System Overview

The eDesignate system is the system of choice for the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the 94 United States Federal Court Districts to process designations and initiate the movement of prisoners to their incarceration location.

eDesignate delivers the necessary prisoner documents and data via a secure, electronic means to the BOP in one complete package enabling all agencies to monitor and provide relevant information, when needed. By effectively shortening the post-sentence process, eDesignate helps contain detention costs.

Working in partnership with the Federal Courts, USMS and BOP, eDesignate not only eliminated an antiquated, paper-based workflow process but also created the ability to automatically capture relevant detainee data from other agency systems.

To read more about eDesignate, please view the brochure Introducing eDesignate.

How eDesignate Works

To facilitate faster processing and reduce workload, the eDesignate system replaces paper-based mail with an electronic business process management alternative.

The eDesignate system collects:

• the Judgment and Commitment order
• Pre-Sentencing Investigation report
• Statement of Reasons
• USMS 129 data
• Detainers, and other designation data, as required

The electronic solution presents these documents in one complete designation package to the BOP, at a single point in time. The system also provides feedback mechanisms across agencies for faster case resolution.

Additionally, the eDesignate system not only provides users across agencies with a level of collaboration never before realized, but also enables managers to cross level workloads internally, monitor performance and audit status both internally and externally.

eDesignate Movement Request (eMove)

The OFDT eDesignate team is developing the eDesignate Movement Request (eMove) to complete the sentence to commitment process. eMove will provide USMS staff with the ability to continue the automated designation process already created in eDesignate by initiating movement requests to the Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System (JPATS). Adding the movement to commitment piece of the designation workflow serves to enhance and streamline the Federal Detainee Transportation process among participating agencies. This technology will provide management with the capability to monitor and effectivley reduce or contain the time from designation to commitment. Currently, an interagency working group, consisting of representatives from OFDT, JPATS and the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), is guiding the system development effort. eMove is being piloted by the Districts of Nevada, Maryland and Kansas. Future pilots will involve the Western and Southern District of Texas, followed by the remaining districts along the Southwest Border. At the conclusion of the pilot phase, eMove will be rolled out to all U.S. Federal Districts.

Customer Service

A customer support service team provides training, application technology support and development improvements. The team consists of service desk personnel, detention and designation Subject Matter Experts (SME) and dedicated eDesignate System trainers.  Contact information for the OFDT Service Desk can be found in the red box to the left.

Additionally, to serve its customers, the eDesignate team hosts a multi-agency working group which provides input to the designation process with feedback across agencies. This working group has been instrumental in providing input for the formulation of policies and procedures to standardize the designation process as well as determining effective metrics to monitor best performance.