DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Freedom of Information Act 1999 Annual Report
October 1, 1998 - September 30, 1999

Bureau/Office MMS/RMP
Reporting Official Gregory K. Kann

Telephone No.: 303 231-3013
Date: November 5, 1999

1. (To be completed by the Department)
2. (To be completed by the Department)
3. Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report
1. Bureau - specific acronyms or other terms included in each report.
   (To be completed by the bureau if appropriate)
2. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology.
   1. FOIA/PA request - Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)/Privacy Act request. A FOIA request is generally a request for access to records concerning a third party, an organization, or a particular topic of interest. A Privacy Act request is a request for records concerning oneself; such requests are also treated as FOIA requests. (All requests for access to records, regardless of which law is cited by the requester, are included in this report).
   2. Initial Request - a request to a federal agency for access to records under the FOIA.
   3. Appeal - a request to a federal agency asking that it review at a higher administrative level a full denial or partial denial of access to records under the FOIA, or any other FOIA determination such as a matter pertaining to fees.
   4. Processed Request or Appeal - a request or appeal for which an agency has taken a final action on the request or the appeal in all respects.
   5. Multitrack processing - a system in which simple requests requiring relatively minimal review are placed in one processing track and more voluminous and complex requests are placed in one or more other tracks. Requests in each track are processed on a first-in/ first-out basis. A requester who has an urgent need for records may request expedited processing (see below).
   6. Expedited processing -- an agency will process a FOIA request on an expedited basis when a requester has shown an exceptional need or urgency for the records which warrants prioritization of his or her request over other requests that were made earlier.
   7. Simple request -- a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in its fastest (nonexpedited) track based on the volume and/or simplicity of records requested.
   8. Complex request -- a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in a slower track based on the volume and/or complexity of records requested.
   9. Grant -- an agency decision to disclose all records in full in response to a FOIA request.
   10. Partial grant -- an agency decision to disclose a record in part in response to a FOIA request, deleting information determined to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions; or a decision to disclose some records in their entireties, but to withhold others in whole or in part.
   11. Denial -- an agency decision not to release any part of a record or records in response to a FOIA request because all the information in the requested records is determined by the agency to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA's exemptions.
   12. Time limits -- the time period in the FOIA for an agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily 20 working days from proper receipt of a "perfected" FOIA request).
   13. Perfected request -- a FOIA request for records which adequately describes the records sought, which has been received by the FOIA office of the agency or agency component in possession of the records, and for which there is no remaining question about the payment of applicable fees.
   14. Exemption 3 statute -- a separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure of a certain type of information and authorizing its withholding under FOIA subsection (b)(3).
   15. Median number -- the middle, not average number. For example, 3, 7, and 14, the median number is 7.
   16. Average number -- the number obtained by dividing the sum of a group of numbers by the quantity of numbers in the group. For example, of 3, 7, and 14, the average number is 8.
4. Exemption 3 Statutes
   1. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by bureau during current fiscal year and number of times invoked.
   2. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each statute.
   3. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of each statute. If so, then cite example (To be completed by SOL)
      
5. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests
   • This should include all access requests, whether first-party or third-party. Only "perfected" requests should be included. A "perfected request" is a FOIA request for records which adequately describes the records sought, which has been received by the FOIA office of the agency or agency component in possession of the records, and for which there is no remaining question about the payment of applicable fees.
   1. Numbers of initial requests.
      • Even though a requester may ask for several items, e.g., copies of four audit reports, this still only constitutes one request.
      • The total of the numbers in lines 1 and 2, minus the number in line 3, should equal the number in line 4.
      1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year____25___
      2. Number of requests received during current fiscal year__________74*__
      3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year_________70*__
      4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year______29___
         (Enter this number also in line VII.B.1.)
         * These numbers do not include 24 requests that were not processed under FOIA due to having the program offices respond directly to requests for records that are not proprietary or already publicly available. We also do not know how many requests may have gone directly to the program offices and were processed by them under the new policy. Nor does it include the many phone requests that are never officially submitted due to answering questions on the phone.
         The number of requests processed is lower also due to the large amount of time expended developing, testing, and implementing the EFOIA System to comply with the EFOIA requirements and to time spent training new staff. We also spent a significant effort assisting the Re-engineering Operational Model Teams resolve proprietary data issues for contemporaneous records. This time took away from the time available to process requests thus causing the backlog to increase.
   2. Disposition of initial requests.
      1. Number of total grants ___28__
      2. Number of partial grants _17__
      3. Number of denials _______2__
         • Even though more than one exemption may be invoked for each denial, it still only constitutes one denial.
         • A "no record" response does not constitute a denial which would be reported under 3--these should be included under 4a, "No records."
         • Fee waiver denials should be included under 4d, "Fee-related reason."
         1. Number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption once per request)
            1. Exemption 1 _________0__
            2. Exemption 2 _________2__
            3. Exemption 3 _________0__
            4. Exemption 4 ________19__
            5. Exemption 5 _________6__
            6. Exemption 6 _________0__
            7. Exemption 7 (A) _____0__
            8. Exemption 7 (B) _____0__
            9. Exemption 7 (C) _____0__
            10. Exemption 7 (D) _____0__
            11. Exemption 7 (E) _____0__
            12. Exemption 7 (F) _____0__
            13. Exemption 8 _________0__
            14. Exemption 9 _________1__
                
      4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) _____23___
         1. no records ____2_____
         2. referrals ____1_____
         3. request withdrawn ____6_____
         4. fee-related reason ____3_____
            (Include fee waiver denials here.)
         5. records not reasonably described ___2__
         6. f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason ______0*__
         7. g. not an agency record _____0__
         8. h. duplicate request _____1__
         9. i. other (specify) _____8__
            (If a request was denied under the Privacy Act, specify which Privacy Act exemption was used to deny the information.)
            *FOIA’s 1999-016, 1999-017, 1999-018, 1999-034, 1999-035, 1999-038, and 1999-047 were all closed because the requester had a previous FOIA bill that was not paid. We advised the requester to resubmit new requests once they paid their past due bill. We also advised that much of what they requested was public information that should be obtained from other sources.
            FOIA 1999-025 we closed for RMP as the remaining action was with MMS Offshore.
            
6. Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests (To be completed by the Department.)
   • This should include all access requests, whether first-party or third-party.
   1. Numbers of appeals.
      1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year __________
      2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year __________
   2. Disposition of appeals.
      1. Number completely upheld __________
      2. Number partially reversed __________
      3. Number completely reversed __________
         1. Number of times each FOIA exemption used
            (counting each exemption once per appeal)
            1. Exemption 1 ______________
            2. Exemption 2 ______________
            3. Exemption 3 ______________
            4. Exemption 4 ______________
            5. Exemption 5 ______________
            6. Exemption 6 ______________
            7. Exemption 7(A) ___________
            8. Exemption 7(B) ___________
            9. Exemption 7(C) ___________
            10. Exemption 7(D) ___________
            11. Exemption 7(E) ___________
            12. Exemption 7(F) ___________
            13. Exemption 8 ______________
            14. Exemption 9 ______________
      4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) ___________
         1. no records ___________
         2. referrals ___________
         3. request withdrawn ___________
         4. fee-related reason ___________
            (Include fee waiver denials here.)
         5. records not reasonably described ___________
         6. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason ___________
         7. not an agency record ___________
         8. duplicate request ___________
         9. other (specify) ___________
            (If a request was denied under the Privacy Act, specify which Privacy Act exemption was used to deny the information.
            
7. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests
   • Bureaus should count days from the time at which a request is "perfected."
   • Bureaus should provide the median number of days under A and B. If the bureau believes that "average time" is a better measure of its performance, it may wish to include that as well.
   • Examples - calculating the median:
     1) Given 7 requests completed during the fiscal year, aged 10, 25, 35, 65, 75, 80, and 400 days from date for perfection to date of completion, the total number of requests completed during the fiscal year would be 7 and the median age of the completed requests would be 65 days.
     2) Example for calculation of median: If there were 6 pending cases aged 10, 20, 30, 50, 120, and 200 days from date of perfection to date of completion, the total number of requests completed would be 6 and the median age would be 40 days (the average of the 2 middle numbers).
   1. Processing time for requests processed during the year.
      1. Normal Processing
         1. number of requests processed _____70__
         2. median number of days to process _____43__
         3. average number of days to process (optional) ____65.9__
      2. Requests accorded expedited processing.
             1. number of requests processed _____NA__
             2. median number of days to process _____NA__
             3. average number of days to process (optional) _____NA__
                  (NOTE: DOI does not use multitrack processing at this time.)
         
   2. Status of pending requests.
      1. Number of requests pending as of end of FY 99 ____29___
         (Enter this number from Line V.A.4.)
      2. Median number of days that such requests were
         pending as of that date (September 30, 1999) ____128___
      3. Average number of days that such requests were
         pending as of that date ( optional) ____176.5___
         
8. Comparisons with Previous Year(s)
   Bureaus should state comparisons both in total numbers and in percentage of change.
   
   1. Comparison of numbers of requests received:
      • Fiscal Year...No....% change over FY 98
      • ..FY 99........74.........-63.9
      • ..FY 98.......205
   2. Comparison of numbers of requests processed:
      • Fiscal Year No. % change over FY 98
      • ..FY 99......70.......-63.92
      • ..FY 98.....194
   3. Comparison of median numbers of days requests were pending at the end of FY:
      • Fiscal Year No. % change over FY 98
      • ..FY 99.....128.......1322.22
      • ..FY 98
   4. Other narrative statements describing bureau efforts to improve timeliness of FOIA responses and making records available to the public (e.g., backlog -reduction efforts, training provided by bureau to its employees (do not list training sponsored by DOJ, ASAP, USDA), etc.):

      We updated the "Guide to Royalty Information" on the world wide web. The "Guide" advises the public about how to obtain records under FOIA and lists other sources to obtain public or non-proprietary records. We also updated our RMP EFOIA Homepage and began using our automated EFOIA workflow system to process records electronically and publish documents to the world wide web. We stopped processing requests under FOIA for the requester’s own information or for records that are publicly available from other sources. Our program offices now respond directly to requests for such records.

      We increased the FOIA staff from 2.5 to 4.0 to handle the additional workloads for implementing the EFOIA requirements and to reduce our backlog. Our Branch also acquired a computer expert who utilized MS Access to develop a FOIA tracking system that links to the EFOIA workflow system and the finance office’s billing database to compile data for the Annual Report.

      We developed and implemented a "Scoping Letter" to advise requesters to resubmit their request when it is too broad or unclear. The letter also advises which records are already public and how to obtain the records from our reading room or from other sources.

      To ensure that our program offices conduct full records searches and provide all responsive records, we now require that they provide the FOIA office a signed certification that they conducted a complete search.

      We provided mandatory training in September 1999 for all RMP and contractor staff on FOIA and proprietary data.

9. Costs/FOIA Staffing.
   
   1. Staffing levels.
      1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel _____4__
      2. Number of personnel with part-time or
         occasional FOIA duties (in total work-years) _____1__
      3. Total number of personnel (in work-years) _____5__
   2. Total Costs (including staff and all resources):
      • The salaries (or portion thereof) of the FOIA Officer/Coordinator(s) and others involved in administering/implementing the FOIA Program, including clerical support. For purposes of the report, use the individual's salary (exclude benefits and overhead)(include under 1, 2, and 3, if applicable)
      • Cost to provide or attend training (include under 3).
      • Fees which are waived or not recovered, including those instances where the fee is $15 or under, provided that a record of such fees is maintained as backup information (include under 1).
      • The cost to develop and maintain the bureau's FOIA home page (include under 3).
      • Other costs (Check with the Departmental FOIA Officer).
      1. FOIA processing (including appeals)
         • Staff........$222,000
         • Other........$ 2,000
      2. Litigation-related activities (estimated)
         • Staff........$ 10,000 Shell Lawsuit
         • Other........$ 1,000
      3. Other costs - administering the program (training, home page costs etc $ 230,000*
         *Includes costs to develop, install, and test EFOIA automated system.
      4. Total costs..$ 465,000
      5. Comparison with FY 98 (including % of change) 51.9%
   3. Statement of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance. None providing that our workload does not unexpectedly have a significant increase.
10. Fees--This includes charges for search, review (commercial-use requesters only), document duplication, and any other direct costs permitted under agency regulations.
1. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests.........$15,744.12
2. Percentage of total costs.........................................................................6.7%
11. FOIA Regulations (Including the Fee Schedule)
    (To be completed by the Department)