Problem Statement:
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives the public the right to request access to records from any federal agency. Federal agencies are required to disclose requested information unless the request falls under one of nine exemptions such as national security, personal privacy, or law enforcement. The ongoing pandemic and increased public interest in government transparency are only some of the factors that are making FOIA compliance more critical today.
Federal agencies today are continuing to face several challenges complying to FOIA:
- Agencies were unprepared to process requests remotely when the federal workforce had to switch to teleworking
- Agencies use mix of technical, semi-technical (spreadsheets etc.), and manual solutions for searching, aggregating, reviewing, and responding to FOIA requests resulting in inefficiencies
- Key capabilities such as redacting documents, and creating response letters are still performed manually slowing down FOIA response and causing process compliance issues
Our Solution:
With Scope IT’s FOIA Case Management System (CMS), you get all your agency’s FOIA compliance needs met in one solution. Scope IT’s FOIA CMS allows agency users to track all incoming FOIA requests in one place from intake to response. The solution manages the FOIA request workflow including task assignments and approvals, allows users to redact documents, and provides templates for creating final response.
Features:
- FOIA Request Tracking allows users to search requests using various user filters, save searches, export results to Excel, and understand the status of each request
- Process Workflow is managed from submitter to evaluator to fiscal officer, and finally to processing officer
- Integrated redaction allows users to redact submitted documents in line within the solution
- Reporting includes canned summary, detailed, and exception reporting including reports for “Open Requests”, “Overdue Requests”, “All Users”, and “History Report”
- Separate portals for submitter and staff users allowing them to initiate new action or perform tasks assigned to them
- Admin module for admin users to update several system configurations and settings
- Time tracking module allows users to track the time spent fulfilling FOIA request
