Section II: Steps Taken to Ensure that Your Agency Has an Effective System in Place for Responding to Requests

DOJ’s FOIA Guidelines emphasize that “[a]pplication of the proper disclosure standard is only one part of ensuring transparency.  Open government requires not just a presumption of disclosure, but also an effective system for responding to FOIA requests.”  It is essential that agencies effectively manage their FOIA program.

Please answer the following questions to describe the steps your agency has taken to ensure that the management of your FOIA program is effective and efficient.  You should also include any additional information that that describes your agency's efforts in this area.

1. For Fiscal Year 2021, what was the average number of days your agency reported for adjudicating requests for expedited processing?  Please see Section VIII.A of your agency's Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report.

9.28

2. If your agency's average number of days to adjudicate requests for expedited processing was above ten calendar days, according to Section VIII.A. of your agency's Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report, please describe the steps your agency will take to ensure that requests for expedited processing are adjudicated within ten calendar days or less.

N/A

3. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 required all agencies to update their FOIA regulations within 180 days.  In 2016, OIP issued Guidance for Agency FOIA Regulations and the accompanying Template for Agency FOIA Regulations to assist agencies in updating their regulations in accordance with the statute.  Has your agency updated its FOIA regulations in accordance with the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016?  If not, what is your agency's plan to update your regulations?

Yes

4.  Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) generally document your agency’s internal processes for administering the FOIA beyond your FOIA regulations and FOIA Reference Guide.  As noted in OIP’s guidance, having SOPs can improve the consistency and quality of  an agency’s FOIA process.  SOPs can also serve as a significant resource for incoming FOIA professionals and a way to preserve much of the agency’s institutional knowledge on administering the FOIA from how to handle requests from start-to-finish, to identifying and making proactive disclosures, to maintaining a FOIA website. Does your agency have up-to-date internal SOPs for your FOIA administration?

Yes. HHS Operating Divisions utilize SOPs and Job Aides to guide staff in performing FOIA functions. These documents are reviewed on a regular basis.

5.  If not, please provide a timeline for when your agency plans to develop or update its SOPs.

N/A

6. Has your agency established alternative means of access to first-party requested records outside of the FOIA process?

Yes.

7. If yes, please provide examples. If no, please explain if such opportunities exist at your agency and whether there are any challenges in establishing alternative means of access.

Most first party requests submitted to OIG are regarding personnel records; OIG Office of Human Resources has processes for obtaining personnel records outside of FOIA.

CMS is constructing a Requester Portal that will enable requester to link to the “Blue Button” -an online document repository for Medicare records -which allows access through electronic self-identification for first party requesters.

IHS first-party requests for medical records, are directed to, and processed by, the facility where treatment was received and request the records.

FDA allows companies seeking their own inspection records and lab results to have non-FOIA mechanisms for obtaining the information.

8.  Did your agency conduct a self-assessment of its FOIA administration during the reporting period?  If so, please describe the self-assessment methods used, such as analyzing Annual Report or raw data, using active workflows and track management, reviewing and updating processing procedures, etc.  In addition, please specifically highlight any data analysis methods or technologies used to assess your agency's FOIA program.

ACL conducted a self-assessment as part of the annual data reporting.  ACL FOIA Office utilizes annual report data, prior year’s Chief FOIA Office Report, information gathered through the year from bi-weekly FOIA staff meetings, reports and dashboards from the new FOIA management system (CFMS), and information from bi-weekly meetings of the CFMS team.  The new system has report features and dashboards.

CMS conducted a self-assessment and as a result, conducted a transition from a Regional approach for requests to a more centralized approach with locations requests going to a single operating division.

HRSA’s focus was on the FOIA team, training, team building, and identifying if current resources were sufficient for FOIA processing.   A more detailed assessment is planned for FY 2022.

Additionally, to increase its efficiency, the HRSA FOIA Office revised some its internal procedures, such as, rotating FOIA intake duties; editing templates for consistency; formally delegating certain authority to the FOIA staff; requiring an internal peer/colleague review prior to responding to a requester (Acknowledgment, Interim and Final Reponses).


HRSA FOIA Office is working with their vendor to upgrade the capability of their FOIA processing software.

FDA components conducted self-assessments with the assistance of outside consultants. This work remains ongoing, and is focusing on technology solutions for tracking and processing requests.

OS FOIA reviewed its organization and made several adjustments to focus resources on specific areas of the FOIA process such as requests, appeals, and litigation. OS FOIA also developed a litigation tracker to evaluate the impact of FOIA on resources and future workload.

9.  The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires additional notification to requesters about the services provided by the agency’s FOIA Public Liaison.  Please provide an estimate of the number of times requesters sought assistance from your agency’s FOIA Public Liaison during FY 2021 (please provide a total number or an estimate of the number).

Approximately 500 emails per year.

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

  • NIH FOIA requested additional staffing and is in the process of searching for money to cover the additional staff before posting job announcements.
  • OS FOIA instituted new metrics to track and triage its workload to help identify and monetize its workload needs for requests and appeals.  It developed a separate litigation tracker to track litigations with the goal of identifying and justifying future staffing needs.
  • OIG added an additional part-time contractor
  • ACL’s FOIA Team conducted a staffing review and received leadership approval for an additional employee, contingent upon the FY 2022 budget request passing Congress.
  • CMS incorporated a temporary technical adviser position into the structure of the Freedom of Information Group.
  • IHS identified a need for an additional employee based on the backlog, current and future workload assessments.  This position is now filled. 

11. Optional -- Please describe:

  • Best practices used to ensure that your FOIA system operates efficiently and effectively
  • Any challenges your agency faces in this area.
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