Freedom of Information Act FY 2010 Annual Report

Changes This Year OPEN Government Act in 2007 added many more calculations to the FOIA Annual Report starting in FY08 (last years report) No new information this year We have designed a new template for the component annual report More guidance included Re-formatted for better understanding

Annual Report Template Section 1: Consultations Section 2: Annual Production Rates Section 3: Disposition of All Incoming Processed Requests Section 4: Number of Times Exemptions Applied Sections 5-7: Processed (Closed) Requests Section 8: Pending (Open) Requests Sections 9-13: Appeals and Annual Production Rates Section 14: Requests for Expedited Processing Section 15: Requests for Fee Waivers Sections 16-18: Personnel, Costs and Fees Collected

GENERAL GUIDANCE POINTS Do not include any requests processed exclusively under the Privacy Act Consultations should be tracked separately from initial requests Data for initial requests must be categorized into Simple, Complex, Expedited and Non-Perfected Any request received and closed on the same day, Processing Time is 1 or <1. NOTE: 0 is not allowed in these calculations All Days Pending calculations for open requests are from the date received through the end of the Fiscal Year (9/30/2010) NOT the day the report is completed.

GENERAL GUIDANCE POINTS Each processed initial request may have only 1 (one) disposition recorded Priority of dispositions is with information released, and then appeal rights: Full Grant or Partial Grant/Partial Denial Denied in Full based on exemptions No Records All other reasons Example 1: A FOIA request was granted in part, while the rest was referred, the disposition recorded would be Partial Grant. Example 2: An office responded to a FOIA request with a No Records response and referred the case to another office, the disposition would be recorded as No Records.

Section 1: Consultations Definition: Procedure whereby the agency responding to a FOIA requests first forwards a record to another agency (or component) for its review This is the only section in which Consultations should be counted. As reported in previous FY Pending request at start of FY

Section 1: Consultations 1.a.1 and 1.a.2 should be the same number (end-of-year = beginning of year) If not, explanation is needed (case reopened, error in last years report, etc) 1.a a.3 – 1.a.4 must equal 1.a.5 Example: – 13 = 1 1.c: Number of days pending from the date of receipt to 9/30/2010 (end of FY) /19/

Section 1: Consultations Examples of Errors from Last Year /11/08 5

Section 2: Annual Production Rates All purported FOIA requests Includes both perfected and non-perfected, initial FOIA requests Do not count Privacy Act requests or Consultations 2.a.3: Include requests pending over 20 working days If any numbers from last fiscal year changed please note them here

Section 2: Annual Production Rates If there are any adjustments in reported numbers, explain in 2.d Case was incorrectly excluded from last years report as a Privacy Act request of the 19 DHS components reported adjustments in their numbers last year! 11 due to reporting errors in FY07

Section 2: Annual Production Rates 2.b.1 and 2.b.2 should be the same number If not, explanation is needed (case reopened, error in last years report, etc) 2.b b.3 – 2.b.4 must equal 2.b.5 Example: – 854 = Two cases reopened

Section 2: Annual Production Rates Examples of Errors from Last Year (not in last years report) =1044

Section 3: Disposition of Incoming Request Break down of all purported requests from Section 2 3.c Total should equal Number of Requests Processed in Section 2 Provide the number of request dispositions for each applicable column Only one disposition may be recorded per request Dispositions in 3.b should only be selected if the request cannot be counted in one of the three columns in 3.a

Section 3: Disposition of Incoming Request 3.c is the sum of categories in 3.a and 3.b and must equal the total amount of request processed in FY 2010 (same number as 2.b.4) =

Section 3: Disposition of Incoming Request Provide descriptions of other reasons used for full denials and the total number of times each reason was relied upon in 3.d The total must match the number provided in 3.b Aggregated requests Classification Review Follow up

Section 3: Disposition of Incoming Request Examples of Errors from Last Year N/A = N/A32

Section 4: Exemptions Applied For each request, report all exemptions applied Report each exemption only once per request

Section 4: Exemptions Applied List the statutes cited for any (b)(3) exemptions 4.c must be the same number as 4.a (b)(3)

Section 5: Processed Perfected Requests This section should include perfected requests categorized into Simple, Complex, and Expedited Unless your components uses more than 3 tracks Do not count Privacy Act requests, Consultations, or Non-Perfected requests Non Perfected requests Not Reasonably Described (3.b.5) Improper Requests (3.b.6) Some Fee-Related Issues (3.b.4) Processing Time is defined as the number of business days from the date of receipt to the date the case was closed If the request was received and closed on the same day, the Processing Time is 1 or <1

Section 5: Processed Perfected Simple Requests In 5.b. provide the lowest, highest, median and average of all perfected processed simple requests In 5.e. provide the number of days to process all perfected simple requests The data used to calculate 5.b. should be used to calculate 5.e Supply raw data of processing times for all Simple processed requests in a separate file

Section 5: Processed Perfected Simple Requests Examples of Errors from Last Year The raw data (5.a) did not match the numbers reported in this section should be a list of 541 numbers highest number should be 108 lowest number should be

Section 5: Processed Perfected Simple Requests In 5.d. provide the lowest, highest, median and average of all perfected simple requests in which information was Granted in Full or Granted in Part 5.c. asks for the raw data of this section

Section 6: Processed Perfected Complex Requests and Section 7: Processed Perfected Expedited Requests Identical to Section 5 (Processed Perfected Simple Requests)

Section 6: Processed Perfected Complex Requests and Section 7: Processed Perfected Expedited Requests

Section 8: Pending (Open) Requests Provide the number of perfected requests pending in each processing track The sum of the number of pending simple, complex and expedited requests should equal the total number pending as listed in 2.b.5 Exception: if there are open Non-Perfected requests Provide the median and average number of days those requests

Section 8: Pending (Open) Requests Provide the dates of receipt and number of days pending for the ten oldest pending, perfected requests Days pending is defined as the number of business days from the date of receipt to the end of the Fiscal year (9/30/2010) If there are cases that are older than the ones reported last FY but were not reported due to an error, please make a note of it

Section 9: Appeals To be reported by all components that process administrative appeals If more than one component adjudicates an administrative appeal, each component should report separately

Section 9: Appeals Provide the number of appeals received, processed, and pending in 9.a.1, 9.a.2 and 9.a.3

Section 9: Appeals If there are any adjustments in reported numbers, please explain in 9.d

9.b.1 and 9.b.2 should be the same number (end-of-year = beginning of year) If 9.b.1 and 9.b.2 are not the same, please explain in 9.c (e.g., case reopened) 9.b b.3 – 9.b.4 must equal 9.b.5 Section 9: Appeals

10.a and 10.b are separate charts; an appeal may be counted in both 10.a Provide the number of appeal adjudications Section 10: Disposition of All Administrative Appeals

10.b.6 Improper Requests (e.g., lacking perjury statement, 3 rd party release, etc.) If administrative appeal results in a denial based on exemptions (Section 11) and also a denial for other reasons (10.b) report appeal on all applicable charts Section 10: Disposition of All Administrative Appeals

Include any case closed for other reasons (10.b.11) 10.d should be the same number as 10.b.11 Section 10: Disposition of All Administrative Appeals

For each appeal, report all exemptions applied Report each exemption only once per appeal Section 11: Exemptions Applied

Processing Time is defined as the number of business days from the date of receipt to the date the case was closed If the request was received and closed the same day, the Processing Time is 1. NOTE: 0 is not allowed in these calculations Provide the median, average, and range in number of days to respond to administrative appeals Supply raw data of processing times for all Simple processed requests in a separate file Section 12: Processing Time for Administrative Appeals

Provide the date of receipt of the ten oldest appeals and the number of days pending Days pending is defined as the number of business days from the date of receipt to the end of the Fiscal year (9/30/2010) Section 13: Pending (Open) Administrative Appeals

Processing time for Expedited Requests is defined as the number of CALENDAR DAYS from the date of receipt Adjudication is defined as any decision made (grant or deny) regarding request Do not count moot cases (case processed within 10 calendar days) Raw data file should include number granted and number denied Section 14: Requests for Expedited Processing

Examples of Errors from Last Year We are required to adjudicate requests for expedited processing within 10 calendar days. This component only used the number of requests GRANTED to calculate 14.c Corrected Number Adjudicated within 10 Days was 1480

Processing time for Fee Waivers is defined as the number of BUSINESS DAYS from the commencement of adjudication to the date of adjudication Do not include the additional days that may precede consideration of the fee waiver requests (e.g., processing queue) Do not count a request for fee waiver that became moot Example: No fees charged because it did not meet the threshold Section 15: Requests for Fee Waivers

Provide the number of full-time and full-time equivalent FOIA employees Full-Time is defined as performs FOIA duties 100% of the time 16.a. Should be a whole number 16.b is to account for any staff that spends a portion of their time processing FOIA requests (e.g., Person 1 (.25) + person 2 (.5) =.75) Section 16: Personnel

If you are filling out this form your office has FOIA personnel Section 16: Personnel Examples of Errors from Last Year 0

Provide the processing costs, to include all costs expended at initial request and administrative appeal levels Salaries of FOIA Personnel Overhead Costs FOIA-related expenses Section 17: Costs

Provide Litigation costs Salaries of Personnel involved in litigating FOIA requests Litigation overhead Costs Other litigation-related expenses Section 17: Costs

Report the dollar amount of fees collected from FOIA requestors Include fees received for, search, review, duplication, and any other direct cost permitted by the DHS FOIA Regulations Section 18: Fees Collected for Processing Requests

DOJ requires us to calculate the overall median for twelve separate calculations Processed Simple Requests Processed Complex Requests Processed Expedited Requests Processed Simple Requests (Information Granted) Processed Complex Requests (Information Granted) Processed Expedited Requests (Information Granted) Pending Simple Requests Pending Complex Requests Pending Expedited Requests Processed Appeals Adjudication of Requests for Expedited Processing Adjudication of Requests for Fee Waivers This data should be sent to us in a separate file (excel is preferred) A labeled (Processed Simple Requests) list of numbers is fine Raw Data Files

Component annual reports are due to CG-611 by October 4, 2010 Annual Report Template Raw Data files Excel files are preferred NO PDFs! If the file is too large to send via please let us know to look for it in the mail Your submission is not complete without the raw data files Submitting the Component Annual Reports

Questions? Concerns? For FOIA Annual Report Template help contact: Gaston Brewer or Amira Moore