Providing estimated dates of completion can be a challenge—but it’s also the law. As we’ve previously noted, Congress amended FOIA in 2007 to require agencies to provide requesters with estimated dates of completion when asked. We think that estimated dates of completion are so important that we analyze their use as part of our agency … Continue reading Agencies Using Technology to Provide Estimated Dates of Completion
The Administration released its third Open Government National Action Plan (NAP) on Tuesday October 27. The release of NAP 3.0 coincided with the Open Government Partnership Global Summit in Mexico. The multi-national Open Government Partnership was created to encourage governments to commit to making their country more open and accountable to the public. Countries participating … Continue reading New U.S. Open Government NAP No Snore for FOIA Fans
On Tuesday, October 20, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee held its sixth meeting in the Archivist’s Reception Room. The purpose of the meeting was for the Committee’s three subcommittees – Oversight and Accountability, FOIA Fees, and Proactive Disclosure – to provide updates on their work. As the Committee moves into the backstretch … Continue reading FOIA Advisory Committee Meeting Round-up
Since OGIS opened in 2009, we’ve worked to improve the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process by providing mediation services to help resolve disputes between requesters and Federal agencies. We handled more than 1,200 requests for assistance in Fiscal Year 2015 alone. In addition to mediating cases, we provide twice-yearly training to help agency FOIA … Continue reading Every Day is Conflict Resolution Day at OGIS
If you’re in the DC area, we hope you can join us for the next meeting of the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee, taking place on Tuesday, October 20th from 10 am to 1 pm. The meeting will be held at the National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW in … Continue reading Don’t Miss Out: RSVP Now for the FOIA Advisory Committee Meeting
Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 has been an exciting one for OGIS! We launched our agency compliance program, hosted four meetings of the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee, and welcomed Dr. James Holzer as our Director, not to mention assisted agencies and FOIA requesters in resolving disputes in more than 1,200 instances. As … Continue reading OGIS Release New Year’s Calendar
Our assessment of the FOIA program at the United States Coast Guard is now available. The Coast Guard’s FOIA process is decentralized, meaning that requests received in the nine districts and more than 1,200 units are processed by those districts and units, generally as a collateral duty. Final memorandums on maritime disasters and records pertaining … Continue reading Compliance Review of Coast Guard FOIA Program Now Available
We’re happy to announce the release of our assessment of the FOIA program at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is now public. As our regular blog readers may know, the assessment of FEMA is one of six compliance reports that we are working on and will publish in the coming months. OGIS’s report includes … Continue reading OGIS Releases Compliance Review of FEMA FOIA Program
Do you find yourself locked in disputes with FOIA requesters (or agency colleagues)? Would you like to learn constructive ways to resolve or avoid disputes in the future? OGIS will present a training session designed to help FOIA professionals develop dispute resolution skills on Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at the Archives building on Constitution Ave … Continue reading Dispute Resolution Skills for FOIA Professionals Training Session: October 6, 2015
We have some exciting news to share: on Monday, September 14 we will officially launch our Twitter feed. If you can’t wait till Monday, please feel free to go ahead and follow @FOIA_Ombuds. To celebrate, we will host a lunchtime FOIA trivia challenge every day between Monday September 14 and Wednesday September 30. At noon … Continue reading OGIS is Atwitter—and on Twitter
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