generated: '2026-09-09'
method: probed
source: live probes of www.fmcs.gov, fmcs.gov and arbitration.fmcs.gov (2026-09-09)
versioning:
  scheme: namespace-in-path
  current: wp/v2
  docs: null
  policy_url: null
  note: >-
    The version is the WordPress namespace and moves with the site's WordPress and plugin upgrades. FMCS
    publishes no versioning policy, makes no compatibility commitment, and gives no notice of change. The
    route index simultaneously advertises four Event Espresso namespace versions (ee/v4.8.29, v4.8.33,
    v4.8.34, v4.8.36), which is a plugin compatibility shim rather than an FMCS versioning decision.
deprecation:
  policy_url: null
  sunset_header: false
  deprecation_header: false
  note: >-
    No deprecation policy, no RFC 8594 Sunset or Deprecation headers, no announcement channel. No
    Deprecation pointer is wired in apis.yml, because no deprecation policy exists.
sla:
  url: null
  uptime_target: null
status_page: null
status_page_note: >-
  FMCS publishes no status page. status.fmcs.gov does not resolve. No StatusPage pointer is wired in
  apis.yml.
deprecated_operations: []
change_signal:
  best_available: 'the modified_gmt field on each record, and the sitemap lastmod timestamps'
  changelog: null
  rss:
    url: https://www.fmcs.gov/feed/
    status: 200
    items: 10
    newest_item: '2020-12-08'
    note: >-
      The RSS feed is live and valid but effectively dormant — 10 items, newest dated December 2020. It is
      NOT a usable change signal for this site. The blog-style post type is a historical timeline, not a
      news stream.
  sitemap:
    url: https://www.fmcs.gov/sitemap_index.xml
    status: 200
    child_sitemaps: 10
    lastmod_observed:
      - {sitemap: page-sitemap.xml, lastmod: '2026-09-02'}
      - {sitemap: attachment-sitemap.xml, lastmod: '2026-09-02'}
      - {sitemap: post-sitemap.xml, lastmod: '2026-01-29'}
      - {sitemap: wpbdp_listing-sitemap.xml, lastmod: '2023-08-22'}
      - {sitemap: espresso_events-sitemap.xml, lastmod: '2025-01-08'}
      - {sitemap: espresso_people-sitemap.xml, lastmod: '2016-07-25'}
    note: >-
      The sitemap lastmod values are the most honest freshness map of this site: pages and attachments move
      weekly (the monthly F-7 workbook upload is what drives attachment churn), posts move rarely, and the
      neutrals directory has not been touched since August 2023.
  recommended_polling:
    - {collection: /wp/v2/media, param: 'modified_after', cadence: monthly, reason: 'new F-7 notice workbooks and FOIA reports are uploaded here'}
    - {collection: /wp/v2/pages, param: 'modified_after', cadence: weekly, reason: 'programme and services pages are the actively maintained content'}
publication_cadence:
  f7_notices:
    frequency: monthly
    format: xlsx
    location: 'https://www.fmcs.gov/resources/documents-and-data/'
    coverage_observed: 'FY2018 through July 2026'
    note: >-
      The agency's flagship dataset. Statutory collective bargaining notices under 29 U.S.C. 158(d),
      published as one Excel workbook per month with a separate file-layout document. There is no API, no
      CSV, no JSON and no bulk endpoint — the workbooks are wp-content uploads, individually addressable
      through the catalogued media collection but not queryable.
  foia_reports:
    frequency: quarterly and annual
    formats: [pdf, xml, csv, xlsx]
    note: 'The FOIA annual reports are the only FMCS publications that ship a machine-readable XML and CSV twin alongside the PDF.'
  per_diem_rates:
    frequency: 'roughly quarterly'
    format: pdf
    note: Arbitrator per-diem rate sheets.
gated_systems:
  note: >-
    FMCS's transactional surfaces are login-gated applications on separate hosts with no public contract.
    They are recorded here because their absence, not their presence, is the finding.
  systems:
    - name: FMCS Arbitration System
      url: https://arbitration.fmcs.gov/
      status: 200
      landing: https://arbitration.fmcs.gov/login.aspx
      platform: 'ASP.NET WebForms'
      contract: none
      probes:
        - {url: 'https://arbitration.fmcs.gov/swagger/v1/swagger.json', status: 404}
        - {url: 'https://arbitration.fmcs.gov/openapi.json', status: 404}
        - {url: 'https://arbitration.fmcs.gov/api/', status: 404}
        - {url: 'https://arbitration.fmcs.gov/Service.asmx?wsdl', status: 200, note: 'HTTP 200 but the body is the application''s themed ASP.NET error page, not a WSDL; a control request to a service name that cannot exist returns the identical 1,245-byte body. Not a SOAP contract.'}
        - {url: 'https://arbitration.fmcs.gov/service.svc?wsdl', status: 404}
    - name: F-7 online notice filing
      url: https://www.fmcs.gov/resources/documents-and-data/filing_an_f-7_online/
      status: 200
      contract: none
      note: >-
        Since 5 April 2022 FMCS accepts F-7 notices ONLY through the online portal — paper, fax, mail and
        email were withdrawn. That makes the filing path digital-only and still API-less: a party with
        hundreds of agreements has no programmatic way to file, and no machine-readable receipt.
absent_developer_surface:
  probed:
    - {url: 'https://www.fmcs.gov/developer/', status: 404}
    - {url: 'https://www.fmcs.gov/api/', status: 404}
    - {url: 'https://www.fmcs.gov/open-government/', status: 404}
    - {url: 'https://www.fmcs.gov/opengov/', status: 404}
    - {url: 'https://www.fmcs.gov/digital-strategy/', status: 404}
    - {url: 'https://api.fmcs.gov/', status: 0, note: 'no DNS'}
    - {url: 'https://data.fmcs.gov/', status: 0, note: 'no DNS'}
    - {url: 'https://developer.fmcs.gov/', status: 0, note: 'no DNS'}
  note: >-
    No developer portal, no API documentation, no open-government or digital-strategy page. FMCS does name
    a Chief Data Officer and a data contact (data@fmcs.gov) on https://www.fmcs.gov/data/ — that page is
    the closest the agency comes to a data programme, and it points at documents rather than at an API.