Professional Documents
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01 Foiarp
01 Foiarp
The following Office of Personnel Management Annual Freedom of Information Act report
covers the period October 1, 2000, through September 30, 2001, as required by 5 U.S.C. 552.
2.Initial request - a request to a Federal agency for access to records under the Freedom
of Information Act.
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 Freedom of Information
Act, or any other FOIA/PA determination such as a matter pertaining to fees.
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U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Annual Freedom of Information Act Report
FY 2001
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.
7.Simple request - a FOIA/PA request that an agency using multi-track processing places
in its fastest (non-expedited) track based on the volume or simplicity of records requested.
9.Grant - an agency decision to disclose all records in full response to a FOIA/PA request.
11.Denial - an agency decision not to release any part of a record or records in response to
a FOIA/PA request because all the information in the requested records is determined by
the agency to be exempt under one or more of the FOIA/PA=s exemptions, or for some
procedural reason (such as because no record is located in response to a FOIA/PA
request).
12.Time limits - the time period in the Freedom of Information Act for an agency to
respond to a FOIA/PA request (ordinarily 20 working days from proper receipt of a
Aperfected@ FOIA/PA request).
13.APerfected@ request - a FOIA/PA request for records that adequately describes the
records sought, that has been received by the FOIA/PA office of each agency or agency
component in possession of the records, and for which there is no remaining question
about the payment of applicable fees.
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U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Annual Freedom of Information Act Report
FY 2001
15.Median number - the middle, not average number. For example, of 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.
OPM did not rely on any Exemption 3 statutes during this reporting period.
3. Number of denials 50
(1) Exemption 1 0
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U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Annual Freedom of Information Act Report
FY 2001
(4) Exemption 4 14
(5) Exemption 5 17
(13) Exemption 8 0
(14) Exemption 9 0
a. No records 144
b. Referrals 39
c. Request withdrawn 1
d. Fee-related reason 11
h. Duplicate request 70
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U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Annual Freedom of Information Act Report
FY 2001
A. Number of Appeals
1. Number of appeals received during FY 2001 22
B. Disposition of Appeals
1. Number completely upheld 11
(2) Exemption 2 3
(3) Exemption 3 0
(4) Exemption 4 0
(5) Exemption 5 3
(6) Exemption 6 8
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U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Annual Freedom of Information Act Report
FY 2001
B. Disposition of Appeals
(10) Exemption 7(D)
(11) Exemption 7(E) 1
(13) Exemption 8 0
(14) Exemption 9 0
a. No records 5
b. Referrals 0
c. Request withdrawn 0
d. Fee-related reason 0
h. Duplicate request 1
i. Other (specify) 0
2. Complex requests
a. Number of requests processed 7449
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U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Annual Freedom of Information Act Report
FY 2001
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U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Annual Freedom of Information Act Report
FY 2001
D. Narrative Statement
The substantial increase in the number of requests occurred because previously we were
not including all our Privacy Act requests in our report. We changed our internal
procedures as result of the Department of Justice August 2001 guidance and this year's
report more accurately reflects our FOIA activity. As a result, our pending requests for
FY 2000 show a substantial increase from our FY 2000 report. The increase in costs is
related to the increased number of requests processed and better accounting. Our fee
collections were down by 53 percent in FY 2001. We think this may be because many of
our fee-related FOIA requests in the past were for employment and retirement statistics.
Many of these statistics are now available using tools on our website. The majority of our
requests are from individuals for personnel, investigation and retirement files and fees are
not chargeable for these requests.
A. Staffing levels
1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel 1
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U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Annual Freedom of Information Act Report
FY 2001
X. Fees
10