FOIA requests are specifically excluded under Section 1085 and the DOD regulations implementing the User Charge Statute. Section 1085 permits each of the four archives to develop its own fee schedule provided that the fees charged do not exceed the costs of providing the information. One of the factors affecting Section 1085 implementation decisions by the four archives is that they were already authorized under both the User Charge Statute and FOIA to charge for information provided to the public. However, neither of these statutes authorizes the military archives to retain fees collected in providing general information to the public to defray costs. Archives’ Fees Not in Accordance With DOD Mandated Fees

All of the four primary archives charge fees for providing historical information to requesters. As with User Charges, DOD fee schedules for charges under FOIA are not current. Conclusions

Because of DOD’s inconsistent use of authority to charge fees and use of outdated fees schedules, the archives and other providers of public information throughout DOD have not collected a million dollars or more annually in user fees and have treated public requesters inconsistently.
What GAO Found

The National Defense Authorization Act for 2001 authorized the military archives to (1) charge fees to persons requesting information and (2) retain collected fees to help defray costs of providing the information. Although none of the archives has yet implemented a fee, one archive plans to do so by October 2001. The Department of Defense's (DOD) archives and other offices are also authorized under both the User Charge Statute and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to charge for information provided to the public. However, neither of these statutes authorizes an agency to retain those fees. The four designated archives are charging fees to public requesters but are not using the fee schedule mandated by the DOD regulation implementing the User Charge Statute. Similarly, DOD's fee schedules for charges under FOIA are outdated. DOD's inconsistent use of the authority to charge fees and the use of outdated DOD fees schedules result in uncollected fees of a million dollars or more annually and inconsistent handling of public requests for historical information.