CaseLogistix for Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
The Challenge: Mandate to Make Information Available
Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), federal agencies are required to disclose records requested in writing by any person. FOIA also covers executive branch agencies, unless those records fall within one of nine categories of exempt information that agencies are permitted (but generally not required) to withhold. If an agency refuses to disclose all or part of the information, or does not respond within 20 working days to a written FOIA request, the requester may appeal to the agency's FOIA appeals officer.
On President Barack Obama's first full day in office, January 21, 2009, he issued two memos addressing government transparency and FOIA. His directives are proactive, ordering agencies to take affirmative steps to make information public. They should not wait for specific requests from the public. All agencies should use modern technology to inform citizens about what is known and done by their Government.
Availing documents under FOIA presents many challenges, including:
- Timeliness: The greatest obstacle in compliance to FOIA is delays in processing requests. Although the statute has always required agencies to respond to FOIA requests by granting or denying them (not just acknowledging them) within a short time frame, most agencies have faced many obstacles adhering to the time limits. With the paper-based system, each request takes much longer to review, redact and annotate, and transport and provide to the requestors. Documents are difficult to search and retrieve, especially with documents involving multiple agencies or an agency in multiple locations. As such, there are a growing number of FOIA request backlogs.
- Accuracy: Another major issue in releasing documentation is the need to black out or redact certain passages deemed applicable to the exemption rules. Major litigation cases to FOIA relate to requests that are, according to claims, overly redacted as to make the document meaningless. With paper-based processing, making corrections to redactions and annotations can be cumbersome and costly. In addition, poor image quality further lessens the integrity of the data. This often creates the controversies as to whether the requesters have been provided a complete record in response to their request.
The FOIA Solution: CaseLogistix
CaseLogistix enables federal agencies to quickly collect, organize, process, review, redact, annotate and produce FOIA requests. The solution facilitates timely and accurate FOIA requests through
- Ease of use: Quickly, easily locate relevant documents, redact, annotate and produce the requested information via a single intuitive application. Users can drag-and-drop electronic files, including emails and Microsoft Office files, directly into CaseLogistix, eliminating the need to print electronic documents for review and redaction, to then be converted back into an electronic form again.
- Global document review: Fully Unicode compliant, CaseLogistix supports foreign language document searching and review with a side-by-side display of original and translated documents, eliminating the time and additional expense required to translate documents.
- Multiple-level reviews: The CaseLogistix workflow can be easily configured to enable multiple levels of review before the final annotation and redaction is burned onto the public document.
- Export directly for online retrieval: CaseLogistix can be configured to directly export to an online reading room or as a file to be sent to the requester. The automatic export minimizes errors associated with the paper-based transportation and tracking of documents.
- Document imaging services: With over 40 years of handling critical information for a range of federal agencies, Anacomp provides efficient handling of scanning and data capture with advanced image cleanup and data extraction. Image and data integrity further enhances accuracy.
