| FOIA Annual Report (2003) |
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Research, Education, and Economics
FY 2003 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 Proposals
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. N/A
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 02 ______10_______
2. Number of requests received during FY 03 ________183__________
3. Number of requests processed during FY 03 _______ 184___________
4. Number of requests pending at end of FY 03 __________9________
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 _____81__________
2. Number of partial grants ___45___________
3. Number of denials _________4_______
a. Number of times each FOIA exemption used: (count each exemption once per request)
(1) Exemption 1 __________
(2) Exemption 2 ____2______
(3) Exemption 3 ____4______
(4) Exemption 4 ___33_______
(5) Exemption 5 ____7______
(6) Exemption 6 ___34_______
(7) Exemption 7(A) __________
(8) Exemption 7(B) __________
(9) Exemption 7(C) __________
(10) Exemption 7(D) __________
(11) Exemption 7(E) __________
(12) Exemption 7(F) __________
(13) Exemption 8 __________
(14) Exemption 9 __________
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure: (total)___54______
a. No records ___22_______
b. Referred elsewhere _(See Note)____14_____
c. Request withdrawn ___11_______
d. Fee-related reason _____4_____
e. Records not reasonably described __________
f. Not a proper FOIA request for some reason ___2______
g. Not an agency record ____1______
h. Duplicate request __________
i. Other (specify) __________
(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 03 _____2_____
2. Number of appeals processed during FY 03 ____2______
B. Disposition of Appeals:
1. Number completely upheld ____2______
2. Number partially reversed __________
3. Number completely reversed __________
4. Other reasons __________
a. Number of times each FOIA exemption used: (count each exemption once per appeal)
(1) Exemption 1 __________
(2) Exemption 2 __________
(3) Exemption 3 __________
(4) Exemption 4 __________
(5) Exemption 5 __________
(6) Exemption 6 __________
(7) Exemption 7(A) __________
(8) Exemption 7(B) __________
(9) Exemption 7(C) __________
(10) Exemption 7(D) __________
(11) Exemption 7(E) __________
(12) Exemption 7(F) __________
(13) Exemption 8 __________
(14) Exemption 9 __________
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total):___2_____
a. No records ___2_______
b. Referred elsewhere __________
c. Request withdrawn __________
d. Fee-related reason __________
e. Records not reasonably described __________
f. Not a proper FOIA request for some 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: (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 __N/A________
b. Median number of days to process __N/A________
2. Complex requests (specify for any and all tracks used)
a. Number of requests processed ____184______
b. Median number of days to process ___15_______
3. Requests accorded expedited processing
a. Number of requests processed ____N/A______
b. Median number of days to process ___N/A_______
(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 03 ____9______
2. Median number of days requests were pending at end of FY 03____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 of requests
3. Provide training __Training is 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) __$120,000_____
2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) ___$0_______
3. Total costs _$120,000______
4. Comparison with previous year(s) (optional) _$6,000 increase___
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 _$798.52___
B. Percentage of total costs ___1%_______
XI. FOIA REGULATIONS:(including Fee Schedule):_FOIA regulations can be found at: http://www.usda.gov/news/foia/regulat.htm___
