U.S. Office of Personnel Management

Freedom of Information Act

Report for

October 1, 1997

through

September 30, 1998

February 1999

The following Office of Personnel Management Annual Freedom of Information Act report covers the period January 1, 1998 through September 30, 1998 as required by 5 U.S.C. 552.

Section I. Basic Information Regarding Report

A. Name, Title, Address, and Telephone Number

Mary Beth Smith-Toomey

OPM FOIA Officer

Office of Personnel Management

Office of the Chief Information Officer

1900 E Street NW, Room 5415

Washington, DC 20415-7900

202-606-2150

B. Electronic Address for report on World Wide Web

Our Web Site address is www.opm.gov/efoia.

C. How to obtain copy in paper form

Paper copies of this report can be obtained from the address above.

II. How to make a FOIA Request.

Our FOIA Reference Guide, (located at www.opm.gov/efoia ) includes information regarding how to make a FOIA request to OPM.

III. Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report

A. Agency-specific acronyms

1. OPM - Office of Personnel Management

2. OCIO - Office of the Chief Information Officer

B. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology

FOIA/PA request - Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request. A FOIA request is generally a request for access to records concerning a third party, an organization, or a particular topic of interest. A Privacy Act request is a request for records concerning oneself; such requests are also treated as FOIA requests. (All requests for access to records, regardless of which law is cited by the requester, are included in this report.)

Initial request - a request to a federal agency for access to records under the Freedom of Information Act.

Appeal - a request to a federal agency asking that it review at a higher administrative level a full denial or partial denial of access to records under the Freedom of Information Act, or any other FOIA determination such as a matter pertaining to fees.

Processed Request or Appeal - a request or appeal for which an agency has taken a final action on the request or the appeal in all respects.

Multi-track processing - a system in which simple requests requiring relatively minimal review are placed in one processing track and more voluminous and complex requests are placed in one or more other tracks. Requests in each track are processed on a first-in/first-out basis. A requester who has an urgent need for records may request expedited processing (see below).

Expedited processing - an agency will process a FOIA request on an expedited basis when a requester has shown an exceptional need or urgency for the records which warrants prioritization of his or her request over other requests that were made earlier.

Simple request - a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in its fastest (non-expedited) track based on the volume and/or simplicity of records requested.

Complex request - a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in a slower track based on the volume and/or complexity of records requested.

Grant - an agency decision to disclose all records in full response to a FOIA request.

Partial grant - an agency decision to disclose a record in part in response to a FOIA request, deleting information determined to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions; or a decision to disclose some records in their entireties, but to withhold others in whole or in part.

Denial - an agency decision not to release any part of a record or records in response to a FOIA request because all the information in the requested records is determined by the agency to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions, or for some procedural reason (such as because no record is located in response to a FOIA request).

Time limits - the time period in the Freedom of Information Act for an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily 20 working days from proper receipt of a "perfected" FOIA request).

"Perfected" request - a FOIA request for records which adequately describes the records sought, which has been received by the FOIA office of each agency or agency component in possession of the records, and for which there is no remaining question about the payment of applicable fees.

Exemption 3 statute - a separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure of a certain type of information and authorizing its withholding under FOIA subsection (b) (3).

Median number - the middle, not average number. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.

Average number - the number obtained by dividing the sum of a group of number by the quantity of numbers in the group. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the average number is 8.

IV. Exemption 3 Statutes

OPM did not grant any denials using Exemption 3 statutes during this reporting period.

V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests

A. Number of Initial Requests 1. Pending at the end of FY 1997	5 2. Received during FY 1998	1801 3. Processed during FY 1998 1796 4. Pending at the end of FY 1998 10

B. Disposition of Initial Requests 1. Number of total grants 1543 2. Number of partial grants 79 3. Number of denials 66 a. Number of times each FOIA exemption used	(1) Exemption 1 2 (2) Exemption 2 21 (3) Exemption 3 0 (4) Exemption 4 2 (5) Exemption 5	7 (6) Exemption 6	78 (7) Exemption 7(A) 0 (8) Exemption 7(B)	0 (9) Exemption 7(C) 24 (10) Exemption 7(D)	3 (11) Exemption 7(E) 0 (12) Exemption 7(F) 0 (13) Exemption 8 0 (14) Exemption 9	0 4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 165 a. No records 34 b. Referrals 98 c. Request withdrawn 0 d. Fee-related reason 1 e. Records not reasonably described 12 f. Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 1 g. Not an agency record 16 h. Duplicate request 0 i. Other (specify) 3

VI. Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests

A. Number of Appeals 1. Number of appeals received during FY 1998 62 2. Number of appeals processed during FY 1998 62

B. Disposition of Appeals 1. Number completely upheld 37 2. Number partially reversed	7 3. Number completely reversed 6 a. Number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption once per appeal)	(1) Exemption 1	0 (2) Exemption 2 4 (3) Exemption 3 0 (4) Exemption 4 1 (5) Exemption 5 2 (6) Exemption 6 13 (7) Exemption 7(A) 0 (8) Exemption 7(B) 0 (9) Exemption 7(C) 1 (10) Exemption 7(D) 1 (11) Exemption 7(E) 0 (12) Exemption 7(F) 0 (13) Exemption 8	0 (14) Exemption 9	0 4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total)	12 a. No records 10 b. Referrals 1 c. Request withdrawn 0 d. Fee-related reason 0 e. Records not reasonably described 0 f. Not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 0 g. Not an agency record 1 h. Duplicate request 0 i. Other (specify) 0

Section VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests

A. Median Processing Time for Requests Processed During the Year 1. Simple requests	a. Number of requests processed 1736 b. Median number of days to process 7.75 2. Complex requests	a. Number of requests processed 59 b. Median number of days to process 17.5 3. Requests accorded expedited processing.	a. Number of requests processed 6 b. Median number of days to process 15

B. Status of Pending Requests 1. Number of requests pending as of the end of FY 1998 10 2. Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that date 6

IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing

A. Staffing levels

1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel	0

2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA

duties (in total work-years)	13 .1

3. Total number of personnel (in work-years)	13 .1

B. Total costs (including staff and all resources)

1. FOIA processing (including appeals)	$195,562 .00

2. Litigation-related activities (estimated)	$697.00

3. Total costs	$196,259 .00

X. Fees

A	Total amount of fees collected by agency for

processing requests	$37,502 .65

B. Percentage of total costs	19%

XI. FOIA Regulations (Including Fee Schedule)

OPM's regulations (5 CFR 294) are available through www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr . Our fee schedule is explained in our FOIA reference guide at www.opm.gov/efoia . A hard copy of the regulations is attached.