MANAGEMENT DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

The Office of Government Ethics (OGE) is a separate executive branch agency established under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended (5 U.S.C. app. 401). The Director is appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate for a five year term.

The Office of Government Ethics is headquartered in Washington, DC. Currently, OGE is authorized a staff of 80 full-time equivalents. This discussion and analysis provides a brief overview of OGE operations. For detailed information on OGE, visit our website at www.usoge.gov.

MISSION STATEMENT

The Office of Government Ethics exercises leadership in the executive branch to prevent conflicts of interest on the part of Government employees and to resolve those conflicts of interest that do occur. In partnership with executive branch agencies and departments, the Office fosters high ethical standards for employees and strengthens the public’s confidence that the Government’s business is conducted with impartiality and integrity. The Office is the principal agency for administering the Ethics in Government Act for the executive branch.

The chief responsibilities of OGE are:

Developing, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Office of Personnel Management, rules and regulations to be promulgated by the President or the Director of the Office of Government Ethics pertaining to standards of ethical conduct of executive branch officials, public and confidential financial disclosure of executive branch officials, executive agency ethics training programs, and the resolution of conflicts of interest;
Monitoring compliance with the executive branch financial disclosure requirements of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended;
Providing ethics program assistance and information to executive branch agencies through a desk officer system;
Conducting periodic reviews of the ethics programs of executive agencies
Ordering corrective action on the part of agencies that the Director of the Office deems necessary, including orders to establish or modify an agency’s ethics program;
Providing guidance on and promoting understanding of ethical standards in executive agencies through an extensive program of Government ethics advice, education and training;
Evaluating the effectiveness of the Ethics in Government Act, the conflict of interest laws, and other related statutes;
Recommending appropriate new legislation or amendments; and
Supporting U.S. international anticorruption initiatives by providing technical assistance primarily to prevention programs.

GOALS OF OGE’S STRATEGIC PLAN

OGE will provide overall policy direction to the executive branch ethics program.
OGE will support the President, executive branch agency heads and employees in administering effective, fair, and consistent ethics programs within the branch and individual agencies.
OGE will develop and make available to agencies innovative training and ethics education materials and promote and provide quality education and training experiences for agency ethics officials and employees.
OGE will administer an effective outreach program.

HIGHLIGHTS OF FY 2005

Accomplishments by Office

Office of General Counsel and Legal Policy

Reviewed and certified for the Senate over 300 public financial disclosure reports filed by Presidential nominees for Senate-confirmed positions in the new Presidential term; trained and updated OGE staff on disclosure report review requirements in anticipation of the increased volume of such reports in the first year of the new term and updated the Public Financial Disclosure Reviewer’s manual.
Submitted to Congress a report evaluating the financial disclosure process for employees of the executive branch of Government and making recommendations for improving that process, as required by section 8403(a) of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.
Responded to over 2,000 inquiries, primarily from ethics officials and employees, on a wide variety of ethics or conflicts of interest related matters.
Conducted a comprehensive review of the criminal conflict of interest laws relating to executive branch employment to develop a report for submission to the President and pertinent Congressional committees, in accordance with section 8403(d) of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.
Issued a proposed regulation to amend the confidential financial disclosure system and prepared a revised draft reporting form.
Worked with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the development of important supplemental ethics rules jointly promulgated by HHS and OGE regarding limits on outside activities and financial interests for employees of the National Institutes of Health.

Provided ethics training through OPM to incoming and outgoing Presidential appointees, Schedule C’s and noncareer SES, and White House staff.
Reviewed and approved when appropriate, 77 requests resulting in 110 Certificates of Divestiture; pre-approved and monitored any permissible communications regarding blind trusts between independent trustees and interested parties; and ensured that all quarterly and annual statements, as well as Certificates of Compliance, were filed timely by the trustees.
Worked as liaison with the Department of Justice on four litigation cases in which OGE is or was a party, including one involving a Constitutional challenge to the Standards of Conduct rule on Teaching, Speaking and Writing (10^th Circuit appeal currently pending).
Developed an improved system to track consultations on waivers issued under 18 U.S.C. § 208 and comprehensive guidance to agencies on how to consult on waivers.
Testified before the Services Acquisition Reform Act Advisory Committee urging that the Committee’s review include an evaluation of ethics issues arising from the presence of contractor employees in the Federal workplace. A provision requiring a study of the issues raised by OGE was included in the Senate’s FY 2006 defense authorization bill.
Handled responsibilities under administrative law requirements, including preparing reports and responding to 53 requests under the Freedom of Informatino Act (18 of which also included requests for information under the Privacy Act), and meeting related deadlines in over 90% of cases.
Supported the Acting Director=s activities as a member of the President=s Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) and the Executive Council on Integrity and Efficiency (ECIE) and continued to improve OGE’s coordination and communication with the Inspector General (IG) community through meetings and presentations.

Office of Government Relations and Special Projects

Prepared OGE=s timely response to all 129 requests from OMB for reviews of draft bills, legislation, agency testimony, and statements of administration policy and made comments as appropriate regarding the impact of those proposals on the ethics program or the impact of the ethics laws on the proposal.
Provided technical advice to Congressional staff on legislation raising ethics issues.
Drafted OGE reauthorization legislation and a legislative proposal addressing a concern raised by agencies regarding the impact of one of the conflict of interest laws, obtained OMB clearance and pursued enactment of cleared drafts.
Served as a principal contributor to the response of the United States Government to questionnaires submitted for purposes of the United States’ second round evaluation by the Council of Europe’s Group of States Against Corruption (GRECO) and the U.S. first round evaluation under the Follow-Up Mechanism for the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (MESICIC).
Represented the US as the substantive expert at the meeting of the Committee of Experts at which the first round evaluation and report on the U.S. by the MESICIC was discussed and adopted.
Served as an expert evaluator proposed by the US for purposes of conducting on-site second round evaluations of Member States of GRECO.
Assisted the Departments of State and Justice with international anti-corruption and good governance initiatives, including participating as a US representative and panelist at the Fourth Global Forum Against Corruption and in a Heads-of-Government conference to launch an Initiative for Good Governance and Development in the Arab Countries (GfD).
Provided, in support of programs of the Departments of State and Justice, briefings to 37 delegations of foreign visitors totaling 287 individuals from 55 countries.

Office of Agency Programs

Planned, organized, and hosted the Fourteenth Annual National Government Ethics Conference for approximately 600 ethics officials from 94 executive branch departments and agencies; the 3-day conference featured over 70 speakers, representing the executive and legislative branches and private industry.
Increased the effectiveness of OGE’s oversight of more than 100 Presidential appointees who entered into agreements to take specific actions to address any actual or apparent conflicts of interest with financial or fiduciary arrangements reported on their financial disclosure statements.
Increased the effectiveness of the financial disclosure review program covering the more than 1,000 annual and termination public financial disclosure reports filed by senior officials with agencies (for which OGE conducts a second level review) by implementing an enhanced system for collecting the reports from departments and agencies.
Fulfilled, in a timely manner, requests from 155 individuals and organizations for 1,121 copies of those public financial disclosure reports of senior executive branch officials for which OGE conducts a second level review.
Implemented an enhanced system for tracking and collecting statutorily required, semi-annual reports from executive branch departments and agencies detailing payments for travel, subsistence and related expenses received from non-Federal sources in connection with the attendance of employees at certain meetings or similar functions (31 U.S.C. § 1353).
Increased liaison services provided to ethics officials in executive branch departments and agencies by OGE desk officers by answering over 8,000 questions from ethics officials on the conflict of interest statutes, standards of conduct regulations, program operations and financial disclosure.
Increased by 9% over FY 2004 to 2,354, the number of ethics officials and enforcement personnel with whom we communicate through the OGE e-mail List Service on such topics as emerging issues, best practices, general news and job vacancies in the Federal ethics community.
Conducted ethics program evaluations in 34 Federal agencies, regional offices, and military commands as well as 16 six-month follow-up reviews for those which had received recommendations to improve their ethics programs during their initial program reviews.
Conducted seven surveys of agency employees to determine, in part, the perceived effectiveness of their agency’s ethics program and produced an internal analysis of the results of the 11 surveys conducted between November 2003 and December 2004.
Developed three training programs to be used by ethics officials to deliver annual ethics training to their employees; the programs are part of an expanding curriculum for executive branch employees.
Developed two videos and corresponding video discussion guides -- one as part of a two-day orientation program for new ethics officials and one for use in employee training; over 1,200 duplicates were requested and provided.
Developed and delivered two new instructor-led courses for ethics officials -- one entitled “Impartiality” and the other “Misuse of Position” -- which rounded out the program of basic training offered to ethics officials.
Planned, organized and hosted two Regional Symposiums for approximately 160 ethics officials.
Responded to over 1,000 public inquiries received through the mail, by phone or through the OGE web page.
Distributed a survey to 600 ethics officials to help OGE identify program needs in order to help establish OGE’s program priorities and focus resources to meet those needs.

Office of Administration and Information Management

Ensured the publication of Public Financial Disclosure: A Reviewer’s Reference as both a hardcopy and as a section 508 compliant version available on the OGE website.
Analyzed results of a quadrennial OPM human resources program audit, took all corrective action necessary, and achieved a satisfactory rating.
Completed the OGE FY 2004 internal control review and resulting report.
Developed or revised eight chapters of OGE’s Administration and Human Resources Manuals.
Developed, obtained OPM approval for and implemented a pay-for-performance SES performance management system.
Upgraded, on a timely basis, all systems changes required for continuity of support services including accounting, payroll and travel, which are provided by another agency under contract. Ensured that all necessary agency personnel received appropriate training.
Provided eight in-house training sessions: two pre-retirement seminars, one seminar on managing the telecommuting program, three on using the National Finance Center employee personal page and two on general administrative management.
Implemented Government-wide E-Quips electronic fingerprinting and personnel security system.
Provided computer security awareness training to all OGE staff per the Computer Security Act of 1987 (Pub. L. 100-235).
Completed the development of a new web-based Financial Disclosure Tracking System (FDTS) to be used by OGE staff to track the processing and review public financial disclosure reports filed with OGE. This system will be available both within OGE and remotely for telecommuters via a secure Internet connection.
Continued the development of a tactical implementation plan and accompanying security plan for modifying OGE’s existing network architecture in a way that will provide OGE telecommuters with enhanced electronic network access and connectivity.
Completed improvements to the electronic version of the Public Financial Disclosure form (SF 278.)
Completed the installation of a new security/gateway to the OGE network.

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Annual Program Performance Report
Audited Financial Statements