2.6: Freedom of Information Act

Encourage a culture of openness through the transformation of the FOIA request process within VA

Other Information:

FOIA and Transparency - Providing information through Freedom of Information Act inquiries is one of the most important activities for any agency. We receive a high volume of these requests: VA received 99,333 requests in FY 2008 and 69,432 requests in FY 2009. On January 29, 2009, the Secretary issued a memo to Assistant Secretaries reinforcing his commitment to the principles of transparency and openness and asking key officials to ensure that requested information be made available in a timely manner. VA’s Chief FOIA Officer, Roger Baker, disseminated this information department-wide, and held training sessions for FOIA Officers that explained how to apply the presumption of openness and the foreseeable harm standard. Additionally, several VA FOIA facilities held training sessions for their field offices to ensure a presumption of openness when making determinations on FOIA requests. In April 2009, VA held a training session for FOIA Officers to discuss the Attorney General’s FOIA Memorandum, which provided guidance to agencies on how to implement the President’s goals of openness and transparency. Several offices within VA have publicized the President’s FOIA Memorandum and Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines, including distributing these documents and providing further training. Other offices have developed internal FOIA Standard Operating Procedures Guides, which established authorized personnel to respond to FOIA requests and centralize the FOIA processes and responsibilities. Our Chief FOIA Officer has been instrumental in anticipating and encouraging a culture of openness through the transformation of the FOIA request process within VA. We recently implemented a new electronic request, response and tracking system, which is successfully cutting our backlog of FOIA requests, despite an increase in the number of requests made to the agency over FY 2008 and FY 2009. VA’s FOIA Backlog - Our number of backlogged requests decreased from 2,840 in FY 2008 to 503 in FY 2009. The decrease in the number of these requests is partly attributed to the VA FOIA offices’ successful backlog reduction efforts. VA has also been systematically closing out its oldest pending FOIA requests. While it is difficult to determine the exact number of backlogged requests for the past fiscal year due to implementation of our electronic FOIA tracking solution in June 2009, our quarterly backlog averages have decreased from 1,300 overdue requests in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 319 in the first quarter of 2010. Responding to Requests - By acquiring a web-based FOIA tracking system, FOIA officers can now track the status of FOIA requests, transfer cases electronically, and upload FOIA correspondences with requesters. This tool allows VA’s geographically dispersed FOIA officers to be up-to-date on any FOIA request received. In order to further increase the effectiveness of the FOIA tracking tool, a Program Manager has been designated to provide technical assistance to FOIA Officers using the system. The FOIA Program Manager also conducts routine data integrity checks to ensure that the data input into the system is accurate and available. FOIA offices have hired more staff and contractor support to address FOIA backlogs, as well as identify methods to help streamline the FOIA process to reduce department-wide response times to FOIA requests. VA FOIA offices have also taken part in ensuring that their offices have an effective system for responding to requests: The VA FOIA office is working with other FOIA offices such as the Office of Resolution Management (ORM) to develop FOIA training for ORM’s field officers. FOIA and Proactive Disclosures - When VA General Counsel (GC) provides training and advice to FOIA agency officials, GC advises that discretionary disclosures be made even though portions of records may be exempt from disclosure and no foreseeable harm may result as a result of the discretionary release. Other VA offices, such as the Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness plan to conduct a review of their materials that may be disclosed in light of the presumption of openness without compromise or harm to national security, personal privacy, or law enforcement interests.

Stakeholder(s):

• FOIA Officer

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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