In the next few weeks, both the Federal Trade Commission and

1. ‘Both’ is part of the co-relative conjunction both X and Y; so and is integral in this context. 2. Both should modify the FTC and the CD and nothing else; Best to keep it at the head 3. “but”, is required only when the second arm has to differ from the first arm. 4. SV agreement

A) both the Federal Trade Commission and the Commerce Department is planning to release independent, and possibly conflicting --- SV number agreement problem. Gone

B) the Federal Trade Commission and the Commerce Department are both planning to release independent, and possibly conflicting …. Placement of [color=#0000FF]both is wrong … looks like it is modifying planning [/color]
C)the Federal Trade Commission and the Commerce Department both are planning to release independent, but possibly conflicting …… use of but without a marked contrast is questionable; an independent report can be conflicting naturally.
D) both the Federal Trade Commission as well as the Commerce Department are planning to release independent, and possibly conflicting … both … as well as – wrong idiom.
E) both the Federal Trade Commission and the Commerce Department are planning to release independent, and possibly conflicting … all the above errors addressed and fixed. Right choice.