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| 2005 Report (pdf) |
| Message from the Director |
| Tribute: William H. Rehnquist |
| The Year in Review |
| Support to the Federal Courts |
| -Recognizing Exemplary Service |
| -Events Challenge Resources |
| -Facilities And Security |
| -Technology |
| -Improvements and Innovations |
| -Workforce Management |
| -Defender Services |
| -Probation and Pretrial Services |
| -Communication |
| In Profile |
| Organization |
| Senior Executive Staff photos |
 Return to Annual Reports |
| Return to Publications |
Technology
Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) The Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system neared full nationwide implementation in FY 2005. CM/ECF is the product of the largest system development and implementation effort ever undertaken by the courts and the Administrative Office, and it has a greater impact on court operations and management than any other system. By September, 170 courts were using CM/ECF for their daily operations and 27 more were adopting it. CM/ECF is used by the court, the bar, and the public to meet most of their filing, docketing, reporting, noticing, document management, and other case management needs. It enables attorneys to file their documents electronically via the Internet. And, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) feature of the system provides all users with easy Internet access to those documents and other case information. To date, nearly 200,000 attorneys have filed electronically using CM/ECF, and those electronic filings, along with the resulting electronic case files, have provided substantial benefit to the courts. The system is currently used in 87 bankruptcy courts, 81 district courts, the Court of International Trade and the Court of Federal Claims. It will soon be made available to the appellate courts, and virtually all federal courts will be using CM/ECF by the end of 2006. Many accomplishments and milestones were achieved during the past year. Some of the more significant CM/ECF accomplishments include: Continued expansion and usage. During the past year, 42 more courts completed their implementation; monthly docket entries increased from 3.5 million to 4.5 million; and 60,000 more attorneys began filing electronically. Attorneys are now making 50 percent or more of the docket entries in many courts, and automatically opening more than 90 percent of the cases in many bankruptcy courts. In addition, more courts began using the system's MJSTAR feature, which eliminates the need to prepare and file monthly JS 43 magistrate judge statistical reports. And increasing numbers of petitioners and attorneys paid their filing fees by credit card as part of their Internet filing process. By the end of FY 2005, AO staff were helping the courts support that payment capability in 71 bankruptcy courts and seven district courts. System enhancements. The AO continued work with the courts in the ongoing effort to support and enhance CM/ECF so that it can deliver maximum benefits to the courts. The AO managed the regular meetings, conference calls and other communication channels through which the courts request and prioritize system enhancements. Those communication processes guided a number of significant software enhancements that were made during the past year. One major accomplishment was the successful completion of an intensive, high-priority effort to meet the requirements of the new Bankruptcy Act. That effort developed and implemented a special CM/ECF Bankruptcy release, on short notice, in time to meet the Act's October 2005 deadline. That release included, among other critical enhancements, a sophisticated real-time interface with the Bankruptcy Noticing Center that enables a creditor to specify a preferred address to be used nationwide for all its bankruptcy notices. The District product was enhanced to include many new features, including the ability for attorneys to electronically open new cases and to pay filing fees by credit card. Other enhancements included a new Monthly Trials Report, which in a number of courts has already replaced the Statistics Electronic Form previously used for reporting district judge statistics. The Appellate CM/ECF system reached a major milestone with the release of Version 1.0 to the 10 courts of appeals currently implementing the system. That release allowed the courts to not only conduct extensive testing but also begin preparations to convert the case management data from their old systems and to develop their local reports, forms, and event dictionaries. Later in the year, the AO held an implementation workshop for staff from those courts and also released an enhanced Version 1.1. In addition, great progress was made during the past year in transitioning the courts' CM/ECF servers to the Linux operating system—the Judiciary's new standard. That transition was completed in 56 courts, keeping the effort on target to have nearly all courts running Linux by late 2006. Process improvements. The AO hosted CM/ECF user conferences where court staff attendees met to exchange ideas on the system, court operations, and best practices. AO staff also participated in a circuit court conference where attendees from the appellate court and the trial courts discussed how CM/ECF will impact their processes for accessing case information for appeals. And, AO staff worked with court representatives to develop CM/ECF Model Rules of Appellate Procedure, which the Judicial Conference unanimously approved in September. Training and documentation. The CM/ECF Chambers Handbook was updated and posted to the J-Net, and monthly articles on "CM/ECF Tips for Judges and Chambers Staff" were published in the Federal Court Management Report Newsletter. Administrative Office staff also began developing a series of computer-based training modules to assist judges, chamber staff, and other court personnel with the transition to the new CM/ECF Monthly Trials Report and MJSTAR report. Electronic Public Access Program The Judiciary's PACER system is the predominate method for the Judiciary to provide public access to court case records. PACER offers an inexpensive, easy-to-use alternative for obtaining case information without having to visit the courthouse. PACER allows an Internet user to request information about a particular case or party. The data is immediately available for printing or downloading. The PACER Service Center provides the public and the Judiciary with centralized registration, billing, and technical support services. Significant EPA Program Activities in FY 2005 included:
Electronic Access to Court Transcripts In September 2003, the Judicial Conference adopted a policy, on the recommendation of the Committee on Court Administration and Case Management, that required courts making documents electronically available through PACER, by remote access, also to make prepared transcripts of court proceedings available electronically, with redaction of certain personal identifying information. The Conference deferred implementation of the policy until it could consider a report of the Committee on Judicial Resources regarding impact of the policy on court reporter compensation. The Conference also authorized a pilot project to provide data for such a report. Five district courts volunteered to participate in this pilot: the Southern District of Alabama; the District of Kansas; the District of Maine; the Eastern District of Missouri; and the District of Nebraska. These courts followed the September 2003 policy on electronic transcripts, and the court reporters in these districts submitted data to the Administrative Office regarding transcript original and copy sales, which were compared with historical data for the same court reporters. Administrative Office staff prepared a report for the consideration of the two Judicial Conference committees at their June 2005 meetings, which provided an analysis of the data from the pilot courts. Administrative Office staff also assisted the Committee on Court Administration and Case Management in assessing options for addressing any potential loss in income for court reporters. After consideration of the report on court reporter compensation from the committees, the Judicial Conference approved taking the next steps necessary for implementation of the policy, which includes seeking legislative changes. The Conference also approved a pilot study to examine the impact of the policy on the defender services program. Civil/Criminal Accounting Module Nine courts successfully implemented the civil/criminal accounting module (CCAM) during FY 2005. Based on the lessons learned and best practices identified during beta court testing, the implementation strategy was refined for use throughout the Judiciary. The project team determined that web conferencing tools would help reduce travel costs associated with project meetings. Following the Information Technology Committee concurrence in December, full deployment began. The project team also reviewed the Cash Register/Electronic Case Filing system developed locally by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, and endorsed it as an interim solution to support the cash receipting requirements of the bankruptcy courts until the AO can develop a permanent solution. The project team continued working with the Executive Office of the U.S. Attorney to explore ways to exchange criminal debt information and improve collection efforts. Expanded Use of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) for Payments The EFT process was expanded in fiscal year 2005 to include payments to vendors. The expansion of EFT included notification to more than 3,000 vendors entering banking information and making systems modifications to the Central Accounting System (CAS). The implementation of EFT payments has resulted in administrative and operational savings; now that vendor payments are included in EFT, approximately 240 checks per month are cut instead of 1500. Few U.S. Treasury checks are issued daily out of the CAS and staff are working diligently to eliminate those checks altogether. Change to the Central Accounting System to Momentum The implementation of the CAS to Momentum project was officially kicked off in fiscal year 2005. This project will replace the antiquated mainframe CAS system with the same financial system used by the courts. The project is moving through the Information Resource Management process and the anticipated implementation date is October 2006. New Initiatives. The Administrative Office analyzed the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in Blakely v. Washington , 124 S.Ct. 2531 (2004), and in the consolidated cases of United States v. Booker and United States v. Fanfan, 125 S.Ct. 738 (2005). These decisions may account for the filing of nearly 9,000 cases in the federal courts this fiscal year as inmates asked the appellate and district courts to reconsider their sentences. They did so in light of the Supreme Court's finding that an enhanced sentence based on facts neither admitted by the defendant nor found by a jury violates the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. In FY 2005, criminal appeals rose 28 percent to 16,060; the number of second or successive habeas corpus motions filed in the courts of appeals jumped 42 percent to 3,617; petitions for motions to vacate sentence under 28 U.S.C. §2255 grew 41 percent in the courts of appeals to 3,709; and prisoner petitions filed in the U.S. district courts climbed 15 percent as motions to vacate sentence increased 45 percent to 10,361. Booker/Fanfan was decided in January 2005. Pursuant to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (P.L. No. 104-518 ), federal prisoners have one year from that date to file motions to vacate sentence based on Booker/Fanfan. Timely Access to Statistics. The New Streamline Timely Access to Statistics (NewSTATS) project will provide the federal Judiciary with a modern, flexible relational database that will permit the Administrative Office and authorized chambers and court personnel to better use federal caseload statistics. NewSTATS will make it easier to analyze data to produce reports and tables and to conduct the related research necessary to meet varied needs. In addition to enhancing existing capabilities to address customer requirements, NewSTATS will facilitate use of data for strategic planning purposes and will provide decision makers and managers a robust platform for adapting more quickly to future tasks and responsibilities. The NewSTATS project is being implemented in phases with the initial release scheduled for fall 2006. Currently, the hardware and software environment is already in place, with the design for Version 1, including civil case data and statistics associated with the Civil Justice Reform Act, moving toward completion. Additionally, the AO plans to have the system available to collect the new data required by the 2005 bankruptcy legislation. Payroll Staffing and Information System The new Payroll Staffing and Information System (PSIS), which will be fully deployed in fiscal year 2006, will allow accounting and budget staff easy access to detailed payroll data. This system will improve and expedite the reconciliation of payroll information from the Human Resources Management Information System to the Central Accounting System. Information Technology Grants Program For the third consecutive year, the Judicial Conference Committee on Information Technology awarded grants to individual court units for the development and implementation of local technological innovations to share with other court units. During 2005, the number of grant applications for the upcoming year more than doubled to 25. To handle the increased volume of grant applications, staff have used web-conferencing tools to review grant applications quickly and efficiently with geographically-disbursed members of the Technology and Facilities Advisory Council and Committee on Information Technology. The IT Grants Program is one of three components of the Edwin L. Nelson Local Initiatives Program that was established in 2003. The other two components are "Ed's Place," a national clearinghouse web site managed by the AO, designed to showcase locally developed applications and to foster local court collaboration and training opportunities. During 2005, Ed's Place became increasingly popular with courts and now has nearly 150 local court applications posted for sharing. During the year, staff continued to upgrade Ed's Place for performance and sharing capabilities for users. Major progress was realized in 2005 with an initiative to develop a more cost-effective IT service delivery model. Previously, as national systems were deployed, court units were provided with local servers to run each new system. Each of these servers has required software, cyclical replacement, and staff. Although this decentralized service delivery model—geographically dispersed servers and support—worked well, industry trends are changing. Cost-effective alternatives to this decentralized service are being explored for the probation and pretrial case tracking system (PACTS), the accounting system (FAS 4T), and the e-mail system (Lotus Notes) to determine if cost savings can be realized without compromising performance levels. Server aggregation completed for federal defender organizations (FDOs) in June helped save approximately $400,000 in initial costs, and will help avoid future costs for duplicative equipment, software, and support. The FDO e-mail is supported by 18 servers at the two gateway locations in Reston, Virginia, and Lee's Summit, Missouri, rather than by individual servers at each FDO location. In 2001, the Executive Committee of the Judicial Conference placed restrictions on the Administrative Office's use of certain national network management and security tools because of privacy concerns. The Judicial Conference Committee on Information Technology was charged with reviewing the security of Judiciary networks and proposing policies for improving security while protecting privacy. As a result, a National Security Agency analysis of key elements of Judiciary network security outlined eight recommendations focusing on nationwide security and privacy policies governing the Judiciary's internal data communications network, as well as local area networks maintained by individual court units. The final report and recommendations of the committee received Judicial Conference approval in September 2005. The Committee on Information Technology was charged with overseeing implementation of the report recommendations. Court Telecommunications Services The Judiciary's long distance telephone service is managed centrally by AO staff through a GSA contract. The contract also covers other important services such as data services for nationwide network connectivity and special services such as calling cards and emergency message services. The current contract expires in 2007. In 2005, AO staff began taking steps to manage the transition to the new contract with a minimum of disruption to the courts. The first step included a request from the courts for verification of an inventory of voice services including phone lines, calling cards, and toll-free services. This information will be used to issue orders under the new contract when it comes time to implement the transition plan. In addition to the inventory, material is available on the J-Net for use by court telephone coordinators as they prepare for the transition to the new contract. Many courts have created local IT committees to facilitate communications and to provide a forum for discussion of IT requirements, priorities, and related issues. In 2005, AO staff developed a new tool on the J-Net to allow court units to post and share information about their local IT committees with others in the Judiciary. Each court unit's "profile" is available for others to see and to share. By maintaining a centralized list of local IT committees including points of contact and related information, communication and the sharing of information can be enhanced. Use of a centralized list also will provide another means to facilitate dissemination of IT-related information to the courts and to receive input from the court community on IT-related issues. By the end of 2005, nearly 100 court units had posted profiles on the new site. Agreement to Provide Adobe Acrobat Software Support Over the past several years, the AO has been able to provide the courts with several tools to save money through volume purchases or blanket software agreements. These include purchases for word processing software, anti-virus software, network management software, and Internet filtering software. AO staff began administering a new multiyear contract in 2005 to provide the courts with 14,000 Adobe Acrobat licenses. If purchased individually by the courts, the cost would be more than double the cost per license negotiated in the new contract. This represents significant cost savings to the Judiciary and provides courts with the expanded capabilities available in the latest Acrobat software versions. Annual maintenance is included in the software agreement, allowing courts to receive the latest upgrades and help desk services. The GSA selected a team of AO staff and contractors for a technical excellence award in late 2005. The award, from GSA's Federal Technology Service was for innovative use of technology services. It was presented to the AO, along with teams from other government agencies at a GSA technical conference in August. The award recognized work done during the past year to develop and implement a number of initiatives to improve the capacity and reliability of internal networks to support business applications. Initiatives included upgrading more than 700 routers, quickly adding new capacity to meet new demands, optimizing the network for improved performance, and responding to several natural disasters. In keeping with reporting requirements of P.L. No. 108-447, the Judiciary certified that telecommuting opportunities are made available to 100 percent of the eligible workforce and provided related data on participation. Quarterly status reports also were submitted as required. As evidenced by the steady progress in telework participation, the Judiciary has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to effective telework programs throughout the courts, federal public defender organizations, and Judiciary agencies. |
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The Electronic Public Access (EPA) Program facilitates and improves electronic public access to court information, in accordance with legislative and Judiciary policies, security requirements, and user demands. The EPA Program, as mandated by Congress, is funded entirely through user fees, set at a reasonable rate. The program generated approximately $45.5 million for the Judiciary in FY 2005. A significant portion of this revenue funds the development, implementation, and operating costs of the Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system.