Inspector General closed cases 2018 (National Science Foundation, Office of Inspector General)

Ms. Best,

Your FOIA request has been assigned the number F-19-015.

After revewing the terms of your request, it seems that your use of the word "reports" and "investigations" is a bit unclear, as I shall explain herein.

The NSF Office of Inspector General (OIG) has an office of audit (OA) and an office of investigations (OI). On the OIG web page, one can click on OA's reports as well as clicking on OI's close-out memoranda. The latter pertain to OI's closed investigations.

If the focus is on OI, please click here<https://www.nsf.gov/oig/case-closeout/results.jsp?filter=reptsrch&caseNumber=2018&sortCaseNumber=cd&filter=catsrch&classification=2&sortClassification=cn&sortAll=cd&sballfrm=Search&showItems=50&page=60>. All of OI's closeout memoranda are posted in chronological order. One must go to the last few pages to get the most recent memoranda.

If the focus is on OA, please click here<https://www.nsf.gov/oig/reports/>.

If these publicly available sources will satisfy your request, please advise and I will close out the request. If, however, you seek something other than these publicly available reports, please clarify. Once we have reached a mutual understanding of the scope of your request, I will consider this a perfected request, which will then start the "clock" under FOIA.

Kind regards,

Elizabeth Sweetland
National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General
Assistant Counsel to the Inspector General

Ms. Best,

Please respond to my email from May 31st, so that I may proceed with processing your request.

Kind regards,

Elizabeth Sweetland
National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General
Assistant Counsel to the Inspector General

Ms. Best,

While I still await a reply to my questions about F-19-015, you have now posed a similar request for 2017 records. In that request, dated June 10, 2019, you seek the following:

June 10, 2019
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
a copy of the list or printout or database listing of Inspector General investigations closed/reports completed during calendar year 2017. If the list is organized by FY rather than calendar year, the FY 2017 list is sufficient for this request. If no central list or database exists, then I request that the equivalent information be provided in the form of copies of the cover sheet or first page of each IG report completed during calendar year 2017.
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,
Emma Best
This more recent request has been assigned number F-19-017. Please note that I must reiterate the same questions concerning the scope and meaning of the request:

After reviewing the terms of your request, it seems that your use of the word "reports" and "investigations" is a bit unclear, as I shall explain herein.

The NSF Office of Inspector General (OIG) has an office of audit (OA) and an office of investigations (OI). On the OIG web page, one can click on OA's reports as well as clicking on OI's close-out memoranda. The latter pertain to OI's closed investigations.

If the focus is on OI, please click here<https://www.nsf.gov/oig/case-closeout/results.jsp?filter=reptsrch&caseNumber=2018&sortCaseNumber=cd&filter=catsrch&classification=2&sortClassification=cn&sortAll=cd&sballfrm=Search&showItems=50&page=60>. All of OI's closeout memoranda are posted in chronological order. One must go to the last few pages to get the most recent memoranda.

If the focus is on OA, please click here<https://www.nsf.gov/oig/reports/>.

If these publicly available sources will satisfy your request, please advise and I will close out the request. If, however, you seek something other than these publicly available reports, please clarify. Once we have reached a mutual understanding of the scope of your request, I will consider this a perfected request, which will then start the "clock" under FOIA.

Kind regards,

Elizabeth Sweetland
National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General
Assistant Counsel to the Inspector General

Ms. Best,

Kindly review the enclosed response to your request.

Respectfully,

Elizabeth Sweetland
National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General
Assistant Counsel to the Inspector General