OIPGuidelines for 2012 Chief FOIA Officer ReportsContent of 2012 Chief FOIA Officer ReportsTime frame for ReportUnless otherwise noted, your 2012 Chief FOIA Officer Report should address agencyactivities that have occurred since the filing of last year’s Report, which was March 8, 2011, up until the filing of the 2012 Report, which will be March 12, 2012. Thus, the general reporting period for the Chief FOIA Officer Reports is March 2011 to March 2012.Name and Title of Agency Chief FOIA Officer:Section I: Steps Taken to Apply the Presumption of OpennessThe guiding principle underlying the President's FOIA Memorandum and the AttorneyGeneral's FOIA Guidelines is the presumption of openness.Describe the steps your agency has taken to ensure that the presumption of openness isbeing applied to all decisions involving the FOIA. To do so, you should answer the questions listed below and then include any additional information you would like to describe how your agency is working to apply the presumption of openness.1. Did your agency hold an agency FOIA conference, or otherwise conducttraining during this reporting period?Answer:2. Did your FOIA professionals attend any FOIA training, such as that providedby the Department of Justice?Answer:In his 2009 FOIA Guidelines, the Attorney General strongly encouraged agencies to makediscretionary releases of information even when the information might be technically exempt from disclosure under the FOIA. OIP encourages agencies to make such discretionary releases whenever there is no foreseeable harm from release.3. Did your agency make any discretionary releases of otherwise exemptinformation?Answer:4. What exemptions would have covered the information that was released as amatter of discretion?Answer:5. Describe your agency’s process to review records to determine whetherdiscretionary releases are possible.Answer:6. Describe any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure that thepresumption of openness is being applied.Answer:In Section V.B.(1) of your agency’s Annual FOIA Report, entitled “Disposition of FOIARequests – All Processed Requests” the first two columns list the “Number of Full Grants” and the “Number of Partial Grants/Partial Denials.” Compare your agency’s 2011 Annual FOIA Report with last year’s Annual FOIA Report, and answer the following questions:7. Did your agency have an increase in the number of responses where recordswere released in full?Answer:8. Did your agency have an increase in the number of responses where recordswere released in part?Answer:Section II: Steps Taken to Ensure that Your Agency Has anEffective System in Place f or Responding to RequestsAs the Attorney General emphasized in his FOIA Guidelines, "[a]pplication of the properdisclosure 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."This section should include a discussion of how your agency has addressed the key rolesplayed by the broad spectrum of agency personnel who work with FOIA professionals in responding to requests, including, in particular, steps taken to ensure that FOIA professionals have sufficient IT support.Describe here the steps your agency has taken to ensure that its system for responding torequests is effective and efficient. To do so, answer the questions below and then include any additional information that you would like to describe how your agency ensures that your FOIA system is efficient and effective.1. Do FOIA professionals within your agency have sufficient IT support?Answer:2. Is there regular interaction between agency FOIA professionals and the ChiefFOIA Officer?Answer:3. Do your FOIA professionals work with your agency’s Open Government Team?Answer:4. Describe the steps your agency has taken to assess whether adequate staffing isbeing devoted to FOIA administration.Answer:5. Describe any other the steps your agency has undertaken to ensure that your FOIAsystem operates efficiently and effectively.Answer:Section III: Steps Taken to Increase Proactive DisclosuresBoth the President and Attorney General focused on the need for agencies to workproactively to post information online without waiting for individual requests to be received.Describe here the steps your agency has taken both to increase the amount of material thatis available on your agency website, and the usability of such information, including providing examples of proactive disclosures that have been made during this past reporting period (i.e., from March 2011 to March 2012). In doing so, answer the questions listed below and describe any additional steps taken by your agency to make and improve proactive disclosures of information.1. Has your agency added new material to your website since last year?Answer:2. Provide examples of the records, datasets, videos, etc, that have been posted thispast year.Answer:3. Describe the system your agency uses to routinely identify records that areappropriate for posting.Answer:4. Beyond posting new material, is your agency taking steps to make the informationmore useful to the public, especially to the community of individuals who regularly access your agency’s website, such as soliciting feedback on the content and presentation of the posted material, improving search capabilities, providing explanatory material, etc.?Answer:5. Describe any other steps taken to increase proactive disclosures at your agency.Answer:Section IV: Steps Taken to Greater Utilize TechnologyA key component of the President's FOIA Memorandum was the direction to "use moderntechnology to inform citizens about what is known and done by their Government." In addition to using the internet to make proactive disclosures, agencies should also be exploring ways to utilize technology in responding to requests. In 2010 and 2011, agencies reported widespread use of technology in handling FOIA requests. For 2012, the questions have been further refined andnow also address different, more innovative aspects of technology use.Electronic receipt of FOIA requests:1. Can FOIA requests be made electronically to your agency?Answer:2. If your agency processes requests on a decentralized basis, do all components ofyour agency receive requests electronically?Answer:Online tracking of FOIA requests:3. Can a FOIA requester track the status of his/her request electronically?Answer:4. If not, is your agency taking steps to establish this capability?Answer:Use of technology to facilitate processing of requests:5. Beyond using technology to redact documents, is your agency taking steps toutilize more advanced technology to facilitate overall FOIA efficiency, such as improving record search capabilities, utilizing document sharing platforms for consultations and referrals, or employing software that can sort and de-duplicate documents?Answer:6. If so, describe the technological improvements being made.Answer:Section V: Steps Taken to Improve Timeliness in Responding toRequests and Reduce BacklogsThe President and the Attorney General have emphasized the importance of improvingtimeliness in responding to requests. This section addresses both time limits and backlog reduction. Backlog reduction is measured both in terms of numbers of backlogged requests or appeals and by looking at whether agencies closed their ten oldest requests and appeals. For the figures required in this Section, please use those contained in the specified sections of your agency’s 2011 Annual FOIA Report.1. Section VII.A of your agency’s Annual FOIA Report, entitled “FOIA Requests –Response Time for All Processed Requests,” includes figures that show your agency's average response times for processed requests. For agencies utilizing a multi-track system to process requests, there is a category for “simple” requests, which are those requests that are placed in the agency’s fastest (non-expedited) track, based on the low volume and/or simplicity of the records requested. If your agency does not utilize a separate track for processing simple requests, answer the question below using the figure provided in your report for your non-expedited requests.a. Does your agency utilize a separate track for simple requests?Answer:b. If so, for your agency overall, for Fiscal Year 2011, was the averagenumber of days to process simple requests twenty working days or fewer?Answer:c. If your agency does not track simple requests separately, was the averagenumber of days to process non-expedited requests twenty working days or fewer?Answer:2. Sections XII.D.(2) and XII.E.(2) of your agency’s Annual FOIA Report, entitled“Comparison of Numbers of Requests/Appeals from Previous and Current Annual Report – Backlogged Requests/Appeals,” show the numbers of any backlog of pending requests or pending appeals from Fiscal Year 2011 as compared to Fiscal Year 2010. You should refer to those numbers when completing this section of your Chief FOIA Officer Report. In addition, Section VII.E, entitled “Pending Requests – Ten Oldest Pending Requests,” and Section VI.C.(5), entitled “Ten Oldest Pending Administrative Appeals,” from both Fiscal Year 2010 and Fiscal Year 2011 should be used for this section.a. If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2011,did that backlog decrease as compared with Fiscal Year 2010?Answer:b. If your agency had a backlog of administrative appeals in Fiscal Year 2011,did that backlog decrease as compared to Fiscal Year 2010?Answer:c. In Fiscal Year 2011, did your agency close the ten oldest requests that werepending as of the end of Fiscal Year 2010?Answer:d. In Fiscal Year 2011, did your agency close the ten oldest administrativeappeals that were pending as of the end of Fiscal Year 2010?Answer:3. If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, describe why that hasoccurred. In doing so, answer the following questions then include any additional explanation:Request Backlog:a. Was the lack of a reduction in the request backlog a result of an increase inthe number of incoming requests?Answer:b. Was the lack of a reduction in the request backlog caused by a loss of staff?Answer:c. Was the lack of a reduction in the request backlog caused by an increase inthe complexity of the requests received?Answer:d. What other causes, if any, contributed to the lack of a decrease in therequest backlog?Answer:Administrative Appeal Backlog:a. Was the lack of a reduction in the backlog of administrative appeals a resultof an increase in the number of incoming appeals?Answer:b. Was the lack of a reduction in the appeal backlog caused by a loss of staff?Answer:c. Was the lack of a reduction in the appeal backlog caused by in increase inthe complexity of the appeals received?Answer:d. What other causes, if any, contributed to the lack of a decrease in theappeal backlog?Answer:All agencies should strive to both reduce any existing backlogs or requests and appealsand to improve their timeliness in responding to requests and appeals. Describe the steps your agency is taking to make improvements in those areas. In doing so, answer the following questions and then also include any other steps being taken to reduce backlogs and to improve timeliness.1. Does your agency routinely set goals and monitor the progress of your FOIAcaseload?Answer:2. Has your agency increased its FOIA staffing?Answer:3. Has your agency made IT improvements to increase timeliness?Answer:4. If your agency receives consultations from other agencies, has your agency takensteps to improve the efficiency of the handling of such consultations, such as utilizing IT to share the documents, or establishing guidelines or agreements with other agencies on the handling of particular information to speed up or eliminate the need for consultations?Answer:Use of FOIA’s Law Enf orcement “Exclusions”In order to increase transparency regarding the use of the FOIA’s statutory lawenforcement exclusions, which authorize agencies under certain exceptional circumstances to “treat the records as not subject to the requirements of [the FOIA],” 5 U.S.C. § 552(c)(1), (2), (3), please answer the following questions:1. Did your agency invoke a statutory exclusion during Fiscal Year 2011?Answer:2. If so, what is the total number of times exclusions were invoked?Answer:Spotlight on SuccessOut of all the activities undertaken by your agency since March 2011 to increasetransparency and improve FOIA administration, describe here one success story that you would like to highlight as emblematic of your agency’s efforts.Success Story (Stories):