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Freedom of Information Act Guide
Freedom of Information Act Report
October 1, 1999 - September 30, 2000
I. Basic information:
- Point of Contact:
Mary A. Sipper, FOIA
Officer
Office of the General Counsel, Room 518
National Endowment for the Arts
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20506-0001
Tel: 202-682-5400
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Electronic address for report: The FY 1999 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.endow.gov/learn/FOIA/FOIAReport00.html.
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Paper copies of report: Paper copies can be requested
from the person/address listed above.
II. How to make a FOIA request
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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 arts_foia@nea.gov.
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Agency response-time ranges: In 2000, the median
number of days taken by the Agency to process different types of requests
was 8 days.
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Why some requests are not granted: In 2000, the
Agency made 36 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: one (1) denial pursuant to
exemption (b)(4), which protects trade secrets and commercial or financial
information obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential;
six (6) 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 nine (29) 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. A number of requests implicated multiple exemptions.
III. Definitions of terms and acronyms used in the report (to
be included in each report)
- Agency-specific acronyms or other terms:
There are no agency-specific terms or acronyms used in this report.
- Basic terms, expressed in common terminology:
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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.)
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Initial Request -- a request to a federal agency for access to
records under the Freedom of Information Act.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Grant -- an agency decision to disclose all records in full in
response to a FOIA request.
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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.
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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).
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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).
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"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.
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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).
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Median number -- the middle, not average, number. For example,
of 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.
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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
- List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by agency during current
fiscal year:
Exemption b(3) Statutes were not used by the National Endowment of
the Arts in FY 2000 FOIA responses.
V. Initial FOIA/PA access requests
- Numbers of initial requests:
1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year:
2
2. Number of requests received during current fiscal year: 79
3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year: 80
4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year: 1
- Disposition of initial requests: 1. Number of
total grants: 35
2. Number of partial grants: 32
3. Number of denials: 0
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: 1
(5) Exemption 5: 6
(6) Exemption 6: 29
(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 non-disclosure (total): 13
a. no records: 9
b. referrals: 0
c. request withdrawn: 1
d. fee-related reason: 1
e. records not reasonably described: 1
f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason: 0
g. not an agency record: 1
h. duplicate request: 0
i. other (specify): 0
VI. Appeals of initial denials of FOIA/PA requests
- Numbers of appeals:
1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year: 2
2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year: 2
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Disposition of appeals:
1. Number completely upheld: 1
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: 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) 1
a. no records: 1
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 (specify): 0
VII. Compliance with time limits/status of pending requests
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Median processing time for requests processed during the
year: 8 days
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Status of Pending Requests:
- Number of requests pending as of end of FY 99: 1
- Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that
date: 16 days
VIII. Comparisons with Previous Year(s) (Optional)
- Other narrative statements describing agency efforts to improve
timeliness of FOIA performance and to make records available to the
public:
In 2000 the Endowment continued to make its documents accessible
by electronic means. 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://arts.endow.gov, which includes an online FOIA guide and serves
as the Agency's online reading room. The availability of substantial
information online has drastically reduced the Endowment's formal
caseload, from 697 requests in 1995, prior to the launching of the
website, to 79 in the 2000 reporting period. 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.
IV. Costs/FOIA staffing
- Staffing levels:
Number of full-time FOIA personnel: 0
Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in total
work-years): .4
Total number of personnel (in work-years): .40 (est.)
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Total costs (including staff and all resources).
1. FOIA processing (including appeals): $14,500 (est.)
2. Litigation-related activities (estimated): not applicable
3. Total costs: $14,500 (est.)
IX. Fees
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Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests:
$82.60
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Percentage of total costs: less than 1 % (Note:
the Agency frequently does not assess fees for FOIA requests)
X. 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/about/FOIA/index.html.
National Endowment for the Arts · an independent federal agency
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20506 |
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