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Chief FOIA Officer’s Report
February 12, 2018

The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) submits this report in accordance with the
Department of Justice 2009 FOIA Guidelines calling upon agencies to reaffirm the Federal
Government’s “commitment to accountability and transparency,” and as directed in the
Guidelines for 2018 Chief FOIA Officers Reports.

Training / Backlog Reduction

This year, all NIGC personnel were required to attend a summer FOIA training session. This
session provided an overview of the NIGC FOIA processes and detailed NIGC employee
obligations under the statute. In addition to this agency-wide training, four NIGC employees
attended specialized FOIA training provided by the Department of Justice. After receiving this
training, these employees were deployed to provide supplementary assistance to the FOIA
Office in closing out backlog requests. As a result of these efforts, backlogs requests have been
reduced by over 50% and the FOIA Office now estimates that all remaining backlog cases will be
eliminated by the end of this fiscal year.

Outreach / Regulation Updates

Over the past year, the NIGC has been conducting outreach to its constituents to make them
aware of changes to the FOIA and to inform them of recent proposed updates to NIGC
regulations that incorporate these statutory changes. The NIGC has presented these proposed
regulatory changes at tribal consultations and posted them on its website. Among the ongoing
proposed changes to the NIGC FOIA regulations are:

e@ 25 C.F.R. §517.3(h) — updating the definition of record
e 25 C.F.R. §517.3(i) — updating the definition of ‘news media’

e 25 (C.F.R. §517.6(c)(2) — inserting reference to Office of Government Information
Services

e 25 (C.F.R. §517.6(e) — adding advisement of dispute resolution services for adverse
determinations

e 25 C.F.R. §517.8(b)(1)- lengthening the timing for appeals

NEW MAILING ADDRESS: NIGC/DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 1849 C Street NW, Mail Slop # 1621 Washington, DC 20240 Tel: 202.632.7003 Fax: 202.632.7066

REGIONAL OFFICES Portland, OR; Sacramento, CA; Phoenix, AZ; St, Paul, MN; Tulsa OK; Oklahoma City, OK
WWW.NIGC,GOV


The NIGC also continues to regularly proactively publish documents on its website that are
likely to be of interest to the public including: approved gaming ordinances; enforcement
actions, lands opinions; and declination letters.

Technology / Restructuring

Recent changes in NIGC records management practices have had a significant impact on NIGC
FOIA. Specifically, in 2017 the NIGC updated all of its records schedules and accelerated the
transition of agency recordkeeping systems from dispersed paper format to centralized
electronic format. FOIA search and collection functions, in turn, have become more integrated
with records management and directly benefit from the greater efficiencies of the newer and
more centralized information technologies. FOIA personnel are now able to access and search
the agency’s electronic records archives with greater speed, thoroughness and accuracy and all
the while reducing the FOIA search burden on non- FOIA agency personnel.

Better Customer Service

The integration of FOIA response and information management has also enabled the FOIA team
to take a fresh look at how NIGC FOIA interacts with requesters. Previously, a requester’s
request would be passed along to various agency components for follow-up and document
searching. In contrast, now IT/FOIA personnel can quickly review the request and survey the
electronic archival landscape to assess how well the request matches up with agency holdings.
\{n many cases, requesters benefit from the immediate feedback that the IT/FOIA personnel can
provide and, based on this feedback, often refine their search in order to more accurately
target the agency’s product lines and therefore obtain more satisfying results.

Improved Tracking
Finally, NIGC FOIA has upgraded its FOIA tracking software so that it includes all the fields

needed to complete the FOIA annual and quarterly reports. In particular, the database now
includes fields that keep track of decisions made in response to requests for expedited
processing and fee waivers.

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Tim Osumi, (Date) :
NIGC Chief FOIA Officer