Section V: Steps Taken to Improve Timeliness in Responding to Requests and Reducing Backlogs

The President - PDF and the Attorney General - PDF have emphasized the importance of improving timeliness in responding to requests. This section your Chief FOIA Officer Report 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, appeals, and consultations. For the figures required in this Section, please use the numbers contained in the specified sections of your agency’s 2014 Annual FOIA Report and, when applicable, your agency’s 2013 Annual FOIA Report.

Simple Track: 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.

  1. Does your agency utilize a separate track for simple requests?

    Yes.

  2. If so, for your agency overall in Fiscal Year 2014, was the average number of days to process simple requests twenty working days or fewer?

    No. The OpDivs that track simple requests separately did not process them, on average, within twenty working days or fewer.

  3. Please provide the percentage of requests processed by your agency in Fiscal Year 2014 that were placed in your simple track.

    The Department’s percentage of FOIA requests classified as simple was 71%.

  4. If your agency does not track simple requests separately, was the average number of days to process all non-expedited requests twenty working days or fewer?

    Not applicable.

    Backlogs:Section XII.A of your agency’s Annual FOIA Report, entitled “Backlogs of FOIA Requests and Administrative Appeals” shows the numbers of any backlogged requests or appeals from the fiscal year. You should refer to these numbers from your Annual FOIA Reports for both Fiscal Year 2013 and Fiscal Year 2014 when completing this section of your Chief FOIA Officer Report.

    BACKLOGGED REQUESTS

  5. If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2014, did that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2013?

    • If not, explain why and describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able reduce its backlog. When doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:
      • An increase in the number of incoming requests
      • A loss of staff
      • An increase in the complexity of the requests received

    No.  FY 2014 was a challenging year for the Department, for a number of reasons.  The two and a half week government shutdown in October 2013 delayed processing of requests pending at the end of FY 2013, which had a domino effect on processing requests which were submitted during the shutdown.  There also were a higher than typical number of government closures due to winter weather.

    As previously noted, HHS had approximately 15 fewer full time FOIA staff and equivalents during FY 2014, a 5% decrease from FY 2013.  Although the FY 2014 annual reports shows an overall decrease in total requests, due to CMS being able to refine its tracking system and eliminate double counted requests, many HHS OpDivs received an increased number of incoming requests.  For example, ACF received 1,200+ outstanding Privacy Act requests that originally had been assigned to another area within HHS.

    Other contributors included the highly publicized issues of unaccompanied children entering the U.S. and the Ebola outbreak, which contributed substantially to the FOIA workload at HHS, and the increased number of FOIA lawsuits involving requests for Affordable Care Act and healthcare.gov records, which diverted CMS FOIA staff from normal FOIA processing.  The NIH FOIA office also was involved in a very detailed and time-consuming litigation which diverted resources away from processing requests. 

  6. If you had a request backlog please report the percentage of requests that make up the backlog out of the total number of requests received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2014.

    • To calculate your agency’s percentage, you must divide the number of backlogged requests reported in Section XII.A. of your Fiscal Year 2014 Annual FOIA Report by the number of requests received in Fiscal Year 2014, which can be found in Section V.A. of your Annual FOIA Report. Once divided, you can multiply that number by 100 to get the percentage.

    The Department’s percentage of backlogged requests during FY 2014 was 16.24% of total requests received during FY 2014.

    BACKLOGGED APPEALS

  7. If your agency had a backlog of appeals at the close of Fiscal Year 2014, did that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2013?

    • If not, explain why and describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able reduce backlog. When doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:
      • An increase in the number of incoming appeal
      • A loss of staff
      • An increase in the complexity of the appeals received

    No.  As referenced in the previous response to Question 5, Section V. regarding the FOIA request backlog, FY 2014 was a difficult and challenging year for the Department.  The agency had approximately 15 fewer FOIA staff members than FY 2014, and CMS, which receives approximately one third of the Department’s appeals, had to divert resources to FOIA litigation.

  8. If you had an appeal backlog please report the percentage of appeals that make up the backlog out of the total number of appeals received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2014. If your agency did not receive any appeals in Fiscal Year 2014 and/or has no appeal backlog, please answer with "N/A."

    To calculate your agency’s percentage, you must divide the number of backlogged appeals reported in Section XII.A. of your Fiscal Year 2014 Annual FOIA Report by the number of appeals received in Fiscal Year 2014, which can be found in Section VI.A. of your Annual FOIA Report. Once divided, you can multiply that number by 100 to get the percentage.

    The Department received 325 FOIA appeals during FY 2014; however, the number of backlogged appeals at the close of FY 2014 was 408.  Therefore, unfortunately, the backlog at the end of FY2014 was 125% of incoming requests.

    Backlog Reduction Plans:

  9. In the 2014 guidelines for Chief FOIA Officer Reports, any agency with a backlog of over 1000 requests in Fiscal Year 2013 was asked to provide a plan for achieving backlog reduction in the year ahead. Did your agency implement a backlog reduction plan last year? If so, describe your agency’s efforts in implementing this plan and note if your agency was able to achieve backlog reduction in Fiscal Year 2014?

    The Department continued its backlog reduction efforts during FY 2014.  For the reasons cited in the response to question 5, above, HHS was unable to achieve a backlog reduction during 2014.  Prior to FY 2014, the Department had made steady progress in reducing its backlogged FOIA requests.

  10. If your agency had a backlog of more than 1,000 requests in Fiscal Year 2014, what is your agency’s plan to reduce this backlog during Fiscal Year 2015?

    The Department is seeking to replace FOIA staff members who retired or left during 2014 and will continue to look for technologies that will enable us to realize processing efficiencies.  On an OpDiv level, CMS, which receives the largest volume of FOIA requests in the Department, is planning to reorganize their FOIA office structure, employ additional FOIA managers and personnel to process the complex requests, and dedicate staff to litigation management.  CMS will continue to use its FOIA database to analyze trends in records requests and FOIA contractors will continue to provide support for backlog reduction efforts.

    Status of Ten Oldest Requests, Appeals, and Consultations: Section VII.E, entitled “Pending Requests – Ten Oldest Pending Requests,” Section VI.C.(5), entitled “Ten Oldest Pending Administrative Appeals,” and Section XII.C., entitled "Consultations on FOIA Requests – Ten Oldest Consultations Received from Other Agencies and Pending at Your Agency," show the ten oldest pending requests, appeals, and consultations. You should refer to these numbers from your Annual FOIA Reports for both Fiscal Year 2013 and Fiscal Year 2014 when completing this section of your Chief FOIA Officer Report.

    TEN OLDEST REQUESTS

  11. In Fiscal Year 2014, did your agency close the ten oldest requests that were reported pending in your Fiscal Year 2013 Annual FOIA Report?

    Yes, the Department was successful in closing the ten oldest pending requests reported at the end of FY 2013.

  12. If no, please provide the number of these requests your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.E of your Fiscal Year 2013 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest requests to close, please indicate that.

    • For example, if you only had seven requests listed as part of your "ten oldest" in Section VII.E. and you closed six of them, you should note that you closed six out of seven “oldest” requests.

    Not applicable.

  13. Of the requests your agency was able to close from your ten oldest, please indicate how many of these were closed because the request was withdrawn by the requester. If any were closed because the request was withdrawn, did you provide any interim responses prior to the withdrawal?

    None of the ten oldest requests were withdrawn by the respective FOIA requesters.

    TEN OLDEST APPEALS

  14. In Fiscal Year 2014, did your agency close the ten oldest appeals that were reported pending in your Fiscal Year 2013 Annual FOIA Report?

    No.

  15. If no, please provide the number of these appeals your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.C.(5) of your Fiscal Year 2013 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest appeals to close, please indicate that.

    No.  The Department closed five of the ten oldest FOIA appeals.

    • For example, if you only had seven appeals listed as part of your "ten oldest" in Section VII.C.(5) and you closed six of them, you should note that you closed six out of seven “oldest” appeals.

    TEN OLDEST CONSULTATIONS

  16. In Fiscal Year 2014, did your agency close the ten oldest consultations that were reported pending in your Fiscal Year 2013 Annual FOIA Report?

    The Department did not have any pending consultations during 2014, or during 2013.

  17. If no, please provide the number of these consultations your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2013 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest consultations to close, please indicate that.

    For example, if you only had seven consultations listed as part of your "ten oldest" in Section XII.C. and you closed six of them, you should note that you closed six out of seven “oldest” consultations.

    Not applicable.

    Additional Information on Ten Oldest Requests, Appeals, and Consultations & Plans:

  18. Briefly explain any obstacles your agency faced in closing its ten oldest requests, appeals, and consultations from Fiscal Year 2013.

    The Department closed the ten oldest requests listed on the FY 2013 annual FOIA report, did not have any outstanding consultations, and was able to close five of its oldest appeals.  Typically, many of these aged requests tend to involve complex or voluminous records, which are challenging to review.  Also, FOIA staff frequently must juggle between processing initial FOIA requests to prevent those requests from becoming backlogged and performing the detailed secondary review which an administrative appeal requires.

  19. If your agency was unable to close any of its ten oldest requests because you were waiting to hear back from other agencies on consultations you sent, please provide the date the request was initially received by your agency, the date when your agency sent the consultation, and the date when you last contacted the agency where the consultation was pending.

    Not applicable.

  20. If your agency did not close its ten oldest pending requests, appeals, or consultations, please provide a plan describing how your agency intends to close those “ten oldest” requests, appeals, and consultations during Fiscal Year 2015.

    As referenced above, the Department closed its ten oldest FOIA requests from the 2013 FOIA report, and did not have any outstanding consultations.  During 2015 we also intend to prioritize the processing of the department’s aged appeals.

    Interim Responses:

  21. 21. Does your agency have a system in place to provide interim responses to requesters when appropriate? See OIP Guidance, “The Importance of Good Communication with FOIA Requesters.” (Mar. 1, 2010)

    Yes. The Department uses interim responses and rolling document productions to provide better customer service to requesters.

  22. 22. If your agency had a backlog in Fiscal Year 2014, please provide an estimate of the number or percentage of cases in the backlog where a substantive, interim response was provided during the fiscal year, even though the request was not finally closed.

    We estimate that approximately 18% of these cases received an interim response.

    Use of the FOIA’s Law Enforcement Exclusions

    Did your agency invoke a statutory exclusion, 5 U.S.C. § 552(c)(1), (2), (3), during Fiscal Year 2014?

    No.

    If so, please provide the total number of times exclusions were invoked.

    Not applicable.

    Success Story

    Out of all the activities undertaken by your agency since March 2014 to increase transparency and improve FOIA administration, please briefly describe here at least one success story that you would like to highlight as emblematic of your agency’s efforts. The success story can come from any one of the five key areas. As noted above, these agency success stories will be highlighted during Sunshine Week by OIP. To facilitate this process, all agencies should use bullets to describe their success story and limit their text to a half page. The success story is designed to be a quick summary of key achievements. A complete description of all your efforts will be contained in the body of your Chief FOIA Officer Report.

    During 2014, the Department fielded many information requests regarding unaccompanied children entering the U.S. and the Ebola outbreak and the first confirmation of an Ebola case in the U.S.

    • Administration for Children and Families (ACF):  During the migration of unaccompanied children from Central America, ACF FOIA worked with the Office of Public Affairs, the program office, and the web team to ensure that “hot topic” information was posted and regularly updated.  Top leadership drove the initiative to post the information sought by the public.  ACF maintained a web page in which it posted regular updates of information such as where children were released to sponsors, a breakdown by country of origin, copies of forms, a factsheet, and FAQs.  The content of this webpage was chosen based on the nature and number of inquiries received by the FOIA Office and the press office.  The result was a 75% drop in FOIA requests for the information posted. 
    • National Institutes for Health (NIH):  After the first confirmed Ebola case was diagnosed in the United States in late September of 2014, there was a strong need to provide a substantial amount of information about the Ebola virus on the NIH.gov website (due to health concerns and overall heightened interest from the American public).  At the time, NIH did not maintain a significant amount of content focused on Ebola-related research.  Additionally, it was evident that users were coming to the NIH website en masse, in search of public-health information about the disease.  

    In order to provide the public with substantial, high-quality web content, NIH partnered with CDC, which was serving as the Federal Government’s main distributor of Ebola-related information.  Using Content Syndication technology, NIH launched a syndicated “microsite” from CDC on October 2, 2014 (http://www.nih.gov/health/ebola.htm).  This microsite housed dozens of web-pages that were contained within the NIH website framework (graphical user interface); however, all of the content was automatically pulled from CDC’s web servers.  This solution served NIH well for a number of reasons.  First, it allowed the Federal Government to keep a clear and consistent voice for the U.S. response to Ebola.  Additionally, NIH was able to instantly provide significant amounts of content directly on its own website.  Further, since the bulk of the content was pulled from CDC, content changes and updates happened automatically and seamlessly on the NIH website without requiring NIH staff resources. Finally, the microsite afforded a level of customization, so that NIH could populate the top portion of the microsite with such NIH-specific information as the latest NIH-generated press releases.


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