Freedom of Information Act Guide

Freedom of Information Act Report
October 1, 2006 - September 30, 2007

I. Basic information:

1. Point of Contact:

Kate Reynolds, FOIA Officer
Office of the General Counsel, Room 518
National Endowment for the Arts
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20506-0001
Tel: 202-682-5418

2. Electronic address for report: The FY 2007 FOIA Report for the National Endowment for the Arts will be available under the FOIA section of the Endowment's home page at http://arts.gov/learn/FOIA/.

3. Paper copies of report: Paper copies can be requested from the person/address listed above.

II. How to make a FOIA request

1. Agency components that receive FOIA requests: All FOIA requests should be sent to the National Endowment for the Arts FOIA Officer, Office of the General Counsel, Room 518, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20506-0001. E-mail requests should be sent to foia@arts.gov.

2. Agency response-time ranges: In 2007, the median number of days taken by the Agency to process different types of requests was 7 days.

3. Why some requests are not granted: In 2007, the Agency made 37 determinations to deny information under the FOIA. The majority of the denials involved withholding small, segregable portions of the requested records. The reasons for such determinations are categorized by exemption as follows: ten (10 ) denials pursuant to exemption (b)(4), which protects trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential; zero ( 0) denials pursuant to exemption (b)(5), which protects inter agency or intra agency memoranda or letters not available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the National Endowment for the Arts; and twenty seven (27) denials pursuant to exemption (b)(6), which protects personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly
   unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

III. Definitions of terms and acronyms used in the report (to be included in each report)

1. Agency-specific acronyms or other terms: There are no agency-specific terms or acronyms used in this report.

2. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology:

1. 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.)

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

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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).

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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.

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

10. 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.

11. 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).

12. 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).

13. "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.

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

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

16. 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.

IV. Exemption 3 Statutes

1. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by agency during current fiscal year:

2. Exemption b(3) statutes were not used by the National Endowment for the Arts in FY 2006 FOIA responses.

V. Initial FOIA/PA access requests

1. Numbers of initial requests:

   1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year: 0
   2. Number of requests received during current fiscal year: 57
   3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year: 57
   4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year: 0

2. Disposition of initial requests:

   1. Number of total grants: 11
   2. Number of partial grants: 27
   3. Number of denials: 10

   a. Number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption once per request)

   (1) Exemption 1: 0
   (2) Exemption 2: 0
   (3) Exemption 3: 0
   (4) Exemption 4: 10
   (5) Exemption 5: 2
   (6) Exemption 6: 27
   (7) Exemption 7(A): 0
   (8) Exemption 7(B): 0
   (9) Exemption 7(C): 0
   (10) Exemption 7(D): 0
   (11) Exemption 7(E): 0
   (12) Exemption 7(F): 0
   (13) Exemption 8: 0
   (14) Exemption 9: 0

VI. Appeals of initial denials of FOIA/PA requests

1. Numbers of appeals:

   1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year: 0
   2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year: 0

2. Disposition of appeals:

3. 1. Number completely upheld: 0
   2. Number partially reversed: 0
   3. Number completely reversed: 0

   a. number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption once per appeal)

   (1) Exemption 1: 0
   (2) Exemption 2: 0
   (3) Exemption 3: 0
   (4) Exemption 4: 0
   (5) Exemption 5: 0
   (6) Exemption 6: 0
   (7) Exemption 7(A): 0
   (8) Exemption 7(B): 0
   (9) Exemption 7(C): 0
   (10) Exemption 7(D): 0
   (11) Exemption 7(E): 0
   (12) Exemption 7(F): 0
   (13) Exemption 8: 0
   (14) Exemption 9: 0

   4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total): 9

   a. no records: 7
   b. referrals: 0
   c. request withdrawn: 0
   d. fee-related reason: 0
   e. records not reasonably described: 1
   f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason: 1
   g. not an agency record: 0
   h. duplicate request: 0
   i. other (specify): 0

VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests

1. Median processing time for requests processed during the year:

   1. Simple requests (if multiple tracks used).

   a. number of requests processed: 57
   b. median number of days to process: 7

   2. Complex requests (specify for any and all tracks used).

   a. number of requests processed: 0
   b. median number of days to process: 0

   3. Requests accorded expedited processing.

   a. number of requests processed: 0
   b. median number of days to process: 0

2. Status of Pending Requests:

1. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year: 0
2. Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that date: 0

VIII. Comparisons with Previous Year(s) (Optional)

A. Comparison of numbers of requests received: FY2006- 62 FY2007-57

B. Comparison of numbers of requests processed: FY2006- 62 FY2007-57

C. Comparison of median numbers of days requests were pending as of end of fiscal year: FY2006- 0 days FY2007- 0 days

D. Other statistics significant to agency: None

E. 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)

In 2007, the Endowment continued to increase the number of documents accessible by electronic means. In addition to the documents provided pursuant to FOIA requests, news articles and other information on the Arts Endowment are available on the Internet at the Agency's website, http://www.arts.gov, which includes an online FOIA guide, and serves as the Agency's online reading room. The NEA also continues to post the most recent grants it has awarded on our website, which has decreased the number of FOIA inquiries we receive for that specific information. The availability of this information online continues to reduce the Endowment's formal caseload. The Endowment views this as a positive demonstration of the effectiveness of our website. The Agency also routinely accepts and responds to requests for information via email, which has decreased the number of days it takes to process and respond to requests.

IX. Costs/FOIA staffing

1. Staffing levels:

   Number of full-time FOIA personnel: 0
   Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in total work-years): 1
   Total number of personnel (in work-years): 1

2. Total costs (including staff and all resources).

   1. FOIA processing (including appeals): $16,000 (est.)
   2. Litigation-related activities (estimated): not applicable
   3. Total costs: $16,00 (est.)
   4. Comparison with previous year(s) (including percentage of change) (optional): No change

3. Statement of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance (optional): None

X. Fees

1. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests: $0.00
2. Percentage of total costs: 0% (Note: The Agency frequently does not assess fees for FOIA requests because the requests fall within the range of search time and number of copies required that do not incur charges.)

XI. FOIA regulations (including fee schedule):

The Arts Endowment's regulation and fee schedule appear at 45 C.F.R. 1100.6. These can be accessed electronically at http://www.arts.gov/learn/FOIA/FOIAReg.hmtl

XII. Report on FOIA Executive Order Implementation

1. Description/Modification of agency improvement plan -- N/A
2. Report on agency implementation of its plan, including its performance in meeting milestones, with respect to each improvement area -- The NEA's FOIA Officer has reviewed the Agency's FOIA practice, and has determined that the increased availability of information on the Agency's website has decreased the number of FOIA request received.
3. Identification and discussion of any deficiency in meeting plan milestones -- N/A
4. Additional narrative statement regarding other executive order-related activities -- N/A
5. Concise descriptions of FOIA exemptions --

FOIA provides nine specific exemptions that allow certain records to remain unavailable:

1. Classified national defense and foreign relations information
2. Internal agency rules and practices
3. Information that is prohibited from disclosure by another law
4. Trade secrets and other confidential business information
5. Inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal privileges
6. Information involving matters of personal privacy
7. Certain information compiled for law enforcement purposes
8. Information relating to the supervision of financial institutions
9. Geological information on wells

The Arts Endowment may withhold information if it falls within one of the nine FOIA exemptions. The Endowment most frequently withholds information under exemptions 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. By far the Endowment's most frequent basis for withholding information is FOIA exemption 6, which protects many types of personal information about grant applicants, grantees, and NEA personnel.

F. Additional Statistics

  1. Ten Oldest Pending FOIA Requests

  2. Consultations

  a.) Number of Consultations Received, Processed, and Pending

  b.) Ten Oldest Pending Consultations Received From Other Agencies

G. Attachment: Agency Improvement Plan

REVIEW, PLAN, REPORT

Overall Nature of NEA's FOIA Operations

The National Endowment For the Arts processes its Freedom of Information Act requests through the Office of General Counsel. One employee, the FOIA Officer, currently handles all of the requests, which includes logging the information into a database, assessing the request and acquiring all documents relevant to the request, updating requestors on the progress of their request, and handling appeals.

The employee reviews outgoing responses to ensure complete coverage of all issues, proper coordination with the appropriate parties, and compliance with FOIA regulations and policies. Based on research, the NEA's FOIA Officer makes decisions regarding disclosure, denial, or other disposition of legal requests.

Last year, the National Endowment of the Arts received approximately 64 requests, the majority of which related to sample grant applications for prospective grant applicants. Other frequently requested information relates to our annual budget, agency credit card holders, copies of administrative directives, grants database information, and occasionally correspondence with Members of Congress.

The NEA has averaged approximately 76 FOIA requests over the last three years.

FOIA requests are received via email, fax and regular mail, and are immediately logged into a database. The majority of requests are for information relating to sample grant applications, and those requests take, on average, five business days to complete.

This is consistent with Section 1 of the Executive Order.

Affirmative Disclosure under subsection (a)(2)

In 1996, the FOIA was amended to require agencies to post on their websites frequently requested records, policy statements, staff manuals, instructions to staff, and final agency opinions.

Following the amendment, the NEA created a FOIA webpage in 1996 that discloses the FOIA and Privacy Act guidelines. The webpage describes the process by which a FOIA request is submitted, displays a sample FOIA request letter for requestors to follow as a guide, posts FOIA annual reports, and serves as an electronic reading room.

In addition to the documents provided pursuant to FOIA requests, articles and other information on the Arts Endowment and the arts are available on the Internet at the Agency's website, http://www.arts.gov.

The availability of substantial information online has drastically reduced the Endowment's formal FOIA caseload, from 697 requests in 1996, prior to the launching of the website, to 64 requests in the 2005 reporting period. The Endowment views this as a positive demonstration of the effectiveness of our website.

POTENTIAL IMPROVEMENT AREAS

Backlog Reduction/Elimination
Because of our quick turnaround, the NEA does not have a backlog of requests at this time, and there is rarely a need for expedited processing.

Proactive Disclosure of Information
The National Endowment for the Arts' most frequently requested documents under the Freedom of Information Act are sample grant applications. In order to further reduce processing time, the NEA is reviewing the possibility of adding sample grant applications to our FOIA website. This would reduce the majority of our FOIA requests by allowing requestors to download the information they are seeking electronically.

We plan to discuss this possibility with our Webmaster. We also need to discuss with the Office of Information and Privacy the need to contact organizations whose applications are selected for permission to publish this information on the web.

National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506