Cost Containment Success

In July 2007, the Administrative Office produced a 2007 update report on the substantial progress in implementing cost-containment initiatives, and ongoing efforts that have the potential to reduce future costs. In particular, it described long-term changes to spending categories that the Judiciary had once considered "uncontrollable," including rent costs, magistrate judgeships, certain law enforcement-related

In September 2007, the Judicial Conference considered and approved recommendations from longer-term studies and initiatives to reduce the growth in compensation costs for court staff, including chambers law clerks, and to provide each circuit judicial council with a rent allotment tied to the amount the Judiciary can afford nationally in new rental costs. In addition, the Conference approved spending caps on defender services and court security requirements.

Rent Management Measures
National Rent Validation Program. The Judiciary's National Rent Validation Program, which began in 2006, has resulted in substantial rent credits and long-term savings on the General Services Administration (GSA) rent bill for space the Judiciary occupies in federally owned facilities. As a result of the Judiciary's partnership with GSA to validate rent charged the Judiciary, GSA is taking steps to improve its internal management controls and oversight of its rent-setting practices. These changes should help advance important goals: ensuring that the Judiciary is charged rent only for space it legitimately occupies, that space is classified correctly, and that rent rates being charged are appropriate.

Circuit Rent Budgets. The Circuit Rent Budget initiative is designed to hold increases in rent to a cap established by the Judicial Conference. Circuit judicial councils, which have statutory authority to approve space as necessary, have now been given responsibility for determining how budget resources reserved for rent are to be spent within a framework approved by the Conference. Circuit rent budgets restore to the circuits and individual courts substantial authority to determine their own space needs and priorities. Representatives from courts and court units throughout the country assisted the Judicial Conference Space and Facilities Committee with developing this proposal.

Asset Management Planning. During the past year, Space and Facilities Division staff conducted site visits to several courts selected as pilots for the development of the Judiciary Asset Management Planning Process (AMP). AMP goes beyond the identification of court space needs by accounting for the financial impact of space projects, such as major courthouse renovations and new courthouses, on the Judiciary's rent budget. This extra planning step will help the Judiciary meet courts' operational needs while controlling major costs, especially rent paid to the GSA.

After the Judicial Conference approved this initiative, an AMP working group was appointed with court representatives, court architects, and members of the Judicial Conference Committee on Space and Facilities to provide input and guidance to AO staff.

AMP pilot sites include small, medium, and large districts with a mix of court facilities of different sizes, types, and ages. Site visits were made to the Southern District of Iowa, Eastern District of Tennessee, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Ohio, Eastern District of Kentucky, the District of Maryland, and Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In addition, the space requirements of the Third and Sixth Circuits were studied. Court staff provided information essential to prioritizing projects in keeping with the Circuit Rent Budget Initiative.

Court Design Standards Updated

Guidance was included in the new U.S. Courts Design Guide to help contain future space alteration expenses.

U.S. Courts Design Guide Revised. Judges and court executives worked with the AO to revise the U.S. Courts Design Guide, the publication that sets space standards for construction and alteration of federal courthouses. Issued in December 2007, the book was revised with an eye toward controlling future space alteration expenses.

Budget Caps
The Judicial Conference approved budget caps through fiscal year 2017 on the major accounts of the Judiciary, including the Salaries and Expenses, Defender Services, and Court Security accounts.

The Conference Budget Committee initiated the concept of budget caps in order to limit program growth over the long-term to operate effectively within congressional funding levels. AO program offices and Judicial Conference committees with budgetary responsibility worked together to develop appropriate budget caps in these programs. The AO's rent management working group, consisting of AO and court members, developed a strategy for implementing the 4.9 percent rent cap approved last year by the Judicial Conference.

Technology Delivery Alternatives
Judicial Conference measures to contain costs in the technology area have emphasized maintaining a high level of service as a business requirement. As a result, keeping the Judiciary's technology infrastructure and applications running effectively has been at the heart of the AO and

Judiciary budget caps were initiated to keep program growth within congressional funding levels.

FAS4T: The Courts' Financial Management System. Once a proof-of-concept at 10 courts concluded, a hosted service facility was selected for consolidation of district court servers located at each of the 94 district courts. Cost savings and avoidances are estimated at approximately $55.4 million through fiscal year 2012. By fiscal year end, 37 courts had consolidated operations at the hosting facility. The remaining 57 courts are expected to consolidate by June 2008.

PACTS: Automated Case Tracking For Probation and Pretrial Services. Transition of the courts' local servers to consolidated facilities was completed in August 2007. Ninety-four servers that were previously installed in court locations have been replaced by high-powered web, database, and report server configurations installed at the hosting facility. It is anticipated that the PACTS server consolidation will save approximately $2.6 million through fiscal year 2012.

Lotus Notes E-Mail. Major steps were taken in 2007 to consolidate the Judiciary's Lotus Notes e-mail servers as endorsed by the Conference IT Committee. Primary servers remain in 112 court locations for local management, while seven courts/districts elected to have their primary server consolidated into a single data center. All e-mail secondary/back-up servers have been consolidated into a single back-up site resulting in significantly improved disaster recovery and redundancy. Additionally, the circuit e-mail hub servers have been consolidated into two sites that provide back-up for each other. These consolidation initiatives were completed in December 2007.

Jury Management System. Consolidating the JMS system onto the CM/ECF servers in each district court was completed in November 2007. This effort eliminates the need to replace 88 servers and will result in savings of $4.8 million through fiscal year 2012. A JMS Web Page Team with representatives from nine district courts completed detailed business requirements for a national web page front-end for the JMS. The web page will give prospective jurors the option of providing and obtaining JMS-related jury service information online. Following development, testing, and piloting of the JMS web page, national deployment is expected to begin in 2008.

Workforce Planning Measure
Court Compensation Study. Extensive participation by all stakeholders has been the hallmark of this study since it began in 2005. Conference leaders sought long-term solutions for the Judiciary's biweekly pay delivery system that would enable the courts to remain an employer of choice while making sure future compensation costs are covered by projected federal budgeting. The Judicial Conference in September 2007 approved all five recommendations made by the Judicial Resources Committee after amending two. Three recommendations change chambers law clerk policies and were implemented by October 1, 2007. One recommendation discourages extension of leave act coverage to term law clerks; another limits judges to one career law clerk per chambers; and the third replaces law clerk salary matching with pay parity based on law clerk experience. The remaining two recommendations affect the majority of court employees. The first calls for updating Court Personnel System job classification, while the second alters salary progression policy and funding and authorizes development of national performance standards that courts will use locally. These two changes will be implemented over 18 months or longer.