Completed projects

This project studies the roles and responsibilities of agency heads in agencies that perform both enforcement and adjudicatory functions. Though the APA bars investigatory or prosecutorial officials from later serving as or advising an adjudicator in the same case, it explicitly exempts agency heads.

Recommendation 2011-8 – Agency Innovations in e-Rulemaking addresses how Federal agency rulemaking can be improved by better use of Internet-based technologies. The recommendation proposes ways agencies can make rulemaking information, including open dockets, comment policies, and materials from completed rulemakings, more accessible electronically.

Recommendation 2020-6, Agency Litigation Webpages – offers agencies best practices for making their federal court filings and relevant court opinions available to the public on their websites, with particular emphasis on materials from litigation dealing with agency regulatory programs. It provides guidance on the types of litigation materials that will be of grea

Recommendation 2010-1 – Agency Procedures for Considering Preemption of State Law addresses agency procedures for determining whether to preempt state law.

Recommendation 2019-2 – Agency Recruitment and Selection of Administrative Law Judges addresses the processes and procedures agencies should establish for exercising their authority under Executive Order 13843 (2018) to hire administrative law judges (ALJs).

Statement #20, Agency Use of Artificial Intelligence – identifies issues agencies should consider when adopting, revamping, establishing policies and practices governing, and regularly monitoring artificial intelligence systems. Among the topics it addresses are transparency, harmful biases, technical capacity, procurement, privacy, security, decisional authority, and

Recommendation 2012-7 – Agency Use of Third-Party Programs to Assess Regulatory Compliance addresses issues that arise when agencies develop programs in which third parties assess whether regulated entities are in compliance with regulatory standards and other requirements.

Recommendation 2011-4 – Agency Use Of Video Hearings: Best Practices And Possibilities For Expansion addresses best practices for the use of video hearings by federal government agencies with high volume case loads as a means of reducing caseload backlog and conducting more efficient adjudication.

Recommendation 2016-2 – Aggregation of Similar Claims in Agency Adjudication provides guidance to agencies on the use of aggregation techniques to resolve similar claims in adjudications. It sets forth procedures for determining whether aggregation is appropriate. It also considers what kinds of aggregation techniques should be used in certain cases and offers guidance on how to structure the aggregation pro

This project studied how federal agencies use and might better use different types of alternative dispute resolution (ADR)—including conciliation, facilitation, factfinding, minitrials, arbitration, the use of ombuds, and mediation—to resolve matters related to their core statutory authorities.