Section 1: Steps Taken to Apply the Presumption of Openness

The guiding principle underlying DOJ’s FOIA Guidelines is the presumption of openness.

Please answer the following questions in order to describe the steps your agency has taken to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied to all decisions involving the FOIA. You may also include any additional information that illustrates how your agency is working to apply the presumption of openness.

A. FOIA Training

1. Did your FOIA professionals or the personnel at your agency who have FOIA responsibilities attend any substantive FOIA training or conference during the reporting period such as that provided by the Department of Justice?

Yes.

2. If yes, please provide a brief description of the type of training attended or conducted and the topics covered.

HHS FOIA staff attended FOIA training and seminars provided by the American Society for Access Professionals (ASAP), the Department of Justice (DOJ), National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and others. Some of the HHS OpDivs also provided ongoing in-house training. Examples of the training, educational events and meetings attended are listed below:

External Training

  • American Society of Access Professionals (ASAP) - Job Analysis Task Force – develop and validate FOIA professional practice in order to develop a credentialing program
  • ASAP – 10th National Training Conference, July 2017
  • ASAP – Food for Thought Seminar
  • Department of Commerce – Sunshine Week kick-off meeting
  • Department of Justice (DOJ) – Best Practices Workshop - Collaborating for Results
  • DOJ – Best Practices Workshop - Self-Assessments and Improving FOIA Processes
  • DOJ – FOIA Litigation Seminar
  • DOJ - FOIA for Attorneys and Access Professionals
  • DOJ – Continuing Freedom of Information Act Education
  • DOJ – FOIA Training for Federal Employees (CD)
  • DOJ – Sunshine Week 2017
  • National Archives and Records Administration, Office of Government Information Services (NARA/OGIS) – Sunshine Week 2017
  • Sunshine Week – Meetings, trainings and activities (March 2017)

In-House FOIA Training

  • Office of the Secretary (OS) – The OS FOIA Office provided biweekly FOIA training during New Employee Orientation sessions
  • OS – Provided approximately 8 FOIA refresher courses for staff division FOIA coordinators and staff
  • ACF – ACF staff attended three internal training sessions discussing application of FOIA exemptions to specific types of records
  • CDC – The CDC FOIA Office held an in-house FOIA Forum in Atlanta during March 2017, concentrating on exemption (b)(5) training and education
  • FDA – FDA Division of Freedom of Information provided training to FOIA professionals during 2017, which included the following topics: changes to FDA’s regulations pursuant to the FOIA Improvement Act, FOIA litigation, FOIA appeals, and FOIA exemptions

3. Provide an estimate of the percentage of your FOIA professionals and staff with FOIA responsibilities who attended substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.

Approximately 85-90 % of the Department’s FOIA professionals attended FOIA training during 2017.

4. OIP has directed agencies to “take steps to ensure that all of their FOIA professionals attend substantive FOIA training at least once throughout the year.” If your response to the previous question is that less than 80% of your FOIA professionals attended training, please explain your agency’s plan to ensure that all FOIA professionals receive or attend substantive FOIA training during the next reporting year.

Not applicable; please see our response to Question 3 above.

B. Outreach

5. Did your FOIA professionals engage in any outreach or dialogue with the requester community or open government groups regarding your administration of the FOIA?

Yes. As stated previously, HHS FOIA offices are decentralized. The Department’s OpDivs employed a variety of ways to engage with the requester community, as described below:

  • The OS FOIA Office Director and Deputy Director routinely engaged with requesters, including open government groups, regarding “intelligent case management” and the efficiencies inherent in Departmental management of requests and appeals.
  • The ACF FOIA Office conducted a workshop to grantees and potential FOIA requesters on the FOIA process at ACF in November 2017.
  • The ACL FOIA Office engages with the requestor community and stakeholders ongoing as requested.
  • The CDC FOIA Office actively engaged with requesters, including open government groups, to enhance processing efficiencies and significantly reduce the initial request backlog.
  • The CMS FOIA Office has engaged with requesters to discuss the scope of the request, aggregating requests, fees, and clarifying responses, in an effort to reduce imperfect requests requiring authorizations for Medicare records.
  • The FDA FOIA Office routinely speaks with requesters, including open government groups, regarding their FOIA requests.
  • The IHS FOIA Office reviews all FOIA requests and engages in dialogue with individual requesters.
  • The OIG FOIA Office requests input from frequent requesters on ways to improve the processes and make it easier and faster to process requests.

C. Other Initiatives

6. Describe any efforts your agency has undertaken to inform non-FOIA professionals of their obligations under the FOIA.

HHS continues in its efforts to educate and increase awareness by all agency employees of their responsibilities under the FOIA. OS, ACF and FDA include introductory FOIA training as part of their new employee orientation programs. Some examples of actions taken by the Department’s OpDivs include:

  • ACF held individual trainings for new appointees on FOIA, trained the entire staff of one program office, and held a FOIA training session for grantees and potential requesters.
     
  • The CDC FOIA Officer, at the invitation of the program offices, presented FOIA briefings to program staff, during which the responsibilities and obligations of all staff members to comply with and support FOIA operations was emphasized.
  • CMS FOIA staff conducted a training session in the agency’s Kansas City Regional Office, offering education on FOIA policy, procedures, case management, the FOIA tracking system, and the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016.
  • FDA includes a showing of the DOJ-created FOIA video [1] as part of the two-day orientation program provided to all new employees at the FDA. In addition, several FOIA training opportunities have been provided throughout the year for non-FOIA professionals. These trainings cover the history of the FOIA, the FOIA exemptions, President Obama’s FOIA Memo, Attorney General Holder’s FOIA memo, and the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. FOIA Trainings are recorded and maintained on the OpDiv’s intranet page for future viewing. There is also an overview of FOIA obligations in the mandatory Records Management training.
  • HRSA FOIA staff met with the FOIA liaisons and executive office staff from three of the HRSA bureaus and offices to present a “FOIA 101” training slide show, followed by a discussion period to answer any questions and discuss FOIA implementation generally. HRSA intends to continue with these meetings until all of the 14 HRSA bureaus and offices have been briefed.
  • IHS FOIA staff attended program staff meetings, and provided presentations on the FOIA to Area FOIA Coordinators and other interested agency staff.
  • The SAMHSA FOIA Officer met with SAMHSA personnel to explain the FOIA process and discuss the types of requests their office is likely to receive. During 2018, SAMHSA’s goal is to provide this type of briefing to each of SAMHSA’s eight centers and offices.

7. If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied, please describe them here.

  • HHS OpDivs, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and a number of state and city agencies continue to provide public access to an expanding number of health related data sets at http://www.healthdata.gov .
  • ACF - The HHS searchable online database, Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS), which provides an exhaustive annotated list of HHS grants, continues to be a valuable tool, providing information that fully addresses many requests. ACF posted a YouTube video on its website to help requesters use TAGGS, but recent improvements to the database have made it easy to use without instruction.
  • The CDC has increased the content on it websites and electronic reading room. The CDC has also introduced its public-facing portal, providing a convenient option for requesters to submit FOIA requests to the agency.
  • CMS is proactively publishing data regarding the opioid crisis to alert states and practitioners of trends in prescription use.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL2rsznuH_Y

 

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