The FOIA Ombudsman

This post is from OGIS Deputy Director Karen Finnegan. “The only thing that stays the same is change.”  Melissa Etheridge At OGIS, we specialize in change. The very existence of OGIS represents an innovative change to the FOIA administrative process. Our daily work involves changing the way people approach conflict and how they communicate with [...]

We at OGIS are always looking for ways to streamline our procedures and we’ve encouraged your input. This time is no different as we seek your support in ginning up some mojo for an OGIS routine use! Yes, an OGIS routine use, as in a Privacy Act system of records routine use. Without getting too technical (or [...]

The administrative appeal process is an integral part of FOIA. Federal agencies received almost 10,000 FOIA appeals in the year ending September 30, 2010. FOIA sets forth two requirements pertaining to the appeal process: (1) agencies must notify requesters of the right to appeal any adverse determination; and (2) agencies must make a determination with [...]

As 2011 comes to a close, we at OGIS are taking some time to reflect on our second full year of operations. We are happy to report that we reached some milestones this year. Our outreach program continues to take root: we developed a 5-Step FOIA Dispute Resolution Process, which we routinely present in inter-agency [...]

We’re pleased that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently proposed a new job series that would cover Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) professionals. OPM has asked Federal agencies to submit comments regarding the draft Position Classification for the proposed job series by October 31st. In a nutshell, OPM proposes an occupational series, GS-0306, titled [...]

After two years of providing mediation services and working to improve the FOIA process, it’s time for self examination. During the last two years we’ve focused on figuring out how to do what we do while we were doing it. Our customers and stakeholders have provided valuable feedback regarding how we’ve helped them and how [...]

How often have you heard that statement? When you heard it, did you believe it? In the OPEN Government Act of 2007 Congress baked customer service into FOIA by creating OGIS to help the FOIA community resolve disputes and to recommend improvements to the administration of FOIA. Congress also codified the role of FOIA Public [...]

Among OGIS’s recent cases are several from customers advised that their FOIA requests have been referred to other agencies for processing. In accordance with agency FOIA regulations, that’s usually no problem. But in the OGIS cases, the agencies making the referrals did not identify the name of the agencies to which they referred the requests, [...]