OGIS Publishes Annual Compliance Report

by Kimberlee N Ried, posted in Customer service, Government information, Guest post, OGIS's Reports, Ombudsman, Open Government, Records Management, Uncategorized
Here is a condensed version of the 1950 Census tabulation picture. In the foreground is a punch card machine. Holes are punched in the card according to a prearranged code, transferring the facts from the questionnaire into statistics. The man operating the machine labeled “140” is running a sorter. This machine sorts cards into any desired classification. The other two machines are tabulators which add up the final results. National Archives Identifier 207527227

Today’s blog post was guest written by Dan Levenson.

Nearly half of federal agencies include language about FOIA obligations in contracts for goods and services while fewer than one in five agencies continue to have pandemic-related backlogs. Those are among the findings from the most recent Records Management Self-Assessment (RMSA).

The report, “Assessing Freedom of Information Act Compliance through the National Archives and Records Administration’s 2023 Records Management Self-Assessment,” looks at the data collected in the 2023 RMSA from January 8 to March 8, 2024. The RMSA assesses whether federal agencies are complying with statutory and regulatory records management requirements. The ability to find records responsive to FOIA requests is essential to a successful FOIA program, and since 2016, OGIS has included questions on the RMSA to gather government-wide information about FOIA administration. The data helps OGIS fulfill its statutory mandate to review agency compliance with FOIA and complements the observations OGIS makes as the FOIA Ombuds, working to improve the FOIA process for all.

 Key Results from the 2023 RMSA:

  • The 2023 data reflect a 5-percentage point increase in agency FOIA programs reporting minimal or no pandemic-related impact to the FOIA backlog (84 percent) over 2022 (79 percent). The number of agencies reporting a continuing moderate or significant negative impact to the backlog caused by the pandemic dropped 2-percentage points from 2022 to 16 percent.
  • A majority of agencies (59 percent) post records only on an ad-hoc basis (“as needed”) when no FOIA request has been filed.
  • Comparing the 2023 data against data from the 2019 RMSA, it appears that federal agencies continue to struggle with providing FOIA information, context, and guidance to requesters on their FOIA websites.
  • Almost half (48 percent) of respondents reported including language covering FOIA obligations in contracts for services and products.

Read the full assessment of FOIA questions in the RMSA here.