§5.24. How does HHS process my FOIA request? — Inbound Citations

(2) [Reserved]

Frequently requested records means records, regardless of form or format, that have been released to any person under the FOIA and that have been requested 3 or more times or because of the nature of their subject matter, the agency determines have become or are likely to become the subject of subsequent requests for substantially the same records.

Immediate Office of the Secretary (IOS) means offices within the Office of the Secretary, responsible for operations and work of the Secretary. It includes the Office of the Deputy Secretary, Office of the Chief of Staff, the Secretary's Counselors, the Executive Secretariat, the Office of Health Reform, and the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs.

Non-commercial scientific institution means an institution that is not operated to further a commercial, trade, or profit interest and that is operated solely for the purpose of conducting scientific research the results of which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry. A requester in this category must show that the request is authorized by and is made under the auspices of a qualifying institution and that the records are sought to further scientific research and are not for a commercial use.

Office of the Inspector General (OIG) means the Staff Division within the Office of the Secretary (OS), which is responsible for protecting the integrity of HHS programs and the health and welfare of the beneficiaries of those programs. OIG is responsible for processing FOIA requests for the records it maintains.

Office of the Secretary (OS) means the HHS's chief policy officer and general manager, who administers and oversees the organization, its programs and activities. The Deputy Secretary and a number of Assistant Secretaries and Staff Divisions support OS. The HHS FOIA Office within ASPA processes FOIA requests for records maintained by OS Staff Divisions other than the OIG. In certain circumstances and at the HHS FOIA Office's discretion, the HHS FOIA office may also process FOIA requests involving other HHS OpDivs, as further described in § 5.28(a).

Operating Division (OpDiv) means any of the following divisions within HHS which are subject to this regulation:

Operating Division and Staff Division Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officers means the officials who are responsible for overseeing the daily operations of their FOIA programs in their respective Operating Divisions or Staff Divisions, with the full authority as described in the definition of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Officer. These individuals serve as the principal resource and authority for FOIA operations and implementation within their respective Operating Divisions or Staff Divisions.

Other requester means any individual or organization whose request does not qualify as a commercial-use request, representative of the news media request (including a request made by a freelance journalist), or an educational or non-commercial scientific institution request.

Record means any information that would be an agency record when maintained by an agency in any format, including an electronic format; and any information that is maintained for an agency by an entity under Government contract, for the purposes of records management.

Redact means delete or mark over.

Representative of the news media means any person or entity that actively gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. The term “news” means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news media entities include television or radio stations that broadcast news to the public at large and publishers of periodicals, including print and online publications that disseminate news and make their products available through a variety of means to the general public. We do not consider requests for records that support the news-dissemination function of the requester to be a commercial use. We consider “freelance” journalists who demonstrate a solid basis for expecting publication through a news media entity as working for that entity. A publishing contract provides the clearest evidence that a journalist expects publication; however, we also consider a requester's past publication record.

Review means examining records responsive to a request to determine whether any portions are exempt from disclosure. Review time includes processing a record for disclosure (i.e., doing all that is necessary to prepare the record for disclosure), including redacting the record and marking the appropriate FOIA exemptions.

Search means the process of identifying, locating, and retrieving records to find records responsive to a request, whether in hard copy or in electronic form or format.

Staff Division (StaffDiv) means an organization component that provides leadership, direction, and policy and management guidance to the Office of the Secretary and the Department. The following StaffDivs are subject to the regulations in this part:

Submitter means any person or entity, including a corporation, State, or foreign government, but not including another Federal Government entity, that provides commercial or financial information, either directly or indirectly to the Federal Government.

Tolling means temporarily stopping the running of a time limit. We may toll a request to seek clarification or to address fee issues, as further described in § 5.24.

(a) When we provide an estimated completion date, in accordance with § 5.24(f) and upon request, for the processing of records that do not require consultation with another agency, we estimate the completion date on the basis of our reasonable judgment as to how long it will take to complete the request. Given the uncertainty inherent in establishing any estimate, the estimated completion date is subject to change at any time.