Title: Freedom of Information Act Report for October 1, 1998 through
September 30, 1999
Date: February 2, 2000
NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REPORT
FOR OCTOBER 1, 1998 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30, 1999
I. BASIC INFORMATION:
A. Point of Contact:
Leslie Crawford, NSF FOIA Officer
Rm 1265
4201 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22230
(703) 306-1060
B. Electronic Address for report: The FY1999 FOIA Report for the
National Science Foundation will be available as one of the choices
under the References section of the FOIA/Privacy entry on the
Foundation's home page, at <www.nsf.gov/home/pubinfo/ foia.htm>.
C. Paper Copies of report: Paper copies can be requested from the
person/address listed above.
II. HOW TO MAKE A FOIA REQUEST:
NSF policy is to make the fullest possible disclosure of information and
records to any requester, without unnecessary expenses or delay. NSF's
"Public Information Handbook" is available electronically as one of the
choices under the References section of the FOIA/Privacy entry on the
Foundation's home page, at <www.nsf.gov/ home/pubinfo/foia.htm>.
There are four basic agency requirements for making a FOIA request:
(1) request must be in writing (mailed correspondence, fax, or email)
and include the requester's mailing address;
(2) the envelope and letter content must identify the request as a FOIA
request;
(3) the request must provide enough detail to allow identification of
the requested records; and
(4) the request must include agreement to pay fees chargeable under
NSF's fee schedule.
A. Agency Components:
Requests for records of the agency should be sent to the NSF FOIA
Officer, Rm 1265, 4201 Wilson Blvd, Arlington, VA 22230. Phone:
703-306-1060, Fax: 703-306-0149. Email: foia@nsf.gov
Requests for documents maintained by the Office of the Inspector General
should be addressed directly to the OIG, FOIA, Rm 1135, 4201 Wilson
Blvd, Arlington, VA 22230. Phone: 703-306-2001. Email: oig@nsf.gov
B. NSF response-time ranges:
The agency generally manages to respond to FOIA requests within three to
four weeks for records that can be found at the agency (allowing for
time to contact submitters of potentially proprietary information).
Response times over 20 working days are generally the result of
difficulty in contacting the submitter for clearance, need to track and
retrieve documents from off-site storage at the Federal Records Center,
voluminous number of potentially responsive records, or need to consult
among agency components.
C. Why some requests are not granted:
Requests for records may not be granted if the documents have been
transferred to the ownership of the National Archives and Records
Administration; if the requested records contain predecisional
information that if released would cause harm to NSF decision- making
processes; or for portions of records that contain personal and/or
proprietary information; for records containing information compiled for
law enforcement purposes; or if the requester asked for information
specifically prohibited from disclosure by other statutes.
III. DEFINITIONS OF TERMS AND ACRONYMS USED IN THE REPORT:
A. Agency-specific terms and acronyms:
There are no agency-specific terms or acronyms used in this report.
B. Basic terms:
The basic terms used in this report are the same in meaning as explained
in Department of Justice guidance.
IV. EXEMPTION 3 STATUTES:
A. Exemption 3 statutes relied on by NSF during current fiscal year:
During Fiscal Year 1998 NSF used Exemption b(3) once to withhold
contractor proposal information not set forth or incorporated by
reference into the final contract, in accordance with the changes made
to 41 U.S.C. 253b, section 303B, by the National Defense Authorization
Act of 1997 (Public Law 104-201).
V. INITIAL FOIA/PA ACCESS REQUESTS:
A. Numbers of initial requests:
1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year: 14
2. Number of requests received during current fiscal year: 158
3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year: 169
4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year: 3
B. Disposition of initial requests:
1. Number of total grants (records released in full): 46
2. Number of partial grants (records released in part): 76
3. Number of denials (total withholding of records): 4
a. Number of times each FOIA exemption was used:
Exemption 2 1
Exemption 3 1
Exemption 4 10
Exemption 5 18
Exemption 6 69
Exemption 7(A) 2
Exemption 7(C) 15
Exemption 7(D) 1
Exemption 7(E) 1
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total): 40
a. No records 25
b. Referrals 4
c. Request withdrawn 6
d. Fee-related reason 2
e. Records not reasonably described 2
f. Duplicate request 1
VI. APPEALS OF INITIAL DENIALS OF FOIA/PA REQUESTS
A. Numbers of appeals
1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year 4
2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year 4
B. Disposition of appeals
1. Number completely upheld 1
2. Number partially reversed 2
3. Number completely reversed 0
a. Number of times each FOIA exemption used:
Exemption 5 1
Exemption 7e 1
4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total): 2
No records 1
Appeal withdrawn 1
VII. COMPLIANCE WITH TIME LIMITS/STATUS OF PENDING REQUESTS
A. Median processing time for requests processed during the year:
NOTE: NSF uses a single first-in, first-out method of processing
requests. The agency received no requests for expedited access during
fiscal year 1998.
1. Number of requests processed 169
2. Median number of days to process 12
B. Status of pending requests:
1. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year
(see V.A.4) 3
2. Median number of days that such requests were pending as of
that date 3
VIII. COSTS/FOIA STAFFING
A. Staffing levels:
1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel - None
2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties - approx 40
3. Total number of personnel (in work years) = 1.8
B. Total costs (including staff and all resources)
1. FOIA processing (including appeals) $ 139,465.00
2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) No litigation in FY99
3. Total costs $ 139,465.00
X. FEES
A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests $ 6,461.55
B. Percentage of total costs 4.6%
XI. FOIA REGULATIONS (INCLUDING FEE SCHEDULE)
NSF FOIA regulations are published at 45 C.F.R. 612, available
electronically at
<http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfr-table-search.html>.
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