Agencies also  vary in how they allow requests to be made. In addition to providing their annual reports to the Attorney  General, agencies are to make them available to the public in  electronic form. In this and subsequent reviews, we examined the  contents of these annual reports for 25 major agencies (shown in  table 2). Increases in Requests Are Slowing, but Pending Cases Are Increasing

The annual FOIA reports for fiscal year 2005 show that many of the  trends of previous years are continuing: Requests received and  processed continue to rise; however, excepting one case—SSA—the  rate of increase has flattened in recent years. We present SSA’s  statistics separately because the agency reported an additional 16  million requests in 2005, dwarfing those for all other agencies  combined, which together total about 2.6 million. SSA attributed this  rise to an improvement in its method of counting requests. As this figure shows, when SSA’s  numbers are excluded, the rate of increase is modest and has been  flattening: from fiscal year 2002 to 2005, requests received increased  by about 27 percent, and requests processed increased by about 25  percent. From fiscal year 2004 to 2005, requests received increased  about 2.5 percent, and requests processed increased about 2.0  percent. According to SSA, the increases that the agency reported in fiscal  year 2005 can be attributed to an improvement in its method of  counting a category of requests it calls “simple requests handled by  non-FOIA staff.” In the past 4 years, SSA’s FOIA reports have  consistently shown significant growth in this category, which has  accounted for the major portion of all SSA requests reported (see  table 3). However, Justice officials have suggested that SSA consider  treating the bulk of these requests as non-FOIA requests and thus  not include them in future reports. This attachment also includes  information on the number of requests reported by the agencies and  components, which provides context for assessing the median times  reported. In 2002, pending requests governmentwide  were reported to number about 140,000, whereas in 2005, about  200,000—43 percent more—were reported. In addition, the rate of  increase grew in fiscal year 2005, rising 24 percent from fiscal year  2004, compared to 11 percent from 2003 to 2004. About Half of FOIA Improvement Plans Do Not Include Goals and Timetables for Reducing the Backlog

The Executive Order, with its requirement for agencies to develop  FOIA improvement plans, serves to focus agency managers’  attention on the important role that FOIA plays in keeping citizens  well informed about the operations of their government. Most of the 22 agency plans available as of June 30 discussed  reducing backlog, but not all consistently followed the Executive  Order directions by establishing goals and timetables for reducing or  eliminating their backlog. Many of these agencies did define process goals, such  as establishing means to monitor and report on backlog, reviewing  current processes, and identifying and reviewing tracking systems,  but these were not accompanied by goals for backlog reduction:   ●  For example, the Department of Commerce’s plan stated that, to the  extent possible, its components would use current backlog numbers  as a ceiling (these generally range from 9 to 13 percent of the  workload) and work aggressively to reduce these numbers, focusing  particularly on the 10 oldest requests in each component’s backlog. However, most of the agency improvement plans do not clearly  define baselines for their existing backlogs. In other cases,  agencies did not specify whether they planned to measure from the  date of their plans, from the end of fiscal year 2005, or from some  other baseline. Our ongoing work suggests that factors contributing to these  deficiencies included difficulties in coordinating responses among  components in large decentralized agencies and limitations in the  way that agency systems track FOIA processing. In addition, neither  the Executive Order nor Justice guidance established a baseline  date for measuring the backlog or directed agencies to establish  such a baseline. Without  clearly defined baselines, specific objectives, and timetables for  reducing backlog, the risk is that agency heads, Justice, the  Congress, and the public could be hampered in determining whether  and how well agencies have achieved the Executive Order’s aims of  improving FOIA processing and agency disclosure of information. When we complete our ongoing review and analysis, we expect to   make recommendations aimed at improving agency implementation  of the Executive Order, including efforts to reduce and eliminate  backlog. Agency for International Development

No. Social Security Administration

No.
Why GAO Did This Study

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) establishes that federal agencies must provide the public with access to government information, thus enabling them to learn about government operations and decisions. To help ensure appropriate implementation, the act requires that agencies report annually to the Attorney General, providing specific information about their FOIA operations. In addition, a recent Executive Order directs agencies to develop plans to improve their FOIA operations, including, among other things, goals to reduce backlogs in FOIA requests. GAO has reported previously on the contents of these annual reports for 25 major agencies. For this hearing, GAO was asked to testify both on the annual reports for fiscal year 2005 and on the recently developed improvement plans for these 25 agencies. GAO based its testimony on its ongoing work on these topics. Upon completion of its ongoing review, GAO expects to make recommendations to improve agency implementation of the Executive Order, including efforts to reduce and eliminate backlog.

What GAO Found

According to data reported by agencies in their annual reports, the public continues to request and receive increasing amounts of information from the federal government through FOIA; however, excepting one case--the Social Security Administration (SSA)--the rate of increase has flattened in recent years. (SSA reported an additional 16 million requests in 2005, dwarfing those for all other agencies combined, which together total about 2.6 million; SSA attributed this rise to an improvement in its method of counting requests. However, Justice officials have suggested that SSA consider treating the bulk of these requests as non-FOIA requests and thus not include them in future reports.) When SSA's numbers are excluded, data reported by the other 24 major agencies show that the number of requests received increased by 27 percent from fiscal year 2002 to 2005, but by only about 2.5 percent from fiscal year 2004. As more requests come in, agencies also report that they have been processing more of them--25 percent more from 2002 to 2005 (but only about 2.0 percent more than from 2004). Despite processing more requests, agencies have not kept up with the increase in requests being made: the number of pending requests carried over from year to year has been steadily increasing, rising to about 200,000 in fiscal year 2005--43 percent more than in 2002. The rate of increase in requests pending is also growing: the increase from fiscal year 2004 to 2005 is 24 percent, compared to 11 percent from 2003 to 2004. Most of the agency improvement plans discussed reducing backlog, but not all consistently followed the Executive Order or implementing guidance provided by the Justice Department. Of the 25 agencies, 3 had not posted their plans in time to be included in this testimony, and 1 reported no backlog. Of the remaining 21 agencies, 12 followed the Executive Order's instruction to establish measurable, outcome-oriented objectives for reducing or eliminating their backlogs, as well as timetables with milestones for meeting these objectives. Nine agencies did not do this, although they accounted for a substantial fraction--about 29 percent--of the requests reported to be pending at the end of fiscal year 2005. (Most agencies did provide goals and timetables for other kinds of objectives, however, such as performing staffing analyses and reviewing progress.) In addition, agencies generally did not specify the dates or numbers they were using as the baselines for their existing backlogs, which will be important for measuring improvement. GAO's ongoing work suggests that factors contributing to these deficiencies include difficulties in coordinating responses among components in large, decentralized agencies and limitations in the systems that track FOIA processing. In addition, neither the Executive Order nor Justice guidance established a baseline date for measuring the backlog or directed agencies to establish such a date. Without clearly defined baselines, specific objectives, and timetables for reducing backlog, it could be challenging for agency heads, Justice, and the Congress to gauge progress in improving FOIA processes as intended by the Executive Order.