Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's

FY 2005 FOIA Report to the

U.S. Department of Justice

 Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), as amended by the “Electronic Freedom of 

Information Act Amendments of 1996”, and “Guidelines for Agency Preparation and Submission of 

Annual FOIA Reports” created by the Office of Information Policy, Department of Justice, the following 

information reflects the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC) activity in administering the 

FOIA during fiscal year 2005. 

 I. Basic Information Regarding Report 

A. Name, title, address, and telephone number of person(s) to be contacted with 

questions about the report. 

E. William FitzGerald, Disclosure Officer, Pension Benefit Guaranty 

Corporation, 1200 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005-4026, (202) 326-

4040. 

B. Electronic address for report on the World Wide Web. 

 http://www.pbgc.gov/media/key-resources-for-thepress/content/page13687.html

C. How to obtain a copy of the report in paper form. 

A paper copy of the report can be obtained by calling the Office of the 

General Counsel, Disclosure Division, PBGC at (202) 326-4040 or by 

printing a copy at the Web address listed in “B” above. 

 II. How to Make a FOIA Request 

• Agencies may either include description here or provide them by cross-reference to their 

FOIA reference guides. 

A FOIA request may be filed by addressing a written request to E. William 

FitzGerald, Disclosure Officer, PBGC, 1200 K Street, N.W., Washington D.C. 

20005-4026. The request should include a description of the requested records, an 

assurance that the requester is willing to pay the fees, if any, associated with 

processing the request, and the complete address of the requester. In addition, it is 

helpful to provide a phone number where the requester can be reached during 

business hours so that any questions regarding the scope of the request can be 

resolved quickly. If the requester is unsure of how to describe the records they 
2

desire or has specific questions relating to processing of a request, they should call 

the FOIA staff for advice at (202) 326-4040 prior to filing their request. 

A. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components 

and offices that receive FOIA requests. 

PBGC, Office of the General Counsel, Attention E. William FitzGerald, 

Disclosure Officer, Suite 11107, 1200 K Street N.W., Washington, D.C. 

20005-4026. Phone (202) 326-4040 

B. Brief description of the agency’s response-time ranges. 

For fiscal year 2005 (October 1, 2004 - September 30, 2005), the PBGC’s 

median response time for responding to FOIA requests was 13 days. 

Typically, the requests that took more than 20 days to process involved the 

search and review of voluminous records, or required consultation with other 

agencies or third parties that submitted information to PBGC. For requests 

accorded expedited treatment, the PBGC’s median response time was 4 days. 

C. Brief description of why some requests are not granted. 

Some requests are not granted because one or more of the exemptions from 

FOIA’s disclosure requirement applied to the records requested. In the vast 

majority of cases, denial of access to records involved requests by third 

parties for information about individuals. Generally, information about an 

individual will not be disclosed by PBGC if it could result in an invasion of 

privacy. A number of denials involved requests for confidential commercial 

or financial information that had been submitted to PBGC. In some 

instances, PBGC did not possess any of the records that were requested, or 

the request was referred to another agency for processing. 

 III Definition of Terms and Acronyms Used in the Report (to be included in each report) 

A. Agency-specific acronyms or other terms. 

 None 

B. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology. 

1. FOIA/PA 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 Freedom of Information Act. 
3

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 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 aspects. 

5. Multi-track processing -- a system in which simple requests requiring 

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 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, or for some procedural reason (such as because no 

record is located in response to a FOIA request. 

12. Time limits -- the time period in the Freedom of Information Act for an 

agency to respond to a FOIA request (ordinarily 20 working days from 

proper receipt of a “perfected” FOIA request). 
4

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, 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. 

 IV. Exemption 3 Statutes 

A. List of exemption 3 statutes relied on by agency during the current fiscal year. 

41 U.S.C. § 253b(m) 

 1. Brief description of types of information withheld under each statute. 

Information from proposals submitted by contractors seeking to do business 

with PBGC. 

2. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of each statute. If so, then 

cite example. 

We are aware of one court case regarding PBGC’s use of 41 U.S.C. § 

253b(m) as an exemption 3 statute. That case is Hornbostel v. Department of 

Interior, 304 F. Supp. 2d 21 (D.D.C. 2003) 

 V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests 

• This should include all access requests whether first-party or third-party. 

 A. Number of initial requests. 

• Total of the numbers in Lines 1 and 2, minus the number in line 3, should equal 

the number in line 4. 

1. Number requests pending as of the end of the preceding fiscal year 159

2. Number of requests received during current fiscal year 1,603
5

3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year 1,487

4. Number of requests pending as of the end of current fiscal year 275

 B. Disposition of initial requests. 

1. Number of total grants 871

2. Number of partial grants 194

3. Number of denials 24

a. number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each exemption 

once per request) 

 (1) Exemption 1 0

 (2) Exemption 2 3

 (3) Exemption 3 3 

 (4) Exemption 4 30

 (5) Exemption 5 13

 (6) Exemption 6 126

 (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 0 

4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 398 

a. no records 7 

b. referrals 5 
6

c. request withdrawn 7 

d. fee-related reason 1 

e. records not reasonably described 0 

 f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 28 

 g. not an agency record 3 

h. duplicate request 47 

I. other (specify) 300

The requester did not submit proper authorization to receive access to another 

individual’s records and did not respond to PBGC’s request for proper 

authorization or other identifying information. 

 VI. Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests 

• This should include all access requests, whether first-party or third-party. 

 A. Number of appeals. 

 1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year 2 

We attribute this low number of appeals in part to sound and easy to 

understand written and oral communications with requesters 

providing adequate explanations of basis of any full or partial denials 

of access to records. 

 2. Number of appeals processed during the fiscal year 2

 B. Disposition of appeals. 

 1. Number completely upheld 1 

 2. Number partially reversed 0

 3. Number completely reversed 0

a. number of times each FOIA exemption used (counting each 

exemption once per appeal) 

 1 Exemption 1 0

 2. Exemption 2 0
7

 3. Exemption 3 0

 4. Exemption 4 0

 5. Exemption 5 0

 6. Exemption 6 1

 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 0

 

 4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 1

 

 a. no records 0

 b. referrals 0

 c. request withdrawn 1

 d. fee-related reason 0

 e. records not reasonably described 0

 f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason 0 

 g. not an agency record 0

 h. duplicate request 0 

 I. other (specify) 0

 VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of pending requests 
8

• Agencies should count days from the time at which a request is “perfected.” 

• Agencies should separately report each track of a multi-track system, as well as 

an “expedited processing” track, and may report any other type of request at their 

option. 

• Example for calculation of median: Given the requests completed during the 

fiscal year, aged 10, 25, 35, 65, 75, 80, and 400 days from the date of 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. 

• Example for calculation of median: If there were 6 pending cases aged 10, 20, 

30, 50, 120, and 200 days from the 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). 

A. Median processing time for requests processed during the year. 

 1. Simple requests (if multiple tracks used). 

N/A

 a. number of requests processed 

 b. median number of days to process 

 2. Complex requests (specify for any and all tracks used). 

 a. number of requests processed 

 

We do not have a multiple track system; however, we did process 

a total of 1,469 requests during FY 2005. 

 b. median number of days to process 

The median number of days to process all types of requests in FY 

2005 was 17. 

 3. Requests accorded expedited processing. 

 a. number of requests processed 18

 b. median number of days to process 5

 B. Status of pending requests. 

• Agencies using multiple tracks may provide numbers for each track, as 

well as totals. 
9

 1. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year 275 

 

 2. Median number of days that such requests were pending as of that 

 date 16

 

 VIII. Comparisons with Previous Year(s) (Optional) 

The number of FOIA requests received in FY 2005 (1,603) continued to increase 

over FY 2004 (1,577). This was in part due to the continued increased number of 

participants coming into PBGC from large plan terminations that took place in FY 

2005 as well as greater use of our “FOIA Guide” on PBGC’s web site which 

explains how to file an FOIA requests. 

The median number of days required to process a request increased from 15 in FY 

2004 to 17 in FY 2005 due to the larger volume of requests. Since FY 2003 we have 

had a 19% increase in the number of FOIA requests received by PBGC 

We received 0 requests for expedited processing but granted 18 requests expedited 

treatment based on descriptive information contained in each request. 

 IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing 

• Both large and small agencies should provide information in the format 

presented below. 

A. Staffing levels. 

 1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel 6.0

2. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional FOIA duties (in total 

work-years) .5 

3. Total number of personnel (in work-years) 6.5

B. Total costs (including staff and all resources). 

 1. FOIA processing (including appeals) $568,840

 2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) None, no litigation 

 3. Total costs $568,840

4. Comparison with previous year(s) (including percentage of change) 

(optional). 

 
10

Between FY 2004 ($497,360) and FY 2005 ($568,840) a 14% increase in 

processing costs occurred. This increase can be largely attributable to the 

3.71% increase in salary for federal employees and 10.29% increase in nonpersonnel costs. 

C. Statement of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance (optional) 

Pending pension reforms may have a direct impact on our FOIA processing by 

increasing the potential need by participants and unions for document related to 

terminating defined benefit pension plans. In addition, the recently issued Executive 

Order on “Improving Agency Disclosure of Information” places additional reporting 

responsibilities on the existing FOIA staff. Finally, the continued influx of large 

numbers of new participants in terminating pension plans in FY 2006 will more than 

likely foster an even larger number of FOIA requests in the coming year. In order to 

keep up with this increased demand on our FOIA staff, we will more that likely need 

an additional two FTE’s devoted to processing FOIA requests in FY 2006. 

X. Fees 

• This includes charges for search, review, document duplication, and any other 

direct costs permitted under agency regulations. 

A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests $3,600. The majority of 

fees associated with participants requesting their own records as well as records relating to 

their pension plan were waived. 

B. Percentage of total costs less than 1/2%

 XI. FOIA Regulations (Including Fee Schedule) 

• Agencies should provide electronic link for availability in electronic form and 

attach copy in paper form. 

http://www.pbgc.gov/media/key-resources-for-the-press/content/page13687.html