Farm Credit Administration 

Freedom of Information Act Annual Report 

FY 2004 

I. Basic Information Regarding Report 

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

questions about the report. 

Debra Buccolo, Freedom of Information Act Officer 

Farm Credit Administration 

Office of General Counsel 

1501 Farm Credit Drive 

McLean, VA 22102-5090 

703-883-4022 

Jane Virga, Senior Attorney 

Farm Credit Administration 

Office of General Counsel 

1501 Farm Credit Drive 

McLean, VA 22102-5090 

703-883-4071 

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

Http://www.fca.gov 

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

Contact Debra Buccolo or Jane Virga at the above addresses. 

II. How to Make a FOIA Request 

A FOIA request must be in writing, clearly marked “FOIA Request,” and addressed to 

the Freedom of Information Act Officer. Requests may be sent by mail, facsimile (703-

790-0052), or electronic means (BuccoloD@fca.gov or FOIAOfficer@fca.gov). 

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

A. Agency-specific acronyms or other terms. 

Farm Credit Administration (FCA or agency) 
B. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology. 

1. FOIA/PA request – Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act 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. 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 respects. 

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

relatively 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 

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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 in 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). 

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 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 is 8. 

IV. Exemption 3 Statutes 

A. List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on agency during current fiscal year. 

 

 None 

 1. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld under each statute. 

 N/A 

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

cite example. 

 N/A 

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V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests 

 A. Number of initial requests. 

 1. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding fiscal year 2 

 2. Number of requests received during current fiscal year 58 

 3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year 60 

 4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year 0 

 B. Disposition of initial requests. 

 1. Number of total grants ____21__

 2. Number of partial grants _8__

 3. Number of denials ____3___

 a. number of times each FOIA exemption used 

 (1) Exemption 1 _____0______ 

 (2) Exemption 2 _____2______ 

 (3) Exemption 3 _____0______ 

 (4) Exemption 4 _____1______ 

 (5) Exemption 5 _____5______ 

 (6) Exemption 6 _____5______ 

 (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_____ 

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 (13) Exemption 8 ______3____ 

 (14) Exemption 9 ______0____ 

 4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) __28__

 a. no records _____24_____

 b. referrals _______0_____ 

 c. request withdrawn ___2___ 

 d. fee-related reason ____1___ 

 e. records not reasonably described ___0___ 

 f. not a proper FOIA request for some other reason ___1___ 

 g. not an agency record ____0___ 

 h. duplicate request ____0___ 

 i. other (specify) _____0____

VI. Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA Requests 

 A. Number of appeals. 

 1. Number of appeals received during fiscal year ____1__

 2. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year ___1__

 B. Disposition of appeals. 

 1. Number completed upheld _____0___

 2. Number partially reversed _____1____ 

 3. Number completely reversed ____0____ 

 a. number of times each FOIA exemption used 

 (1) Exemption 1 ____0____

 (2) Exemption 2 _____0___ 

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 (3) Exemption 3 _____0___ 

 (4) Exemption 4 _____0___ 

 (5) Exemption 5 _____1___ 

 (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) __0____ 

 a. no records ___0____

 b. referrals ___0____ 

 c. request withdrawn ___0_____ 

 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______ 

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VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of Pending Requests 

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

 1. Simple requests (if multiple tracks used). 

 a. number of requests processed ____N/A____ 

 b. median number of days to process __N/A____ 

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

 a. number of requests processed ____60____ 

 b. median number of days to process ___8__

 3. Requests accorded expedited processing. 

 a. number of requests processed ____0____ 

 b. median number of days to process __N/A____ 

 B. Status of pending requests. 

 1. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year __0___

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

___0___

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

 A. Comparison of numbers of requests received __________

 B. Comparison of requests processed __________ 

 C. Comparison of median numbers of days requests were pending as of end of fy___ 

D. Other statistics significant to agency: FCA received no requests for expedited 

processing; therefore we processed no expedited requests. 

E. Other narrative statements describing agency efforts to improve timeliness of 

FOIA performance and to make records available to the public (e.g., backlogreduction efforts; specification of average number of hours per processed request; 

training activities; public availability of new categories of records). With the 

exception of 1 request, the FCA has processed FOIA requests within the statutory 

deadline. 

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IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing 

 A. Staffing levels. 

 1. Number of full-time FOIA personnel _____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) __.5_ 

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

 1. FOIA processing (including appeals) __$51,500__ 

 2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) ____0_____ 

 3. Total costs __$51,500_ 

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

 (optional) ________ 

 C. Statement of additional resources needed for FOIA compliance 

 (optional) _________ 

X. Fees 

 A. Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing requests $136.83

 B. Percentage of total costs ___.266%.

XI. FOIA Regulations (Including Fee Schedule) 

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