FOIA Annual Report (2005) : USDA ARS

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FOIA Annual Report (2005)

Research, Education, and Economics
FY 2005 Annual FOIA Report

Sections I. Basic Information, II. How to Make a FOIA Request, and III. Definitions of Terms, will be completed by the Office of Communications.

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.

41 U.S.C. 253(b)Technical Proposal
35 U.S.C. 205/209Licensing of Patent
7 U.S.C. 2276 Unaggregated Farm Statistics

2. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of each statute. If so cite example.

V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests

A. Number of Initial Requests: (include all access requests, whether first party or third party)
(NOTE: The total of Lines 1 and 2, minus Line 3, should equal Line 4.)

1. Number of requests pending at end of FY 04 _______7________
2. Number of requests received during FY 05 ________ 212__________
3. Number of requests processed during FY 05 _______ 206___________
4. Number of requests pending at end of FY 05 ________ 13_________

B. Disposition of Initial Requests: (NOTE: The total of Lines 1, 2, 3, and 4 should equal the number of requests processed shown in Line 3 of Part A.)

1. Number of total grants _______116________
2. Number of partial grants ______ 48_________
3. Number of denials ____________4_____

a. Number of times each FOIA exemption used: (count each exemption once per request)

(1) Exemption 1 ____0______
(2) Exemption 2 ____0______
(3) Exemption 3 ____3______
(4) Exemption 4 ___20______
(5) Exemption 5 ____6______
(6) Exemption 6 ___30______
(7) Exemption 7(A) ____0______
(8) Exemption 7(B) ____0______
(9) Exemption 7(C) ____0______
(10) Exemption 7(D) ___ 0______
(11) Exemption 7(E) ___ 0_______
(12) Exemption 7(F) ___ 0_______
(13) Exemption 8 _____ 0_____
(14) Exemption 9 _____ 0____

4. Other reasons for nondisclosure: (total)____38_____

a. No records ____21______
b. Referred elsewhere (See Note)___6______
c. Request withdrawn ___2_______
d. Fee-related reason ____5______
e. Records not reasonably described ____2______
f. Not a proper FOIA request for some reason ___2_______
g. Not an agency record ____0______
h. Duplicate request ____0______
i. Other (specify) ____0______

(Note: Do not count requests referred within your agency in this category, it pertains only to requests that are referred outside of your agency)

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 FY 05 ____0______
2. Number of appeals processed during FY 05 ___0_______

B. Disposition of Appeals:

1. Number completely upheld ____0______
2. Number partially reversed _____0_____
3. Number completely reversed ___0_______

a. Number of times each FOIA exemption used: (count each exemption once per appeal)

(1) Exemption 1 ____0______
(2) Exemption 2 ____0______
(3) Exemption 3 ____0______
(4) Exemption 4 ____0______
(5) Exemption 5 ____0______
(6) Exemption 6 _____0_____
(7) Exemption 7(A) __0________
(8) Exemption 7(B) __0________
(9) Exemption 7(C) __0________
(10) Exemption 7(D) _ 0_________
(11) Exemption 7(E) _ 0_________
(12) Exemption 7(F) __0________
(13) Exemption 8 ____ 0_____
(14) Exemption 9 ____ 0______

4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total):____0____

a. No records ____0______
b. Referred elsewhere ____0______
c. Request withdrawn ___0_______
d. Fee-related reason ____0______
e. Records not reasonably described ____0______
f. Not a proper FOIA request for some reason ____0______
g. Not an agency record ____0______
h. Duplicate request ____0______
i. Other (specify) ______0____

VII. COMPLIANCE WITH TIME LIMITS/STATUS OF PENDING REQUESTS.

A. Median Processing Time For Requests: (Example for calculation of median: Given 7 requests completed during the fiscal year, aged 10, 25, 35, 65, 75, 80, and 400 days from date of perfection to date of completion, the total number of requests completed during the fiscal year would be 7 and the median age of the completed requests would be 65 days.)

1. Simple requests (if multiple tracks used)
a. Number of requests processed _____87_____
b. Median number of days to process __15________

2. Complex requests (specify for any and all tracks used)
a. Number of requests processed _____115_____
b. Median number of days to process __15________

3. Requests accorded expedited processing
a. Number of requests processed ____4______
b. Median number of days to process _15_________

(NOTE: The number of requests listed in the different tracks must equal the number of requests processed from section A, Line 3.)

B. Status of Pending Requests:(Agencies using multiple tracks may provide numbers for each track as well as totals.)

1. Number of requests pending at end of FY 05 ___13_______
2. Median number of days requests were pending at end of FY 05____15______

VIII. COMPARISONS WITH PREVIOUS YEAR(S) (Optional)

E. Describe Agency Efforts To:

1. Improve timeliness: REE responds within statutory time limit.
2. Reduce backlog: REE does not have a backlog.
3. Provide training: Training provided as needed or upon request.
4. Add new categories of records: None.

IX. COSTS/FOIA STAFFING.

A. Staffing Levels:
1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel ____1______
2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in work-years)__.5____
3. Total number of personnel (Work-years) ___1.5_______

B. Total Costs:(include staff and all resources)(Note: Use +20% for overhead.)
1. FOIA processing (including appeals) _$137,083_________
2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) __________
3. Total costs _$137,083________
4. Comparison with previous year(s) (optional) ___$7,483_____________

C. Statement of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance (optional).

X. FEES: (includes charges for search, review, document duplication, and any other direct costs permitted under agency regulations.)

A. Total amount of fees collected for processing requests _$278.60_________
B. Percentage of total costs __.25%________

XI. FOIA REGULATIONS: (including Fee Schedule):
http://www.usda.gov/news/foia/usdaregs.pdf