Organizational Principles for the Activity of the Federal Center of Information Technologies under the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation

The Federal Center of Information Technologies under the Central Election Commission of Russia (hereafter "FCIT under the CEC of Russia") has been established in pursuance of Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 861 of August 18, 1995. The FCIT under the CEC of Russia operates on the basis of its Statute approved by a decree of the President of Russia.

The aim of the FCIT under the CEC of Russia is to provide the organizational, informational and methodological support for the State Automated System of the Russian Federation (SAS "Vybory").

The FCIT under the CEC of Russia is a state institution; it has an independent balance sheet, separate property, a settlement account and other accounts at banks. The property of the FCIT is formed by federally owned fixed and current assets and other federal property assigned to it for operational management.

The main tasks of the FCIT under the CEC of Russia are:

- to determine and realize the priority lines of development of the system for automation of the activity of election commissions of all levels;

- to ensure pursuance of a unified technical and technological policy in the introduction of automation means in the electoral process, the integrity of the software-hardware complex in all subjects of the Russian Federation;

- to interact with the federal information systems, information centers of election commissions of all levels and other information systems;

- to form data banks for registration of voters, normative legal acts on elections, specifically by participation in the creation of the national automated system for registration of persons residing or staying temporarily on the territory of the Russian Federation;

- to ensure continuous operation of SAS "Vybory" when election campaigns are conducted at the federal level and in the period between elections;

- to exercise operational management of the automation facilities provided to election commissions of all levels and protect these facilities from unauthorized access.

The FCIT under the CEC of Russia structurally consists of several departments which deal with the tasks of the FCIT by performing the following main functions:

- system design and development of new design solutions; ensuring of information security, system integrity, normal functioning of the system unaffected by the "Problem-2000";

- development, introduction and maintenance of the functional problem complexes (FPC) "Planning," "Territory," "Candidate/Deputy," "Results," "Law," "Voter," "Financial Control, " "Personnel," "Document processing," informational maintenance of the Internet server in the information-reference system of the CEC of Russia;

- operational management of the complexes of automation facilities (CAF) of the system; control over the integrity of the system; observance of all standards and rules for the operation of the CAF of SAS "Vybory" in various modes; interaction with system administrators of election commissions of all levels;

- preparation of output forms for preliminary results of federal and regional elections and presentation of these forms to the CEC of Russia; formation of cartographic materials; interaction with other federal automated information systems; continuous operation and administration of the local computer network of the CEC of Russia;

- organization of continuous operation of the technical facilities and monitoring of equipment serviceability at all levels of SAS "Vybory"; maintenance of records of all technical facilities of SAS "Vybory" which are on the balance sheet of the FCIT and have been transferred to the election commissions of Russian Federation subjects (over 78 thousand equipment units). For this purpose: interaction with and organization of the work of installation-technological organizations (service centers); repair of technical facilities; interaction with equipment manufacturers and suppliers;

- monitoring of continuous operation of telecommunications facilities; organization of communication channels and maintenance of their serviceability; development of the telecommunications system of SAS "Vybory," among other things, for use in the period between elections;

- conclusion of contracts with contractors under the plan of the main measures of the FCIT for the development and maintenance of SAS "Vybory" and supervision over the performance of these contracts; maintenance of agreements with regional administrations, federal bodies of executive power;

- maintenance of archives of technical documentation of SAS "Vybory"; informational support of the FCIT; organization of exhibitions, seminars, issuance of information and methodological materials; legal support of FCIT activity;

- control over the preservation and transfers of the property located in three thousand CAFs in 89 subjects of the Russian Federation.

The personnel of the FCIT consists of specialists who formerly worked at the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation, the Commission for Information Technologies under the President of Russia, at research and design institutes engaged in designing and creating information systems, including such systems of the federal level.