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Budget Results

Last Updated: March 29, 2022
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III. Budget Results - Fourth Quarter 2021

Approved Budget Modifications

The 2021 Budget Resolution delegated to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and selected other officials the authority to make certain modifications to the 2021 FDIC Operating Budget. The CFO approved the following budget reallocations during the fourth quarter, in accordance with the authority delegated by the Board of Directors:

  • In October, the CFO approved a reallocation of $9,692 within the Salaries and Awards budgets of DOA and OCOM to support the previously approved transfer of the Graphics Design and Printing Unit (GDPU) staff from the Division of Administration (DOA) to the Office of Communications (OCOM). When Salaries budgets were previously transferred, commensurate Awards funding was omitted. This adjustment corrected that oversight.
  • In December, in conjunction with a periodic corporate-wide review of Salaries and Compensation budgets, the CFO approved the following minor budget realignments in the Ongoing Operations budget component:
    • Reallocation of $200,000 of unused budget authority attributable to vacant positions from the Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) to the FDIC Tech Lab (FDITECH) to fund its use of detailees.

    • Reallocation of $250,000 of unused budget authority attributable to vacant positions from the Office of the Vice Chairman to the Office of the Chief Operating Officer (COO) to fund its use of detailees.

Following these fourth quarter budget modifications, the balance in the Corporate Unassigned contingency reserve for the Ongoing Operations budget component remained unchanged at $7 million (excluding the $40 million portion of the reserve set aside to address a potential increase in bank failure activity this year). The balance in the Corporate Unassigned contingency reserve for the Receivership Funding budget component also remained unchanged at $22.5 million (excluding the $100 million portion of the reserve set aside to address a potential increase in bank failure activity this year).

Approved Staffing Modificatons

The 2021 Budget Resolution delegated to the CFO the authority to modify approved 2021 staffing authorizations for divisions and offices, as long as those modifications did not increase the total approved 2021 FDIC Operating Budget.  The CFO approved the following modifications to staffing authorizations during the fourth quarter, in accordance with the authority delegated by the Board of Directors:

  • In December, the CFO approved an increase of nine authorized temporary positions, six positions in the Division of Risk Management Supervision (RMS), two in the Division of Information Technology (DIT), and one in the Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (OCISO), to plan and implement the RMS Business Process Modernization (RMS-BPM) project.  RMS-BPM is a multi-year initiative to redesign and automate RMS’s existing end-to-end supervisory processes, including replacing RMS’s current automated systems with a suite of modern successor applications to support the redesigned business processes. That effort is one of the more critical steps intended to ultimately permit the FDIC to retire its current mainframe computer and close the back-up data center.

Subsequent to these fourth quarter adjustments, authorized 2021 staffing for the Corporation totaled 5,853 positions (5,791 permanent and 62 non-permanent), a net increase of nine positions.

Spending Variances

Significant spending variances by major expense category and division/office are discussed below. 1Significant spending variances for the full year are defined as those that either (1) exceeded the annual budget for a major expense category or division/office; or (2) were under the annual budget for a major expense category or division/office by more than $5 million and represented more than five percent of the major expense category or total division/office budget.

Significant Spending Variances by Major Expense Category

Ongoing Operations

Overall spending for the Ongoing Operations budget component was $271 million, or 13 percent, below budget for 2021. There were significant spending variances in six major expense categories:

  • Spending in the Outside Services – Personnel expense category was under budget by $102.7 million, or 27 percent. Significant underspending occurred from the Corporate Unassigned contingency reserve and in five divisions and offices:
    • Approximately $47 million of the $70 million Corporate Unassigned contingency reserve approved by the Board for 2021 was not used. That included $40 million budgeted specifically to address potential pandemic-related issues that might arise in the banking industry unexpectedly during the year. Those funds were budgeted in the Outside Services-Personnel expense category.

    • DOA underspent its budget by $11.6 million due to delays in several initiatives and reduced costs for certain contracts. Delays in several major initiatives contributed to the underspending: implementation of electronic Official Personnel Folders ($2.5 million), the Insider Threat Platform ($1.4 million), an update of the Acquisition Policy Manual ($0.5 million), and several smaller initiatives. The underspending also reflected reduced expenses incurred under the Guard Services contract ($1.3 million, due to pandemic-related service reductions), the Nationwide Administrative Support Services contract ($1.0 million, due to savings realized through re-competition of the contract and pandemic-related reductions to support services rendered), the Contracting Administrative Support Services contract ($0.6 million), and several other smaller contracts.

    • The Division of Information Technology (DIT) underspent its budget by $9.8 million. Of this amount, $6.0 million reflected delays in IT Modernization initiatives. The remaining $3.8 million was primarily attributable to delays in the onboarding of contract personnel for several contracts.

    • FDITECH underspent its budget by $9.1 million, primarily due to contract delays for three pilot projects ($6 million), three Tech Sprints ($2 million) and a Web Content Management contract ($1 million).

    • The Division of Complex Financial Institution Supervision and Resolution (CISR) underspent its budget by $6.2 million due to delays in contracting for budgeted advisory services for human resource management (compensation playbooks), strategic communications (playbook framework), and institution analysis.

    • The Legal Division underspent its budget by $4.6 million, primarily due to delays in ongoing litigation and a reduced volume of enforcement actions related to investigations.

    • The Division of Resolutions and Receiverships (DRR) underspent its budget by $4.1 million due to delays in awarding several contracts for advisory services and lower-than-estimated expenses for updating the Shared Loss Liability Estimation model and security testing for the Resolution Transaction Submission Portal.

  • Spending in the Salaries and Compensation expense category was under budget by $75.7 million, or 6 percent, primarily due to vacancies in budgeted positions in multiple organizations, including RMS, the Legal Division, CISR, DOA, the Division of Depositor and Consumer Protection (DCP), the Division of Insurance and Research (DIR), and the Executive Offices.
  • Spending in the Travel expense category was under budget by $52.7 million, or 86 percent due to substantially reduced travel by employees in multiple organizations because of the continuation of pandemic-related travel restrictions.
  • Spending in the Buildings and Leased Space expense category was under budget by $22.5 million, or 20 percent, primarily attributable to underspending in DOA due to delays in the design and execution of large planned construction projects, reduced expenses for building operations, and reductions in leased space.
  • Spending in the Equipment expense category was under budget by $10.1 million, or eight percent. This was mostly attributable to delays in executing planned purchases, receipt of purchased goods after the end of the year, and reductions in subscriptions in DIT and OCISO; and underspending by DOA in digital library subscriptions and furniture purchases due to mandatory telework.
  • Spending in the Other Expenses expense category was under budget by $6.4 million, or 44 percent. This was mostly attributable to underuse of Professional Learning Account (PLA) training funds during mandatory telework, primarily by employees in RMS, DOA, and DCP.

Receivership Funding

The Receivership Funding budget component includes funding for expenses that are incurred in conjunction with institution failures and the management and disposition of the assets and liabilities of the ensuing receiverships, except for salary and benefits expenses for permanent employees assigned to the receivership management function and other expenses incurred to ensure readiness without regard to whether failures occur.

Overall spending for the Receivership Funding budget component was $134.1 million, or 77 percent, below budget for 2021. There were significant spending variances in two major expense categories:

  • Spending in the Outside Services – Personnel expense category was under budget by $132.3 million, or 78 percent. This was mostly attributable to unused Corporate Unassigned contingency reserves of $122.5 million, underspending of $7.0 million by DRR because there were no bank failures in 2021, and underspending of $2.2 million by the Legal Division attributable to delays in ongoing litigation because of the pandemic and other court-imposed delays.
  • Spending in the Salaries and Compensation expense category was under budget by $1.0 million, or nearly 100 percent, because funds were not used that had been budgeted for possible overtime by FDIC employees in conjunction with bank failures.
  • Spending in the Equipment expense category was over budget by $0.3 million, or 24 percent. This was mostly attributable to higher-than-projected expenses for litigation-related data storage.

Office of Inspector General

There were no significant spending variances in the Office of Inspector General (OIG) budget component.

Significant Spending Variances by Division/Office

Nine organizations had significant spending variances for 2021:

  • RMS spent $63.6 million, or 11 percent, less than its budget. The underspending occurred in the Travel expense category due to pandemic-related travel restrictions ($36.1 million), the Salaries and Compensation expense category as a result of vacancies in budgeted positions ($21.1 million) due to substantially higher-than-projected examiner attrition, the Outside Services-Personnel expense category due to underuse of the bank document scanning contract ($3.2 million), and the Other Expenses expense category as a result of the underuse of PLA training funds by RMS employees ($2.7 million).
  • DOA spent $47.8 million, or 16 percent, less than its budget. This was primarily attributable to underspending in three major expense categories. It underspent its Buildings and Leased Space and Outside Services-Personnel budgets for the reasons outlined above. It underspent its Salaries and Compensation budget due to vacancies in budgeted positions.
  • DIT spent $18.1 million, or 5 percent, less than its budget. This was primarily attributable to underspending in the Outside Services Personnel and Equipment major expense categories for the reasons outlined above.
  • The Legal Division spent $17.8 million, or 11 percent, less than its budget.  This was attributable primarily to underspending of $9.4 million in its Salaries and Compensation budget due to the large number of vacancies in budgeted positions and underspending of its Outside Services-Personnel budget for the reasons outlined above.
  • CISR spent $17.4 million, or 17 percent, less than its budget.  This was primarily attributable to underspending of $8.9 million in its Salaries and Compensation budget due to vacancies in budgeted positions and underspending of $6.2 million in its Outside Services–Personnel budget for the reasons outlined above.
  • DRR spent $17.3 million, or 13 percent, less than its budget, including underspending of $14.0 million in the Receivership Funding budget component because there were no bank failures in 2021, which reduced spending for pre-closing and post-closing activities, accounting and tax services, and asset marketing and management.
  • DCP spent $17.0 million, or 9 percent, less than its budget.  This was primarily the result of underspending its Travel budget due to pandemic-related travel restrictions ($9.1 million) and its Salaries and Compensation budget due to vacancies in budgeted positions ($6.4 million).
  • FDITECH spent $9.1 million, or 58 percent, less than budgeted primarily due to contract delays for three pilot projects ($6 million), three Tech Sprints ($2 million) and a Web Content Management contract ($1 million).
  • DIR spent $7.7 million, or 12 percent, less than its budget. This was attributable primarily to underspending of $5.4 million in its Salaries and Compensation budget due to vacancies in budgeted positions.
  • The Office of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) spent $2.8 million, or 28 percent, less than its budget. This was due to delays in contracting for training services and lower-than-projected spending on interpreters and outreach events during the pandemic.
  • The Office of Risk Management and Internal Controls (ORMIC) spent $1.8 million, or 32 percent, less than its budget, primarily due to vacancies in budgeted positions.
  • The Office of Communications (OCOM) spent $1.0 million, or 12 percent, less than its budget, largely due to employee attrition and delays in filling positions supporting the new Virtual Outreach Center.

1Information on division/office variances reflects variances in the FDIC Operating Budget and does not include variances related to approved multi-year investment projects.