Freedom of Information Act Annual Report
October 1, 1998 to
September 30, 1999
- Basic Information
Regarding Report
- Name, title,
address, and telephone number of person(s) to be contacted with questions
about the report.
Denise Smith
FOIA Officer
Tennessee Valley Authority
400 West Summit Hill Drive (ET 5D)
Knoxville, Tennessee 37902-1499
(865) 632-6945
-
Electronic address for report on the world Wide Web.
- How to obtain
a copy of the report in paper form.
Contact Denise Smith at the above address and/or telephone number.
- How to Make a
FOIA Request
For basic information about how to make a FOIA request, visit our Website at http://www.tva.gov/foia.
- Names, addresses,
and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and offices
that receive FOIA requests.
All FOIA requests to TVA should be directed to Ms. Smith at the address given above.
- Brief description
of the agency's response-time ranges.
The median time for responding to all requests in FY99 was 28 days.
- Brief description
of why some requests are not granted.
The primary reasons for not granting requests for which records were located is that disclosure would result in an unwarranted or clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or that the records were protected by the deliberative or attorney client privilege. - Definitions of
Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report
- Agency-specific
acronyms or other terms.
TVA is Tennessee Valley Authority
- 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 (nonexpedited) 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 in 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 the 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 § (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
numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group. For example,
of 3, 7, and 14, the average number is 8.
- Agency-specific
acronyms or other terms.
- Exemption 3 Statutes
- List of Exemption
3 statutes relied on by agency during current fiscal year.
- Brief description
of type(s) of information withheld under each statute.
Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, at 41 U.S.C. § 253b(m), prohibits the release or disclosure of an unsuccessful technical, management or cost proposal submitted by a contractor in response to the requirements of a solicitation for a competitive proposal.
- Statement
of whether a court has upheld the use of each statute. If so,
then cite example.
There were no court challenges to TVA's determinations to invoke Exemption 3.
- Brief description
of type(s) of information withheld under each statute.
- Initial FOIA/PA
Access Requests
- Numbers of
initial requests.
- Number
of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year
25
- Number
of requests received during current fiscal year
184
- Number
of requests processed during current fiscal year
169
- Number
of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year
37
- Number
of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year
25
- Disposition
of initial requests.
- Number
of total grants 70
- Number
of partial grants 50
- Number
of denials 17
- number
of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption
once per request)
(1) Exemption 1 0
(2) Exemption 2 1
(3) Exemption 3 6
(4) Exemption 4 14
(5) Exemption 5 44
(6) Exemption 6 37
(7) Exemption 7(A) 1
(8) Exemption 7(B 0
(9) Exemption 7(C) 12
(10) Exemption 7(D) 1
(11) Exemption 7(E) 4
(12) Exemption 7(F) 0
(13) Exemption 8 0
(14) Exemption 9 0
- number
of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption
once per request)
- Other
reasons for nondisclosure (total) 37
- no
records 20
- referrals 0
- request
withdrawn 11
- fee-related
reasons 6
- records
not reasonably described 0
- not
a proper FOIA request for some other reasons
0
- not
an agency record 0
- duplicate
request 0
- other
(specify) 0
- no
records 20
- Number
of total grants 70
- Numbers of
initial requests.
- Appeals of Initial
Denials of FOIA/PA Requests
- Number of
appeals.
- Number
of appeals received during fiscal year
12
- Number
of appeals processed during fiscal year
12
- Number
of appeals received during fiscal year
12
- Disposition
of appeals.
- Number
completely upheld 7
- Number
partially reversed 4
- Number
completely reversed 1
- number
of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption
once per appeal)
(1) Exemption 1 0
(2) Exemption 2 0
(3) Exemption 3 1
(4) Exemption 4 6
(5) Exemption 5 8
(6) Exemption 6 4
(7) Exemption 7(A) 0
(8) Exemption 7(B) 0
(9) Exemption 7(C) 2
(10) Exemption 7(D) 1
(11) Exemption 7(E) 1
(12) Exemption 7(F) 0
(13) Exemption 8 0
(14) Exemption 9 0
- number
of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption
once per appeal)
- Other
reasons for nondisclosure (total) 2
- no
records 1
- referrals 0
- request
withdrawn 0
- fee-related
reasons 0
- records
not reasonably described 0
- not
a proper FOIA request for some other reasons
0
- not
an agency record 1
- duplicate
request 0
- other (specify) 0
- no
records 1
- Number
completely upheld 7
- Number of
appeals.
- Compliance with
Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests
- Median processing
time for requests processed during the year.
- Track
1
- number
of requests processed 87
- median
number of days to process 12
- number
of requests processed 87
- Track
2
- number
of requests processed 62
- median
number of days to process 53
- number
of requests processed 62
- Track
3
- number
of requests processed 20
- median
number of days to process 115
- number
of requests processed 20
- Requests
accorded expedited processing
- number
of requests processed 0
- median
number of days to process 0
- number
of requests processed 0
- Track
1
- Status of
pending requests.
- Number
of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year
37
- Median
number of days that such requests were pending as of that date 76
- Number
of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year
37
- Median processing
time for requests processed during the year.
- Comparisons with
Previous Year(s)
- Comparison
of numbers of requests received
FY98: 160
FY99: 184
- Comparison
of numbers of requests processed
FY98: 172
FY99: 169
- Comparison
of median numbers of days requests were pending as of end of fiscal
year 1.71% inc.
- Other statistics
significant to agency None
- Other narrative
statements describing agency efforts to improve timeliness of FOIA
performance and to make records available to the public (e.g., backlog-reduction
efforts; specification of average number of hours per processed
request; training activities; public availability of new categories
of records)
FY99 was the first full year TVA's FOIA website and electronic reading room were operational. During FY99, TVA also made more information available to the public on its general web site. Several potential requesters called the FOIA office and were referred to either TVA's general website or the FOIA website where they retrieved information instead of submitting a FOIA request.
- Comparison
of numbers of requests received
-
Costs/FOIA Staffing
- Staffing levels.
- Number
of full-time FOIA personnel 2.5
- Number
of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in total
work-years) .5
- Total
number of personnel (in work-years) 3
- Number
of full-time FOIA personnel 2.5
- Total costs
(including staff and all resources).
- FOIA processing
(including appeals) $230,000
- Litigation-related
activities (estimated) $25,000
- Total
costs $255,000
- Comparison
with previous year(s) (including percentage of change) (optional) 5% inc.
- FOIA processing
(including appeals) $230,000
- Statement
of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance (optional)
None (current resources are adequate)
- Staffing levels.
- Fees
- Total amount
of fees collected by agency for processing requests
$3,794.42
- Percentage
of total costs .0148%
- Total amount
of fees collected by agency for processing requests
$3,794.42
- FOIA Regulations
(Including Fee Schedule)
TVA's FOIA regulations are located at 18 C.F.R. Part 1301, and can be accessed electronically at http://www.tva.gov/foia/foia_regulations.htm.
http://www.tva.gov/foia/foia_annual99.htm