FOIA March Madness 2017 - IV - Appeal logs, procedures, letters, opinions (National Endowment for the Arts)
| Submitted | March 14, 2017 |
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Communications
From: Beryl Lipton
To Whom It May Concern:
This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:
1. Any available log of appeals submitted to this agency or the agency tasked with processing Freedom of Information Act appeals for this division. Please provide such logs for the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016. Please, if possible, include with the log the following items:
• the request number associated with the FOIA in question
• the appeal number assigned to the appeal
• the description of the subject matter addressed by the request
• the division or office of initial receipt
• the date on which the appeal was received
• the date on which the appeal was closed
• the determination or final disposition status of the appeal
2. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which the determination was to reverse, in whole or in part, the decision of the initial request agency. Please provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.
3. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which the determination was to remand the request to the appropriate agency. Please provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.
4. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which the determination was to affirm the decision of the initial agency. Please provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.
5. Any instructive or guiding materials provided to and/or utilized by employees of this department’s Freedom of Information Act office. Please include any manuals, procedural materials, reference guides, checklists, training materials, flow charts, directives, memorandums, legal decisions, presentations, or similar material used in the process of an appeal by this office or the office tasked to process FOIA appeals for this office. Any guiding materials used for the preparation of an appeal package should be considered responsive to, though not the entirety of, this element of this request.
6. The name and contact information for the appropriate appeal authority to whom appeals for this agency should be directed. If such information exists as part of a template letter sent to requesters, provision of this document will be considered satisfactory.
Please provide responsive materials on a rolling basis.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Beryl Lipton
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 14, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: FOIA
Dear Mr. Lipton:
This e-mail responds to your request for records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. §552. Your request has been assigned file number F17-042 . In your below e-mail, you requested:
1. Any available log of appeals submitted to this agency or the agency tasked with processing Freedom of Information Act appeals for this division. Please provide such logs for the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016. Please, if possible, include with the log the following items:
* the request number associated with the FOIA in question
* the appeal number assigned to the appeal
* the description of the subject matter addressed by the request
* the division or office of initial receipt
* the date on which the appeal was received
* the date on which the appeal was closed
* the determination or final disposition status of the appeal
2. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which the determination was to reverse, in whole or in part, the decision of the initial request agency. Please provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.
3. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which the determination was to remand the request to the appropriate agency. Please provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.
4. All appeal letters and opinion letters associated with appeals for which the determination was to affirm the decision of the initial agency. Please provide such letters for appeals closed during the period from January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2016.
5. Any instructive or guiding materials provided to and/or utilized by employees of this department's Freedom of Information Act office. Please include any manuals, procedural materials, reference guides, checklists, training materials, flow charts, directives, memorandums, legal decisions, presentations, or similar material used in the process of an appeal by this office or the office tasked to process FOIA appeals for this office. Any guiding materials used for the preparation of an appeal package should be considered responsive to, though not the entirety of, this element of this request.
6. The name and contact information for the appropriate appeal authority to whom appeals for this agency should be directed. If such information exists as part of a template letter sent to requesters, provision of this document will be considered satisfactory.
Attached are the responsive documents for your request.
The National Endowment for the Arts is governed by the provisions of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, 20 U.S.C. 951 et seq., and the Freedom of Information Act with respect to the release of agency records. In accordance with the NEA's FOIA regulations, 45 C.F.R. 1100.5(b)(1), you may appeal the Agency's determination. Such an appeal must be made to the Chairman not less than 90 days after the date receipt of this e-mail, additional information about the appeal process can be found at FOIA| NEA<https://www.arts.gov/freedom-information-act-guide> .
If you would like to discuss our response before filing an appeal to attempt to resolve your dispute, you can contact our FOIA Public Liaison<https://www.arts.gov/foia/foia-contacts> for assistance. If we are unable to resolve your FOIA dispute through our FOIA Public Liaison, the Office of Government Information Services(OGIS), the Federal FOIA Ombudsman office, offers mediation services to help resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies. The contact information for OGIS is:
Office of Government Information Services
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS
College Park, MD 20740-6001
ogis@nara.gov<mailto:ogis@nara.gov>
Please contact me if you have any questions about this response.
Respectfully,
FOIA Officer | Office of the General Counsel
National Endowment for the Arts
400 7th Street SW | Washington DC 20506
