Source: United States Attorneys General 13
Today, the Office of Information Policy (OIP) posted updated guidance pertaining to Quarterly and Annual Reports, along with deadlines for the submission of agencies’ Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Reports, Fiscal Year 2022 Quarterly FOIA Reports, and 2022 Chief FOIA Officer Reports. These three reports serve a vital role in illustrating the steps taken and the progress made by agencies in administering the FOIA, and provide valuable information about how agencies promote efficiency, make more information available proactively, and use technology to improve FOIA administration.
Notably, as described in the Updated Guidance for Agency Quarterly Reporting, there is a new process for how agencies will submit their quarterly data to display on FOIA.gov beginning with Quarter 4 of Fiscal Year 2021, due October 29, 2021. Agency Manager account holders can now enter their agency’s quarterly FOIA statistics directly into FOIA.gov. This new functionality makes it more efficient for agencies to provide this information for display on the recently revamped Quarterly Data page.
OIP also posted an updated Department of Justice Annual FOIA Report Handbook, a key resource that agencies should consult when compiling their Annual FOIA Reports. Once again, agencies are required to submit their Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Reports using the FOIA.gov Annual Report Tool. OIP has continued to refine this tool in light of agency feedback, such as recent enhancements to more easily auto-populate components in each section. OIP’s Annual and Quarterly FOIA Report Refresher Training, to be held October 5, 2021, will provide an overview of the quarterly and annual reporting features on FOIA.gov.
Agencies should take note of the following deadlines, which are similar to prior years, to ensure that they can satisfy all FOIA reporting obligations in the upcoming year:
FISCAL YEAR 2021 ANNUAL FOIA REPORT
November 15, 2021 – Agencies are required to submit their Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report to OIP for review and clearance through FOIA.gov.
No later than March 1, 2022 – Agencies are required to post the final human readable and NIEM-XML versions of their Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report on their websites.
FISCAL YEAR 2022 QUARTERLY FOIA REPORTS
January 28, 2022 – Quarter 1 data is required to be submitted to OIP in FOIA.gov.
April 29, 2022 – Quarter 2 data is required to be submitted to OIP in FOIA.gov.
July 29, 2022 – Quarter 3 data is required to be submitted to OIP in FOIA.gov.
October 28, 2022 – Quarter 4 data is required to be submitted to OIP in FOIA.gov.
For guidance on the requirements for completing the Quarterly Reports, please see OIP’s guidance on quarterly reporting.
2022 CHIEF FOIA OFFICER REPORTS
January 10, 2022 – Deadline for agencies receiving more than 50 requests in Fiscal Year 2020 to submit their 2022 Chief FOIA Officer Reports to OIP for review and clearance.
February 11, 2022 – Deadline for agencies receiving 50 requests or less that choose to report to submit their Chief FOIA Officer Report to OIP.
March 14, 2022 – Agencies are required to post their 2022 Chief FOIA Officer Reports online.
For guidance on the requirements for completing the 2022 Chief FOIA Officer Report, please see OIP’s 2022 Chief FOIA Officer Report Guidelines.
If you have any questions regarding any of the deadlines noted above or the requirements for any of the reports, please contact OIP’s FOIA Compliance Team at (202) 514-3642 (FOIA). You can also find all of these reporting deadlines on the Reports page of OIP’s website.