National Indian Gaming Commission 

2001 Annual FOIA Report

I. Basic Information Regarding Report

A. Name, title, address, and telephone number of person to 

be contacted with questions about the report. 

Gregory A. Smith 

FOIA/PA Officer 

National Indian Gaming Commission 

1441 L Street, N.W. , Suite 9100 

Washington, D.C. 20005 

Telephone number: (202) 632-7003 

Fax number: (202) 632-7066 

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

http://www.nigc.gov/foia/foia_2001.jsp 

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

A paper copy of this report can be obtained by request 

from the address listed above or printed from the NIGC 

web site.

II. How to Make a FOIA Request

• Agencies may either include descriptions here or provide 

them by cross-reference to their FOIA reference guides 

(which should be electronically linked for convenient 

electronic reference purposes). 

Please follow the suggestions listed below when 

preparing your FOIA request: 

• identify the records requested (be as specific as 

possible, i.e., describe the subject matter of the records, 

and, if known, indicate the dates of the records, the 

places where they originated, and the names of the 

originating persons or offices); 

• state that the records are requested under the Freedom 

of Information Act; 

• include daytime telephone numbers in case additional 

information is needed before answering requests, and 

• forward all requests to NIGC's FOIA Office by one of the 

methods listed below: 
Mail the request (mark the outside of the envelope, "FOIA 

Request") to: 

FOIA/PA Officer 

National Indian Gaming Commission 

1441 L Street, N.W., Suite 9100 

Washington, D.C. 20005 

OR Fax the request to the FOIA Office at (202) 632-7066. 

Individuals with questions concerning their requests may 

call NIGC's FOIA Officer at (703) 632-7003. 

A. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all 

individual agency components and offices that 

receive FOIA requests. 

N/A 

B. Brief description of the agency's response-time 

ranges. 

Response times are from one day to more than 

one year in some cases. 

C. Brief description of why some requests are not 

granted. 

As part of our regulatory function the NIGC 

requires Tribes to submit to the Commission 

management contracts and audits for gaming 

facilities. Since most of these submissions 

contain privileged and personal information, 

exemptions (b)(4) and (b)(6) are used to withhold 

this exempt material.

III. Definitions of Terms and Acronyms Used in 

the Report (to be included in each report)

Agency-specific acronyms or other terms. 

A. 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 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 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 and 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. 

IV. Exemption 3 Statutes 

List of Exemption 3 statutes relied on by agency during current 

fiscal year. 

0. Brief description of type(s) of information withheld 

under each statute. 

None

1. Statement of whether a court has upheld the use of 

each statute. If so, then cite example. 

None

V. Initial FOIA/PA Access Requests 

Numbers of initial requests. 

0. Number of requests pending as of end of preceding 

fiscal year 56 

1. Number of requests received during current fiscal 

year 101 

2. Number of requests processed during current fiscal 

year 89 
3. Number of requests pending as of end of current 

fiscal year 68 (Enter this number also in 

Line VII.B.1.)

A. Disposition of initial requests. 

0. Number of total grants 20 

1. Number of partial grants 8 

2. Number of denials 3 

a. number of times each FOIA exemption 

used (counting each exemption once per 

request) 

(1) Exemption 1 0 

(2) Exemption 2 0 

(3) Exemption 3 0 

(4) Exemption 4 3 

(5) Exemption 5 4 

(6) Exemption 6 3 

(7) Exemption 7(A) 0 

(8) Exemption 7(B) 0 

(9) Exemption 7(C) 1 

(10) Exemption 7(D) 0 

(11) Exemption 7(E) 0 

(12) Exemption 7(F) 0 

(13) Exemption 8 0 

(14) Exemption 9 0 

3. 

4. Other reasons for nondisclosure (total) 58 

a. no records 25 

b. referrals 3 

c. request withdrawn 30 

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 

VI. Appeals of Initial Denials of FOIA/PA 

Requests

Numbers of appeals. 

0. Number of appeals received during fiscal year 

 2 

1. Number of appeals processed during fiscal year 

 1 

A. Disposition of appeals. (Pending) 

0. Number completely upheld 0 

1. Number partially reversed 1 

2. Number completely reversed 0 

a. number of times each FOIA exemption 

used (counting each exemption once per 

appeal) 

(1) Exemption 1 0 

(2) Exemption 2 0 

(3) Exemption 3 0 

(4) Exemption 4 1 

(5) Exemption 5 0 

(6) Exemption 6 0 

(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 

3. 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 

VII. Compliance with Time Limits/Status of 

Pending Requests 

Median processing time for requests processed during the year. 

0. Simple requests. 

a. number of requests processed 64 

b. median number of days to process 16 

1. Complex requests. 

a. number of requests processed 

 20 

b. median number of days to process 

 184 

2. Requests accorded expedited processing. 

a. number of requests processed 5 

b. median number of days to process 45 

A. Status of pending requests. 

0. Number of requests pending as of end of current 

fiscal year 68 

(Enter this number from Line V.A.4.) 

1. Median number of days that such requests were 

pending as of that date 70 

VIII. Comparisons with Previous Year(s) 

(Optional) 

Agencies should state comparisons both in total numbers and in 

percentage of change. 
A. Note that the agency's annual report for 1997 covers a partial 

calendar year. 

B. Comparison of numbers of requests received 

________________ 

C. Comparison of numbers of requests processed 

________________ 

D. Comparison of median numbers of days requests were 

pending as of end of fiscal year ___________ 

E. Other statistics significant to agency ___________ 

F. Other narrative statements describing agency efforts to 

improve timeliness of FOIA performance and to make records 

available to the public (e.g., backlog-reduction efforts; 

specification of average number of hours per processed 

request; training activities; public availability of new 

categories of records) 

IX. Costs/FOIA Staffing 

Staffing levels. 

 . Number of full time FOIA personnel 1 

A. Number of personnel with part-time or occasional 

FOIA duties (in total work years) 0 

B. Total number of personnel (in work years) 1 

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

 . FOIA processing (including appeals) 

 $110,000.00 

A. Litigation related activities (estimated) 

 $5,000.00 

B. Total costs $115,000.00 

C. Comparison with previous year(s) (including 

percentage of change) (optional) 

B. Statement of additional resources needed for FOIA 

compliance (optional) 

X. Fees 
 . Total amount of fees collected by agency for processing 

requests $285.00 

A. Percentage of total costs <1% 

XI. FOIA Regulations (Including Fee 

Schedule) 

NIGC's FOIA regulations and fee schedule can be found in chapter 

25 of the C.F.R. sec. 517. A paper copy of these regulations can be 

obtained by contacting the NIGC's FOIA Officer (see section I(A) of 

this report) or electronically at http://www.nigc.gov/.