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Freedom Of Information Act Annual Report for
THE EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES
October 1, 2006 to September 30, 2007
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I. Basic Information
A. Name, title, address, and telephone number of person(s) to be contacted with questions about the report:
Joseph A. Sorbera, FOIA Public Liaison
Export-Import Bank of the United States
811 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20571
(202) 565-3241
Dawn R. Kral, FOIA Specialist
Export-Import Bank of the United States
811 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20571
(202) 565-3248
B. Electronic address for report on the World Wide Web:
C. To receive a hard copy of this report, mail a request to Joseph A. Sorbera
(see section I. A. of this report, Contacts)
II. How to Make a FOIA Request
This can be found at www.exim.gov/about/disclosure/foiahowto.cfm
A. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components and
offices that receive FOIA requests
Export-Import Bank of the United States
Freedom of Information Act Office
811 Vermont Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20571
(202) 565-3241
B. Brief description of the agency's response-time ranges.
This can be found at http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=ada39b1b53af6f927701d536f82c8d5b&rgn=div5&view=text&node=12%3A4.0.2.3.3&idno=12#12%3A4.0.2.3.3.1.4.1"C. Brief description of why some requests are not granted.
Ex-Im Bank most commonly withholds documents pursuant to FOIA Exemptions (b)(4) and (b)(5).
III. Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report
A. Agency-specific acronyms or other terms
N/AB. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology
This can be found at: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=ada39b1b53af6f927701d536f82c8d5b&rgn=div5&view=text&node=12%3A4.0.2.3.3&idno=12#12%3A4.0.2.3.3.1.4.1
IV. Exemption 3 Statutes
A. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by agency during current fiscal year.
1. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each statute.
N/A
2. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of each statute. If so, then cite example.
N/A
V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests
A. Number of Initial requests
1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year 12
2. Number of requests received during current fiscal year 105
3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year 104
4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year 13
B. Disposition of initial requests
1. Number of total grants 60
2. Number of partial grants 35
3. Number of denials 0
a. number of times each FOIA exemption used
(1) Exemption 1 0
(2) Exemption 2 3
(3) Exemption 3 0
(4) Exemption 4 33
(5) Exemption 5 9
(6) Exemption 6 7
(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 0
b. referrals 2
c. request withdrawn 6
d. fee-related reason 0
e. records not reasonably described 0
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 0
g. not an agency record 1
h. duplicate request 0
i. other 0
VI. Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests
A. Number of Appeals
1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year 3
2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year 2
B. Disposition of appeals
1. Number completely upheld 2
2. Number partially reversed 0
3. Number completely reversed 0
a. number of times each FOIA exemption used
(1) Exemption 1 0
(2) Exemption 2 0
(3) Exemption 3 0
(4) Exemption 4 1
(5) Exemption 5 1
(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) 0
a. no records 0
b. referrals 0
c. request withdrawn 0
d. fee-related reason 0
e. records not reasonably described 0
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 0
g. not an agency record 0
h. duplicate request 0
i. other 0
VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests
A. Median processing time for requests processed during the year
1. Simple requests
a. number of requests processed 46
b. median number of days to process 12
2. Complex requests
a. number of requests processed 58
b. median number of days to process 66
3. Expedited Requests
a. number of requests processed 0
b. median number of days to process 0
B. Status of pending requests
1. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year 13
2. Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that date 122
VIII. Comparisons with Previous Years (optional)
D. Ex-Im Bank received two requests for expedited processing during the Fiscal Year. Both requests were denied due to lack of justification under Ex-Im Bank’s regulations
IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing
A. Staffing levels
1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel 1
2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in total work- years) 2
3. Total number of personnel (in work-years) 3
B. Total costs (including staff and all resources)
1. FOIA processing (including appeals) $371,000
2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) -0-
3. Total costs $371,000
4. Comparison with previous year(s)(including percentage of change)(optional)
C. Statement of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance (optional)
N/A
X. Fees
A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests $5,700.00
B. Percentage of total costs 1.5%
XI. FOIA Regulations (Including Fee Schedule)
These can be found at: http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=ada39b1b53af6f927701d536f82c8d5b&rgn=div5&view=text&node=12%3A4.0.2.3.3&idno=12#12%3A4.0.2.3.3.1.4.1
XII. Report on FOIA Executive Order Implementation
The following describes the status of the implementation of Export-Import Bank’s FOIA improvement plan.
A. Description of supplementation/modification of agency improvement plan (if applicable).
Not applicable.
B. Report on agency implementation of its plan, including its performance in meeting milestones, with respect to each improvement area.
A link on Ex-Im Bank’s web site to a FOIA request template which can be filled in on-line by a requester and automatically submitted to a FOIA mailbox for processing was implemented in January 2007. The template will help to ensure that the request is proper and complete and should reduce the need to go back to the requester for clarification or agreement to pay fees, further improving processing time.
C. Identification and discussion of any deficiency in meeting plan milestones (if applicable).
- FOIA Improvement Plan area: Ex-Im Bank’s Website
- Deficiency in meeting plan milestones: improvements to Ex-Im Bank’s FOIA web page were to include additional frequently requested information or to the extent that the information already existed at other locations on Ex-Im Bank’s web site, include links to this information on the FOIA web page. In conjunction with this effort, an electronic “reading room” was to be established which would more formally organize information of interest to FOIA requesters. This project was originally targeted for completion by December 31, 2006; the target date was revised to June 30, 2007.
- Steps taken to correct deficiency: additional delays have been encountered in meeting the revised target date for implementing these improvements. This is due to a continued shortage of personnel resources available to devote to this project, including Ex-Im Bank’s FOIA Officer who resigned in March 2007.
- Steps to take in the future to correct deficiency: Ex-Im Bank’s FOIA web page will be updated as personnel resources become available. Given the current personnel situation, the target date for completion is estimated to be March 2008.
D. Additional narrative statement regarding other Executive Order-related activities (optional).
None.
E. Concise descriptions of FOIA exemptions
The FOIA exemptions authorize federal agencies to withhold information covering: (1) classified national defense and foreign relations information; (2) internal agency rules and practices; (3) information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal 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) records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, to the extent that the production of those 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, (E) would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or (F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual; (8) information relating to the supervision of financial institutions; and (9) geological information on wells.
F. Additional statistics:
1. Ten Oldest Pending FOIA Requests
Calendar Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
March 3
October 12March 2
March 6
March 27
April 4
May 24
June 7
July 16
July 252. Consultations
a) Number of Consultations Received, Processed and Pending
Consultations received From Other Agencies During FY07
Consultations received From Other Agencies That Were Processed During FY07 (includes those received prior to FY07)
Consultations received From Other Agencies That Were Pending as of October 1, 2007 (includes those received prior to FY07)
2
2
0
b) Ten Oldest Pending Consultations Received From Other Agencies
Calendar Year
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
G. Attachment: Agency improvement plan (in current form).
Page Updated: February 7, 2008
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