Freedom of Information Act: Requirements and Implementation Continue to Evolve

In testimony before the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Melvin testified about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which establishes that federal agencies must provide the public with access to government information, enabling them to learn about government operations and decisions.

To help ensure proper implementation, FOIA requires that agencies annually report specific information about their FOIA operations, such as numbers of requests received and processed and other statistics. In work reported from 2001 to 2008, GAO examined the annual reports for major agencies, describing the status of reported implementation and any observable trends. GAO also reported on agency improvement plans developed in response to a 2005 Executive Order aimed at improving FOIA implementation, including reducing backlogs of overdue requests. GAO was asked to testify on its previous work on FOIA implementation, as well as on selected changes in the FOIA landscape resulting from legislation, policy, and guidance. GAO previously noted general increases in requests received and processed, as well as growing numbers of backlogged requests reported. GAO also found that the improvement plans of the agencies reviewed mostly included goals and timetables as required by the Executive Order. In subsequent reporting on backlog reduction efforts, GAO found that selected agencies had shown progress in decreasing their backlogs of overdue requests as of September 2007; however, GAO could not present a complete picture, because of variations such as differences in agencies' metrics and ability to track backlogs of overdue requests.

GAO recommended that the Department of Justice issue guidance to address this issue. Justice agreed with the recommendation and issued further guidance in 2008. In addition, GAO made recommendations to selected agencies regarding the reliability of their FOIA data, with which the agencies generally agreed. GAO-10-537T

[Valerie C. Melvin, director, GAO information management and human capital issues]