Section IV: Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology

A key component of FOIA administration is using technology to make information available to the public and to gain efficiency in FOIA processing.  The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines emphasize the importance of making FOIA websites easily navigable and complying with the FOIA.gov interoperability requirements.  Please answer the following questions to describe how your agency is using technology to improve its FOIA administration and the public's access to information.

1. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA-related technological capabilities to identify resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands?

Yes

2. Please briefly describe any new types of technology your agency uses to support your FOIA program.

OS FOIA began to use its FOIA case management system as a tool to improve the accuracy of processing time data for each FOIA request, appeal, and litigation production.  OS FOIA intends to use that information to calculate average processing times and identify any potential inefficiencies in the FOIA process.

CMS FOIA invested resources to prioritize the creation of a direct interface between its FOIA on-line check status feature and its FOIA internal tracking system to avoid any disruption in the public’s ability to check the status of their FOIA request as a result of the decommissioning of the agency’s web based IServ application.  CMS also began to explore the enhanced use of advanced redaction tools and artificial intelligence (AI) to assist with FOIA requests.  CMS further enhanced its digital mail capability by allowing better tracking of digital mail and a return function that now allows pre-payment of FOIA fees, including the proper disposition of checks.  Furthermore, CMS made significant progress with Treasury and the Federal Reserve to enable requesters to pay FOIA fee electronically using Pay.gov.  CMS anticipates launching that capability during the second quarter of FY ’24.

FDA is in the process of transitioning from its current FOIA case management system to a new system that can be used for both tracking and redaction.  FDA expects the transition to its new case management system to occur in late 2024.  In addition, FDA is expanding its use of eDiscovery tools to process FOIA requests.

IHS has acquired software that can be used to redact videos and has explored using records management software to process FOIA requests.  IHS has also adapted existing technologies that it uses for the purpose of de-duplicating emails.

NIH has considered numerous commercial off-the-shelf products as part of its process of exploring technological alternatives or add-ons to its current products to maximize the agency’s FOIA productivity.  Recently, NIH implemented a program that can detect when the agency’ case management system is down and allows the agency to expedite the process for contacting the agency’s FOIA case management provider to remediate the problem.

OIG acquired a new FOIA case management system and is in the process of transitioning to that system.  This system will provide efficiencies to OIG’s FOIA program and make it easier to send reports to the Department.

3.  Does your agency currently use any technology to automate record processing?  For example, does your agency use machine learning, predictive coding, technology assisted review or similar tools to conduct searches or make redactions?  If so, please describe and, if possible, estimate how much time and financial resources are saved since implementing the technology.

OS FOIA uses a tracking system with eDiscovery capabilities, including the ability to identify duplicate and “near duplicate” records and conduct advanced searches to quickly uncover responsive terms in large document sets.  This system also has a “find and redact” feature that allows the reviewer to identify common information that is routinely redacted from records (i.e., personally identifiable information).

CMS’s public portal has significantly streamlined the intake process.  Updates were made to the portal to interface with CMS’s FOIA case management system, which has improved search capabilities.  CMS also leverages commercial eDiscovery tools to conduct email record searches and to identify and deduplicate documents for litigation cases.

FDA uses commercial eDiscovery tools for the processing of litigation cases.

NIH is in the process of acquiring video software that automatically tracks and identifies certain features such as faces in a video recording and redacts them for the duration of the video.

4.  OIP issued guidance in 2017 encouraging agencies to regularly review their FOIA websites to ensure that they contain essential resources and are informative and user-friendly.  Has your agency reviewed its FOIA website(s) during the reporting period to ensure it addresses the elements noted in the guidance?

Yes.  HHS FOIA Offices review their agency’s FOIA websites on a regular basis to ensure that these websites contain up to date FOIA libraries; instructions for making a request or inquiring about an existing request; the most recent reports related to the administration of FOIA; and helpful FOIA resources including links to the FOIA statute, the Department’s FOIA regulations, and the DOJ FOIA Guide.  These websites are also regularly updated to reflect changes in the FOIA process or new contact information, and to make sure that all links are up to date.  Furthermore, all OpDivs contain a clear link to their respective FOIA websites on their agency homepages.

5. Did all four of your agency's quarterly reports for Fiscal Year 2023 appear on FOIA.gov?

Yes.

6.  If your agency did not successfully post all quarterly reports on FOIA.gov, please explain why and provide your agency’s plan for ensuring that such reporting is successful in Fiscal Year 2024.

N/A

7.  The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires all agencies to post the raw statistical data used to compile their Annual FOIA Reports.  Please provide the link to this posting for your agency’s Fiscal Year 2022 Annual FOIA Report and, if available, for your agency’s Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report.

https://www.hhs.gov/foia/reports/annual-reports/fy-2022-raw-data.html

8. In February 2019, DOJ and OMB issued joint Guidance establishing interoperability standards to receive requests from the National FOIA Portal on FOIA.gov.  Are all components of your agency in compliance with the guidance?

Almost all HHS agencies are compliant with the 2019 guidance establishing interoperability standards for receiving requests from the National FOIA Portal on FOIA.gov.  OS, ACF and ACL temporarily switched to receiving requests from the National FOIA Portal through email instead of application programing interface (API) due to technical errors. OS has since restored the API capability and estimates that this impacted fewer than 150 requests, which were received via email rather than through the API interface.  ACF and ACL plan to restore API capability once all technical issues have been resolved, to the extent the issues persist.  The OIG has recently acquired a new FOIA case management system that interacts with FOIA.gov and plans to be fully interoperable with the National FOIA Portal when its case management system goes live later this year.  Once that occurs, all HHS agencies will be fully interoperable.

9. Optional -- Please describe the best practices used in greater utilizing technology and any challenges your agency faces in this area.

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