DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

CHIEF FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 

OFFICER REPORT

March 2014
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Table of Contents

SECTION.............................................................................................................................. PAGE

Table of Contents..............................................................................................................................................2

Section I: Steps Taken to Apply the Presumption of Openness..............................................................4

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

Responding to Requests..................................................................................................................................8

Section III: Steps Taken to Increase Proactive Disclosures................................................................ 100

Section IV: Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology.................................................................... 188

Section V: Steps Taken to Improve Timeliness in Responding to Requests and Reduce Backlogs

......................................................................................................................................................................... 211

Use of FOIA’s Law Enforcement “Exclusions” ................................................................................... 266

Spotlight on Success................................................................................................................................... 277
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) was founded by President Abraham 

Lincoln in 1862 and was quickly coined “The People’s Department.” At the time, more than half 

of all American either lived or worked on farms, compared with the two percent today. Despite 

this decrease, the USDA is still fulfilling Lincoln’s vision of touching the lives of every 

American through its mission to provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources and 

related issues based on sound public policy, the best available science and efficient management. 

To successfully accomplish its mission, the USDA operates more than 300 programs through an 

extensive network of Federal, State, and local cooperators and delivers more than $170.5 billion 

in budgetary resources to public services worldwide. These programs affect every American, 

every day, by providing a safe and stable food supply, nutrition assistance, renewable energy, 

rural economic development, care for forest and conservation lands and global opportunities for 

farm and forest products. These programs also hold the answers to pressing global issues like 

the need for renewable energy, increasing crop yields to combat hunger, protecting the food 

supply and optimizing internal trade. 

The Department of Agriculture’s success is dependent on several core values, among them are 

the commitment to achieve transparency through proactive disclosures and increased usage of 

technology. Central to the Department of Agriculture’s effort to increase transparency is its 

Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) program. Operating under the direction of Ms. Cheryl L. 

Cook, Chief FOIA Officer, the USDA FOIA program consists of twenty FOIA offices all 

varying in size and scope at the mission area and agency level. These offices all collaborate to 

process the approximate 22,000 FOIA requests received annually at the Department of 

Agriculture. 

The FOIA Service Center (“FSC”) is the focal point for the USDA’s FOIA program. 

The FSC provides coordination and ensures compliance with the FOIA. The FSC also processes 

requests and appeals on behalf of the Office of the Secretary (“OES”), Departmental 

Management (“DM”) and the Office of the Chief Information Officer (“OCIO”). 

In Fiscal Year 2013, the FSC spearheaded several initiatives to increase transparency and 

streamline the Department of Agriculture’s current FOIA process. First, the FSC continued to 

revamp the Department of Agriculture’s FOIA website. The site now includes the Secretary’s 

public schedule. In the spirit of cooperation, the site also includes a public facing portal 

permitting requesters to submit, track and receive records in connection with their requests from 

any of the Department of Agriculture’s FOIA offices. 

As for streamlining the Department of Agriculture’s current FOIA process, the FSC in 

coordination with the Office of the General Counsel (“OGC”) and the FOIA Training 

Subcommittee launched the Department of Agriculture’s first FOIA module in its online training 

repository, AgLearn. Please see http://www.aglearn.usda.gov/. Intended for all USDA 

personnel, the lite module explores the FOIA’s statutory requirements, the USDA’s FOIA 

process, key players in the USDA FOIA process, the importance of detailing our search efforts 

and the USDA’s commonly cited FOIA exemptions. 
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The FSC also purchased an e-discovery platform to complement the Department of Agriculture’s 

existing enterprise-wide tracking database. The platform will allow the Department of 

Agriculture’s FOIA professionals to substantially reduce their processing time as it allows users 

to list and identify documents and sources, identify duplicate and near duplicate documents and 

mails, ensure that redactions are consistent across released documents, search, categorize and 

rank documents for ease of review, and quickly cull voluminous records.

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 agency hold an agency FOIA conference, or otherwise conduct training during 

this reporting period? If so, please provide the number of conferences or trainings held, a 

brief description of the topics covered, and an estimate of the number of participants from 

your agency who were in attendance. Did your FOIA professionals attend any FOIA 

training, such as that provided by the Department of Justice? Provide an estimate of the 

percentage of your FOIA professionals who attended substantive FOIA training during 

this reporting period. 

Internal Training

On February 11, 2014, the Department FOIA Officer in coordination with our vendor for our 

enterprise-wide tracking database hosted a one day training seminar for the Department’s FOIA 

officers and coordinators. The first portion of our seminar served as a refresher for those using 

the document management tool to review and redact responsive records. The second portion of 

our seminar introduced the Department’s new e-discovery platform purchased in October 2013. 

The platform will substantially reduce processing times as it allows users to list and identify 

documents and sources, identify duplicate and near duplicate documents and emails, ensure 

redactions are consistent across released documents, search, categorize and rank documents for 

ease of review, and quickly cull voluminous record sets. The session included twenty-five 

participants most of whom were component agency FOIA officers. 

Secondly, in response to our on-going discussion about “communicating with requesters in good 

faith” the Department FOIA Officer invited an Office of Government Information Services 

(OGIS) facilitator to share tips for avoiding and resolving disputes with requesters. The session 

was approximately one hour in length and included forty participants from USDA’s FOIA 

community. 
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Thirdly, the Farm Services Agency (FSA), our largest component agency, provided substantive 

training via a series of teleconferences and videoconferences for many of its collateral duty 

FOIA professionals. FSA’s training compliments guidance provided in its most recent 

procedural handbooks and encourages use of its agency’s letter 

Lastly, the Department is pleased to report it will conduct a two day training session this 

upcoming April on the application of USDA’s commonly used FOIA exemptions in coordination 

with the Department of Justice. We anticipate at a minimum fifty participants for this session. 

External Training

Approximately 60% of our full time FOIA professionals also reported participation in one or 

more training courses provided by either the Department of Justice’s Office of Information 

Policy (“DOJ/OIP”) or the American Society of Access Professionals (“ASAP”). These courses 

included the Freedom of Information Act for Attorneys and Access Professionals, the Advanced 

Freedom of Information Act Seminar, the FOIA Litigation Seminar, the 6th Annual National 

FOIA Conference and the Food for Thought Seminars. 

Component agencies also reported attendance at other FOIA outreach opportunities such as the

Report Refresher Training, the E-Learning Training Modules Review, the FOIA Roundtable, as 

well as various other FOIA vendor conferences.

 

2. OIP has issued guidance that every agency should make core, substantive FOIA training 

available to all their FOIA professionals at least once each year. Provide your agency’s 

plan for ensuring that such training is offered to all agency FOIA professionals by March 

2015. Your plan should anticipate an upcoming reporting requirement for your 2015 Chief 

FOIA Officer Reports that will ask whether all agency FOIA professionals attended 

substantive FOIA training in the past year.

The FOIA Training Subcommittee launched its lite online FOIA training module in January 

2014. The lite FOIA module is intended for all USDA personnel and details the FOIA’s 

statutory requirement, the USDA’s FOIA process, key players in the USDA’s FOIA process,

search requirements, commonly cited USDA FOIA exemptions and additional online FOIA 

resources.
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The extended FOIA training module is more extensive in content and therefore intended for the

USDA’s FOIA professionals. In light of the length and level of detail of each chapter, the FSC 

will roll out the module in three phases. The first phase is devoted to procedural issues. Our 

planned launch for the first phase is the close of Fiscal Year 2014. The second phase emphasizes 

exemption application and is tentatively scheduled for launch in December 2014. The third and 

final phase will address appeals and other issues related to judicial review. The proposed launch 

date for the third phase is March 2015. 

The FSC is also coordinating with the DOJ/OIP to provide interim substantive training for the 

USDA’s FOIA professionals in April 2013. Training would be interactive and focus on the 

USDA’s commonly cited exemptions. The Department will stream the courses for those unable 

to participate during the live sessions. 

Outreach:

3. Did your FOIA professionals engage in any outreach and dialogue with the requester 

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

briefly discuss that engagement. 

Yes. Several of our FOIA professionals reported participation in the DOJ’s FOIA Requester 

Roundtable discussion regarding the use of technology in the administration of the FOIA with 

the requester community. 

Discretionary Disclosures: 

In his 2009 FOIA Guidelines, the Attorney General strongly encouraged agencies to make 

discretionary releases of information even when the information might be technically 

exempt from disclosure under the FOIA. OIP encourages agencies to make such 

discretionary releases whenever there is no foreseeable harm from release.
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4. Does your agency have a formal process in place to review records for discretionary 

release? If so, briefly describe the process. If your agency is decentralized, please specify 

whether all components at your agency have a process in place for making discretionary 

releases. 

Yes. The USDA’s FOIA program is decentralized however all component agencies do have a 

process in place for making discretionary releases. Most of these processes require FOIA 

professionals to carefully review responsive records to determine whether a foreseeable harm 

would result if responsive records were released to the requester.

5. During the reporting period did your agency make any discretionary releases of otherwise 

exempt information?

Yes. Multiple USDA FOIA officers reported making discretionary releases of otherwise exempt 

information during Fiscal Year 2013. 

 

6. What exemptions would have covered the information that was released as a matter of 

discretion?

Exemption 5 U.S.C. §§ 552 (b)(5) would have covered the information released as a matter of 

discretion. 

7. Provide a narrative description or some examples of the types of information your agency 

released as a matter of discretion. If your agency was not able to make any discretionary 

releases of information, please explain why. 

Some examples of records released as a matter of discretion are included in the table below. 

APHIS (b)(5) Draft inspection reports.

FAS (b)(5) Draft briefing.

FNS (b)(5) Draft memorandum.

Other Initiatives:

 

8. Did your agency post all of the required quarterly FOIA reports for Fiscal Year 2013? If 

not please explain why and what your plan is for ensuring that such reporting is 

successfully accomplished for Fiscal Year 2014. 

Yes. The USDA posted all the required quarterly FOIA reports for Fiscal Year 2013. However, 

due to a technical glitch now resolved the fourth quarterly report was not visible to the public on 

the E-FOIA.gov website. 
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9. Describe any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure that the presumption of 

openness is being applied. If any of these initiatives are online, please provide links in your 

description. 

The USDA undertook several initiatives to ensure that the presumption of openness is being 

applied. A few of these initiatives are detailed below. 

• In May 2013, the FSC in coordination with the Office of Communication (“OC”) posted 

the Secretary’s public schedule on the Department of Agriculture’s FOIA website. 

Please see the following 

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?contentidonly=true&contentid=secretar

y-schedule.xml. 

• In July 2013, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (“NIFA”) began modernizing 

its grants system and developing a business plan to address the gaps in automation 

including document management, workflow and mobility. The goals of this initiative are 

to create a paperless environment, improve management and reporting, and increase

transparency throughout the grant life cycle. 

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

Responding to Requests 

Personnel: 

During Sunshine Week 2012 OPM announced the creation of a new job series entitled the 

Government Information Series, to address the work performed by FOIA and Privacy Act 

professionals. Creation of this distinct job series was a key element in recognizing the 

professional nature of their work.
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1. Has your agency converted all of its FOIA professionals to the new Government 

Information Specialist Job series? If not, what proportion of personnel has been converted 

to the new job series? If not, what is your plan to ensure that all FOIA professional’s 

position descriptions are converted? 

No. Approximately 60% of the total number of professionals identified in the FY13 FOIA 

Annual Report process requests only as a collateral duty and therefore will not be converted to 

the Government Information Specialist series as their primary function falls under another series. 

Of the remaining 40% processing full-time (132 professionals), approximately 50% have been 

converted to the Government Information Specialist series. Those not yet converted are 

tentatively scheduled for conversion in Fiscal Year 2014. 

Processing Procedures:

2. For Fiscal Year 2013, did your agency maintain an average of ten or less calendar days to 

adjudicate requests for expedited processing? If not, describe the steps your agency will 

take to ensure that requests for expedited processing are adjudicated within ten calendar 

days or less. 

Yes. In Fiscal Year 2013, the average number of days to adjudicate requests for expedited 

processing was 1.75 days. 

3. Has your agency taken any steps to make the handling of consultations and referrals more 

efficient and effective, such as entering into agreements with other agencies or components 

on how to handle certain categories or types of records involving shared equities or as to 

avoid the need for consultation or referral altogether, or otherwise implementing 

procedures that speed up or eliminate the need for consultations. If so, please describe 

those steps. 

Yes. Whenever feasible, the Department of Agriculture electronically transmits inter and intra 

agency consultations and referrals to ensure a more streamlined and efficient process. Our 

protocol also requires consultation and referral package to include the administrative tracking 

number, contact information for the individual sending the referral or consultation, the original 

request, a clean copy of all potentially responsive records, a redacted copy of all potentially 

responsive records if applicable and any additional background information that may assist with 

processing.

Requester Services:

4. Do you use e-mail or other electronic means to communicate with requesters when 

feasible?

Yes, when feasible USDA utilizes electronic mail for correspondence with requesters. In 

addition to electronic mail, USDA utilizes an enterprise wide tracking database and public access 
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link (“PAL”) which allows our FOIA professionals to electronically transmit correspondence and 

responsive records to requesters.

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

Government Information Services (OGIS) at NARA?

Yes. Our FOIA professionals include the following language in their final appeal letters:

As part of the 2007 FOIA amendments, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) 

was created to offer mediation services to resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal 

agencies as a non-exclusive alternative to litigation. Using OGIS services does not affect your 

right to pursue litigation. If you are requesting access to your own records (which is considered 

a Privacy Act request), you should know that OGIS does not have the authority to handle 

requests made under the Privacy Act of 1974. You may contact OGIS in any of the following 

ways:

Office of Government Information Services

National Archives and Records Administration

8601 Adelphi Road

College Park, Maryland 20740-6001

E-mail: ogis@nara.gov

Web: https://ogis.archives.gov

Telephone: 202-741-5770

Facsimile: 202-741-5769

Toll-free: 1-877-684-6448

6. Describe any other steps your agency has undertaken to ensure that your FOIA system 

operates efficiently and effectively, such as conducting self-assessment to find greater 

efficiencies, improving search processes, eliminating redundancy, etc. 

The Department in coordination with the vendor providing our enterprise wide tracking system, 

performed a stress test to assess timeliness as well as trends in incoming requests. In light of the 

increasing number of complex requests involving the review of thousands of pages of records, 

the Department of Agriculture opted to purchase an e-discovery platform to complement our 

existing enterprise wide tracking database. The platform will allow our FOIA professionals to 

quickly list and identify documents and sources, identify duplicate and near duplicate documents 

and emails, search, categorize and rank documents for ease of review, view and group 

documents by custodian and significantly cull records.

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 
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providing examples of proactive disclosures that have been made during this past reporting 

period (i.e., from March 2013 to March 2014). In doing so, answer the questions listed 

below and describe any additional steps taken by your agency to make and improve 

proactive disclosures of information.

Posting Material:

1. Do your FOIA professional have a system in place to identify records for proactive 

disclosures? If so, describe the system in place. Provide examples of material that your 

agency has posted this past reporting period, including links to where this material can be 

found online. 

Yes. The USDA remains committed to increasing proactive disclosures. The Department of 

Agriculture’s FOIA professionals have been instructed to coordinate with their public liaisons, 

webmasters and 508 coordinators to post final opinions, agency policy statements, administrative 

staff manuals, frequently requested records and records likely to become the subject of 

subsequent requests in compliance with subsection (a)(2) of the FOIA. 

Our FOIA professionals are also encouraged to use social media when feasible to quickly 

disseminate information. The chart below includes examples of proactive disclosures during the 

current reporting period. 

Animal and Plant Health 

Inspection Service’s HOT 

Issues Newsroom 

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/newsroom/hot_issues/index.shtml

Farm Service Agency’s New 

Microloan Program

http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=fmlp&topic=dflop&

utm_source=spotlight&utm_medium=click&utm_content=rotation2&utm_camp

aign=2013microloanspecial

Farm Service Agency’s Beta 

Mobile Application

http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FsaMobile/

Food Safety and Inspection 

Service’s Recipes for Disaster 

Series on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tst5kGOhrw&list=PL1FB7B9DA0B767F87

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WFHAZa4PMg&feature=c4-overviewvl&list=PL1FB7B9DA0B767F87

Food Safety and Inspection 

Service’s Twitter Account

https://twitter.com/USDAFoodSafety

Food and Nutrition Service’s 

Report Finder

http://www.fns.usda.gov/report-finder

Food and Nutrition Service’s 

2013 Women, Infant and 

Children (WIC) Vendor 

Management Study 

http://www.fns.usda.gov/2013-wic-vendor-management-study

Food and Nutrition Service’s 

2013 Study and Evaluation 

Plan

http://www.fns.usda.gov/study-and-evaluation-plan-2013

Food and Nutrition Service’s 

Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Program (SNAP)

Community Characteristics. 

http://www.fns.usda.gov/ORA/SNAPCharacteristics/default.htm

Food and Nutrition Service’s 

Program Data

http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/snapmain.htm

http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/cnpmain.htm

Grain Inspection, Packers and http://www.gipsa.usda.gov/psp/enforcement.html
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Stockyards Administration’s

Enforcement Actions

Natural Resources 

Conservation Service’s Twitter 

Account

https://twitter.com/USDA_NRCS/

Rural Development’s 

November – December 2013 

Rural Cooperatives Magazine

http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/SupportDocuments/rdRuralCoop_NovDec2013.pdf

USDA’s FY13 Operating Plans http://www.dm.usda.gov/foia/docs/USDA_Operating_Plan.pdf

Making Posted Material More Useful:

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, such as soliciting feedback on the content and presentation of the 

posted material, improving search capabilities on the site, creating mobile applications, 

providing explanatory material, etc.? If so, provide examples of such improvements.

Yes. The USDA, through its Open Government initiatives as well as the work of our individual 

agency components, is actively working to make the information posted to our public facing 

websites more useful and accessible to the public. Some examples of such improvements are 

included in the chart below. 

The Open Data Group Blog allows the public to share which data sets would be 

most valuable if made available. 

http://blogs.usda.gov/2013/11/

29/from-data-to-decisionsusing-data-to-improve-publicaccess-and-knowledge/

Ask Karen is the Food Safety and Inspection Service’s interactive resource to 

educate the public about food safety.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/

portal/informational/askkaren

The Economic Research Service is implementing wider use of social media and 

new technologies (such as mobile phone applications and open data 

methodologies) to widen and expand the reach of our information services to the 

general public. 

Mobile-optimized Amber 

Waves magazine, including a 

digital “eZine” (built with 

Responsive Design principles 

to automatically render on 

multiple devices/screen sizes, 

providing efficiencies in 

design/production) and a 

magazine app for tablets 

(enabling offline reading).
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Widgets. ERS built 

programming tools 

(“widgets”) that let bloggers 

and media outlets easily 

embed charts from the ERS 

webpage (such as the popular 

daily Charts of Note product) 

onto their own blogs or web 

pages. 

Web content APIs

(Application Programming 

Interface), offering digital 

professionals a machinereadable option for accessing 

publications, charts, and other 

web site content. This allows 

external customers to integrate 

ERS information into their 

own web site content.

APIs for select data and 

geospatial/mapping 

applications, enabling 

researchers and developers to 

build applications using ERS 

data and processes for 

additional insights.

ERS also permits the public to notify the Department of Agriculture when a 

substantive error is detected in disseminated information via its Errata page. 

http://www.ers.usda.gov/about

-ers/information-quality/erserror-correctionpolicy/errata.aspx#.Uqijhvv9x

Xc

ARS led effort to easily identify the USDA research and researchers through the 

USDA VIVO system. VIVO, a semantic, open source system, enables scientists 

to network and find each other’s research, grants, patents, publications and more, 

ultimately making the USDA research more accessible to the public. 

http://vivo.usda.gov/

https://www.starmetrics.nih.go

v/

On May 7, 2013, NIFA launched the new Research, Education, and Extension 

project online reporting tool “REEport.” REEport is NIFA’s singular nonformula 

grant (including competitive) and formula grant project reporting system, 

building on and replacing the Current Research Information System (“CRIS”) 

Web Forms system. 

http://www.nifa.usda.gov/new

sroom/newsletters/update13/05

_15_13.html#nifa

Farm Service Agency’s Ask FSA shares frequently requested questions and 

answer sets with the general public. 

http://askfsa.custhelp.com/app/

answers/list

3. Did your agency use any means to publicize or highlight important proactive disclosures 

for public awareness? If so, was social media utilized? 

Yes. The social media tools shown provide an opportunity for the public to stay engaged,

collaborate and learn more about the Department of Agriculture’s many programs, policies, 

decisions and initiatives. 
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Tool Link

USDA Blog http://blogs.usda.gov/ 
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Tool Link

USDA FaceBook https://www.facebook.com/USDA

Tool Link

USDA Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/usdagov
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Tool Link

USDA Storify http://storify.com/USDA

Tool Link

USDA Podcasts http://audioarchives.oc.usda.gov/radiopodcasts.asp
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Tool Link

USDA Youtube http://www.youtube.com/usda
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4. 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.

The USDA is committed to ensuring posted information is 508 compliant. Although 508 

compliance issues are quickly resolved, it does lengthen the time required to post. 

5. Describe any other steps taken to increase proactive disclosures at your agency. 

As mentioned previously, the Department of Agriculture utilizes several popular social media 

tools such as blog posts, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Storify to assist with increasing proactive 

disclosures. All of these tools have allowed the Department of Agriculture to expand its public 

outreach and initiate dialogue with the general public.

One tool not yet mentioned is our Really Simple Syndication (“RSS”) feeds of the latest USDA 

news articles or entries which can be sent to a user automatically. To subscribe, visit:

http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=RSS_FEEDS. 

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.
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Online tracking of FOIA requests:

1. Can a FOIA requester track the status of his/her FOIA request electronically? If yes, how 

is this tracking function provided to the public? 

Yes. Requesters may submit and track their request(s) online to any USDA FOIA components 

using the USDA online web portal, Public Access Link (PAL) at https://efoiapal.usda.gov/palMain.aspx. 

2. If so, describe the information that is provided to the requester through the tracking 

system. For example, some tracking systems might tell the requester whether the request is 

open or closed, while others will provide further details to the requester throughout the 

course of the processing, such as search commenced or documents currently in review. List 

the specific types of information that are available through your agency’s tracking system. 

Once registered, requesters must establish a password which will then allow them to (1) submit 

requests, check the status of their request(s) and download records responsive to their request(s). 

With the submission of every request, an acknowledgement and tracking number are provided 

upon receipt. 

 
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PAL allows requesters to see when their requests are received, assigned, in-process and closed. 

Once records are reviewed, the requester can also download directly from the link. 

3. In particular, does your agency tracking system provide the requester with an estimated 

date of completion for his or her request?

No. The PAL does not provide the requester with an estimated date of completion for requests. 

 

4. If your agency does not provide online tracking of requests, is your agency taking steps to 

establish this capability. 

Not applicable. The USDA currently provides online tracking of requests.

Use of technology to facilitate processing of requests:

5. Beyond using technology to redact documents, is your agency taking steps to utilize more 

advanced technology to facilitate overall FOIA efficiency, such as improving record search 

capabilities, utilizing document sharing platforms for consultations and referrals, or 
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employing software that can sort and de-duplicate documents? If so, describe the 

technological improvements being made. 

Yes. The Department of Agriculture is taking steps to utilize more advanced technology to 

facilitate overall FOIA efficiency. In October 2013, the Department of Agriculture purchased an 

e-discovery platform to complement our existing enterprise wide tracking database in light of the 

increasing number of voluminous requests. The platform will allow our FOIA professionals to 

quickly list and identify documents and sources, identify duplicate and near duplicate documents 

and emails, search, categorize and rank documents for ease of review, view and group 

documents by custodian, create a Vaughn index and significantly cull records. 

6. Are there additional technological tools that would be helpful to achieving further 

efficiencies in your agency’s FOIA program? 

Yes. The FSC is currently researching technological tools that will assist the public and internal 

USDA users on improved search results. The search capability solutions provided by this vendor 

will allow the public to search for documents across web sites using keywords, search for key 

words within PDF documents and conduct searches for specific terms that result in targeted 

answers rather than an interpretation of keyword search. 

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 and 

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

sections of your agency’s 2012 Annual FOIA Report.

1. 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. If your agency does not utilize a separate track for 

processing simple requests, answer the question below using the figure provided in your 

report for your non-expedited requests.

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

Yes. USDA utilizes a separate track for simple requests. 

b. If so, for your agency overall, for Fiscal Year 2013, was the average number of days to 

process simple requests twenty working days or fewer? 
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Yes. In Fiscal Year 2013, the average number of days to process a simple request was 15.52

days. 

c. 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?

Not applicable. The USDA tracks simple requests separately. 

2. Sections XII.D.(2) and XII.E.(2) of your agency’s Annual Report, entitled “Comparison of 

Number of Requests/Appeals from Previous and Current Annual Report – Backlogged 

Requests/Appeals,” show the numbers of any backlog of pending requests or pending 

appeals from Fiscal Year 2012 as compared to Fiscal Year 2011. You should refer to those 

numbers when completing this section of your Chief FOIA Officer Report. In addition, 

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

VI.C.(5), entitled “Ten Oldest Pending Administrative Appeals,” from both Fiscal Year 

2012 and Fiscal Year 2013 should be used for this section.

a. If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2013, did that

backlog decrease as compared to Fiscal Year 2012?

No. The overall number of backlogged requests in the Department of Agriculture increased by 

34.83% in Fiscal Year 2013. 

Number of Backlogged 

Requests

as of End of the Fiscal Year 

from

Previous Annual Report

Number of Backlogged 

Requests

as of End of the Fiscal 

Year from

Current Annual Report

USDA

OVERALL 741 1137

b. If your agency had a backlog of administrative appeals in Fiscal Year 2013, did

that backlog decrease as compared to Fiscal Year 2012?

No. The overall number of backlogged administrative appeals in the Department of Agriculture

increased by 4.12% in Fiscal Year 2013. 

Number of Backlogged 

Appeals as of End of the 

Fiscal Year from Previous 

Annual Report 

Number of Backlogged Appeals as 

of End of the Fiscal Year from 

Current Annual Report 

USDA

OVERALL 163 170

c. In Fiscal Year 2013, did your agency close the ten oldest requests that were pending as of 

the end of Fiscal Year 2012? 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 

2012 Annual FOIA report. If you had less than ten total oldest requests to close, please 
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indicate that. 

No. Although the Department of Agriculture did not close its overall ten oldest pending requests 

from the previous fiscal year, 70% of our component agencies reported closing out five or more

of its ten oldest pending requests. A total of four of our overall oldest pending requests were 

closed. 

d. In Fiscal Year 2013, did your agency close the ten oldest administrative appeals that 

were pending as of the end of Fiscal Year 2012? 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 2012 Annual FOIA Report. 

No. The Department of Agriculture closed three out of its ten oldest administrative appeals

reported in Fiscal Year 2012. The total number of administrative appeals listed in VI.C.(5) is

seventy-six. 

e. In Fiscal Year 2013, did your agency close the ten oldest consultations received by your 

agency and pending as of the end of Fiscal Year 2012? 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 2012 Annual FOIA Report. 

Yes. The Department of Agriculture did close its ten oldest consultations from the previous fiscal 

years. 

If you answered “no” to any of the above questions, describe why your agency was not able 

to reduce backlogs and/ or close the ten oldest pending requests, appeals, and consultations. 

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 or appeals?

Yes. The overall lack of reduction in our appeals can be attributed to an increase in the number 

of incoming appeals. In Fiscal Year 2013, the Department of Agriculture received seventeen

more appeals. 

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

staff?

No. The overall lack of reduction cannot be attributed to a loss in staff. 

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?
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Yes. All component agencies reported a significant increase in the complexity of requests 

received. 

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

A few components reported agency re-organizations as a contributing factor to the decrease in 

the backlog. During these re-organizations, the FOIA function would invariably shift from one 

professional with FOIA experience to another with varying levels of FOIA experience. 

Another factor contributing to the lack in decrease in backlog was the influx of complex requests 

received in August and September related to the sequestration and the Department of 

Agriculture’s budget and shutdown plans. 

e. Briefly explain the obstacles your agency faced in closing its ten oldest requests, appeals 

and consultations from Fiscal Year 2012. 

The largest obstacle faced by our FOIA professionals is the untimely return of records from the 

Department of Agriculture’s records custodians. In an effort to expedite this stage in processing, 

the FSC in coordination with the FOIA training subcommittee and the OGC developed a few 

slides in the lite training module which emphasized the FOIA’s statutory requirements and the 

importance of timely providing records to FOIA professionals.

 
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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 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. 

Not applicable. There were no external consultations restricting USDA from closing any of its 

ten oldest requests or appeals.

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

Reducing Backlogs:

3. 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 those “ten oldest” 

requests, appeals and consultations during Fiscal Year 2014. 

The Department of Agriculture’s ten oldest pending requests and appeals originate primarily in 

one component. This particular component has restructured its team to include an administrative 

position. The professional in the administrative position will log, finalize and track 

correspondence, follow up with records custodians regarding outstanding search requests, 

address fees and other logistical issues with requesters and prepare weekly reports in an effort to 

alleviate the team’s limited number of FOIA processors reviewing and redacting records.

This component will also purchase additional licenses for the e-discovery platform recently 

purchased by the Department in light of the increasing number of complex requests received. As 

mentioned previously, the platform will allow FOIA professionals to substantially reduce their 

processing time in that it allows users to list and identify documents and sources, identify 

duplicate and near duplicate documents and mails, ensure that redactions are consistent across 
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released documents, search, categorize and rank documents for ease of review, and quickly cull 

voluminous record sets. 

 

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

backlog in Fiscal Year 2013, provide your agency’s plan for achieving backlog reduction in 

the year ahead. 

In FY2012, the USDA’s overall backlog included less than 1,000 requests. However, in FY2013 

there was no reduction in the overall backlog. The Department FOIA Officer will begin 

monitoring and assessing each component’s backlog and then provide an overall backlog 

reduction report at the Department of Agriculture’s monthly Council meetings beginning in 

January. Those components unable to demonstrate progress in the reduction of their backlog by 

April 2013, will also meet with the Department FOIA Officer to either refine or revise the 

current backlog reduction plan. 

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. 

5. Does your agency have a system in place to provide interim responses to requesters when 

appropriate? 

Yes. Our agency does have a system in place to provide interim responses to requesters when 

appropriate. 

6. If your agency had a backlog in Fiscal Year 2013, please provide an estimate of the number 

or percentage of cases in the backlog where substantive, interim responses were provided 

during the fiscal year, even though the request was not finally closed. 

Interim responses were provided for approximately 50% of the cases in the Department of 

Agriculture’s backlog. 

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 2013?

No. USDA did not invoke 5 U.S.C. § 552(c)(1), (2) or (3) in Fiscal Year 2012. 
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2. If so, what was the total number of times exclusions were invoked?

Not applicable. USDA did not invoke any statutory exemptions. 

Spotlight on Success

Out of all the activities undertaken by your agency since March 2013 to increase 

transparency and improve FOIA administration, describe here 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.

USDA’s Spotlight on Success:

The USDA is pleased to report it made substantial strides in decreasing its overall average 

number of days to process both simple and complex requests. The overall average number of 

days to process simple requests in Fiscal Year 2013 is 15.52 days which is a 53.14% decrease 

from the previous Fiscal Year. The overall average number of days to process complex requests 

is 43.38 days which marks a 43.22% decrease from Fiscal Year 2012. 

Fiscal Year 2013

Fiscal Year 2012

The USDA is also pleased to report the launch of its first lite FOIA module in its online training 

repository, AgLearn. The product is the result of collaboration between the FOIA Service 
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Center, the Office of the General Counsel and the FOIA Training Subcommittee and is intended 

for all USDA personnel as it addresses common concerns among our FOIA community. 

Among other items, the module details the FOIA’s statutory requirement, the USDA’s FOIA 

process, key players in the USDA’s FOIA process, the importance of the timely delivery of 

records to FOIA Officers, search requirements, commonly cited USDA FOIA exemptions and 

additional online FOIA resources. Below for review are a few slides from our lite module. 

 
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 2014 Chief FOIA Report

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Research, Education and Economics’ (REE) Spotlight on Success:

REE provides FOIA program support services to the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), 

Economic Research Service (ERS), the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), 

National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The following spotlights on success are from 

agencies serviced by REE. 

• ARS 

ARS leads the effort to easily identify USDA research and researchers through the USDA VIVO 

system. VIVO, a semantic, open source system, enables scientists to network and find each 

other’s research, grants, patents, publications and more, ultimately making USDA research more 

accessible to the public. Currently, the system is available within USDA and contains content 

drawn from the five targeted science agencies: ARS, ERS, NASS, NIFA and Forest Service. 

USDA VIVO includes over 6,000 scientists and researchers, over 47,000 publications, patents 

and reports, and more than 6,000 research projects. New content is ingested several times each 

year and is always expanding. The USDA VIVO system is accessible via the USDA network at 

http://vivo.usda.gov/. Data from USDA VIVO will be shared with other systems such as STAR 

METRICS https://www.starmetrics.nih.gov/, a partnership between science agencies and 

research institutions, created to document the outcomes of science investments to the public. 
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• ERS 

ERS is implementing wider use of social media and new technologies (such as mobile phone 

applications and open data methodologies) to widen and expand the reach of our information 

services to the general public. ERS has been a leading innovator in support of the 

Administration’s Digital Strategy and Open Data initiatives, providing a wealth of products—

including data and resources—designed to enhance delivery of information and services. In FY 

2013, ERS released several new tools designed to help consumers more easily access critical 

programs and stimulate further innovation: 

Mobile-optimized Amber Waves magazine, including a digital “eZine” (built with Responsive 

Design principles to automatically render on multiple devices/screen sizes, providing efficiencies 

in design/production) and a magazine app for tablets (enabling offline reading).
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Widgets. ERS built programming tools (“widgets”) that let bloggers and media outlets easily 

embed charts from the ERS webpage (such as the popular daily Charts of Note product) onto 

their own blogs or web pages. 

Web content APIs (Application Programming Interface), offering digital professionals a 

machine-readable option for accessing publications, charts, and other web site content. This 

allows external customers to integrate ERS information into their own web site content.

APIs for select data and geospatial/mapping applications, enabling researchers and

developers to build applications using ERS data and processes for additional insights.

The new products and tools extend and expand access to ERS research findings, market outlook, 

and data—making the Agency’s information more readily available to the general public. These 

items were a first among USDA (and many government agencies), enabling USDA to meet its 

12-month Digital Government Strategy goals to ensure high-value services and systems are 

available anywhere, anytime, and on any device. 

• NASS 

In September 2013, NASS hosted an open house event jointly with USDA’s Economic Research 

Service and World Agricultural Outlook Board to celebrate the International Year of Statistics. 

The event allowed attendees the opportunity to learn how statistics enhance the work of USDA, 

see examples of the current and historical work of USDA statistical agencies, and ask questions 

they may have for officials and staff about the information the agencies produce. To coincide 

with the event and increase transparency, Dr. Catherine Woteki, USDA Chief Scientist and 

Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics posted an entry on the USDA Blog 

encouraging the public to explore USDA’s many statistical products and services, “Back to 

School with Statistics, Join USDA’s Virtual Open House.”
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• NIFA Spotlight on Success

On May 7, 2013, NIFA launched the new Research, Education, and Extension project online 

reporting tool “REEport.” REEport is NIFA’s singular nonformula grant (including competitive) 

and formula grant project reporting system, building on and replacing the Current Research 

Information System (CRIS) Web Forms system. REEport also implements the Research 

Performance Progress Report (RPPR), a standard progress report format that all federal research 

agencies are required to use. The RPPR resulted from an initiative of the Research Business 

Models (RBM) Subcommittee of the Committee on Science, a committee of the National 

Science and Technology Council. REEport features an all-electronic workflow. Previously, 

NIFA staff used a paper process to distribute proposals to national program leaders for review 

and decisions on formula projects. REEport allows NIFA staff to receive, distribute, and return 

to grantees all formula research project data and associated approvals electronically. This robust 

notification system sends automatic email notifications of a project’s approval and progress 

monitoring status to everyone connected to the project.