OGIS’s Reports – Page 2 – The FOIA Ombuds

OGIS Report on Fiscal Year 2020 Now Available

May 12, 2021May 12, 2021 by cmcguire, posted in OGIS's Reports, Ombudsman

Over the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted nearly every aspect of our professional and personal lives. OGIS’s 2021 Report for Fiscal Year 2020 provides a window into the ways that the pandemic has affected the FOIA process across federal agencies, and describes OGIS’s work to assist requesters and agencies with the FOIA process in … Continue reading OGIS Report on Fiscal Year 2020 Now Available

OGIS Publishes Issue Assessment on FOIA Performance Measures for Non-FOIA Professionals

September 30, 2020September 30, 2020 by cmcguire, posted in OGIS's Reports, Ombudsman

This post was written by Brittany Parris, an Archivist with the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, who conducted the assessment while on temporary assignment to OGIS as part of the National Archives and Records Administration Cross-training Program. We are happy to share our latest assessment, which examines FOIA performance measures for non-FOIA … Continue reading OGIS Publishes Issue Assessment on FOIA Performance Measures for Non-FOIA Professionals

OGIS Publishes Results of COVID-19 FOIA Website Review

June 16, 2020January 27, 2021 by cmcguire, posted in Customer service, OGIS's Reports, Ombudsman

Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) websites are more likely than not to be silent on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting agency FOIA processing. A majority of federal FOIA websites – 62.6 percent – reviewed by the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) in May and early June do not alert requesters to changes … Continue reading OGIS Publishes Results of COVID-19 FOIA Website Review

Assessing FOIA Reading Rooms

March 18, 2020 by cmcguire, posted in definitions and concepts, Electronic records, OGIS's Reports, Ombudsman, Review

The following post is written by Meredith Doviak, our National Archives colleague who is helping us assess methods agencies use to prepare documents for posting on agency FOIA reading rooms. In the decades since Congress amended FOIA in 1996 to expand the role of the agency FOIA reading room, the expectations and use of Federal … Continue reading Assessing FOIA Reading Rooms

OGIS Report on Fiscal Year 2019 Now Available

March 16, 2020March 16, 2020 by cmcguire, posted in OGIS's Reports, Sunshine Week 2020

Public spaces at the National Archives are closed, but OGIS is pleased to continue operations online — including publication of our 2020 Annual Report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2019. As OGIS Director Alina Semo notes in her message to readers, despite challenges faced in FY 2019, OGIS managed to reduce our backlog by 50 percent … Continue reading OGIS Report on Fiscal Year 2019 Now Available

OGIS Publishes Report Based on Agency Self-Assessments

February 12, 2020February 12, 2020 by cmcguire, posted in Government information, National Archives and Records Administration, OGIS's Reports, Records Management

McLain, Miss., Feb. 22, 2013 - FEMA assesses damages from flash floods in Greene County. (National Archives ID: 24475833) Federal agencies are generally complying with FOIA’s mandate to create procedures for preparing documents to post on FOIA reading rooms, and more often than not, the responsibility for prepping the documents rests with the FOIA staff. That … Continue reading OGIS Publishes Report Based on Agency Self-Assessments

USCIS demos open-source code system

February 5, 2020 by cmcguire, posted in IT Solutions, OGIS's Reports, Ombudsman

Are you an agency FOIA professional interested in developing an automated processing system? U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) invites you to a two-hour demonstration of its FOIA processing system at 1:30 p.m. EST Wednesday February 12th. The demonstration will take place at the USCIS Washington, DC office at 111 Massachusetts Avenue, NW as well … Continue reading USCIS demos open-source code system

Join Us for Our Annual Open Meeting!

June 3, 2019 by cmcguire, posted in OGIS events, OGIS's Reports, Ombudsman

Got a question for the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS)? Or do you want to hear more about our work as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Ombudsman over the past year? If so, please join us for the OGIS annual open meeting on Friday, June 14, 2019, in the William G. McGowan Theater … Continue reading Join Us for Our Annual Open Meeting!

OGIS Fiscal Year 2018 Report Now Available

March 8, 2019 by cmcguire, posted in OGIS's Reports, Ombudsman, Uncategorized

This year—2019—we celebrate 10 years as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Ombudsman. Anniversaries have a way of sparking reflection on the past, present and future—the theme of our 2019 Report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2018. FY 2018 was our busiest yet. Among our activities, we Handled 4,681 requests for assistance—from FOIA requesters and agencies … Continue reading OGIS Fiscal Year 2018 Report Now Available

OGIS Fiscal Year 2017 Report Now Available

March 28, 2018March 28, 2018 by amyatogis, posted in OGIS's Reports

We realize that it was a very busy Sunshine Week, so we understand if you missed the fact that in addition to testifying on the Hill and hosting and participating in great events, we also released our Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Annual Report. This year’s report chronicles our first full year since the passage of … Continue reading OGIS Fiscal Year 2017 Report Now Available