Freedom of Information Act Annual Report
October 1, 1999 to September 30, 2000
- 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 Web site 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 agencys response-time ranges.
The median time for responding to all requests in FY 00 was 20 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 requestFreedom
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.
- Initial Requesta
request to a federal agency for access to records under the Freedom
of Information Act.
- Appeala 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 Appeala request or appeal for which an agency has taken
a final action on the request or the appeal in all respects.
- Multi-track processinga
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 processingan
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 requesta
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 requesta
FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places
in a slower track based on the volume and/or complexity of records
requested.
- Grantan agency
decision to disclose all records in full in response to a FOIA
request.
- Partial grantan
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 FOIAs exemptions; or a decision to disclose
some records in their entireties, but to withhold others in whole
or in part.
- Denialan 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 FOIAs exemptions, or for some procedural reason
(such as because no record is located in response to a FOIA request).
- Time limitsthe
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"
requesta 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 statutea
separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure of a certain
type of information and authorizing its withholding under FOIA
§ (b) (3).
- Median numberthe
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.
Ethics in Government Act, 5 U.S.C. app. § 105, which requires specific conditions to be met before financial disclosure reports of federal employees may be released.
- Statement of whether
a court has upheld the use of each statute. If so, then cite example.
There were no court challenges to TVAs 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
37
- Number of requests
received during current fiscal year 131
- Number of requests
processed during current fiscal year 149
- Number of requests
pending as of end of current fiscal year
19
- Number of requests
pending as of end of preceding fiscal year
37
- Disposition of initial
requests.
- Number of total
grants 54
- Number of partial
grants 49
- Number of denials 10
- number of times
each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption once per
request)
(1) Exemption 1 0
(2) Exemption 2 0
(3) Exemption 3 5
(4) Exemption 4 9
(5) Exemption 5 20
(6) Exemption 6 30
(7) Exemption 7(A) 2
(8) Exemption 7(B 0
(9) Exemption 7(C) 2
(10) Exemption 7(D) 0
(11) Exemption 7(E) 0
(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) 36
- no records 26
- referrals
1
- request withdrawn 6
- fee-related
reasons 3
- 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 26
- Number of total
grants 54
- 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 2
- Number completely
reversed 3
- 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 1_
(5) Exemption 5 5
(6) Exemption 6 4
(7) Exemption 7(A) 1
(8) Exemption 7(B) 0
(9) Exemption 7(C) 1
(10) Exemption 7(D) 0
(11) Exemption 7(E) 0
(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) 4
- no records 4
- 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 0
- duplicate request 0
- other (specify) 0
- no records 4
- 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 90
- median number
of days to process 13
- number of requests
processed 90
- Track 2
- number of requests
processed 37
- median number
of days to process 41
- number of requests
processed 37
- Track 3
- number of requests
processed 22
- median number
of days to process 122
- number of requests
processed 22
- 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
19
- Median number of
days that such requests were pending as of that date
18
- Number of requests
pending as of end of current fiscal year
19
- Median processing time
for requests processed during the year.
- Comparisons with previous
year
- Comparison of numbers
of requests received
FY99: 184
FY00: 131
- Comparison of numbers
of requests processed
FY99: 169
FY00: 149
- Comparison of median
numbers of days requests were pending as of end of fiscal year 76.3%
decrease.
- 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.)
During FY 00 TVA has maintained and kept current the FOIA web site and reading room. TVA has continuously improved the content of the general web site, of which FOIA is a prominent feature, to make more information available to the public. Publication of TVA information on the web site has contributed to a reduction in the number of FOIA requests.
- Comparison of numbers
of requests received
-
Costs/FOIA staffing
- Staffing levels.
- Number of full-time
FOIA personnel 2
- Number of personnel
with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in total work-years) 0
- Total number of
personnel (in work-years) 2
- Number of full-time
FOIA personnel 2
- Total costs (including
staff and all resources).
- FOIA processing
(including appeals) $175,500
- Litigation-related
activities (estimated) $30,000
- Total costs $205,500
- Comparison with
previous year(s) (including percentage of change) (optional) 19.5%
decrease.
- FOIA processing
(including appeals) $175,500
- 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 $3,986.50
- Percentage of total
costs 1.94%
- Total amount of fees
collected by agency for processing requests $3,986.50
- 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_annual00.htm