Farm Credit Administration

Freedom of Information Act Annual Report

FY 2003

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 ì FOIA Request,î 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)
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B. Basic terms, expressed in common terminology.

1. FOIA/PA request ñ 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 ñ a request to a federal agency for access to records under

the Freedom of Information Act.

3. Appeal ñ 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 ñ 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 ñ 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 ñ 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 ñ 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 ñ 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 ñ an agency decision to disclose all records in full in response to a

FOIA request.

10. Partial grant ñ 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 FOIAís exemptions; or a decision to disclose some

records in their entireties, but to withhold others in whole or in part.

11. Denial ñ 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

FOIAís exemptions, or for some procedural reason (such as because no

record is located in response to a FOIA request).

12. Time limits ñ 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 ì perfectedî FOIA request).

13. ì Perfectedî request ñ 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 ñ a separate federal statute prohibiting the disclosure

of a certain type of information authorizing its withholding under FOIA

subsection (b)(3).

15. Median number ñ the middle, not average, number.  For example, of 3, 7,

and 14, the median number is 7.

16. Average number ñ 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 ___36___

    3. Number of requests processed during current fiscal year __36___

    4. Number of requests pending as of end of current fiscal year __2__

B. Disposition of initial requests.

    1. Number of total grants ____16__

    2. Number of partial grants __5__

    3. Number of denials ____1___

    a. number of times each FOIA exemption used

     (1) Exemption 1 _____0______

     (2) Exemption 2 _____0______

     (3) Exemption 3 _____0______

     (4) Exemption 4 _____0______

     (5) Exemption 5 _____1______

     (6) Exemption 6 _____2______

     (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 ______2____

     (14) Exemption 9 ______0____

    4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) __14__

    a. no records _____8_____

    b. referrals _______0_____

    c. request withdrawn ___1___

    d. fee-related reason ____3___

    e. records not reasonably described ___1___

    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 _____1__

    (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 ____36____

    b.  median number of days to process ___7__

             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 __2___

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

___15___

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).  FCA has  

processed FOIA requests within the statutory deadline in every instance.
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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) _.38__

              3. Total number of personnel (in work-years) __.38_

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

    1. FOIA processing (including appeals) __$37,040__

    2. Litigation-related activities (estimated) ____0_____

    3. Total costs __$37,040_

    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 $40.00

B. Percentage of total costs ___Less than .01%.

XI. FOIA Regulations (Including Fee Schedule)      
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