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OSM Seal Guide to requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
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FEE SCHEDULE
If we charge you a fee, we will send you a bill you separately. We charge according to the category of requester you are (Commercial, Educational Institution, Non-Commercial Scientific Institution, News or Media Representative, or Other). If costs exceed $250 we may request a prepayment.

CATEGORY AVERAGE GRADE
(43 CFR Part 2)		CHARGE PER QUARTER HOUR
OR FRACTION THEREOF
Clerical
(All employees at GS-7 and below)		 GS-6, Step 5$ 4.85
Professional
(All employees at GS-8 thru 12)		 GS-11, Step 7$ 8.45
Managerial
(All employes at GS-13 and above		 GS-14, Step 2$ 12.25
Fees charged per quarter hour.

CRITERIA FOR ESTIMATING COST OF COMPUTERIZED RECORDS:

(1) Costs for processing a data request will be calculated using the same standard direct costs charged to other users of the facility, and/or as specified in the user's manual or handbook published by the computer center in which the work will be performed.

(2) Itemized listing of operations required to process the job will be maintained (i.e., time for central processing unit, input/output remote terminal, storage, plotters, printing, tape/disk mounting, etc.) with associated costs.

(3) Material costs (e.g., paper, disks, tape, etc.) will be calculated using the latest acquisition cost.

(4) Requesters entitled to two hours of free search time will not be charged for that portion of a computer search that equals two hours of the salary of the operator performing the search.

(5) Requesters entitled to free duplication of the first 100 pages at $.13 per page will be allowed the deduction.

Other Costs: We will charge for special copies (e.g., videotape, diskettes, photographs, blueprints, computer tapes), at cost.

Mailing Costs: We will charge mailing costs for services (DHL, Express Mail, etc.) when you specify in your request that you want our response by a means more expensive than first class mail.

MINIMUM FEES. We will not bill you if the fee is $30 or less.

UNSUCCESSFUL SEARCHES. If our search for records is unsuccessful, we may still bill you for the search time, if allowable fees exceed the $30 minimum threshold.

MULTIPLE REQUESTS. If you make multiple requests on related subjects, we may aggregate your requests for fee purposes.

WAIVED FEES. If the cost to collect the fee equals or exceeds the amount of the fee charged, then we may waive the fee. For specific guidance on how to request a fee waiver, see FEE WAIVERS.

(FOIA page) (Home Page)

Office of Surface Mining
1951 Constitution Ave. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20240
202-208-2719
getinfo@osmre.gov