Corporation for National and Community Service

2020 Chief FOIA Officer Report

Section 1: Steps Taken to Apply the Presumption of Openness

The guiding principle underlying DOJ’s FOIA Guidelines is the presumption of 

openness.

Please answer the following questions in order to describe the steps your agency has 

taken to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied to all decisions 

involving the FOIA. You may also include any additional information that illustrates 

how your agency is working to apply the presumption of openness.

A. FOIA Leadership

1. The FOIA requires each agency to designate a Chief FOIA Officer who is a senior 

official at the Assistant Secretary or equivalent level. Is your agency’s Chief FOIA 

Officer at this level? 

Yes.

2. Please provide the name and title of your agency’s Chief FOIA Officer.

Timothy Noelker, General Counsel.

B. FOIA Training

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

responsibilities attend any substantive FOIA training or conference during the reporting 

period such as that provided by the Department of Justice?

The FOIA Officer and FOIA Appeals Officer attended DOJ’s July 23, 2019

“Freedom of Information Act for Attorneys and Access Professionals” workshop.

4. If yes, please provide a brief description of the type of training attended or conducted 

and the topics covered.

The workshop covered an overview of the FOIA’s procedural requirements and 

exemptions, workshops on specific FOIA exemptions, processing FOIA requests 

from start to finish, the FOIA’s proactive disclosure requirements, and the 

interface between FOIA and the Privacy Act.

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

responsibilities who attended substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.

50%
6. OIP has directed agencies to “take steps to ensure that all of their FOIA professionals 

attend substantive FOIA training at least once throughout the year.” If your response to 

the previous question is that less than 80% of your FOIA professionals attended 

training, please explain your agency’s plan to ensure that all FOIA professionals receive 

or attend substantive FOIA training during the next reporting year.

The four people with FOIA responsibilities at CNCS plan to attend the May 12, 

2020 DOJ Advanced Freedom of Information Act Seminar.

C. Outreach

7. Did your FOIA professionals engage in any outreach or dialogue with the requester 

community or open government groups regarding your administration of the FOIA? 

Please describe any such outreach or dialogue, and, if applicable, any specific examples 

of how this dialogue has led to improvements in your agency’s FOIA administration.

CNCS did not dialogue with or outreach to the requester community.

D. Other Initiatives

8. Describe any efforts your agency has undertaken to inform non-FOIA professionals of 

their obligations under the FOIA.

We posted a document called FOIA Basics for All Employees on our intranet, as 

a follow-up to the previous year’s direct staff training.

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

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

N/A

Section II: Steps Taken to Ensure that Your Agency Has an Effective System 

in Place for Responding to Requests

DOJ’s FOIA Guidelines emphasize that “[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.

Please answer the following questions to describe the steps your agency has taken to 

ensure that the management of your FOIA program is effective and efficient. You should 

also include any additional information that that describes your agency's efforts in this 

area.

1. For Fiscal Year 2019, what was the average number of days your agency reported for 

adjudicating requests for expedited processing? Please see Section VIII.A. of your 

agency's Fiscal Year 2019 Annual FOIA Report.

One day.
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.

N/A

3. During the reporting period, did your agency conduct a self-assessment of its FOIA 

program? If so, please describe the methods used, such as reviewing Annual Report 

data, using active workflows and track management, reviewing and updating processing 

procedures, etc.

• Note: In September 2017, OIP released a FOIA Self-Assessment Toolkit as a 

resource for agencies conducting a self-assessment of their FOIA program. The 

Toolkit is available on OIP’s website for all agencies to use.

CNCS did not conduct a self-assessment of its FOIA program during the reporting 

period.

4. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires additional notification to requesters 

about the services provided by the agency’s FOIA Public Liaison. Please provide an 

estimate of the number of times requesters sought assistance from your agency’s FOIA 

Public Liaison during FY 2019 (please provide a total number or an estimate of the 

number).

CNCS’s FOIA Public Liaison received three phone calls and two emails.

5. Optional – Please describe:

• Best practices used to ensure that your FOIA system operates efficiently and 

effectively

o Frequent monitoring of the foia@cns.gov mailbox for new requests, 

clarifications, submitted records, etc.

o Color-coding the FOIA request tracking spreadsheet to stay on top of 

dues dates for internal agency record responses and pending responses 

to requesters

o Close collaboration with agency lead staff on optimizing requests and 

collecting records

o Highly organized filing system.

• Any challenges your agency faces in this area

N/A
Section III: Steps Taken to Increase Proactive Disclosures

The Department of Justice has long focused on the need for agencies to work proactively 

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

Please answer the following questions to describe the steps your agency has taken to 

increase the amount of material that is available on your agency websites. In addition to 

the questions below, you should also describe any additional steps taken by your agency 

to make and improve proactive disclosures of information.

1. Provide examples of any material that your agency has proactively disclosed during 

the past reporting year, including records that have been requested and released three 

or more times in accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2)(D). Please include links to these 

materials as well.

CNCS made three responses regarding materials for a contract and posted the

records in its Electronic Reading Room: 

https://www.nationalservice.gov/node/125701

Examples of new information CNCS posted to support national service 

members, grantees, and volunteers include:

• New fact sheets: 

https://www.nationalservice.gov/newsroom/communicationresources/fact-sheets

• An AmeriCorps information pamphlet 

https://www.nationalservice.gov/documents/2019/learn-more-aboutamericorps

• Life After AmeriCorps Guide 

https://www.nationalservice.gov/documents/2019/life-after-americorpsguide

• A service blog:

https://www.nationalservice.gov/blogs

2. 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?

Yes. CNCS’s web team continually focuses on improving the format and clarity 

of the content on our website (www.nationalservice.gov).

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

• Reduced the number of pages in the “About CNCS” and “Programs” sections to 

make them easier to navigate
• Made language more consistent throughout the site (for instance, recruitment 

language for new service members)

• Moved the information about the agency’s major Transformation and 

Sustainability Plan higher on our main page so it’s easier to find, and added it 

to the site’s global menu

• Created tools that make it easier for users to learn about and search for our 

program opportunities:

o Join AmeriCorps page 

https://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/joinamericorps

o Senior Corps Pathfinder 

https://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/senior-corps/getinvolved/senior-corps-pathfinder)

4. Optional – Please describe:

• Best practices used to improve proactive disclosures

CNCS recently completed a full audit of our public website, cataloging all of its 

pages, the owner of each page, when it was last updated, and by whom. We 

then made recommendations for the next comprehensive update and other 

improvements. 

• Any challenges your agency faces in this area

N/A

Section IV: Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology

A key component of FOIA administration is using technology to make information more 

accessible. In addition to using the internet to make proactive disclosures, agencies 

should also be exploring ways to utilize technology in responding to requests.

Please answer the following questions to describe how your agency is utilizing 

technology to improve its FOIA administration and the public's access to information.

You should also include any additional information that that describes your agency's 

efforts in this area.

1. Is your agency leveraging or exploring any new technology to facilitate efficiency in its 

FOIA administration that you have not previously reported? If so, please describe the 

type of technology.

CNCS has begun to explore eDiscovery vendors such as Case Point, Exterro, and 

Microsoft Office 365. These vendors provide software applications for 
eDiscovery to help is identify, collect, redact, de-duplicate, and produce 

electronically stored information on CNCS’s systems in response to a request for 

production of documents for a legal matter or a FOIA request. The eDiscovery 

software application will also help CNCS create a data map of its IT 

infrastructure, coordinate with records management, understand where 

records and data are located, and gain key information pertaining to agency 

records custodian practices.

2. OIP issued guidance in 2017 encouraging agencies to regularly review their FOIA 

websites to ensure that they contain essential resources, and are informative and userfriendly. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA website(s) during the reporting period to 

ensure it addresses the elements noted in the guidance?

Yes. CNCS’s FOIA Officer has reviewed our FOIA website to ensure it addresses 

the required elements. There is a clear link to our FOIA on the main page of the 

CNCS’s website.

3. Did your agency successfully post all four quarterly reports for Fiscal Year 2019?

Yes.

4. If your agency did not successfully post all quarterly reports, with information 

appearing on FOIA.gov, please explain why and provide your agency’s plan for ensuring 

that such reporting is successful in Fiscal Year 2020.

N/A

5. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires all agencies to post the raw statistical 

data used to compile their Annual FOIA Reports. Please provide the link to this posting 

for your agency’s Fiscal Year 2018 Annual FOIA Report and, if available, for your 

agency’s Fiscal Year 2019 Annual FOIA Report.

FY 2018 Raw Data:

https://www.nationalservice.gov/documents/2019/fy-2018-foia-annualreport-raw-data-spreadsheet-1

6. Optional – Please describe:

• Best practices used in greater utilizing technology

CNCS’s web team has:

• Added information about cyber activity and alerts to our Website Policies and 

Procedures page (https://www.nationalservice.gov/site-policy-andnotices/notices/website-policies-procedures) and added a Cyber Alert button on 

the CNCS homepage
• Created an override template for the Join AmeriCorps page 

(https://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/join-americorps/)

that allows more stylistic and dynamic freedom as we update information

• Used more complex “Views” in Drupal (content management software) to create 

tools like the Senior Corps Pathfinder 

(https://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/senior-corps/getinvolved/senior-corps-pathfinder), which makes it possible for potential 

volunteers to search all Senior Corps opportunities. Before we developed this 

tool, there was no central searchable database for Senior Corps opportunities 

available to the public.

When our Office of Information Technology deploys new code into production, we 

automate as much as possible. Deployments are first created and tested in a 

development environment, then deployed into a staging environment for 

stakeholder validation using a testing script. The results from the staging 

environment are then presented to a production change control board for approval 

for deployment into the production environment. This helps keep technology 

resources available to the general public – without these practices, website and 

grantee tools are more liable to break and become unavailable. 

• Any challenges your agency faces in this area

Our web and IT teams report that a need for more staff has created some 

challenges.

Section V: Steps Taken to Improve Timeliness in Responding to Requests 

and Reducing Backlogs

The Department of Justice has emphasized the importance of improving timeliness in 

responding to requests. This section of your Chief FOIA Officer Report 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 the numbers contained in the 

specified sections of your agency’s 2019 Annual FOIA Report and, when applicable, your 

agency’s 2018 Annual FOIA Report.

A. Simple Track

Section VII.A of your agency’s Annual FOIA Report, entitled “FOIA Requests –

Response Time for All Processed Requests,” includes figures that show your agency's 

average response times for processed requests. For agencies utilizing a multi-track 

system to process requests, there is a category for “simple” requests, which are those 

requests that are placed in the agency’s fastest (non-expedited) track, based on the low 

volume and/or simplicity of the records requested.
1. Does your agency utilize a separate track for simple requests?

Yes.

2. If your agency uses a separate track for simple requests, was the agency overall 

average number of days to process simple requests twenty working days or fewer in 

Fiscal Year 2019?

Yes.

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

2019 that were placed in your simple track.

82.4%

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

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

N/A

B. Backlogs

Section 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 2018 and Fiscal Year 2019 when completing this 

section of your Chief FOIA Officer Report.

BACKLOGGED REQUESTS

5. If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2019, did that 

backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2018?

No, it stayed the same.

6. If not, did your agency process more requests during Fiscal Year 2019 than it did 

during Fiscal Year 2018?

No, the number of processed requests was the same in both years.

7. If your agency’s request backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2019, please explain 

why and describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able to reduce its 

backlog. When doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing 

factors:

• An increase in the number of incoming requests.

• A loss of staff.
• An increase in the complexity of the requests received. If possible, please provide 

examples or briefly describe the types of complex requests contributing to your 

backlog increase.

• Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples when possible.

N/A

8. If you had a request backlog please report the percentage of requests that make up the 

backlog out of the total number of requests received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2019. 

If your agency has no request backlog, please answer with “N/A.”

5.45%

BACKLOGGED APPEALS

9. If your agency had a backlog of appeals at the close of Fiscal Year 2019, did that 

backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2018?

CNCS did not have an appeals backlog.

10. If not, did your agency process more appeals during Fiscal Year 2019 than it did 

during Fiscal Year 2018?

N/A

11. If your agency’s appeal backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2019, please explain why 

and describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able to reduce its 

backlog. When doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing 

factors:

• An increase in the number of incoming appeals.

• A loss of staff.

• An increase in the complexity of the requests received. If possible, please provide 

examples or briefly describe the types of complex requests contributing to your 

backlog increase.

• Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples when possible.

N/A

12. If you had an appeal backlog please report the percentage of appeals that make up 

the backlog out of the total number of appeals received by your agency in Fiscal Year 

2019. If your agency did not receive any appeals in Fiscal Year 2019 and/or has no 

appeal backlog, please answer with “N/A.”

N/A
C. Backlog Reduction Plans

13. In the 2019 guidelines for Chief FOIA Officer Reports, any agency with a backlog of 

over 1000 requests in Fiscal Year 2018 was asked to provide a plan for achieving backlog 

reduction in the year ahead. Did your agency implement a backlog reduction plan last 

year? If so, describe your agency’s efforts in implementing this plan and note if your 

agency was able to achieve backlog reduction in Fiscal Year 2019?

CNCS’s backlog at the end of FY 2018 was three requests. Two of these requests 

were closed in Fiscal Year 2019 Quarter 1; the third was closed in Quarter 2.

14. If your agency had a backlog of more than 1,000 requests in Fiscal Year 2019, what is 

your agency’s plan to reduce this backlog during Fiscal Year 2020?

CNCS’s backlog at the end of Fiscal Year 2019 was three requests.

D. Status of Oldest Requests, Appeals, and Consultations

Section VII.E, entitled “Pending Requests – Ten Oldest Pending Requests,” Section 

VI.C.(5), entitled “Ten Oldest Pending Administrative Appeals,” and Section XII.C., 

entitled “Consultations on FOIA Requests – Ten Oldest Consultations Received from 

Other Agencies and Pending at Your Agency,” show the ten oldest pending requests, 

appeals, and consultations. You should refer to these numbers from your Annual FOIA 

Reports for both Fiscal Year 2018 and Fiscal Year 2019 when completing this section of 

your Chief FOIA Officer Report.

OLDEST REQUESTS

15. In Fiscal Year 2019, did your agency close the ten oldest requests that were reported 

pending in your Fiscal Year 2018 Annual FOIA Report?

Yes.

16. 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 2018 Annual 

FOIA Report. If you had fewer than ten total oldest requests to close, please indicate 

that.

CNCS had fewer than ten old requests to close.

17. Beyond work on the ten oldest requests, please describe any steps your agency took 

to reduce the overall age of your pending requests.

CNCS has never had as many as ten pending requests at the end of a fiscal year. 

All pending requests from the end of Fiscal Year 2013 to the end of Fiscal Year 

2019 present – with the exception of three requests– were closed within the first 

quarter of each new fiscal year.
TEN OLDEST APPEALS

18. In Fiscal Year 2019, did your agency close the ten oldest appeals that were reported 

pending in your Fiscal Year 2018 Annual FOIA Report?

CNCS had no pending appeals at the end of Fiscal Year 2018.

19. If no, please provide the number of these appeals your agency was able to close by 

the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.C.(5) of your Fiscal Year 2018 Annual 

FOIA Report. If you had fewer than ten total oldest appeals to close, please indicate that.

N/A

20. Beyond work on the ten oldest appeals, please describe any steps your agency took 

to reduce the overall age of your pending appeals.

In the period of time for which CNCS has retained FOIA reports – since Fiscal 

Year 2013 – we have never had a pending appeal at the end of the fiscal year.

TEN OLDEST CONSULTATIONS

21. In Fiscal Year 2019, did your agency close the ten oldest consultations that were 

reported pending in your Fiscal Year 2018 Annual FOIA Report?

CNCS had no pending consultations at the end of Fiscal Year 2018.

22. If no, please provide the number of these consultations your agency was able to close 

by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2018 Annual 

FOIA Report. If you had fewer than ten total oldest consultations to close, please 

indicate that.

CNCS had no pending consultations at the end of Fiscal Year 2018.

E. Additional Information on Ten Oldest Requests, Appeals, and 

Consultations & Plans

23. Briefly explain any obstacles your agency faced in closing its ten oldest requests, 

appeals, and consultations from Fiscal Year 2019.

We did not face obstacles in closing requests. CNCS had no pending appeals or 

consultations. Of the pending requests at the end of Fiscal Year 2018, three were closed 

in Fiscal Year 2019 Quarter 1; the fourth was closed in Quarter 2.

24. If your agency was unable to close any of its ten oldest requests 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.
At the close of Fiscal Year 2018, CNCS had one backlogged request that required 

consultation with another agency. We closed that request during Fiscal Year 

2019.

25. If your agency did not close its ten oldest pending requests, appeals, or 

consultations, please provide a plan describing how your agency intends to close those 

“ten oldest” requests, appeals, and consultations during Fiscal Year 2020.

N/A

F. Success Stories

Out of all the activities undertaken by your agency since March 2019 to increase 

transparency and improve FOIA administration, please briefly describe here at least one 

success story that you would like to highlight as emblematic of your agency’s efforts. The 

success story can come from any one of the five key areas. As noted above, OIP will 

highlight these agency success stories during Sunshine Week. To facilitate this process, 

all agencies should use bullets to describe their success story and limit their text to a half 

page. The success story is designed to be a quick summary of key achievements. A 

complete description of all your efforts will be contained in the body of your Chief FOIA 

Officer Report.

• Fiscal Year 2019 marked the seventh year in a row in which CNCS’s FOIA 

program had no pending appeals or consultations at the end of the fiscal year.

• In Fiscal Year 2019, CNCS continued its pattern since Fiscal Year 2013 of:

o closing all, or all but one, of its pending FOIA requests in Quarter 1 of the 

succeeding Fiscal Year

o averaging well under 20 days’ response time for simple requests

o having a very small number of backlogged requests: there were six 

backlogged cases at the close of Fiscal Year 2014; in every other year 

from Fiscal Year 2013 through Fiscal Year 2019, the number of 

backlogged requests was between zero and two.