E. Additional Information on Oldest Request

One (1) request among the four (4) oldest pending as of the close of FY2015 remained on
the oldest pending list as of the close of FY2016. This case was highly complex and
required substantial follow-up with several data points within the Agency, a process that
was side-tracked when the CFO was absent and other cases demanded the attention of
those substituting for him. The CFO expects to respond to this request, and to have
responded to all cases filed more than 20 days prior, on or before May 1, 2017.

F. Success Story

A party seeking to renegotiate its expiring collective bargaining agreement must by
statute give the opposite party 60 days advanced notice and give FMCS notice within 30
days thereafter. Most parties file online with FMCS using a form known as an “F-7”.
The filing party is not required to serve the F-7 on its opponent. The Agency extracts the
information on the F-7s and enters it on a spreadsheet which is available on the FMCS
website.

However, some parties who are not served, as well as government agencies, need an
original F-7 document, for example, in litigation. Hence, FMCS has adopted a policy of
providing F-7s to any party to that contract, or to a government agency, upon request and
without requiring the requesting party to file a FOIA. Most of these requests require
expedited treatment and FMCS is able to respond on either the same or the next day. In
the context of litigation, which is where most of these requests arise, this policy leading
to same day response prevents information requests from causing delay in the legal
proceedings.


FEDERAL MEDIATION AND CONCILIATION SERVICE
2017 CHIEF FOIA OFFICER REPORT
SUBMITTED BY
MICHAEL J. BARTLETT, DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL
AND CHIEF FOIA OFFICER

Section 1: Steps Taken to Apply the Presumption of Openness

A. FOIA Training

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS or Agency) averages about 55
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests annually. This relatively small volume of
requests is serviced by a staff consisting of a Deputy General Counsel, who devotes
approximately 20% of his time to performing the functions of Chief FOIA Officer (CFO),
and a Paralegal Specialist, who also spends about 20% of her time on FOIA matters. The
CFO was on extended medical leave in 2016, during which the General Counsel and
another attorney assumed some FOIA duties, but they did not regularly - and no longer —
do so.

Both the CFO and the Paralegal Specialist (100% of the FOIA staff) received FOIA
training last year. In July 2016, they attended a two-day course on the “Freedom of
Information Act for Attorneys and Access Professionals,” presented by the Office of
Information Policy (OIP), Department of Justice (DOJ). This was a comprehensive
offering which included the following topics, inter alia:

Procedural Requirements
Exemptions

Litigation Considerations
Proactive Disclosure

Fees and Waivers

Privacy Act Interface

Appeals and Mediation Services

FMCS intends to have its FOIA staff attend at least one similar training program again
this year.

B. Outreach

The FMCS FOIA staff did not engage in any outreach during this reporting year.

C. Other Initiatives

While not engaged in any formal initiatives, the CFO has initiated numerous informal
conversations with non-FOIJA professionals of the Agency — principally, IT personnel,
mediators and mediator supervisors, and Regional Directors with geographical field
responsibility — to educate them as to their responsibilities under the FOIA.


Section I: Steps Taken to Ensure that FMCS Has an Effective System in Place for
Responding to Requests

A. Processing Procedures

The FMCS received no requests for expedited processing in FY2016. Approximately 14
of 58 requests received in FY2016 were from commercial use requestors.

B. Requestor Services

The FMCS maintains a form, which can be accessed by selecting the “Feedback” tab in
the upper right corner of the Homepage, which the Agency uses to receive comments and
other information pertaining to the FOIA, as well as other operations.

No requests for the services of the Agency’s Public Liaison were received during
FY2016 to date.

The FMCS maintains a comprehensive electronic FOIA reference guide which can be
utilized to make requested records electronically available to the public. The guide can
be found at https://www.fmcs.gov.wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Y ourRightToFederal

Records.pdf.

Section III: Steps Taken to Increase Proactive Disclosures

The Chief FOIA Officer periodically reviews the FOIA log to determine whether any
“frequently requested” records can be identified for the purpose of creating a proactive
disclosure. No more formal system is required in view of the relatively few (about 55)
requests received annually. However, FMCS does have a procedure in place for
identifying and providing collective bargaining notices to the parties to a contract and to
government agencies upon simple request without requiring them to file a formal FOIA
request. See, Section V.F. Success Story, infra.

The Agency does not publicize its proactive disclosures but has not encountered any
particular challenge to its posting of records either. Examples of the FMCS proactively
disclosing information include: (1) a document containing extensive questions and
answers on the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act, entitled “Your Right to
Federal Records”, which can be found at https://www.fmces.gov.wp-
content/uploads/2015/07/Y ourRightToFederal Records.pdf; and (2) “Work Stoppage
Data (strikes and lockouts) recorded annually, and during the past two (2) years by
month, from 1984 through January 2017, which are available at
https://www.fmes.gov.wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Y ourRightToFederal Records.pdf.



Section IV: Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology

In addition to steadily increasing the use of email to correspond with requesters during
the processing of requests, FMCS has greatly expanded the use of email to provide a final
response with the documents sought as attachments. This has cut some three (3) days
from the average response time utilizing the U.S. mail.

The FMCS successfully posted all four (4) quarterly reports during FY2016 with
information appearing on FOIA.gov.

Section V. Steps Taken to Improve Timeliness in Responding to Requests and
Reducing Backlogs

A. Simple Track

The FMCS utilizes a separate track for simple requests. The percentage of simple
requests for FY2016 was 90.3%. The average number of days for the Agency to process
simple requests in FY2016 was 41. That simple requests, and all other requests for that
matter, exceeded an average processing time greater that 20 days was due to the absence
of the Chief FOIA Officer from work for 6 months due to illness during FY2016.

B. Backlogs

The Agency had two (2) backlogged requests as of the close of FY2015. That backlog
neither increased nor decreased the following year as the backlog at the close of FY2016
was also two (2). This backlog represented three (3) percent of the total number of
requests received that year. The reason for not eliminating the backlog in FY2016 was,
as noted above, the six-month absence of the CFO in FY2016, during which two (2)
others in the General Counsel’s Office, who were not generally engaged in FOIA matters,
provided FOIA coverage to the extent consistent with their other primary responsibilities.

The FMCS had no backlogged appeals as of the close of either FY2015 or FY2016.

C. Status of Ten Oldest Requests, Appeals and Consultations

The FMCS had four (4) pending perfected requests as of the close of FY2015. Three of
these matters were closed before the end of FY2016, and only one (1) other pending
perfected request remained open (a total of two (2)) as of the latter date. None of these
cases were closed because the request was withdrawn.

The Agency had no pending appeals or consultations as of the close of FY2015 or
FY2016.

Bs