SUBMITTING FOIA REQUESTS. Please follow these steps:

1. You should address your request to the appropriate office location. If you believe the records you are seeking are located in the Washington, D.C. headquarters office, you may send your request via the Internet to the FOIA Officer.

2. You must describe the specific records you want in enough detail so that we can locate them with a reasonable effort. Records must exist at the time your request is submitted. We do not compile records to respond to a FOIA request.

3. You must state your willingness to pay applicable fees or provide a justification to support a fee waiver.

You should also label your request "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST" on the envelope and the request letter. Include your telephone number in the letter so we can contact you if we have questions about your request.

We may treat any request for records as a FOIA request.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT: The FOIA Officer will send you an acknowledgment postcard indicating our receipt of your FOIA request, and letting you know the tracking number (i.e., 97-0000F). Please use this number as a reference when inquiring about your request.

PROCESSING. We receive many FOIA requests and do not have staff assigned solely for processing them. We process requests at the local level, assign a Lead/Action Office responsibility for preparing the response, and keep track of all requests on a central tracking system. In the rare event that we direct a FOIA request to the wrong office, we correct it as soon as this comes to our attention.

SPECIAL PROCESSING CONDITIONS. We will not process your request while:

1. We are waiting for you to clarify a vague request.
2. We are waiting for you to state your willingness to pay fees.
3. We are waiting for you to justify your fee waiver request. Note: If you have agreed to pay the fee if your fee waiver request is denied, we will process your request.)
4. We are waiting for you to pay an outstanding bill.

Once you have completed the above requirements, the first 20-day period will begin.

TIME LIMITS. To the greatest extent possible, we will send you a final response within 20 days. We will advise you in writing if we need an additional 10 days to respond if:

1. We must search for and collect documents from offices other than the office processing the request; or
2. We must search for and collect a voluminous amount of documents; or
3. We must coordinate our response and consult with other personnel.

DELAYED RESPONSES. We may not be able to respond to you within the additional 10 days for one of these reasons:

1. There are voluminous records that may be responsive to your request and we need additional time to determine which records should be provided.
2. The records you want have been sent to a Federal Records Center and we have asked that they be returned to us. We will advise you when the records become available.
3. The records are located at several offices, the search needs to be coordinated and we need additional time to search, collect and review the material.
4. We have notified the submitter of responsive material that may contain confidential commercial and financial information, and the time has not expired for receipt of the submitter's objections to disclosure.

We will advise you of the status of your request.

PARTIAL RESPONSES. Requests for records that are difficult to locate and/or require review by program staff can take longer to process. Whenever feasible in those situations, we will send you partial responses conveying records that are clearly releasable.

FEES. The FOIA authorizes agencies to charge fees to recover direct costs of searching for, duplicating, and in the case of commercial use requesters, reviewing documents. (See FOIA FEES.) Before we process your FOIA request, we will ascertain your willingness to pay fees. If you have not indicated your willingness to pay applicable fees in your FOIA request, it will delay processing. We may ask you to pay fees in advance of receiving records, depending on your payment history as well as the estimated cost of records you are requesting. You will not have a record of prompt fee payment if (1) you have never requested information from OSM for which you have paid fees; or (2) if you requested such information but did not pay the fees. Outstanding balances that are not paid within 30 calendar days are considered overdue. Failure to pay applicable fees can be the basis for our refusing to process your future requests.

ADMINISTRATIVE APPEAL. You have a right to file an administrative appeal prior to seeking judicial review if the following situations occur:

1. We determine the documents you requested are exempt from disclosure under the FOIA, either in whole or in part, and you disagree;
2. We have not responded to your request within 30 days;
3. We notify you that we have not located any records, and you still believe we have records;
4. You claim we did not do an adequate search, or our response is incomplete;
5. You have been denied a fee waiver, and you disagree.

The time limit for filing an administrative appeal is 30 days after the date of our denial. If you wish to file an appeal, you still may contact the office responding to your request because sometimes issues can be resolved satisfactorily. You may also contact the FOIA Officer, who will assist you in resolving issues related to any OSM FOIA response.

If you choose to submit an administrative appeal, you must follow the instructions in our response letter. Your written appeal must be received by the FOIA Appeals Officer within 30 working days after the date of initial denial. The address follows:

FOIA Appeals Officer
Office of Information Resources Management
U.S. Department of the Interior
MS-5312, MIB
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240

Mark your envelope FREEDOM OF INFORMATION APPEAL. If you have not received a response to your appeal within 20 working days, the FOIA Appeals Officer will advise you of the reason for the delay. The FOIA Appeals Officer will review all relevant information and consult with the Solicitor, prior to making a decision. If you are still not satisfied, you may obtain judicial review.