Ongoing projects

This project surveys regulatory agencies’ investigative procedures and recommend best practices to promote accuracy, efficiency, and fairness in agency investigations of specific regulated entities. Among other topics, the project addresses agency practices for the initiation of investigations; the exchange of evidence and arguments between the agency and the targets of investigations; the issuance of subpoenas and warrants; standards by

The ADR Advisory Group advises ACUS on potential new initiatives to improve—through potential ACUS-recommended administrative and legislative reforms—the design and administration of ADR programs throughout the federal government. The ADR Advisory Group builds on ACUS’s longstanding study and implementation of ADR in federal administrative processes. All members of the ADR Advisory Group are government officials. 

Members of Congress have introduced bills designed to amend or overhaul aspects of federal administrative procedure. Given the significance of these proposed reforms and the number of bills introduced, the Office of the Chair has compiled these bills as an easy reference for congressional staff and other practitioners in the administrative law space.

This project will examine how federal agencies receive, process, and respond to congressional inquiries made on behalf of constituents who need assistance accessing federal programs or navigating adjudicative and other similar administrative processes. Based on that study, the project will identify best practices for agencies to promote quality, efficiency, and timeliness in their procedures for responding to such inquiries.

The Council of Independent Regulatory Agencies (CIRA) provides a unique forum for officials at independent regulatory agencies to exchange information, hear the perspectives of outside experts, and identify issues that may be appropriate for Conference study.

The Council on Federal Agency Adjudication provides a forum for the heads of agency adjudication programs to exchange information—about procedural innovations, best management practices, and other subjects of mutual interest—that may be "useful in improving administrative procedure" (5 U.S.C. § 591). The Council also offers a forum for identifying subjects appropriate for ACUS study. 

This project will study and recommend best practices for agencies to detect and address unwarranted disparities in enforcement and adjudication decisions by federal administrative programs. Among other topics, the project will address how agencies detect decisional disparities in administrative enforcement and adjudication, determine the origins of decisional disparities, and determine if disparities are unwarranted.

The Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook is an annotated compilation of the key legal sources—including the Administrative Procedure Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Congressional Review Act, and executive orders—governing nearly every aspect of administrative procedure.

This project will study and offer best practices to promote fairness, accuracy, and efficiency in agency processes for providing written guidance in response to requests for advice from members of the public.