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2015 Chief FOIA Officer Reports

Content of 2015 Chief FOIA Officer Reports

Time frame for Report

Unless otherwise noted, your 2015 Chief FOIA Officer Report should address agency 

activities that have occurred since the filing of last year’s Report, which was March 17, 2014, up 

until the filing of the 2015 Report, which will be February 6, 2015. Thus, the general reporting 

period for the Chief FOIA Officer Reports is March 2014 to February 2015.

Name and Title of Agency Chief FOIA Officer:

Ruth Ann Abrams, Assistant Secretary

Section I: Steps Taken to Apply the Presumption of Openness

The guiding principle underlying the President's FOIA Memorandum and the Attorney

General's FOIA Guidelines is the presumption of openness.

Describe the steps your agency has taken to ensure that the presumption of openness is 

being applied to all decisions involving the FOIA. To do so, you should answer the questions 

listed below and then include any additional information you would like to describe how your 

agency is working to apply the presumption of openness.

FOIA Training:

1. Did your FOIA professionals or the personnel at your agency who have 

FOIA responsibilities attend any FOIA training or conference during the 

reporting period such as that provided by the Department of Justice?

Answer: Yes.

2. Provide an estimate of the percentage of your FOIA professionals and staff with 

FOIA responsibilities who attended FOIA training during this reporting period. 

Answer: One hundred percent of the Commission’s FOIA professionals attended 

substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.

Yes. A Commission’s attorney responsible for reviewing FOIA correspondence

attended the FOIA and Privacy Act Interface Webinar course offered online on 

August 16, 2014. Our Chief FOIA Officer attended in-house training offered by 

the Office of the General Counsel. Another employee who works on FOIA 

matters attended the FOIA for Attorney and Access Professionals offered on 

May 13-14, 2014.
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3. In the 2014 Chief FOIA Officer Report Guideline, OIP asked agencies to 

provide a plan for ensuring that core, substantive FOIA training is offered to 

all agency FOIA professionals at least once each year. Please provide the 

status of your agency’s implementation of this plan.

Answer: We recognize the importance of having the FOIA professionals attend 

substantive training to keep abreast of best practices and changes in the FOIA 

law, regulations, and guidance from the Department of Justice. The Commission 

will continue to require annual training for the Chief Officer and FOIA 

professionals on staff, and tracks the FOIA training completed by our agency’s 

FOIA professionals.

Discretionary Disclosures:

4. Does your agency have a distinct process in place to review records for 

discretionary release? If so, please briefly describe this process.

Answer: Yes. The Commission reviews all records for discretionary release with 

the Office of the General Counsel. Once approved by the Office of the General 

Counsel, the FOIA professionals then provides documents or other records 

identified for discretionary release for review by the Chairman and 

Commissioners prior to the release of these records.

5. During the reporting period, did your agency make any discretionary 

releases of information?

Answer: During FY 2014, the Commission received 31 requests. The 

Commission fulfilled or referred nearly all of the requests. Only 1 of them 

involved any withholding of information, and almost all of the withholding was 

legally mandated and non-discretionary. As a result, there were no opportunities 

to make a discretionary release.

6. What exemptions would have covered the material released as a matter of 

discretion?

Answer: Not applicable

7. Provide a narrative description, or some examples of, the types of 

information that your agency released as a matter of discretion.

Answer: Not applicable

8. If your agency was not able to make any discretionary releases of 

information, please explain why.

Answer: During FY 2014, the Commission received 31 requests. The 

Commission fulfilled or referred nearly all of the requests. Only 1 of them 

involved any withholding of information, and almost all of the withholding was 

legally mandated and non-discretionary. As a result, there were no opportunities 

to make a discretionary release.
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Other Initiatives:

9. If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure that 

the presumption of openness is being applied, please describe them here.

Answer: The Commission holds periodic public meetings. The meetings are 

publicly broadcast and the audio recordings of these meetings are archived on 

the Commission's website. Technical Conferences are usually webcast and 

archived on the website.

The contents of all dockets, apart from certain items designated as nonpublic by 

submitters, are available for inspection on the Commission's website. The 

nonpublic records are clearly identified on the public website and are usually 

posted in redacted form. The Postal Service and other filers must provide 

specific justification for nonpublic treatment of the items to be designated as 

nonpublic. Any person may petition the Commission for access to specified 

nonpublic records, or else may petition to have the access restrictions lifted 

entirely.

During FY2014, the Commission was completing the development of a 

redesigned public website to make it easier to find and access Commission 

information and records. The development process focused on creating a website 

that would make it easier and more intuitive for the public to find information. 

The new website was launched on January 31, 2015.

The Commission publishes copies of its annual Congressional Budget 

Justifications on the public website. The FY 2016 Congressional Budget 

Justification was posted on February 4, 2015.

The Commission publishes detailed monthly updates to the Consumer Price 

Index calculations relating to the price cap on Market Dominant postal products. 

This is a valuable resource for the mailing industry and the public.

The Commission publishes a frequently updated summary of Negotiated Service 

Agreements (contracts between the United States Postal Service and private 

companies for special mailing agreements.) and the Mail Classification 

Schedule.
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Section II: Steps Taken to Ensure that Your Agency Has an

Effective System in Place for Responding to Requests

As the Attorney General emphasized in his FOIA Guidelines, "[a]pplication of the proper 

disclosure standard is only one part of ensuring transparency. Open government requires not just a 

presumption of disclosure, but also an effective system for responding to FOIA requests." It is 

essential that agencies effectively manage their FOIA program.

Describe here the steps your agency has taken to ensure that your management of your 

FOIA program is effective and efficient. To do so, answer the questions below and then include 

any additional information that you would like to describe how your agency ensures that your 

FOIA system is efficient and effective.

Processing Procedures:

1. For Fiscal Year 2014, what was the average number of your days your agency reported for 

adjudicating requests for expedited processing?

Answer: The Commission adjudicated its one request for expedited processing in nineteen

calendar days.

2. If your agency’s average number of days to adjudicate requests for expedited processing was 

above ten calendar days, please describe the steps your agency will take to ensure that 

requests for expedited processing are adjudicated within ten calendar days or less.

Answer: As the Commission improved its internal process separately tracking expedited 

requests from the rest of the FOIA requests, we will ensure that in the future, requests for 

expedited processing are adjudicated within ten calendar days or less.

Requester Services:

3. Does your agency notify requesters of the mediation services offered by the Office of 

Government Information Services (OGIS) at NARA?

Answer: Yes. The Commission’s denial, partial denial and referral response letters notify 

requesters of the mediation services provided by OGIS.

4. When assessing fess, does your agency provide a breakdown of how FOIA fees were 

calculated and assessed to the FOIA requester? For example, does your agency explain 

the amount of fess attributable to search, review, and duplication?

Answer: Not applicable. The Commission has never charged FOIA fees to a FOIA requester. 
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Other Initiatives:

5. If there are any other steps your agency has undertaken to ensure that your FOIA 

system operates efficiently and effectively, such as conducting self-assessments to find 

greater efficiencies, improving search processes, eliminating redundancy, etc., please 

describe them here.

Answer: The Commission’s FOIA professionals have a weekly meeting scheduled in 

conjunction with other administrative activities to assess workload and response time. 

During these weekly assessments, process improvements are discussed to minimize response 

times and keeping response times within the statutory time limits for all requests. Effective 

communication among departments at the Commission and timely response by Commission 

employees to requests for records ensure that the Commission responds to all requests in an 

expeditious manner.
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Section III: Steps Taken to Increase Proactive Disclosures

Both the President and Attorney General focused on the need for agencies to work 

proactively to post information online without waiting for individual requests to be received.

Describe here the steps your agency has taken both to increase the amount of material that is 

available on your agency website, and the usability of such information, including providing 

examples of proactive disclosures.

Posting Material:

1. Does your agency have a distinct process or system in place to identify records for proactive 

disclosures? If so, please describe your agency’s process or system.

Answer: Yes. Two of the Commission’s operating principles are openness and transparency. 

The entire staff works to identify proactive disclosures. Any identified records are reviewed 

and approved by the General Counsel and the FOIA professionals. Once approved, they are 

posted or released where appropriate. 

2. Does your process or system involve any collaboration with agency staff outside the FOIA 

office? If so, describe this interaction.

Answer: Yes. We collaborate as needed with all internal agency staff.

3. Describe your agency’s process or system for identifying “frequently requested” records that 

should be posted online.

Answer: The Commission hosts a series of periodic public meetings and publicly 

webcasts and archives audio recordings of these meetings, hearings and technical 

conferences on the Commission's website. These are updated on a continual basis. 

Inquiries from the public or the press are examined to determine whether posting 

Commission records could address future inquiries of the same type.

4. Provide examples of material that your agency has proactively disclosed during the past 

reporting year, including links to the posted materials.

Answer: The Commission has used Twitter and press releases to announce the release of 

work of the Commission, and these announcements typically provide links to the underlying 

documents – https://twitter.com/postalregulator.

The link to the press release page will change shortly with publication of the redesigned 

website.
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Other Initiatives:

5. If there are other steps your agency has taken to increase proactive disclosures, please 

describe them here.

Answer: The Commission publishes:

 Detailed monthly updates to the Consumer Price Index calculations relating to the 

price cap on Market Dominant postal products. This is a valuable resource for the 

mailing industry and the public.

 A statistical tabulation of Negotiated Service Agreements (mailing contracts 

between the Postal Service and private companies).

 A regularly updated Library of Workshare Cost Avoidance Models, which is 

helpful to the mailing industry and the public.

 Materials distributed at Commission-sponsored technical conferences.

 Informative Workpapers filed as part of Commission dockets.

 Mail Classification Schedule

*links to these resources will change soon due to the revision of the Commission 

website and thus are not provided here.
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Section IV: Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology

A key component of the President's FOIA Memorandum was the direction to "use modern 

technology to inform citizens about what is known and done by their Government." In addition to 

using the internet to make proactive disclosures, agencies should also be exploring ways to utilize 

technology in responding to requests. Over the past several years agencies have reported widespread 

use of technology in receiving and tracking FOIA requests and preparing agency Annual FOIA 

Reports. For 2014, as we have done over the past years, the questions have been further refined and 

now also address different, more innovative aspects of technology use. 

Making Material Posted Online More Useful:

1. Beyond posting new material, is your agency taking steps to make the posted information 

more useful to the public, especially to the community of individuals who regularly access 

your agency’s website?

Answer: Yes. The Commission provides an online customer service form for members of the 

public to submit comments. In addition, in response to requests from the public, the 

Commission implemented an improved search function for its website. This easier-to-use 

search engine supplements the more complex search system used by frequent users of the 

site. The Commission also requires that all correspondence and legal documents filed with 

the Commission be processed with Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and thus are both 

electronically keyword searchable and more compliant with section 508 of the 

Rehabilitation Act.

2. If yes, please provide examples of such improvements. 

Answer: In response to requests from the public, the Commission implemented an improved 

search function for its website. This easier to use search engine supplements the more 

complex search system used by frequent users of the site. The Commission has also taken 

steps to ensure that most document filings are processed with OCR, and thus are both 

electronically keyword searchable and more compliant with section 508 of the 

Rehabilitation Act.

3. Has your agency encountered challenges that make it difficult to post records you otherwise 

would like to post? If so, please briefly explain what those challenges are.

Answer: No.

Other Initiatives:

4. Did your agency successfully post all four quarterly reports for Fiscal Year 2014?

Answer: Yes.

5. Do your agency’s FOIA professional use e-mail or other electronic means to communicate 

with requesters whenever feasible?

Answer: Yes.
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Section V: Steps Taken to Improve Timeliness in Responding to

Requests and Reduce Backlogs

The President and the Attorney General have emphasized the importance of improving 

timeliness in responding to requests. This section addresses both time limits and backlog 

reduction. Backlog reduction is measured both in terms of numbers of backlogged requests or 

appeals and by looking at whether agencies closed their ten oldest requests, appeals, and 

consultations. For the figures required in this Section, please use those contained in the specified 

sections of your agency’s 2013 Annual FOIA Report and, when applicable, your agency’s 2012 

Annual FOIA Report.

Simple Track Requests:

1. Does your agency utilize a separate track for simple requests?

Answer: The Commission receives relatively few FOIA requests, and most 

are simple. However, we do track separately the occasional complex 

requests when they are received.

2. If so, for your agency overall, for Fiscal Year 2014, was the average number of 

days to process simple requests twenty working days or fewer?

Answer: Yes

3. Please provide the percentage of requests processed by your agency in Fiscal Year 

2014 that were placed in your simple track.

Answer: 100% of the requests received and processed in Fiscal Year 2014 

were placed in the simple track.

4. If your agency does not track simple requests separately, was the average number of 

days to process non-expedited requests twenty working days or fewer?

Answer: No

The Commission tracks simple and complex requests. 

Backlogged Requests: Refer to Sections XII.A of your agency’s Annual FOIA Report, 

entitled, “Backlogs of FOIA Requests and Administrative Appeals” shows the numbers of 

any backlogged requests or appeals from the fiscal year. You should refer to these numbers 

from your Annual FOIA Reports for both Fiscal Year 2013 and Fiscal Year 2014 when 

completing this section of your Chief FOIA Officer Report.

5. If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2014, did that 

backlog decrease as compared with Fiscal Year 2013?

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no backlog of requests at the end of FY 2014.
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Backlogged Appeals:

6. If you had a backlog of appeals at the close of Fiscal Year 2014, did that backlog 

decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2013?

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no backlog of requests or administrative appeals at 

the end of either FY 2013 or FY 2014.

Ten Oldest Requests

7. In Fiscal Year 2014, did your agency close the ten oldest requests that were pending as of 

the end of Fiscal Year 2013?

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no pending requests at the end of FY 2013.

8. If no, please provide the number of these requests your agency was able to close by the end 

of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.E of your Fiscal Year 2013 Annual FOIA 

Report. If you had less than ten total oldest requests to close, please indicate that. For 

example, if you only had seven requests listed as part of your "ten oldest" in Section VII.E. 

and you closed two of them, you should note that you closed two out of seven “oldest” 

requests.

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no pending requests at the end of FY 2013.

Ten Oldest Appeals

9. In Fiscal Year 2014, did your agency close the ten oldest administrative appeals that were 

pending as of the end of Fiscal Year 2013?

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no pending administrative appeals at the end of 

FY 2013.

10. If no, please provide the number of these appeals your agency was able to close, as well as 

the number of appeals your agency had in Section VI.C.(5) of your Fiscal Year 2013

Annual FOIA Report.

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no pending administrative appeals as of the end of 

FY 2013.
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Ten Oldest Consultations

11. In Fiscal Year 2014, did your agency close the ten oldest consultations received by your 

agency and pending as of the end of Fiscal Year 2013?

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no any pending consultations as of the end of 

FY 2013.

12. If no, please provide the number of these consultations your agency did close, as well as the 

number of pending consultations your agency listed in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 

2013 Annual FOIA Report.

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no pending consultations as of the end of FY 2013.

Reasons for Any Backlogs:

3. If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, describe why that has 

occurred. In doing so, answer the following questions then include any 

additional explanation:

Request and/or Appeal Backlog

a. Was the lack of a reduction in the request and/or appeal backlog a result of 

an increase in the number of incoming requests?

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no backlog of requests at the end of FY 2013.

b. Was the lack of a reduction in the request and/or appeal backlog caused by a 

loss of staff?

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no backlog of requests at the end of FY 2013.

c. Was the lack of a reduction in the request and/or appeal backlog caused by 

an increase in the complexity of the requests received?

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no backlog of requests at the end of FY 2013.

d. What other causes, if any, contributed to the lack of a decrease in the 

request and /or appeal backlog?

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no backlog of requests at the end of FY 2013.
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“Ten oldest” Not Closed

e. Briefly explain the obstacles your agency faced in closing its ten 

oldest requests, appeals, and consultations from Fiscal Year 2013.

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no backlog of requests nor appeals from FY 2013.

f. If your agency was unable to close any of its ten oldest requests or 

appeals because you were waiting to hear back from other agencies 

on consultations you sent, please provide the date the request was 

initially received by your agency, the date when your agency sent the 

consultation, and the date when you last contacted the agency where 

the consultation was pending.

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no backlog of requests nor appeals from FY 2013.

Plans for Closing of Ten Oldest Pending Requests, Appeals, and Consultations and 

Reducing Backlogs:

Given the importance of these milestones, it is critical that Chief FOIA Officers assess the 

causes for not achieving success and create plans to address them

6. If your agency did not close its ten oldest pending requests, appeals, and consultations, 

please provide a plan describing how your agency intends to close these “ten oldest” 

requests, appeals, and consultations during Fiscal Year 2015.

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no pending requests at the end of FY 2014. 

If your agency had a backlog of more than 1000 pending requests and did not reduce that 

backlog in Fiscal Year 2014, provide your agency’s plan for achieving backlog reduction in 

the year ahead.

Answer: N/A

The Commission had no backlog of pending requests at the end of FY 2014.

Interim Responses:

OIP has issued guidance encouraging agencies to make interim releases whenever they are 

working on requests that involve a voluminous amount of material or require searches in 

multiple locations. By providing rolling releases to requesters agencies facilitate access to 

the requested information
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7. Does your agency have a system in place to provide interim responses to requesters when 

appropriate?

Answer: Yes. The Commission provides an interim response when appropriate.

8. If your agency had a backlog in Fiscal Year 2014, provide an estimate of the number of 

cases in the backlog where a substantive, interim response was provided during the fiscal 

year, even though the request was not finally closed.

Answer: The Commission had no backlog in FY 2014.
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Use of FOIA’s Law Enforcement “Exclusions”

In order to increase transparency regarding the use of the FOIA’s statutory law 

enforcement exclusions, which authorize agencies under certain exceptional circumstances to 

“treat the records as not subject to the requirements of [the FOIA],” 5 U.S.C. § 552(c)(1), (2), (3), 

please answer the following questions:

1. Did your agency invoke a statutory exclusion during Fiscal Year 2014?

Answer: No, the Commission did not invoke a statutory exclusion during 

FY 2014.

2. If so, what is the total number of times exclusions were invoked?

Answer: N/A

The Commission invoked no statutory exclusions during FY 2014.

Spotlight on Success

Describe one success story that you would like to highlight as emblematic of your 

agency’s efforts.

Success Story:

In response to requests from the public, the Commission updated its website’s search 

engine capabilities, affording the public an improved search functionality. This easier to 

use search function supplements the more complex search options used by frequent users 

of the site. Part of the mission of the Commission is to provide transparency to the 

public, and proactive disclosure is integral to this mission.

With limited staff resources and a high volume of other duties, the Commission provided 

responses to all simple requests within the statutory deadline of 20 business days. The 

Commission prides itself on the high priority given to responding completely and properly to 

all requests, and how fully, professionally and quickly we respond to FOIA.

Because the Commission publishes most of its records on its website, and clearly identifies 

any proprietary or confidential information, this openness reduces the number of records 

requests sent to the Commission.

This proactive openness by the Commission, we believe, exemplifies the objectives of the law 

and guidance relating to FOIA.