GAO-03-265R DOD User Fees

United States General Accounting Office

Washington, DC 20548

October 31, 2002

The Honorable Carl Levin

Chairman

The Honorable John Warner

Ranking Minority Member

Committee on Armed Services

United States Senate

The Honorable Bob Stump

Chairman

The Honorable Ike Skelton

Ranking Minority Member

Committee on Armed Services

House of Representatives

Subject: DOD User Fees: Implementation Status of Section 1085 of the National

Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001

Section 1085 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001

authorized the military department secretaries to (1) charge fees to persons

requesting information from the primary military archives and (2) retain collected

fees to help defray costs associated with providing the information. The military

archives also have authority under the User Charge Statute (31 U.S.C. § 9701) and the

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. § 552) to charge for general information

provided to the public. A major distinction, however, is that the fees collected under

these two provisions are to be deposited with the Department of the Treasury.

The Conference Report on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year

2001 directs the Comptroller General to provide a report 1 year after implementation

of Section 1085 of the act on the fees collected and the associated costs of providing

historical information. In preliminary work aimed at that reporting requirement, we

issued a report in October 20011

 that identified Section 1085 implementation issues

and other issues related to Department of Defense (DOD) fees under the User Charge

Statute and FOIA. That report (1) provided the status of Section 1085

implementation by the primary military archives at that time, (2) identified the fees

charged by the archives under existing authorities, and (3) discussed other issues

relating to DOD fees for providing information to the public.

 1

 U.S. General Accounting Office, User Fees: DOD Fees for Providing Information Not Current and

Consistent, GAO-02-34 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 12, 2001).
Page 2 GAO-03-265R DOD User Fees

As agreed with your offices, this report is being issued about 1 year after the first

archive implemented Section 1085. It updates the matters discussed in our October

2001 report and fulfills the Comptroller General reporting requirements in the

conference report. For this update, we obtained information on the status of

implementation of Section 1085 by the four designated archives. We also obtained

information on DOD’s actions to update fee schedules for the User Charge Statute

and FOIA . We did not independently audit the basis for any of the established or

proposed fees. We obtained information by reviewing pertinent documents and

interviewing DOD officials in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense

(Comptroller), Directorate for Freedom of Information and Security Review, and the

four primary military archives. Our work was done from August through October

2002.

One of Four Archives Implements Section 1085

With Section 1085 authorizing but not requiring action by the four primary military

archives, only the Army Military History Institute has implemented a fee schedule

under Section 1085. Officials of the other three archives told us that the archives

have no plans to implement a fee schedule under Section 1085.

The Army Military History Institute first implemented a Section 1085 fee schedule in

October 2001 and modified it in April 2002 to simplify some of the fees and increase

mailing fees for foreign addresses. Officials told us that the fee schedule was based

on total cost with some adjustments. For example, they said that the revised fee

schedule provides for free handling and shipping of up to 8 pages to avoid the

expenditure of staff time to administer and collect small fees. Also, they said that a

uniform copying fee of $.25 per page was established in lieu of separate fees for

copying by patron and by staff. Officials reported to us that about $32,000 was

collected from October 2001 through July 2002 and that they did not have any

problems related to implementing a fee schedule under Section 1085.

Actions Taken or Under Way to Update FOIA and User Charge Fee Schedules

In our prior report, we recommended that DOD update the FOIA and User Charge fee

schedules, which had not been revised since 1986. DOD implemented a new fee

schedule for FOIA requests on July 1, 2002. The hourly rates for search fees, an

element in the fee schedule, were increased for all three categories: (1) clerical from

$12 to $20, (2) professional from $25 to $44, and (3) executive from $45 to $75.

Regarding fees under the User Charge Statute, a draft revision to the DOD Financial

Management Regulation is currently in the process of coordination. The proposed

hourly rate for search fees is consistent with the revised FOIA rates and the proposed

minimum fee is $5.00, an increase from the current $3.50. DOD officials expect the

revised regulation to be issued early in 2003.
Page 3 GAO-03-265R DOD User Fees

- - - - - -

We are sending copies of this report to the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller);

the Director, Freedom of Information and Security Review; Director, Office of

Management and Budget: and interested congressional committees. Copies of this

report will also be made available to others upon request. In addition, the report will

be available at no charge on the GAO Web site at http://www.gao.gov.

Please contact me at (202) 512-9505 or kutzg@gao.gov or David Childress at (202)

512-4639 or childressj@gao.gov if you have any questions.

Gregory D. Kutz

Director

Financial Management and Assurance

(192071)