Federal Register Bulletin Newsletter March 2020

The Office of the Federal Register and COVID-19 

To All Federal agencies:

The Office of the Federal Register continues to operate normally with a few minor exceptions:

1. We may update the public inspection list (PIL) more frequently than usual;
2. We can no longer accept floppy disks with paper document submission packages; and
3. We may take longer to process paper submissions because it will take longer to add them to our document management system.

PIL

In addition to our regular 8:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m., and 4:15 p.m. filing times, we may post documents for public inspection at other times throughout the day, as necessary, if the agency requests immediate filing for a document related to COVID-19.  

Receiving Documents 

When it comes to receiving documents, unfortunately, we don't have a lot of options.  We must have a valid, original signature that we can authenticate.  The only digitally-signed document that meets that criteria is an electronically-signed Word file sent through the webportal.  So, if you can't use the webportal, you must send the paper package.  You can't email documents and we can't accept PDF files.

For those of you submitting documents through the webportal, this means business as usual.  The only thing that has changed is that our editors are working remotely 5 days a week instead of 2-3 days a week.

For those of you who were sending us paper documents signed in ink, we're keeping the office open (8:45a.m. to 5:15p.m.) to receive those documents, but with very limited staff on duty. You  must include a CD with the Word file; we can no longer process floppy disks.    

Visit our special procedures page for more information and FAQs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Miriam E Vincent

Legal Affairs and Policy
Office of the Federal Register