I. Name, title, address, and telephone number of person(s) to be contacted with
questions about the report.
Dorothy Hinden
Freedom of Information Officer
Rural Development, USDA
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
STOP 0742
Washington, DC 20250-0742
Tel. No. (202) 692-0031
II. How to Make a FOIA Request (TO BE ANSWERED BY THE DEPARTMENT'S FOIA OFFICER)
A. Brief description of the agency's response-time ranges.
B. Brief description of why some requests are not granted.
III. Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report
A. Agency-specific acronyms or other terms.
B. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology.
1. FOIA/PA request - Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request.
A FOIA request is generally a request for access to records concerning
a third party, an organization, or a particular topic of interest. A Privacy
Act request is a request for records concerning oneself; such requests
are also treated as FOIA requests. (All requests for access to records,
regardless of which law is cited by the requester, are included in this
report.)
2. Initial Request - a request to a federal agency for access to records
under the Freedom of Information Act.
3. Appeal - a request to a federal agency asking that it review at a higher
administrative level a full denial or partial denial of access to records
under the Freedom of Information Act, or any other FOIA determination
such as a matter pertaining to fees.
4. Processed Request or Appeal - a request or appeal for which an agency
has taken a final action on the request or the appeal in all respects.
5. Multi-track processing - a system in which simple requests requiring
relatively minimal review are placed in one processing track and more
voluminous and complex requests are placed in one or more other
tracks. Requests in each track are processed on a first-in/first-out basis.
A requester who has an urgent need for records may request expedited
processing.
6. Expedited processing - an agency will process a FOIA request on an
expedited basis when a requester has shown an exceptional need or
urgency for the records which warrants prioritization of his or her
request over other requests that were made earlier.
7. Simple request - a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track
processing places in its fastest (nonexpedited) track based on the
volume and/or simplicity of records requested.
8. Complex request - a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track
processing places in a slower track based on the volume and/or
complexity of records requested.
9. Grant - an agency decision to disclose all records in full in response
to a FOIA request.
10. Partial grant - an agency decision to disclose a record in part in
response to a FOIA request, deleting information determined to
be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions; or a
decision to disclose some records in their entireties, but to
withhold others in whole or in part.
11. Denial - an agency decision not to release any part of a record or
records in response to a FOIA request because all the information
in the requested records is determined by the agency to be exempt
under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions, or for some
procedural reason (because no record is located in response to a
FOIA request).
12. Time limits - the time period in the Freedom of Information Act
for an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily 20 working
days from proper receipt of a "perfected" FOIA request).
13. "Perfected" request - a FOIA request for records which adequately
describes the records sought, which has been received by the FOIA
office of the agency or agency component in possession of the
records, and for which there is no remaining question about the
payment of applicable fees.
14. Exemption 3 statute - a separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure
of a certain type of information and authorizing its withholding under
FOIA subsection (b)(3).
15. Median number - the middle, not average, number. For example,
of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.
16. Average number - the number obtained by dividing the sum of a
group of numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group. For example,
3, 7, and 14, the average number is 8.
IV. Exemption 3 Statutes:
A. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by agency during current fiscal year.
1. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each
statute.
National Defense Authorization Act for FY 1997, coded at
41 U.S.C. 253b(m): Provided blanket protection for the
proposals of unsuccessful offerors submitted in response
to a solicitation for a competitive proposal.
2. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of each statute. If so,
then cite example. N.A.
V. Initial FOIA/Privacy Act Access Requests
Includes all access requests, whether first party or third party.
A. Number of initial requests.
[Total of the numbers in Lines 1 and 2, minus the number in Line 3, should
equal the number in Line 4.]
1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding
fiscal year 12
2. Number of requests received during current fiscal
year 291
3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal
year 265
4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal
year 38 (Enter this number also in Line VII. B. 1.)
B. Disposition of initial requests
1. Number of total grants 202
2. Number of partial grants 34
3. Number of denials 16
a. number of times each FOIA exemption used
(counting each exemption once per request).
(1) Exemption 2 ______
(2) Exemption 3 1
(3) Exemption 4 13
(4) Exemption 5 1
(5) Exemption 6 4
(6) Exemption 7(A) ______
(7) Exemption 7(B) ______
(8) Exemption 7(C) ______
(9) Exemption 7(D) ______
(10) Exemption 7(E) ______
(11) Exemption 7(F) ______
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 46
a. no records 33
b. referrals 9
c. request withdrawn 4
d. fee-related reason _____
e. records not reasonably described _____
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason ______
g. not an agency record _______
h. duplicate request ______
i. other (specify) ______
VI. Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests
Includes all access requests, whether first party or third party.
A. Number of Appeals.
1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year 9
2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year 4
B. Disposition of appeals.
1. Number completely upheld 1
2. Number partially reversed N.A.
3. Number completely reversed 2
a. number of times each FOIA exemption used
(counting each exemption once per appeal)
(1) Exemption 2 _____
(2) Exemption 3 _____
(3) Exemption 4 1
(4) Exemption 5 _____
(5) Exemption 6 _____
(6) Exemption 7(A) _____
(7) Exemption 7(B) _____
(8) Exemption 7(C) _____
(9) Exemption 7(D) _____
(10) Exemption 7(E) _____
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 2
a. no records 1
b. referrals _______
c. request withdrawn 1
d. fee-related reason _______
e. records not reasonably described _______
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason _______
g. not an agency record _______
h. duplicate request _______
i. other (specify) _______
VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests
A. Median processing time for requests processed during the year.
1. Simple requests (if multiple tracks used). N.A.
a. number of requests processed ______
b. median number of days to process ______
2. Complex requests (specify for any and all tracks used).
a. number of requests processed 265
b. median number of days to process 7
3. Requests accorded expedited processing. N.A.
a. number of requests processed ______
b. median number of days to process ______
B. Status of pending requests.
1. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year 38
(Enter this number from Line V. A. 4.)
2. Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that
date 56
VIII. Comparisons with Previous Years(s) (Since this is Optional, I did not fill it out)
IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing
A. Staffing levels.
1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel N.A.
2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties
(in total work -years) 1 year 4 months 17 days 2 hours
3. Total number of personnel (in work-years) 1 year 4 months 17 days 2 hours
B. Total costs (including staff and all resources).
1. FOIA processing (including appeals) $86,231.15
2. Litigation -- related activities (estimated) N.A.
3. Total costs: $86,231.15
X. Fees
This includes charges for search, review, document duplication, and any other
direct costs permitted under agency regulations.]
A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests
$3,733.38
B. Percentage of total costs 4.3%
XI. AGENCY FOIA REGULATIONS (including Fee Schedule):
