U.S. Office of Government Ethics
1201 New York Ave., NW
Suite 500
Washington, DC  20005-3917
 
                                              April 13, 2005
                                              DO-05-009



MEMORANDUM

TO:       Designated Agency Ethics Officials

FROM:     Jack Covaleski
          Deputy Director for Agency Programs

SUBJECT:  Due Dates for Public Financial Disclosure Reports of Executive Branch
          Officials  Required to  File with the Office of Government Ethics  (OGE)


Title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended, requires annual
public financial disclosure reports (SF 278) to be filed with the appropriate
department or agency no later than May 15.   Each Designated Agency Ethics
Official (DAEO) is to ensure that each report filed is reviewed within sixty
days.  The SF 278s of Presidential appointees confirmed by the Senate (PAS) must
be submitted to this Office for final review and certification.

Last year we asked that you send in PAS reports as soon as they were certified,
but no later than September 15, 2004.   For those agencies that did not get
their reports in by the due dates, we sent them a letter asking them to submit
the reports immediately.   For those reports that were not as yet certified by
the agency, we requested they submit an uncertified report and a certified
report shortly thereafter.

This year, all annual SF 278s for PAS officials and DAEOs filed by May 15, 2005
should be certified and submitted to OGE as soon as approved by your agency or
department, but no later than August 1, 2005.  If for some reason you cannot
certify the report within this time frame, you must submit an uncertified report
to OGE.  The certified report must be submitted to OGE as soon as possible
thereafter.  If you submit an uncertified report, please make your OGE desk
officer aware of the reason for the delay in certifying the report and the
progress you are making towards certification. We will be happy to assist in any
way we can to help you obtain the information needed to certify the report.

For those PAS officials for whom you have granted a filing extension, please see
the table below for the appropriate certification and transmittal dates.  In any
event, we must have a report, preferably certified, for each of your PAS
officials and the DAEO by the transmittal deadline. Our expectation is that you
will certify all PAS reports within the sixty-day time frame set out in the
statute. These reports are for the top executive branch officials and it is
vital their reports be reviewed and certified by both our offices as soon as
possible.

The new deadlines for the 2005 filing period are as follows:

Filing Deadline:         May 16 (no extension) 
Certification Deadline:  July 15 
Transmittal Deadline:    August 1 

Filing Deadline:         June 30 (45-day extension) 
Certification Deadline:  August 29
Transmittal Deadline:    September 13 

Filing Deadline:         August 15 (90-day extension) 
Certification Deadline:  October 14 
Transmittal Deadline:    October 31

Again, we are more than happy to assist you in resolving issues that may prevent
you from certifying the PAS or DAEO reports within these time frames.  If you
have any questions, please contact Trish Zemple, Associate Director, Program
Services Division at pczemple@oge.gov or at 202-482-9286.