Have Testified before
Congressional Committees
--The Capitol Art and Architecture
--Senate Sessions while Presidents Lay in State
--Memorial and Funeral Services in the Capitol Rotunda
--Senators Voting from Their Desks
Quick Reference Landing Page
In support of a physical exhibit in a Senate office building, Web
Technology designed and published a landing page supported by Quick
Reference (QR) code technology. This allowed people viewing the exhibit
to scan a code with a mobile device to pull up information about the
exhibit, enabling them to read the same information displayed in the
physical exhibit as well as providing the opportunity to do further
research on Senate.gov.
http://www.senate.gov/QR/dirksen_menu.htm
Biographies and Oral Histories
Five oral histories, 12 Senate Stories, and 25 featured biographies
authored by the Senate Historical Office were added to Senate.gov this
year. The feature biographies page was revamped to include alphabetical
sorting, thumbnail images, and a new layout to allow for quick scanning
and searching of the more than 100 featured biographies now online.
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/
featured_biographies.htm
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/g_three_sections_with_teasers/
oralhistory.htm
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/b_three_sections_with_teasers/
essays.htm
Homepage Feature Articles
--Picturing the Senate
--Amending the Constitution: 100 Years of Direct Election
--Idea of the Senate
--Watergate Hearings
--Classic Senate Speeches
--Celebrating Women's History Month
--Celebrating Black History Month
--When a New Congress Begins
Secretary's Intranet--Webster.senate.gov/secretary
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The Secretary of the Senate's intranet (http://webster.senate.gov/
secretary) continued to expand in information and services offered
while also implementing a new architecture that ensures the continuity
of operations (COOP).
The new architecture comprises load balanced servers in multiple
computer facilities. Data is replicated in both centers in real time to
ensure accuracy of content to all viewers and implemented seamlessly to
content contributors. The newly built virtual servers use the most
recently available supported versions of software offered and fully
comply with all COOP recommendations. This was a lengthy and complex
project but ensures the integrity of the site, the availability of the
information, and requires no additional work from users.
A common footer was implemented for all Secretary of the Senate web
pages. The addition was implemented to leverage advances in data
collection technology for Web statistics. The footer has been very
successful in its original goal and will provide for great flexibility
when other opportunities arise to leverage advances in technology. The
project was greatly expedited through using computer coded custom jobs
in the CMS.
The catalog-based ordering system developed for the Stationery Room
continues to be a huge success. During fiscal year 2013, 436 orders
were placed and filled using the online order form, a 20 percent
increase from last year.
Web Technology developed and implemented a new video solution for
live streaming and archived videos to replace a discontinued service
that was previously utilized. The new video player allows for on-demand
viewing of recorded videos. Specially created conference bridges allow
for the consumption of live streaming videos that combine multimedia
presentations with live lecturers. By utilizing the existing Watson
Conferencing infrastructure, Web Technology was able to come up with a
no-cost, supported solution with the Senate Recording Studio. As a
result of this joint effort, offices of the Secretary can continue to
offer training to State staff without the need to purchase any
additional equipment or incur travel costs.
Utilizing advances from the Joint Office of Education and
Training's new Learning Management System, Web Technology was able to
automate the schedule of classes offered by the Senate Library.
Extremely complex code was written to create an online registration
form, streamlining the process for maintaining course schedules in
multiple systems. The new technology offers more efficient operations
and improved customer service to the Senate community.
A new development environment replaced the legacy system. The new
server uses the same versions as those on production, allowing for
robust quality control of materials posted to production.
Webster Central Website--Webster.senate.gov
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
In conjunction with the SAA, Chaplain, and Senate Committee on
Rules and Administration, Web Technology continued administering,
managing, and enhancing the central section of Webster.
Two new load balanced virtual servers replaced the existing single
``onebox'' server used for searching Webster and integrating the
service directory and keymatches. The dual server architecture at
separate computer facilities ensures the availability of these
functions in emergency situations and utilizes the most recently
released and supported versions of software available. Several scripts
automating the uploading of the information from the Library's
knowledge base to each individual server were authored, ensuring
homogenous content to all users.
Senate Legislative Branch Website (Legbranch.senate.gov)
The Legbranch server is accessible by the Senate, House of
Representatives, Library of Congress, Architect of the Capitol,
Government Accountability Office, Government Printing Office,
Congressional Budget Office, and U.S. Capitol Police. The Office of Web
Technology maintains a basic website for a Capitol Hill email messaging
working group managed by the SAA. The server will continue to expand
and be used to share more information with Capitol Hill entities.
With the Library of Congress, Web Technology created and
implemented a new site hosted on http://legbranch.senate.gov. The new
site lists current and historical versions of the hot bills lists, as
well as cloture and appropriations tables maintained by the Senate
Library that link to resources internal to legislative branch entities.
The new site replaced an antiquated system built years ago to share
this valuable information assembled by the Senate Library, which relied
on access to specific Library of Congress servers and became
problematic to maintain. This new system allows Web Technology complete
control to make any and all modifications that may be required and
provides an excellent framework as a way to repurpose some of our most
valuable information for different audiences through leveraging the
CMS. The new site is linked to http://lis.gov, one of the most utilized
internal sites on Capitol Hill.
Web Technology created customized XML feeds for use on the new beta
version of the Congress.gov website. These feeds get published to a
repository on http://legbranch.senate.gov which allows them to be
repurposed by other legislative branch Government agencies. This
information was also shared with Senate member and committees offices
so they may leverage this advanced technology on their individual Web
sites.
Accomplishments of the Office of Web Technology in 2013
--Coding improvements to existing pages. In the continuing process of
ensuring accessibility and leveraging advances in best
practices, Web Technology converted many pdf documents to html
files to increase accessibility to Web visitors. Additionally,
tables were removed from many historic pages where they were no
longer necessary, replacing them with advanced CSS techniques.
--Decoupling of back end code from our content management system
(CMS). In anticipation of potentially needing to replace our
CMS, Web Technology devised a new means of collecting required
information programmatically that does not rely on proprietary
mechanisms. This is a lengthy and difficult process that will
continue in 2014, building on the advances made in 2013.
--In preparing for the possible replacement of the heavily utilized
CMS, Web Technology has done extensive research into
alternatives. This has involved meeting with Web content
management experts and exhaustive independent research. The
current CMS is on its fourth generation and has been in place
for over 12 years. It is deeply engrained with multiple other
systems. Every effort will be made to replace, if necessary,
the current system with minimal impact to others.
--Exploring Senate floor Webcast alternatives. In an effort to reduce
costs, Web Technology investigated other means of accomplishing
streaming live and archived floor proceedings. Several
alternatives to the current solution have been developed along
with cost and implementation time estimates.
--Creating a multi-tabbed multimedia template for an online Historic
Spaces exhibit presently being constructed. The new display
allows for several layers of information to exist on a single
page, providing a rich user experience. The template was
developed so it may be seamlessly integrated into existing
exhibits or used to create new ones.
--Responding to approximately 1,274 emails from the general public
regarding Senate.gov sites. Worked with various content
providers, web support groups, SAA, and member and committee
offices to make suggestions and resolve issues. This is a 12
percent increase from the previous year.
--Devising and building a website for the Secretary's Human Resources
Department. The site is intended only for Secretary of the
Senate staff and was constructed to be easily maintained by
nontechnical staff.
--Creating and developing a system to permit the Secretary's Human
Resources staff to control all aspects of job postings online,
without requiring direct assistance from any other departments.
--Helping design new weekly video usage reports on various streaming
and clipping services. New information was critical in
evaluating current systems and potential alternative solutions.
--Conducting user testing with Senate staff and interns to increase
understanding of current website interactions, desires, and
best practices.
--Helping organize Capitol Hill-wide webmaster meetings where best
practices were shared across entities. Regularly gave
presentations and facilitated conversations.
--Continually training and practicing working from remote locations
to be prepared should the need arise. All staff members are
fully capable of accomplishing their job functions from any
location with Internet access. This was accomplished largely
through configuring virtual machines that mimic workstations on
office laptops. Regardless of which staff member uses which
laptop, the experience will be ubiquitous and consistent with
being in the office.
--Rewriting code for pages on the ``States in the Senate'' online
exhibit to utilize daily automated feeds. This allows for
greater accuracy of information with less human involvement.
--Nearly completing a complex and beautiful online exhibit regarding
primary documents with the Historical Office. The exhibit
utilizes many advanced scripts allowing for robust user
interactions, such as zooming and lightboxes. The exhibit is an
engaging way to display primary historical documents alongside
transcripts.
--Working extensively with the Senate Library in the continued
development, implementation, and maintenance of taxonomies
utilizing the knowledge base system. Created and established a
schedule for programs to automatically transfer content nightly
from the taxonomy system to the CMS. Participated in the
planning, design, development, and administration for including
eDear Colleague letter data in the knowledge base and then on
Webster.
--Implementing new virtualized production and development servers for
the Secretary's intranet. Also, replaced virtualized production
servers for the Secretary's dedicated ``onebox'' server,
transfer mechanisms to keep indices current, and a newly built
search server.
--Administering the CMS constantly throughout the year and resolved
issues as they arose. Modified the existing system for
enhancement requests and changes in general Senate information
architecture for both production and development systems.
--Working extensively with SAA, Web Technology developed and
implemented an advanced technology that collects usage
statistics from a distributed environment. The following usage
statistics are a result of this effort. Please note, in
comparison to previous years before 2012, the statistics
reported are solely for the central site of Senate.gov, where
previously statistics were for the entire domain of Senate.gov.
Senate.gov Usage Statistics
In 2013 an average of 36,500 visits occurred per day to the central
site of Senate.gov. This is an increase of slightly over 4 percent from
2012.
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Visits/ Avg. Change from
Title of Website/Page Month Duration 2012
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Senate.gov Site.................. 1,109,793 5 minutes +2%
Senators Contact Page............ 410,008 52 seconds -7%
Senate Homepage.................. 359,594 51 seconds +1%
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Reviewing statistics on web page usage helps the content providers
better understand what information the public is seeking and how best
to improve the presentation of that data. Visitors are consistently
drawn to the following content items, listed in order of popularity:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Most Visited Pages in 2013
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Avg.
Top Pages Visits/ Views/Month Duration
Month (seconds)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senators Contact Info List....... 410,008 980,925 52
Committees....................... 55,547 102,323 43
Votes Home....................... 57,453 90,275 80
Legislation Home................. 42,788 62,853 34
113th 1st Session Vote Menu...... 41,544 78,456 107
Leadership (Org. Chart).......... 32,729 52,445 135
Constitution..................... 28,491 32,919 271
Active Legislation............... 21,318 35,066 127
Floor Webcast.................... 20,257 23,920 245
Class Glossary Entry............. 17,651 20,541 54
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By a huge margin, the most popular page on the main Senate Web site
is the list of Senators with links to their Web sites, comment forms,
main office addresses, and telephone numbers. Visitors also continue to
be interested in legislative matters in 2013 with roll call vote
tallies, the active legislation table, committee assignments, and
schedules being particularly popular. The Senate Floor Webcast is a new
addition to the top ten list, beating out employment opportunities from
2012.
TRAINING AND NEW RECRUITS
Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
Thank you all very much for your testimony.
Chief Dine, the subcommittee provided a modest increase in
funding in fiscal year 2014 for Capitol Police, and that was to
go mainly to restart new recruiting classes and to return to
routine training. Can you update us on whether the classes have
begun and how many officers you expect to be brought into the
force this year, and how the training is going?
Chief Dine. Yes, ma'am, thank you very much.
First of all, we're very appreciative for the funding that
you have provided us. And those are essentially two of the core
areas that are the lifeblood of this agency: people and
training.
As it relates to the people, we are very excited. We've
hired a new Human Resources Director, just a little bit before
I came on. And one of the missions that we gave her was to
reengineer the manner in which we hire people and make them
U.S. Capitol Police officers. As I mentioned in my remarks, we
consider USCP to be America's Police Department. We are the
face of the Capitol, in the sense that we're the first people
that people see when they come here from around the country and
around the world, and the last people they see when they leave.
We strive to represent the best in American policing, and have
best practices, and be as professional as we can be. When
people leave here, they feel like they've just encountered
America's finest, America's Police Department.
Our hiring is very, very important. And what's important
for this agency is to have people understand the type of
position that they're undertaking. As you know, we're a unique
agency. We're sort of an amalgamation of a number of different
kinds of departments--State, local, and Federal--because we do
so many different things. But, we want to meet their
expectations when they choose this agency, and likewise, we
want to choose the best and the brightest. We've instituted an
assessment center process. We opened up hiring; again, thanks
to the funding you provided. And, in just about 4 weeks, we
received over 6,900 applications.
Senator Shaheen. Wow.
Chief Dine. We were very excited about that. And that's
from across the United States. Several weekends in the last few
months, we've brought the top candidates in from that group,
and had a 2-day Assessment Center process. They were tested
academically and physically, but there was also a process to
explain to them what the United States Capitol Police is all
about. We explained how we do business, what the agency does,
to make sure that we are meeting their expectations and that
they have a long career here, and they don't come here and then
go somewhere else. Likewise, it allows us to meet these folks
and get to know them so we can make sure we choose the best
people.
I was there, personally, with Assistant Chief Malloy, our
CAO, Richard Braddock, as well as a number of command staff who
went through agency overviews. We're slated to hire about 100
people this year, in three separate classes. We actually have a
class in process right now. That class was just to backfill.
But the hiring to meet the 1775, for which you've provided, it
will take place over the next three classes, and we're on board
to do that.
Senator Shaheen. So, excuse me for interrupting, but you
said that we got 6,900 applications for about 100 positions. Is
that correct?
Chief Dine. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Shaheen. Wow.
Chief Dine. It made us very proud. And, as we were going
around from table to table, meeting with these folks, they came
from across the United States to be part of this agency.
Senator Shaheen. When do you expect that first group that's
going through training now to begin?
Chief Dine. The first group, they just started a month or
so ago.
Senator Shaheen. Oh, okay.
Chief Dine. 2015 is when this bulk of people will be
available to us, so that is part of the challenge; they won't
be available to us until 2015, especially this group. The three
classes that I referenced are May, July, and September, the
three main classes for the 100.
Senator Shaheen. Great.
STATUS OF NEW RADIO SYSTEM
I had the opportunity, a couple of months ago, to go
through and look at the process of implementing the new state-
of-the-art digital radio system. It wasn't quite finished at
the time I had a chance to visit. But, can you update us on
both the status of the new radio system and what capabilities
it has that the old system did not?
Chief Dine. Yes, ma'am. And I was remiss, I got so excited
talking about the new recruits, I didn't answer the part about
training, which is very, very important.
Two of the core areas that we are engaging in training,
and, frankly, had to defer training over the last couple of
years because of funding issues, but these are critical to the
nature of what we do in the service and security we provide for
you: our active shooter training and security training--
security screening training. So, with the funding that you are
providing to us, we'll be able to put our last group of 500
through active shooter training, and then--in this fiscal
year--and we'll be able to put 600 officers through our
security screening refresher training. Obviously, they've all
had these trainings, but it's very, very important. These are
perishable skills. Training has to be kept up, and this is
critical to our efficiency and effectiveness. That's what we'll
be working on, in terms of training and the funding you
provided to us.
And yes, we are extremely proud. Richard Braddock, who's
not here today; he's ill--he and his team--Norm Farley is here,
our CIO--the whole team, thanks to all of your support--the
Sergeant at Arms, the Architect of the Capitol, NAVAIR--worked
very, very hard to bring the radio project online. It is a
state-of-the-art radio system designed especially for us.
There's no other system like it in the world, because of the
challenges we face, in terms of indoor and outdoor challenges.
It's a 14-channel digital P-25 encrypted system, and it's fully
operational now. And we've actually gotten nothing but kudos
from around the Department, in terms of how it's operating. In
fact, later this month, we're going to stand down the old
system. We kept that up and running for a while, just to make
sure. And the good thing is, we did this very judiciously,
because the radio system is a life-safety system, obviously,
for our officers, so we wanted to make sure it was done right
and that it worked correctly.
It significantly enhances our interoperability. We did have
interoperability before, through several different means,
including PMARS, which is the Police Mutual Aid channel, and
DC-01 and -02. But, this allows us to incorporate more indices
and enhance interoperability more with the flick of a switch,
literally.
We've done some other things, though, above and beyond
that, to enhance communications with our partner agencies, with
whom we work very hard every day. We've actually given our
radios to the Secret Service, to the Metropolitan Police
Department, to U.S. Park Police, and to the Supreme Court
Police. We have a ring-down phone in our Command Center now
that connects us to the service and several other agencies.
That's another way to do business, just in case. We have
several layers of interoperability, and now we have a state-of-
the-art system that is working very well. We appreciate your
support for that.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
Senator Hoeven.
PLANS FOR REOPENING DOORS
Senator Hoeven. Chief, any plan to change how you--which
doors you have open and how you operate them for fiscal year
2015?
Chief Dine. Yes, sir. What we've implemented is a very
aggressive approach to monitor these doors from our Command
Center. We now have staff monitoring every door. And we used to
informally track the ingress and egress, and we have
significant analysis the flow of people in and out of our
doors, how long it should take, how many minutes it should
take, and--depending on where you are in line. It's incredibly
detailed work.
We used to informally track people at various doors. We'd
find somebody wearing a yellow scarf and just see how long it
took that person to get in.
But, what we've tasked our folks to do now is actually
monitor every door and track consistently so that we can chart
out and graph the doors and the lines and how long is it--how
long it takes. Then what they do is, if they see a backlog or a
bottleneck at any door, they immediately notify our watch
commander in the Command Center who notifies supervisors in the
field. Then their role is to then call on any number of several
units that will then come and assist from our building patrols,
our emergency responders, who are often responding to alarms or
when people have distress or other calls for service in our
buildings. Our separate bike unit can be called, or our motor
unit. We have an array of units that will then be called to
help prescreen people, direct people to other open doors that
may be open nearby that some people aren't even aware of, which
does happen, frankly, or they'll open up another magnetometer,
if it's one of the doors that actually has a magnetometer or an
additional magnetometer or two there that's not being used. And
then, if necessary, we're always assessing if we need to open
additional doors.
Right now, the data shows that the flow is going very well,
we're going to keep that aggressive. We do a weekly analysis
now, and chart it out with the actual average times that it's
taking people to get in and out. And we obviously work very
closely with the Sergeant at Arms Office, and we couldn't be
more appreciative of their support.
IMPACT OF THE DOME RESTORATION PROJECT ON OVERTIME
Senator Hoeven. How about, Chief, with the Dome restoration
project? What's--what does that mean for your officers, for
overtime and so forth?
Chief Dine. Overtime is built into our budget planning and
we are working with the AOC on that. We already have an
operational plan, in terms of where we'll deploy officers and
where we'll do screening for vehicles. We've presented that to
the Capitol Police Board, so we have a plan in place. It won't
be dissimilar to what happened in the past, and we know that
it's a really critical project, but in terms of safety and
security of the campus, it's very, very important, because no
vehicles can come up here without being screened, nor can
people. We have a plan in place for that, and we are prepared,
both operationally and fiscally.
LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE NAVY YARD INCIDENT
Senator Hoeven. How about--talk for a minute about lessons
learned from the Navy Yard incident, and also both the
interoperability of your radio systems, but then also your
coordination, you know, with the other Federal, State, and
local law enforcement, as well as the incident we had with the
individual in the automobile.
Chief Dine. Yes, sir. We always do an analysis and after-
action anytime we have a major event. Obviously, those two
incidents highlighted the importance of interoperability, of us
communicating as best we can, and always looking to see lessons
learned. We've concentrated on a couple of areas, where we've
gone back and looked at policies, we've looked at
communication, and we've looked at our perimeter security, in a
comprehensive way. We'll be changing some of our policies and
directives as it relates to that, to enhance that.
In terms of interoperability, one of the things that was,
highlighted with both incidents, is that, when things happen
very quickly, you can have the best system in the world, but
there are still challenges when things take 2 or 3 or 4
minutes, because there is some misnomer in interoperability,
that people think you're going to have a thousand police
officers from 20 different agencies talking on the same
channel, and that's not necessarily correct. But, what we can
do now more quickly is communicate. We're excited about that
possibility. Because we've shared radios with other agencies
we've enhanced our interoperability all the way around.
One of the things we can do now, every tour of duty, is--we
call our sister agencies, just to make contact for that tour of
duty, to make sure we know who their watch commander is in
their Command Center, and they know who's working on our end,
and see if there are any issues ongoing or brewing that we need
to know about. Just that exercise, alone, along with some of
the other issues I mentioned, greatly enhance our communication
efforts.
IMPACT OF REDUCTIONS TO THE FISCAL YEAR 2015 BUDGET
Senator Hoeven. If you have to make further reductions to
your budget, where would you go for those things? Is there some
flexibility that could help you? And are there things that
you're doing that could be eliminated?
Chief Dine. There is not much flexibility, the way the
budget is built right now, because we literally have no new
initiatives built in. The initial reductions would have to, be
in the area of training, which is really the last area that any
agency wants to reduce or cut back in. After that, it would be
personnel, and we'd have to reduce back, then, the number of
staff, both sworn and civilian, which does impact how we do
business.
Senator Hoeven. Is there anything that you're doing that
you think could be eliminated, or should be eliminated, maybe
even if it were statutory? I mean, are there things that you
think that, you know, would save you dollars if you didn't have
to do them, and that it would work to not be doing them?
Chief Dine. Operationally, no. Obviously, the shutting of
the doors for sequester saved a significant amount of money,
$16 million. We went from mid-$30 million in overtime to the
low-$20 million in overtime, which is a significant amount of
money. In that regard, that helped. But, operationally, we are
a public safety agency and face challenges in terms of the risk
we face and the potential target that we are up here.
Senator Hoeven. Okay. Thanks, Chief.
Chief Dine. Yes, sir.
Senator Shaheen. Senator Coons.
Senator Coons. Thank you, Chair Shaheen. And thank you,
Ranking Member Hoeven.
IMPACT OF THE SEQUESTER ON ACTIVITIES
Thank you for your service and for the opportunity to be
with you today and to go over some of the elements of your
budget request, budget submissions.
Let me first--and this may have been covered, so I
apologize--I'd just be interested if each of you, in turn,
would talk about, in a little more detail, how sequester
affected your ability to carry out your responsibilities and
how the passage of the fiscal year 2014 omnibus has changed
that, and whether, your view, sequester, which still remains
the long-term law and sort of gives us a long-term budget
picture that is one of steadily declining spending several
years from now, should we not work out an alternative, for
which I hope we will all be working diligently--how would a
return of sequester affect you, and what are the vital things
that you need to invest in--training, technology, equipment,
workforce, modernization--that you are not, because of a
concern about the long term? Does that make sense?
If I could, with you first, Nancy.
Ms. Erickson. A big concern for our organization, looking
at the possibility of a sequester 2 years from now, is
staffing. We are a small organization, we don't have a deep
bench. Cross-training is important. So, I would have a big
concern on our ability to staff our offices.
And another area of concern that I have is related to the
cost-of-living increase. We're grateful to your committee for
funding the 1-percent cost-of-living increase. It had a big
impact on morale, after 3 years of going without a cost-of-
living. So, thank you, on behalf of my staff, for that.
And another concern is being required to furlough the
majority of our staff this last year. That was one of the most
difficult things--and I think I speak for all of us at this
table--to have to give your staff furlough notice, and the
message that that sends, that their services aren't critical.
And I tend to believe that every job in our organization, like
the Sergeant at Arms or Capitol Police, is critical for the
support of this institution. So, I hope that we can avoid that
situation, going forward in the future.
Senator Coons. Thank you, Nancy.
Mr. Gainer. Thank you, Senator.
A couple of issues. If you put aside the pain of putting
people on furlough, and the concern of when will their
compensation be restored, I think the sequester put us exactly
where we needed to be. It was difficult, and I think it made
everyone focus on how we would run our organizations if we were
operating in the private sector.
When we realized the impact of sequestration we could have
approached it in several ways. One approach was reducing
salaries, and the other was reducing expenses. And so, again,
the Congress was very good to allow us to use this voluntary
separation program, which facilitated people who wanted to take
early retirement or retire, in general, or do something
different. So, I really think it was an upside for them, and it
made us refocus on how we need to conduct our business.
And, as I mentioned, we reduced our strength by about 68
people in this past year. There is a whole list of ways where
we saved money, for example, a million dollars was saved by
improving the way we handle our printing and Post Office
operations. And I am not certain that, if it was not for the
``trial by fire,'' we would have been in the right positions to
say, ``How are we going to operate the way we need to
operate?''
And so, I believe that we are about at the right size and
at the right cost. Future sequesters would affect all of those
things. There are any number of things that go--to the
question--what would we do if we had to take bigger cuts? We
would have to significantly change expectations of the members,
the staff, and your constituents. The same way the Chief
mentioned, we could close doors to save money. We could replace
computers less frequently, and we would save money. We could
ask you to shrink the number of Senate State offices and it
would save money. All of those things make your work easier,
and make it so that you can respond to the public, in general.
There are challenges. We have already deferred capital
investment in our IT shop; however, it is now time to reinvest
and upgrade equipment so that you can keep up with cloud-type
networks, other new services and high-speed Internet. All that
requires an ongoing investment.
The--I mentioned the State office leases. I do not want to
beat a dead horse but lease costs have grown 3 percent every
year, and it's completely beyond our control to change that.
Security. In general, physical security needs to improve.
Notwithstanding what we have done, there are some
vulnerabilities around here, and we ought to look at those. And
we have discussed things like the constant threat of improvised
explosive devices. Those are still vulnerabilities. The free
access on Constitution and Independence Avenues and Second
Street, are all ongoing threats that we have analyzed and are
concerned about.
Our postal employees and your staff do a tremendous job
making the mail safe. They process a significant amount of
mail. As a rule, your staffs do not accept mail that has not
been cleared but sometimes it happens and that is a continuing
concern.
I think that covers the five challenges. The physical
security, the State office leases, the replacement of IT
equipment, the mail handling and capital investments.
Senator Coons. Thank you, Terry.
Chief. Can the Chief answer?
Senator Shaheen. Yes, go ahead.
Chief Dine. Yes, sir, thank you very much.
Senator, I think the two areas I mentioned for us, because
we're essentially in the service and security business, are the
two areas that are the lifeblood for us and any police agency,
are personnel and training. Thanks to the budget that you
provided to us, we've been able to increase training in two
very, very core areas: active shooter training--and I had
mentioned that we're going to put our last 500 officers through
active shooter training this fiscal year--and then 600 officers
are going to undergo refresher training in screening, which is
obviously a big part of what we do, as well. We've had to defer
training over the last several years, due to cuts. And training
is a critical part of a police agency like ours in an area you
don't want to cut. And then, personnel. We're now able to
increase position levels to 1775, with the budget that you've
provided, and better fulfill our mission. Those are our two key
areas.
And then, likewise, in reverse, should cuts come, training
would suffer, as would our number--the personnel number, which
is why I mentioned the savings that we did secure as a result
of just a few door closures. And again, we appreciate your
cooperation. I remember, when we met on this last year, and it
was a wonderful meeting, because the response was, ``Is this
all that's being closed? You know, it seems reasonable.'' And
we appreciated that. But those closings resulted in a huge
savings, so we appreciate your support.
Senator Coons. Thank you.
If I might just offer one editorial comment. I have worked
in a lot of different settings in a lot of places. The folks
who serve here, in the Capitol Police and Sergeant at Arms, the
Secretary to the Senate, are exceptional. The support that we
get, as legislators, the support to make it possible for us to
have a very open legislative process and body and campus, yet
still be secure, and the support we get for the work we do,
both in State and here, and the support for our functions and
for--is exceptional. I really appreciate your service and I am
grateful for what you've done and what you're going to do.
Terry, I'm particularly grateful for your crew here, as well.
So, thank you very much. And thank you. I look forward to
continuing conversations about how we responsibly plan for
future workforce needs.
Thank you.
POLICY ON CHAMBER CLOSINGS DURING EMERGENCIES
Senator Shaheen. Thank you, Senator Coons. Another area of
bipartisan agreement.
Chief Dine and Mr. Gainer, Senator Hoeven raised the
concerns about what happened with the Navy Yard tragedy and the
car chase situation, and talked a little bit about lessons and
the importance of interoperability. But, one of the things that
I learned from those incidents, that I was surprised about, is
that we don't have a uniform policy on how we determine which
chamber closes to activity and which one doesn't, that is
determined by the chamber itself. And I wonder Mr. Gainer if
you could talk a little bit about what the process is for
deciding when areas go on lockdown, when the Capitol is locked
down, and who makes those decisions, and whether there's a
process in place that needs to be examined, given our recent
experience.
Mr. Gainer. Thank you, Senator--Chairwoman.
I believe there is a process in place. First, I would defer
to the Chief, as people did to me when I was Chief. In an
emergency, the Chief and his officers make the call about what
to close, when to shelter in place or when and where to
evacuate.
If we have the leisure of time, then there is an
established process in the Senate we follow. We have the Senate
Continuity Board that would meet, review the situation and make
recommendations to the Majority Leader.
If the situation falls someplace in between that, the
response might be based on conversations that the Chief and I
would have, regarding the ongoing situation. In the event that
happened most recently, regarding the intrusion by Ms. Carey's
car, I spoke with the Majority Leader and several members of
his staff about what we needed to do before making that
recommendation.
Before meeting with the Leader, I had ongoing conversations
throughout the day with my counterpart in the House. In the 7
years I have been in this position, and the 4-plus I served as
the Capitol Police Chief, there was never a dispute. In this
case, the House Sergeant at Arms and I had a professional
disagreement about what we thought we needed to do. The value
of having independent Sergeants at Arms is that I can make
determinations, based on my understanding of the needs of the
Senate.
I do not think there is a problem. It was unique that there
was not agreement. And I believe, that in the course of ongoing
events, there can be different perspectives on how to handle
each incident.
Senator Shaheen. I certainly appreciate that, but let me
see if I understand what you said. If there were overriding
safety concerns and, Chief Dine, you thought it was important
to close certain areas of the Capitol campus or certain
buildings, and you made that determination, then everybody
would comply, even though there was a difference of opinion
between Sergeant at Arms in the chamber? Is that what I
understood you to say?
Mr. Gainer. From my perspective, absolutely. First, we have
someone stationed in the Chief's Command Center at all times.
It would be highly unusual for something to happen so quickly
that there was neither input from someone from my office nor
situational awareness. But, it can happen. And there is
complete trust in the Chief's leadership to make the
determination to close the building, lock down, or some other
response.
Senator Shaheen. And that's your understanding, as well,
Chief.
Chief Dine. Yes, ma'am. And on that day--and I think we're
actually referencing the Navy Yard incident, I believe.
Senator Shaheen. I think that was my understanding, that
the House closed, that day, and the Senate did not. Maybe I
misunderstood that.
Mr. Gainer. Vice versa.
Senator Shaheen. Okay.
Chief Dine. There was constant communication between us on
the Board, and several conversations, and, in that instance, I
think, as Sergeant at Arms Gainer just alluded to, there was
over 100 years of police experience on the phone together, you
know, trying to make heads or tails out of that. And I guess,
at some point, not everybody saw things exactly the same way.
In a perfect situation, I think we would have a cohesive or
unified result. In the future, I believe that would happen.
But, reasonable people with all that amount of experience can
view things differently.
Mr. Gainer. May I add to that? In this case, it was a close
call to open or close the Senate campus. On a spectrum, the
decisions at each end are the easy ones to make. This one fell
more towards the middle.
Senator Shaheen. Sure.
Mr. Gainer. In retrospect, had we not shut down, there
would not have been any damage. In my recommendation and
conversation with the Chief I erred, on the conservative side,
because I did not think it was a tremendous strain on what was
going on on the floor or with the safety of the members. In
most crises, I think we will all be seeing the problem in the
same way.
Senator Shaheen. I appreciate that. I guess what I'm trying
to figure out here is, if Chief Dine, or whoever the Capitol
Police Chief is at the time, determines that there are
overriding safety concerns, does he have the authority to
override your decision, or is there a process in place whereby
everybody has to agree in order for a decision to be made?
Mr. Gainer. My perspective is that he can absolutely
override. He has control of the alarm systems and the
notifications. If the Chief's staff in the Command Center make
the determination to lock down, shelter in place or evacuate,
we will go with that decision.
Senator Shaheen. Okay. Thank you.
SECURITY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Mr. Gainer, you talked about the IT portfolio that you have
with the Sergeant of Arms Office, and the importance of that.
And I certainly agree. Given the continuing cyber threats that
we're hearing about in this country, first of all, I would ask
you, even though I appreciate that this may be classified
information and you can't give us any details, can you say
whether or not the Senate members, Senate information
technology has been threatened by cyber attacks? And what steps
are you taking to address security to ensure that it's not a
concern that we all need to worry about?
Mr. Gainer. Our IT operation, run by Vicki Sinnett, has a
very proactive cybersecurity operation that is linked very
closely with intelligence agencies and others involved in
preventing cyber mishaps. Potentially the biggest vulnerability
we could have to our IT security is when someone responds to a
phishing expedition, and clicks on a link they are not supposed
to. The Senate community is very good at not making that
mistake, but there are always tricksters out there. So, we have
reviewed each member's Senate Web site to identify potentially
dangerous links.
Senator Shaheen. Sure.
Mr. Gainer. We have provided warnings that indicate the
consequences of going to these links and we continue to test. I
think that is the bigger threat. But, we do know that there are
those who continually try to challenge our systems.
Now, these may be startling numbers, and everybody needs to
keep them in perspective. Every single day we have nearly 400
million attempts or touches to our Internet network.
Senator Shaheen. So, let me just clarify. When you say
``400 million,'' that's not 400 million trying to access
individual Web sites or get information from the system. That's
400 million who may have an interest in getting through the
security on the system?
Mr. Gainer. No, it's actually a combination. More of the
latter than the former.
Senator Shaheen. Okay.
Mr. Gainer. So, if I follow the trail, 15 percent of those
would be categorized as high or very-high risk and would
require more work. The good news is that technology permits us
to monitor that with our own staff. That generates less than 10
security incidents that we would need to report to others per
month. It shows you the scope of the potential and the
sophistication of the systems used to keep those intruders out.
Back to the phishing, we did have approximately 6,000
incidents where people accessed sites they should not have or
went to sites that led to unsafe sites, and we have resolved
those instances.
Overall, I would say this, we have great people that are
connected to what's going on across the globe, through
phenomenal technology, and I think we are in very good IT
shape, as long as we continue to invest in replacing our
equipment.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
Senator Hoeven.
Senator Hoeven. Mr. Gainer, I want to follow up on that
point. So, when it comes to cyber security, you feel you have
adequate resources to make sure that we are providing adequate
security or proper security in that area, and you feel we're
doing the things we need to do.
Mr. Gainer. Yes, sir.
Senator Hoeven. Okay. You mentioned that, if you had to
find additional savings, that you'd have to reduce services.
What services would you reduce? I mean, where would we see that
impact?
Mr. Gainer. Turnaround times would be impacted. For
example, we supply all the IT equipment, your hand-held
devices, both here and in the State offices. We currently
refresh office equipment every 3 years. But if we reduce
services we may only refresh every 5 years or we may not always
get the newer model for devices such as Blackberrys. We do not
just buy equipment and pass it on. We do all of the testing to
make sure the systems we use can operate properly.
We process large volumes of constituent mail and your
expectations are that it's turned around in a certain period of
time. If your computer breaks down in your office, there's an
expectation that we will be there quickly.
Those are the types of service delays that could cause
problems. We have 454 State offices; 25 percent are in Federal
buildings, the rest are in commercial space. Members do move
between rental space for a variety of reasons. Those moves
require us to renegotiate leases, buy new equipment and move
the existing equipment. Many of the offices want faster
internet service. Those are all costs that need to be
considered.
Regarding the opening and closing of doors. I don't see
this as just a convenience; it is part of the service to you
and your constituents, but there is money to be saved in how we
handle that duty.
Senator Hoeven. So, how many of the--or, do members
typically still get hand-held devices through you, rather than
just getting their own, so they don't have to carry two? I
mean, I--for example, you know, I carry one, pay for it myself,
because the whole issue of doing, you know, your private call,
which you can't do on a Federal phone, and so forth. Isn't it
easier for most of them just to buy their own? And wouldn't
that be an expense savings for you?
Mr. Gainer. I think there are great arguments on both sides
of the issue about purchasing your own device. When we discuss
whether bringing your own devices makes more sense our IT
security team is concerned. The upside is it is less expensive
and the downside is there is a lot less control on phone
security. However, technology across the globe is moving to
different areas that may help. It is an area that we continue
to explore.
The amount of funds that we use to buy your products for
here and at your State office is based on the population of
your State. Based on your needs and your constituents'
expectations and safety, it works very well.
Senator Hoeven. Is there anything--any flexibility that
would help you? Is there anything you're doing that you really
think that we could do without, reasonably, even if it required
legislation?
Mr. Gainer. I'd want to give that some more thought. There
is nothing that is so crystal clear to me at this time.
Senator Hoeven. Jumps out at you.
But, if there is something, I'd like you to let us know,
even if it involves something----
Mr. Gainer. I will make sure that Drew Willison is aware.
MEMBERS' STATE OFFICE LEASES
Senator Hoeven. I don't know, he doesn't have a mustache.
Overall, your budget's increasing 1.8 percent--or your
budget request is 1.8 percent higher. So, you're--you know,
you're--and you have been a leader, in terms of finding ways to
save money, and I think, you know, you do very well at it. I
see the State--but, one of the things that's increased quite a
bit is the State--the members' State offices. And could you
just tell me why that's the case?
Mr. Gainer. Sure. The overall increase in expenses this
year is $600,000 due to an increase of $2.4 million the State
office leases partially offset by reductions elsewhere.
Senator Hoeven. Yeah, I mean the State offices. That's what
I'm talking about.
Mr. Gainer. The lease costs continue to grow. One way you
could reduce costs would be to move into Federal buildings
located in your States. It would make it much easier.
Senator Hoeven. There's tradeoffs there, took, because as
far as people getting access to you, then it's much tougher.
They, you know----
Mr. Gainer. Senator, I wholeheartedly agree. And that is
the dilemma based on the resources provided.
Senator Hoeven. Right.
Mr. Gainer. Good understanding of the Senate and what you
expect and what your constituents expect.
OFFICE OF PRINTING AND DOCUMENTS
Senator Hoeven. Okay. Well, and that's why I asked that
question.
Ms. Erickson, I guess I'd start with the same questions for
you. For example, some of the printing and some of those kind
of things. And I think the Chairman of this subcommittee even
has legislation in that area, as far as some of the--you know,
the paper materials we put out in this day of--this age of
electronics. You know, are there some things you think that
could or should be changed that would provide cost savings in
your area?
Ms. Erickson. The director of our Office of Printing and
Documents says that we've dramatically reduced the number of
documents that we're distributing to offices through the
Government Printing Office. And we're--and I think we're saving
committees money in printing by the fact that we have a
DocuTech Center in our Printing and Documents Office. It's a
huge printing machine that we have leased. And we're able to do
printing jobs for committees in a much cheaper manner than if
they were to go directly through the Government Printing
Office. Our printing in this area, for committees and to
restock document room inventory, has gone up 47 percent in the
last year. And even though the volume has increased, we're able
to do it much cheaper than if the Government Printing Office
were doing these jobs.
Senator Hoeven. So, is there any flexibility or is there
anything that you feel would be helpful in your operation to do
things better or to not do something that you're now required
to do that maybe we could do without?
Ms. Erickson. Well, I have to say, beginning in 2010, our
organization saw the writing on the wall and started making the
tough decisions. And those tough decisions have allowed us to
keep our budget pretty lean. As I mentioned, my operating
budget, my request this year is lower than the appropriation we
received when I became Secretary in 2007, and our salary budget
is 1.5 million less than it was in 2010. So, I'm pretty proud
of our organization, that we've been able to maintain the
services to the Senate with lean budgets.
But, our Keeper of the Stationery identified an 1815 law
that requires our stationery room to advertise in two or three
newspapers for a 4-week period for necessary stationery
supplies. So, that's writing tablets, envelopes, folders. And
what we would like, ideally, would be for the Congress to
change that statute that would allow us to advertise on
``FedBizOpps.gov'' or use the GSA competitive schedule in order
to procure these products. And, as a result, it would lower
costs for your Senate offices, who are our customers.
Senator Hoeven. Would you bring that forward? I'm pretty
sure we could, maybe, impose upon the----
Ms. Erickson. I would be happy to.
Senator Hoeven [continuing]. Chairwoman and myself to
sponsor that----
Senator Shaheen. I think we----
Senator Hoeven [continuing]. Legislation----
Senator Shaheen [continuing]. Could get some bipartisan
legislation for that.
Senator Hoeven [continuing]. Bipartisan way. And I'm sure--
so, bring it forward----
Ms. Erickson. Will do.
Senator Shaheen [continuing]. We'll see if we can't get
that changed.
I want to offer that to all three of you. If you have
something that you think would be helpful--and again, you can
take time to think it through--but, things that you think could
be helpful that would enable you to do your job better, save
money, or maybe there's something you're doing that you just
don't need to do anymore. Please bring it forward so that we
can submit it, legislatively.
And now, Ms. Erickson, the last question I have--and you'll
have to remember, this is going to be part of the permanent
record, so I want you to think carefully before you respond.
Will you miss Terry Gainer?
Mr. Gainer. She's going to claim the Fifth, I bet, on that.
Ms. Erickson. No. I won't claim the Fifth. Yes, and we've
had a good, collaborative relationship between our
organizations. And I'd like to think that I've saved Terry
Gainer money, on the IT front, by the antiquated BlackBerry
that I use. But, Terry and I work closely on continuity issues.
We're co-members of the Senate Continuity Board, and we work
behind the scenes to make sure that the Senate could meet,
anywhere, at any time in the event of emergency.
Senator Hoeven. Great teamwork. And it shows.
Chief Dine, I'd ask you the same question.
Chief Dine. Absolutely. Some would say that it's a very
difficult situation to be in a position where your boss had
been the Chief of Police before you. And that has never been an
issue. Terry Gainer always tells me what he thinks, gives me
the best advice; doesn't tell me what I'd like to hear, tells
me what I need to hear, but then always says, ``I hope I'm not
overstepping my bounds.'' And, of course, he never does. You
won't find a more committed public servant. He bleeds blue, and
been a great supporter. So, we will miss him.
Senator Hoeven. Absolutely. Again, Terry, for 47 great
years. Truly appreciate it.
Mr. Gainer. Thank you.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
I have a followup on two issues that Senator Hoeven raised.
First, Mr. Gainer, with you. In terms of the State offices
and the increased cost, I'm still trying to figure out, if we
have the same number of Senators and presumably, the same
number of offices from year to year, how does that cost
continue to go up so much? Is it because the rents in
individual States are going up, or is there something else
going on there?
Mr. Gainer. That is it, in a nutshell. It is the rising
rental costs, just the--the rents rise around the United
States.
Senator Shaheen. Okay.
FEC ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM
Ms. Erickson, you talked about the electronic filing system
within the Secretary of the Senate's office. One of the things
that I understand is that, even though we are trying to
encourage electronic filing for Senators for their finance
reports, that that's not required. Is that correct?
Ms. Erickson. Well, they can still provide paper reports.
Senator Shaheen. That's right. So, we haven't said, as
Senators, that this is something that we think everybody should
do. It is something that the House does, however. Is that
correct?
Ms. Erickson. That is my understanding.
Senator Shaheen. I understand that the Federal Election
Commission reports that manual processing of Senate campaign
filings costs the FEC $430,000 a year?
Ms. Erickson. That is my understanding.
Senator Shaheen. So, can you talk about how much additional
costs there are to your office because there are still paper
filings, as opposed to electronic filings?
Ms. Erickson. Sure. And I want to clarify my earlier
answer. I was talking about financial disclosure filings, which
we will be accepting electronic filings, but the statute still
allows for members and staff to file paper files.
With respect to FEC reports, Senators and Senate candidates
are required to file paper FEC reports with our Office of
Public Records. And last year, we processed roughly 490,000
pages of campaign reports. Many of these reports are copied
front and back, with the intent to save paper. Unfortunately,
when it arrives in our office, we end up copying all these
paper reports, scanning them, and indexing them, so they're
available in our public portals within 48 hours, and then we
transmit the reports to the FEC. The statute requires us to
transmit these reports within 48 hours, but I'm proud to say
that our Public Records staff transmits the reports typically
within 24 hours. It's a very----
Senator Shaheen. Do you have an estimate of how much the
cost increases because you're forced to do that manually rather
than electronically?
Ms. Erickson. With staff costs, as well as the staff costs
of Terry's IT staff that are involved in programming the
system, and equipment costs, I would say the overall costs are
roughly $160,000.
Senator Shaheen. So, there could be some savings----
Ms. Erickson. Yes.
Senator Shaheen [continuing]. If we would require that
everybody has to file electronically?
Ms. Erickson. Yes.
Senator Shaheen. It would require a legislative change. Is
that correct?
Ms. Erickson. It would require a legislative change.
Senator Shaheen. And has there been an effort to do that in
the past?
Ms. Erickson. It's my recollection, Senator Tester has
introduced legislation to require electronic filing of FEC
reports.
Senator Shaheen. Yes. I knew the answer to that. I'm a
cosponsor.
But, my understanding, also, is that this is an area that
there has been objections to in the past. Do you know why there
have been objections to filing electronically?
Ms. Erickson. No, we're implementers, so we will implement
the law as long as it's in place. And I really am not familiar
with the reasons why people prefer to file by paper rather than
electronically.
Senator Shaheen. Mr. Gainer?
Mr. Gainer. It is part of the security issue that we are
all involved. I think some of the criticism was the ease with
which electronic information would be made more available. The
paper copies can be acquired, but there are additional steps.
When you talk about protection of privacy information,
banking information, and transparency, you must realize that
the more information you make available, the greater the
opportunity for people to do nefarious things with the data.
Those are the issues people try to rectify. How do we make
things available to the public and yet continue to protect the
information that all of us would like to be protected?
Senator Shaheen. I appreciate that concern. On the other
hand, if we feel there's personal information that should not
be made public, then it seems to me we shouldn't ask for that
information on the forms. I mean, if--our goal here, I think,
is to make as much information transparent to the public as
possible, and that would speak for doing it electronically so
it becomes available to people. And if there are concerns about
what's being made available, then I would think maybe we ought
to go back and look at what kind of information we're asking
for, if we're concerned that it'll be misused by the public.
Mr. Gainer. I think that is fair. I am not arguing one side
or the other, but having been in some of the discussions, here
and with other security experts, that is a concern. And, on
first glance, it may make perfect sense. For example, let us
talk about banking information or loans or credit. Some of that
information, by itself, is not harmful; however, when paired
with Facebook and Twitter, among others, it is easily exploited
in an unintended manner. If it is a public filing, there is a
way to get the paper, but people have to go to a greater
effort. I understand the efficiency of it, but there are risks.
Senator Shaheen. On the other hand, for anybody who's ever
been in a campaign--I'm sure Senator Hoeven can speak to this--
you have to assume a reporter's going to get the fling within
24 hours of having filed it, and whatever you file is going to
be on the front page of your daily newspaper. So, it seems to
me that we should err on the side of transparency rather on the
side of trying to keep information private. And so, I hope that
we can move forward with Senator Tester's bill and try and get
this done, because I do think, not only is there significant
savings, but there are some benefits to the transparency aspect
for the public.
SENATE INFORMATION SERVICES PROGRAM
I'm almost out of time, but I have one more question for
you, Ms. Erickson. One of the things that the Secretary of the
Senate provides is information services for the entire Senate
community, for research. Can you talk about how you determine
what's made available, in terms of research opportunities?
Ms. Erickson. The Senate Information Services Program--run
by my office--was actually transferred from the Sergeant at
Arms Office to the Secretary's Office in 2011, and it's run by
our Office of the Senate Library. And it provides research and
news services to members and staff. Examples of some of the
services we provide: Congressional Quarterly, National Journal,
LexisNexis, Westlaw, Factiva, which provides access to the Wall
Street Journal, Washington Post, committee transcripts. And we
are--I'd say we're down to core services. We have made cuts to
two vendors based on usage. We monitor usage statistics, and
that's extremely important these days when budgets are tight.
And it's also--we also receive quite a few requests from Senate
staff for news services. We need to balance the fact that we've
got limited resources. It makes it all the more important to
monitor usage.
I will say that the enterprise model that's been in place
since 2000--it was authorized by the Rules Committee--provides
good value to the Senate. During sequestration, we were
required to reduce access to one of the services provided to
Senate offices, and we learned that the vendor was soliciting
offices directly to get their business, because we had reduced
access. They were offering Senate offices one user at $5,350;
whereas, the Senate Library, through the SIS program, was
paying the equivalent of $130 per user. So, we're grateful
that, for the first time since 2011, your committee funded an
increase in the SIS program that allowed us to provide full
access to the Senate now for services. But, we--yes, we will
continue to monitor usage and make decisions based on that.
Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
Senator Hoeven.
Senator Hoeven. No, I've finished with my questions.
And again, I want to thank all of you very much for being
here today, and for all you do.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Senator Shaheen. I would certainly echo that.
Thank you very much Terry Gainer, we will certainly miss
you and very much appreciate all the service that you have
provided. And you can always come back and visit.
Mr. Gainer. Thank you.
Senator Shaheen. And you should let us know where we can
find you.
Mr. Gainer. Right.
Senator Shaheen. I had the opportunity to see Admiral
Mullen recently, and I was talking to him about how much I was
sure he missed appearing before the Armed Services Committee.
And so, I'm sure you would say the same. As he said, he didn't
miss it a bit. So I'm sure you will miss appearing before this
committee.
Senator Hoeven. We, maybe, even could give him a round of
applause. What do you think?
Senator Shaheen. Thank you all very much.
Chief Dine, I hope you're feeling better.
Chief Dine. Thank you very much.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS
Senator Shaheen. This hearing is adjourned, but the record
will stay open until Friday, close of business, for any
questions or comments for the record.
[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
were submitted to the agencies for response, subsequent to the
hearing:]
Questions Submitted to Chief Kim C. Dine
Questions Submitted by Senator John Hoeven
protective service
Question. How many officers usually travel with members who have
Protective Service?
Answer. Members of Congress may receive protective services under
the authority of 2 U.S.C. Sec. 1966, which states ``Subject to the
direction of the Capitol Police Board, the United States Capitol Police
is authorized to protect, in any area of the United States, the person
of any Member of Congress, officer of the Congress, as defined in
section 60-1(b) of this title, and any member of the immediate family
of any such member or officer, if the Capitol Police Board determines
such protection to be necessary.'' Members of Congress (MOCs) afforded
protection fall into three general categories:
--the 10 elected congressional ``leadership'' positions,
--MOCs who are significantly threatened, and
--delegations or groups of MOCs.
The USCP assigns personnel to these protection details based on a
comprehensive threat assessment that considers the factors of:
--personal prevalence in national issues;
--public attention to, and duties of, the specific position; and
--quantity and nature of attention by persons of concern,
particularly threats of targeted violence.
Threat assessments are rated in the categories of LOW, MODERATE, or
HIGH and USCP personnel are assigned to the protection details in a
manner that scales in correlation to the threat assessment.
Based on the criteria cited above, there can be as few as three
officers on a protection team, as many as 80 for a retreat by a caucus
or conference from one of the Chambers of Congress, or as many as 200
for nominating conventions during a Presidential election year,
depending on the assessment. A caucus or convention requires additional
resources beyond basic detail protection. Any additional specificity is
considered law enforcement sensitive.
Question. What coordination exists between the Secretary of the
Senate and Capitol Police in bearing the costs associated with travel?
Answer. The USCP does not coordinate with the Secretary of the
Senate to bear the costs associated with travel. As a matter of the
annual budgeting cycle, the USCP requests and receives monies within
the general expense (GE) appropriation to fund various travel
requirements. In the case of travel in support of protection details
for Members of Congress, Officers of Congress, and their immediate
families, the Protective Services Bureau (PSB) manages those funds.
navy yard and october 3 incident
Question. How do you plan to train with other Federal, State and
local law enforcement agencies to improve coordinated responses to
events?
Answer. To increase operational efficiency and effectiveness, the
USCP has built partnering arrangements with the intelligence community,
law enforcement agencies, and several Federal Government entities.
Partnerships include sharing expertise, best practices, leveraging free
training opportunities and combining training exercises.
USCP partner agencies include but are not limited to: U.S. Park
Police (USPP); Amtrak Police Department; Pentagon Force Protection
Agency (PFP); DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD); U.S. Secret
Service (USSS); Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); U.S. Marshal Service (USMS);
Transportation Security Administration (TSA); Federal Protective
Service (FPS); Metropolitan Council of Governments (COG); U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA); legislative branch agencies; and
other local law enforcement agencies.
As a part of this effort, the Department's Containment and
Emergency Response Team (CERT) has engaged its National Capital Region
partner agencies to create regular joint training opportunities. As
part of this initiative with partner agencies, USCP CERT will
facilitate meetings on a quarterly basis to discuss issues, lessons
learned, and develop/engage in professional development opportunities.
Additionally, the Department's Hazardous Device Section (HDS), as part
of the USCP's Metropolitan Council of Governments partnership, will be
conducting a joint demonstration at our training facility in
Cheltenham, Maryland with other National Capital Region bomb
technicians for the COG Fire Chiefs, Police Chiefs, and various
elected/senior local, State and Federal Government personnel on May 28,
2014.
Further, with the full implementation of the new USCP radio system,
the Department took the opportunity to review interagency operations to
take advantage of ways to further improve a timely coordinated response
during planned and unplanned events. As a result of this review, a set
of interoperability exercises are being planned and conducted in a
phased manner as follows:
--Phase 1: Single agency dispatcher and communications supervisor
exercises. A scenario-driven exercise is being conducted that
presents an event which will require the two agencies to
utilize existing communication methods to resolve the incident.
This phase has begun and is slated to end in May 2014.
--Phase 2: Following a review of the outcome of the single-agency
exercises, a multi-agency communications exercise involving a
Capitol Hill-based scenario that requires interaction with
multiple partner agencies will be developed. This phase is
currently planned for the summer of 2014.
--Phase 3: A Command-level tabletop utilizing an expansion of the
Phase 2 scenario will explore agency relationships, procedural
and jurisdictional differences and gaps, a unified command,
resource management and methods of information exchange. All of
our interoperability partners will be invited as participants
and we intend to invite other support and partner agencies as
observers.
______
Question Submitted to Hon. Terrance W. Gainer
Question Submitted by Senator John Hoeven
deferred capital investments
Question. Last year, budgets for replacing capital investment
items, such as printing equipment and data storage and network
equipment were deferred. Sergeant at Arms (SAA) mentioned these were
areas where we will need to restore funding in the future. Which
investments are requested for funding this year and which projects are
the most critical?
Answer. The fiscal year 2015 budget includes a request of
$1,082,000 for data network equipment to enable us to upgrade our State
office capabilities and deploy our new phone system to the State
offices. We view this network upgrade as most critical from both a
service perspective and from a long-term financial perspective. We have
deferred again the purchase of new printing equipment and data storage
equipment.
______
Question Submitted to Hon. Nancy Erickson
Question Submitted by Senator John Hoeven
financial management
Question. What are the lessons learned from the rollout of the
Senate payroll system and how can they be applied to a new financial
management system?
Answer. I appreciated having the opportunity to appear before the
Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch Appropriations on March 25 and
am eager to address your question about the lessons learned from the
rollout of the new Senate payroll system and how those lessons can be
applied to a new financial management system.
The current financial system has been in place since 1999. The
system change was necessitated due to the looming issues associated
with Y2K. Unfortunately, due to a very short implementation window we
were not able to develop and execute a detailed plan that provided us
the time needed to properly test the new system which resulted in a
difficult rollout.
Our approach for the replacement of the payroll system was very
different. With the luxury of time, we were able to carefully develop a
detailed plan that allowed us to configure the new system to meet the
unique and special requirements of our environment. As part of our
planning we also consulted with the House which had experienced a
problematic roll out of their payroll system several years earlier.
They volunteered to meet with us to describe their process and lessons
learned. This meeting proved very informative and helped us establish a
good framework around our project.
This longer timeframe also enabled us to run multiple parallel
tests comparing data between payroll systems in search of differences
from the same payroll periods. This testing allowed us to explore and
resolve issues that arose and ultimately provided a degree of
confidence that the system would work as designed.
The replacement of the financial system is considerably more
complex than the replacement of our payroll system. We will follow the
same basic process that we utilized with our payroll system as we
prepare to replace our financial system. Good planning along with
detailed and thorough testing are required keys before our new system
will be deemed production ready.
Again, thank you for the opportunity to respond to your questions
and concerns.
CONCLUSION OF HEARINGS
Senator Shaheen. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 4:50 p.m., Tuesday, March 25, the hearings
were concluded, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene
subject to the call of the Chair.]