Summary
Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), federal agencies must generally provide access to their information, enabling the public to learn about government operations and decisions. To help ensure proper implementation, the act requires that agencies report annually to the Attorney General on their processing of FOIA requests. For fiscal year 2006, agencies were also to report on their progress in implementing plans to improve FOIA operations, as directed by a December 2005 Executive Order. A major goal of the order was reducing backlogs of overdue FOIA requests (the statute requires an agency to respond to requests within 20 or, in some cases, 30 working days with a determination on whether it will provide records). For this study, GAO was asked, among other things, to determine trends in FOIA processing and agencies' progress in addressing backlogs of overdue FOIA requests since implementing their improvement plans. To do so, GAO analyzed 21 agencies' annual reports and additional statistics.
Based on data reported by major agencies in annual FOIA reports from fiscal years 2002 to 2006, the numbers of FOIA requests received and processed continue to rise, but the rate of increase has flattened in recent years. The number of pending requests carried over from year to year has also increased, although the rate of increase has declined. The increase in pending requests is primarily due to increases in requests directed to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In particular, increases have occurred at DHS's Citizenship and Immigration Services, which accounted for about 89 percent of DHS's total pending requests. However, the rate of increase is slightly less than it was in fiscal year 2005. Following the emphasis on backlog reduction in Executive Order 13392 and agency improvement plans, many agencies have shown progress in decreasing their backlogs of overdue requests as of September 2007. In response to GAO's request, 16 agencies provided information on their recent progress in addressing backlogs; results showed that 9 achieved decreases, 5 experienced increases, and 2 had no material change. Notably, according to this information, DHS was able to decrease its backlog of overdue requests by 29,972, or about 29 percent. However, the statistics provided by the 16 agencies varied widely, representing both overdue cases and all pending cases, as well as varying time frames. Further, 3 of 21 agencies reviewed were unable to provide statistics supporting their backlog reduction efforts, and 1 provided statistics by component, which could not be aggregated to provide an agencywide result. (The remaining agency reported no backlog before or after implementing its plan.) Tracking and reporting numbers of overdue cases is not a requirement of the annual FOIA reports or of the Executive Order. Although both the Executive Order and Justice's implementing guidance put a major emphasis on backlog reduction, agencies were given flexibility in developing goals and metrics that they considered most appropriate in light of their current FOIA operations and individual circumstances. As a result, agencies' goals and metrics vary widely, and progress could not be assessed against a common metric. The progress that many agencies made in reducing backlog suggests that the development and implementation of the FOIA improvement plans have had a positive effect. However, in the absence of consistent statistics on overdue cases, it is not possible to make a full assessment of governmentwide progress in this area. Justice's most recent guidance directs agencies to set goals for reducing backlogs of overdue requests in future fiscal years, which could lead to the development of a consistent metric; however, it does not direct agencies to monitor and report overdue requests or to develop plans for meeting the new goals. Without such planning and tracking, agencies may be challenged to achieve the reductions envisioned.
Recommendations
Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.
Director:
Team:
Phone:
Valerie C. Melvin
Government Accountability Office: Information Technology
(202) 512-6240
Recommendations for Executive Action
Recommendation: To help ensure that FOIA data in the annual reports are reliable, the Administrator of General Services should ensure that appropriate internal controls are put in place to improve the accuracy and reliability of FOIA data, including processes, such as checks and reviews, to verify that required data are entered correctly.
Agency Affected: General Services Administration
Status: Open
Comments: According to GSA, it made changes to improve the accuracy and reliability of its collected data. In particular, the agency reported that it has implemented a new centralized lntranet tracking system, which allows it to perform weekly spot checks on all data input into the system. GSA also stated that it would perform an internal control review of the program in 2009 to ensure that controls are operating as designed. According to the agency, this review was to be completed in September 2009. We have not yet received and analyzed the results of this review.
Recommendation: To help ensure that FOIA data are reliable, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development should ensure that appropriate policies and procedures are put in place to improve the accuracy and reliability of FOIA data, including procedures to ensure that all FOIA offices use tracking systems consistently and that information is entered accurately and promptly.
Agency Affected: Department of Housing and Urban Development
Status: Open
Comments: According to HUD, it performed a cleanup of the data in its FOIA tracking system in 2007, which found that many requests indicated as overdue had been responded to but not properly recorded. Since January 2008, according to the department, all FOIA requests, including those submitted directly to HUD's field offices, have been tracked and monitored regularly using a new FOIA tracking system with more robust reporting capabilities. We are continuing to assess the agency's actions in this area.
Recommendation: The Attorney General should, to help ensure that its oldest requests receive appropriate attention, direct the Criminal Division to establish goals and time frames for closing its oldest requests, including those over 6 years old.
Agency Affected: Department of Justice
Status: Open
Comments: According to the department, the Criminal Division established goals and time frames for closing its oldest requests, and had closed the ten oldest FOIA cases mentioned in the report by June 2008. The department also reported that it had detailed an attorney to its FOIA office specifically to assist in the area of backlog reduction. We are continuing to assess the agency's reported actions in this area.
Recommendation: The Attorney General should, to help agencies achieve the backlog reduction goals planned for fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 2010 and to ensure that comparable statistics on backlog are available governmentwide, direct the Office of Information and Privacy to provide additional guidance to agencies on (1) developing plans or modifying existing plans to achieve these goals and (2) tracking and reporting backlog.
Agency Affected: Department of Justice
Status: Open
Comments: On May 22, 2008, the department's Office of Information and Privacy issued new reporting requirements for agency Annual FOIA Reports, which require agencies to report on backlogs of both initial requests and administrative appeals and to provide yearly comparisons of those figures. This is in addition to the requirement that agencies report on their ten oldest pending requests. On June 27, 2008, the office posted Guidance on Preparing Backlog Reduction Plans. We are continuing to monitor the agency's actions in this area in relation to new legislative requirements.
