NGP VAN Rolls Out New AI Compliance Review Tool

Democratic voter data giant NGP VAN is rolling out a new artificial intelligence feature designed to detect potential errors and compliance issues in campaign finance disclosures. 

The feature, Disclosure Inspector, is intended to provide additional support to campaign treasurers and compliance professionals before finance reports are filed with the Federal Election Commission. The goal, according to NGP VAN’s General Manager Chelsea Peterson, is to free campaigns up from the often onerous process of reviewing paperwork. 

“The launch of Disclosure Inspector is part of our continued investment in building smarter, more efficient tools that reduce the burden of compliance and administrative tasks and give Democratic and progressive campaigns more time to focus on winning,” Peterson said in a statement.

The feature is currently in a closed beta-testing phase by a small group of users, the company said.

Disclosure Inspector marks the latest effort by NGP VAN to ramp up its data tech offerings. In January, the company announced a seven-figure investment in a push to modernize and expand its application programming interfaces, or APIs, that effectively allow users to access NGP VAN’s data and integrate them into their own organizing tech. 

That investment came alongside the creation of a new unionized API and data products team that will focus on expanding NGP VAN’s API capabilities and creating new data products, the company said.

NGP VAN has long offered compliance support as part of its suite of campaign tools. But the complicated and often-arcane nature of campaign finance compliance means that campaigns are still often subjected to requests for additional information – or RFAIs – from the FEC. 

Disclosure Inspector, according to NGP VAN’s Senior Vice President of Customer Strategy Louis Levine, is intended to review disclosures for potential issues that aren’t as easily flagged by existing tools. 

In other words, Levine said in a statement, Disclosure Inspector adds a “new layer of review that surfaces potential concerns earlier and simplifies the feedback loop between compliance and legal teams, so issues can be resolved faster, before submission.”