II. How to Make a FOIA Request to the FDIC

III. Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in this Report

IV. Exemption 3 Statutes

XI. FOIA Regulations and Fee Schedule

FDIC FOIA regulations may be found at: http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/2000-3800.html#2000part309. Paper copies of this report contain the full text of the regulations.

Hourly labor rates:    Executive staff @ $99.00  -  Professional staff @ $62.00  -  Clerical staff @ $27.00

Duplication:    $0.20 per page

Computer charges:    Personal computer rate @ $1.84 per hour of use (in addition to hourly labor rates); Floppy disks @ $.50 each (plus data/labor costs); CD @ $1.00 (plus data/labor costs); Magnetic tape reel/cartridge @ $10.00 each (plus data/labor costs); Large tape reel/cartridge @ $100.00 each (plus data/labor costs); Mainframe computer data costs (plus hourly labor rates, if applicable): CPU processing @ $0.18 per second; Disk I/O @ $0.35 per 1000 transactions; Tape I/O @ $0.20 per 1000 transactions; Printing @ $0.88 per 1000 lines.

Special products:    Certain reports, manuals and other products are offered at set prices by agency components which produce them.  Prices may be obtained upon request.

XII. Report on Executive Order Implementation

1. The FDIC has issued one update/modification of its FOIA Plan, Review and Report filed pursuant to Executive Order 13,392 (Improving Agency Disclosure of Information). This modification was made on October 27, 2006 and was added to explain the procedures the FDIC employs when a FOIA request remains unfulfilled after the passage of twenty business days. The FDIC uses active, customer service-oriented techniques to fulfill requests that may still be pending after the passage of twenty business days.
    
2. Upon the December 14, 2005 issuance of the Executive Order, the FDIC immediately went to work on the fulfillment of its mandates. On January 9, 2006, Acting FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg named Acting General Counsel Douglas H. Jones as the FDIC’s Chief FOIA Officer. On April 5, 2006, Chief FOIA Officer and Acting General Counsel Jones designated the FDIC Ombudsman, Cottrell L. Webster as the FDIC’s FOIA Public Liaison. Counsel in the FDIC’s FOIA Office, under the direction of Chief FOIA Officer Jones, provided the Ombudsman’s Office with substantive FOIA training, as well as an overview of the FOIA Public Liaison’s duties and responsibilities under the Executive Order.
   
   Under the further guidance of Chief FOIA Officer and Acting General Counsel Jones, in early 2006, the FDIC’s FOIA Office undertook a complete review, revision and modernization of each page of the FDIC’s FOIA web site. This included a review of the “FOIA Guide—Gaining Access to Information,” which informs the public on how to request records under the FOIA and how to achieve the best results. The review also included a revision and up-grade of the FDIC’s inter-active telephonic status request system. Along with the FOIA Office staff, the conversant/inter-active telephone status request system and the web site form the nucleus of the FDIC’s FOIA Service Center. The FDIC timely placed its FOIA Service Center into full operation and filed its Plan, Review and Report with the Attorney General and OMB Director. The inter-active telephonic component of the FDIC’s FOIA Service Center enables requesters to check on the status of their pending FOIA requests and speak directly to a FOIA Office staff member during regular business hours. The FDIC’s FOIA web site and the inter-active telephonic FOIA assistance line operate twenty four hours a day. To the date of this report, the FDIC’s FOIA Service Center has operated without any complaints since it became fully operational in June 2006.
   
   Another benefit the FDIC received in its review pursuant to the Executive Order was the improvement of two of its correspondence forms used in the fulfillment of FOIA requests. We made customer service enhancements to the initial FOIA acknowledgment letter and the agreement for extension of time to respond. These letters now meet the letter and spirit of the Executive Order by striking a more customer service-oriented tone. They were also reformulated for increased clarity and ease of reading.
   
   Among the improvement areas cited by the FDIC in its Plan, Review and Report were the affirmative and pro-active disclosure of information through web sites and other means. Along with the FDIC’s other activities in affirmatively making information available to the public, the FOIA Service Center has raised the level and clarity of available information. For instance, as part of the Executive Order review, we revised our “Popular FOIA” web page to include links to web-available materials that had traditionally been requested under the FOIA. This has enabled some requesters to go directly to the “Popular FOIA” web page and obtain the records they seek. Providing this extra web link to these materials has also made them easier to find for web surfers who know to seek information directly from a federal agency’s FOIA web site.
   
   In the ordinary course of FDIC business, we have also made many records available to the public through the Public Reading Room in Arlington, Virginia. In 2006, the FDIC also appended to its web site over 55 new major studies, reports, and statistical compilations of interest to the public. In addition to these major web site additions, the FDIC has also web-published numerous enforcement orders, guidance letters to bankers or the public, Community Reinvestment Act reports, filings by depository institutions or affiliated parties, statistical and Call Report information, consumer guidance on a variety of topics in business and banking, and information from state and other bank regulatory agencies.
   
   The other improvement area cited in the Plan, Review and Report was the need for additional employee training in the proper fulfillment of FOIA requests. The FDIC’s FOIA Office has held several internal training meetings during this reporting period to discuss current cases and trends, as well as solutions for fulfillment of individual files. This included a training seminar in October 2005 for all Washington, DC area FDIC employees who devote significant time to FOIA matters. At the seminar, the FOIA Office staff presented several training sessions to over 25 employees. Several FDIC employees not in the FOIA Office but who work on FOIA matters attended one or more Department of Justice FOIA or Privacy Act training courses. The FDIC Chief FOIA Officer and the Supervisory Counsel also participated in two Executive Order/FOIA training sessions conducted by the Department of Justice’s Office of Information and Privacy. In a matter related to FOIA training, counsel in the FDIC’s FOIA Office (which also oversees the FDIC’s Privacy Act program) worked closely during this reporting period with the FDIC’s Chief Privacy Officer to develop an on-line training module for Privacy Act duties and responsibilities. The module has been successful, and the FDIC is evaluating whether to create such a module for the FOIA. The FDIC plans to further implement this portion of the FOIA Plan, Review and Report in 2007.

3. The FDIC has reviewed the Plan, Review and Report issued pursuant to the Executive Order and has found no deficiencies in meeting plan milestones.
    
4. A further and more detailed analysis of the FDIC’s Executive Order activities is contained in the Plan, Review and Report issued pursuant to the Executive Order. That report, which was updated on October 27, 2006, is available on the FDIC’s web site at http://www.fdic.gov/about/freedom/FOIAPlan-Review2006.pdf.
    
5. A request for records may be denied if the requested record contains information which falls into one or more of the nine categories listed below. If the requested record contains both exempt and nonexempt information, the nonexempt portions which may reasonably be segregated from the exempt portions will be released to the requester.
   
   Exemption One - Records which are specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive Order to be kept secret in interest of national defense or foreign policy and are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive Order.
   
   Exemption Two - Records related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of the FDIC.
   
   Exemption Three - Records specifically exempted from disclosure by statute, provided that such statue: (a). requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issues; or (b). establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld.
   
   Exemption Four - Trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential.
   
   Exemption Five - Interagency or intra-agency memoranda or letters which would not be available by law to a private party in litigation with the FDIC.
   
   Exemption Six - Personnel, medical, and similar files (including financial files) the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
   
   Exemption Seven - Records compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records: (a). could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings; (b). would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication; (c). could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy; (d). could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, including a state, local, or foreign agency or authority or any private institution which furnished records on a confidential basis; (e). would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law; or (f). could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.
   
   Exemption Eight - Records that are contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of the FDIC or any agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions.
   
   Exemption Nine - Geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells.
   
   The exemptions most often applicable to information requested from the FDIC include (b)(4), (b)(5), (b)(6) and (b)(8). The FDIC receives a great deal of privileged and private financial information concerning individuals, businesses, and banking entities by virtue of its roles as a federal financial institution regulatory agency, as well as the appointed receiver of virtually all failed U.S. depository institutions. Therefore, exemptions (b)(4) and (b)(6) are invoked to withhold confidential or privileged material. The FDIC is also the primary regulator of most state-chartered financial institutions and therefore prepares or receives bank examination reports and related material. Such records are exempted from FOIA disclosure in order to promote frank communications between financial institutions and the FDIC examination staff and to maintain stability in the financial system. Accordingly, the FDIC invokes FOIA exemption (b)(8) for these purposes. Other exemptions, such as (b)(2), (b)(7)(A), or (b)(7)(C) are used occasionally. In some cases, records cannot be located.
    
6. Additional Statistics

1. Time Range of Pending Requests: As of January 31, 2007, there are 28 pending requests including 23 requests open for less than 20 days and 5 requests open for 21 days or more. The date of request for each of these 5 pending requests is as follows: (1) November 14, 2006; (2) November 28, 2006; (3) December 5, 2006; (4) December 7, 2006; and (5) December 7, 2006. These requests generally involve circumstances where the FDIC was waiting on a fee payment agreement. They also include searches for records that were created in the 1980s, or, if the records existed at all, were voluminous and in remote locations, such as Dallas, TX. An agreement for extension of time to respond is in place for each of these 5 FOIA requests.

7. The FDIC’s Plan, Review and Report in implementing the FOIA Executive Order is posted to the FDIC’s web site in a prominent place in the FDIC’s Freedom of Information Act Service Center. The Plan, Review and Report is located at http://www.fdic.gov/about/freedom/FOIAPlan-Review2006.pdf. A copy of the Plan, Review and Report will be attached to paper copies of this report and is also available from the FDIC’s Public Information Center (contact information is on page 1).