Section I: FOIA Leadership and Applying the Presumption of Openness
The guiding principle underlying the Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines is the presumption of openness. The Guidelines also highlight the importance of agency leadership in ensuring effective FOIA administration. Please answer the following questions about FOIA leadership at your agency and describe the steps your agency has taken to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied to all decisions involving the FOIA.
The FOIA requires each agency to designate a Chief FOIA Officer who is a senior official at least at the Assistant Secretary or equivalent level. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(j)(1) (2018). Is your agency’s Chief FOIA Officer at or above this level?
Yes. MCC’s Chief FOIA Officer (CFO) is the Assistant General Counsel for Administration in accordance with 5 U.S.C. §552(j)(1).
Please provide the name and title of your agency’s Chief FOIA Officer.
Ms. Susan Gerson is the CFO as the Assistant General Counsel for the Administrative Division, Office of General Counsel.
What steps has your agency taken to incorporate FOIA into its core mission? For example, has your agency incorporated FOIA milestones into its strategic plan?
MCC is coordinating with leadership to coordinate modifications to staff work performance plans to include FOIA responsibilities.
The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines provides that “agencies should confirm in response letters to FOIA requesters that they have considered the foreseeable harm standard when reviewing records and applying FOIA exemptions.” Does your agency provide such confirmation in its response letters?
Yes. In compliance with the Attorney General’s FOIA Guidelines, MCC’s FOIA components confirm they have considered the foreseeable harm standard in their assessments of responsive documents.
In some circumstances, agencies may respond to a requester that it can neither confirm nor deny the existence of requested records if acknowledging the existence of records would harm an interested protected by a FOIA exemption. This is commonly referred to as a Glomar response. If your agency tracks Glomar responses, please provide:
the number of times your agency issued a full or partial Glomar response during Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 (separate full and partial if possible);
the number of times a Glomar response was issued by exemption during FY 2024 (e.g., Exemption 7(C) – 20 times, Exemption 1 – 5 times).
N/A.
Optional -- If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied, please describe them here.
N/A
A. Leadership Support for FOIA
B. Presumption of Openness
Section II: Ensuring Fair and Effective FOIA Administration
- The FOIA directs agency Chief FOIA Officers to ensure that FOIA training is offered to agency personnel. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(j)(2)(F). Please describe the efforts your agency has undertaken to ensure proper FOIA training is made available and used by agency personnel.
MCC will take steps this upcoming fiscal year to regularly require annual FOIA training for all staff.
Did your FOIA professionals or the personnel at your agency who have FOIA responsibilities attend substantive FOIA training during the reporting period such as that provided by the Department of Justice?
Yes.
If yes, please provide a brief description of the type of training attended or conducted and the topics covered.
Advanced FOIA Training
Exemptions 1 and 7 Training
Exemptions 4 and 5 Training
Privacy Considerations Training
Virtual Administrative Appeals, FOIA Compliance, and Customer Service
Virtual Advanced Freedom of Information Act Training
Please provide an estimate of the percentage of your FOIA professionals and staff with FOIA responsibilities who attended substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.
MCC has five employees who assist with the FOIA program. All these professionals are required to take substantive FOIA training during this reporting period. While we have had staffing changes, we believe that all but one completed FOIA training for the reporting period Therefore, 80% of the FOIA professionals attend substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.
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.
N/A
Describe any efforts your agency has undertaken to inform non-FOIA professionals of their obligations under the FOIA. In particular, please describe how often and in what formats your agency provides FOIA training or briefings to non-FOIA staff; and if senior leaders at your agency received a briefing on your agency’s FOIA resources, obligations and expectations during the FOIA process?
For the applicable reporting period, FOIA professionals often reviewed with our searching partners our obligations to perform adequate and complete searches following the parameters of the FOIA requests submitted.
As part of the standard request process, do your FOIA professionals proactively contact requesters concerning complex or voluminous requests in an effort to clarify or narrow the scope of the request so requesters can receive responses more quickly? Please describe any such outreach or dialogue and, if applicable, any specific examples.
The MCC FOIA professionals routinely engage with requesters to clarify, narrow, or otherwise streamline the scope of incoming FOIA requests and ensure requesters receive the records sought. FOIA professionals typically consult with program subject matter experts to understand the likely scope of the requests and then meet with requesters to seek clarification when needed, target requests whenever possible, set realistic expectations and establish interim release schedules.
Outside of the standard request process or routine FOIA Liaison or FOIA Requester Service Center interactions, did your FOIA professionals engage in any outreach or dialogue, with the requester community or open government groups regarding your administration of the FOIA? For example, did you proactively contact frequent requesters, host FOIA-related conference calls with open government groups, or provide FOIA training to members of the public? Please describe any such outreach or dialogue and, if applicable, any specific examples of how this dialogue has led to improvements in your agency’s FOIA administration.
The FOIA Office did outreach to frequent requesters whose requests were extraordinarily broad to request narrowing or rolling interim responses.
The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires additional notification to requesters about the services provided by the agency’s FOIA Public Liaison. Please provide an estimate of the number of times requesters sought assistance from your agency’s FOIA Public Liaison during Fiscal Year 2024 (please provide a total number or an estimate of the number for the agency overall).
Has your agency evaluated the allocation of agency personnel resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands? If so, please describe what changes your agency has or will implement.
In addition to the Program Officer, MCC’s Office of General Counsel triages vis-a-vis three Administrative attorneys to work on FOIA requests in response to the rising number of requests and FOIA appeals.How does your agency use data or processing metrics to ensure efficient management of your FOIA workload? For example, case management reports, staff processing statistics, etc. In addition, please specifically highlight any data analysis methods or technologies used.
In light of MCC’s status as a microagency and the volume of FOIA requests, MCC does not assess metrics in the manner described.
The federal FOIA Advisory Committee, comprised of agency representatives and members of the public, was created to foster dialogue between agencies and the requester community, solicit public comments, and develop recommendations for improving FOIA administration. Since 2020, the FOIA Advisory Committee has issued a number of recommendations. Please answer the below questions:
Is your agency familiar with the FOIA Advisory Committee and its recommendations?
Yes
Has your agency implemented any of its recommendations or found them to be helpful? If so, which ones?
- Yes, we adopted recommended protocols to lock and secure pdfs and Excel spreadsheets produced in response to FOIA requests.
Optional -- If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure fair and effective FOIA administration, please describe them here.
None for this reporting period.
The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines provide that “[e]nsuring fair and effective FOIA administration requires . . . proper training, and a full understanding of FOIA obligations by the entire agency workforce.” The Guidelines reinforce longstanding guidance to “work with FOIA requesters in a spirit of cooperation.” The Attorney General also “urge[s] agency Chief FOIA Officers to undertake comprehensive review of all aspects of their agency’s FOIA administration” as part of ensuring fair and effective FOIA administration.
A. FOIA Training
B. Outreach
C. Other Initiatives
Section III: Proactive Disclosures
The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines emphasize that “proactive disclosure of information is . . . fundamental to the faithful application of the FOIA.” The Guidelines direct agencies to post “records online quickly and systematically in advance of any public request” and reiterate that agencies should post records “in the most useful, searchable, and open formats possible.”
Please describe what steps your agency takes to identify, track, and post (a)(2) proactive disclosures.
MCC pursues a policy of proactive disclosure to ensure information is generally accessible to the public without the need to submit a FOIA request. Not only are MCC’s compacts, and threshold program agreements published in full on its public website, MCC also includes for public disclosure the core program documentation and the results of those programs as they progress.
Does your agency post logs of its FOIA requests?
If so, what information is contained in the logs?
Are they posted in CSV format? If not, what format are they posted in?
Please provide a link to the page where any FOIA logs are posted. If applicable, please provide component links.
Provide examples of any material (with links) that your agency has proactively disclosed during the past reporting year, including records that have been requested and released three or more times in accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2)(D).
Millennium Challenge Corporation Candidate Country Report for Fiscal Year 2025
Report on the Selection of Eligible Countries for Fiscal Year 2025
Millennium Challenge Corporation Candidate Country Report for Fiscal Year 2024
Selection Criteria and Methodology Report for Fiscal Year 2024
Report on the Selection of Eligible Countries for Fiscal Year 2024
Please provide a link (or component links, if applicable) where your agency routinely posts its frequently requested records.
Please see above.
Beyond posting new material, is your agency taking steps to make the posted information more useful to the public, especially to the community of individuals who regularly access your agency’s website? If yes, please provide examples of such improvements, such as steps taken to post information in open and machine-readable formats. If not taking steps to make posted information more useful, please explain why.
Please see above.
Does your proactive disclosure process or system involve any collaboration with agency staff outside the FOIA office, such as IT or data personnel? If so, describe this interaction.
Yes. Proactive disclosures involve coordination with all MCC departments outside the FOIA office, including programmatic offices and IT personnel.
Optional -- Please describe the best practices used to improve proactive disclosures and any challenges your agency faces in this area.
N/A
The agency does not post logs of its FOIA requests. MCC maintains its FOIA logs and spreadsheets on its internal Sharepoint. These FOIA logs and spreadsheets contain the request tracking number, requester’s name, organization, received date, request description, exemption cited, and final disposition for requests closed during the reporting period.
Section IV: Steps Take to Greater Utilize Technology
A key component of FOIA administration is using technology to make information available to the public and to gain efficiency in FOIA processing. The Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines emphasize the importance of making FOIA websites easily navigable and complying with the FOIA.gov interoperability requirements. Please answer the following questions to describe how your agency is using technology to improve its FOIA administration and the public's access to information.
Has your agency reviewed its FOIA-related technological capabilities to identify resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands?
Yes. The FOIA and IT professionals continually review technological capabilities and needs.
Please briefly describe any new types of technology your agency uses to support your FOIA program.
The agency does not have any new technology for its FOIA program. The FOIA professionals, in collaboration with the IT department use Microsoft ediscovery and Discovery Attender.
Does your agency currently use any technology to automate record processing? For example, does your agency use machine learning, predictive coding, technology assisted review or similar tools to conduct searches or make redactions? If so, please describe and, if possible, estimate how much time and financial resources are saved since implementing the technology.
Not at this time.
OIP issued guidance in 2017 encouraging agencies to regularly review their FOIA websites to ensure that they contain essential resources and are informative and user-friendly. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA website(s) during the reporting period to ensure it addresses the elements noted in the guidance?
Yes, MCC routinely reviews its FOIA website.
Did all four of your agency's quarterly reports for Fiscal Year 2024 appear on FOIA.gov?
Yes, all FOIA reports for Fiscal Year 2024 appear on FOIA.gov.
If your agency did not successfully post all quarterly reports on FOIA.gov, please explain why and provide your agency’s plan for ensuring that such reporting is successful in Fiscal Year 2025.
MCC successfully posted all quarterly reports on FOIA.gov.
The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires all agencies to post the raw statistical data used to compile their Annual FOIA Reports. Please provide the link to this posting for your agency’s Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report and, if available, for your agency’s Fiscal Year 2024 Annual FOIA Report.
Here is the link for the Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report
Here is the link for the Here is the link for the Fiscal Year 2024 Annual FOIA Report
In February 2019, DOJ and OMB issued joint Guidance establishing interoperability standards to receive requests from the National FOIA Portal on FOIA.gov. Are all components of your agency in compliance with the guidance?
Yes. While MCC is too small to have components, MCC is in compliance with the established interoperability standards.
Optional -- Please describe the best practices used in greater utilizing technology and any challenges your agency faces in this area.
N/A
Section V: Steps Taken to Remove Barriers to Access, Improve Timeliness in Responding to Requests, and Reduce Backlogs
Has your agency established alternative means of access to first-party requested records, outside of the typical FOIA or Privacy Act process?
N/A
If yes, please provide examples. If no, please indicate why not. Please also indicate if you do not know.
N/A
Please describe any other steps your agency has taken to remove barriers to accessing government information.
N/A
For Fiscal Year 2024, what was the average number of days your agency reported for adjudicating requests for expedited processing? Please see Section VIII.A. of your agency's Fiscal Year 2024 Annual FOIA Report.
MCC did not receive any requests for expedited processing.
If your agency's average number of days to adjudicate requests for expedited processing was above ten calendar days, according to Section VIII.A. of your agency's Fiscal Year 2024 Annual FOIA Report, please describe the steps your agency will take to ensure that requests for expedited processing are adjudicated within ten calendar days or less.
N/A.
Does your agency utilize a separate track for simple requests?
No.If your agency uses a separate track for simple requests, according to Annual FOIA Report section VII.A, was the agency overall average number of days to process simple requests twenty working days or fewer in Fiscal Year 2024?
N/A.
If not, did the simple track average processing time decrease compared to the previous Fiscal Year?
N/A.
Please provide the percentage of requests processed by your agency in Fiscal Year 2024 that were placed in your simple track. Please use the following calculation based on the data from your Annual FOIA Report: (processed simple requests from Section VII.C.1) divided by (requests processed from Section V.A.) x 100.
N/A.
If your agency does not track simple requests separately, was the average number of days to process all non-expedited requests twenty working days or fewer?
No. The average number of days to fully respond was 52.39 days in Fiscal Year 2024.
If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2024, according to Annual FOIA Report Section XII.D.2, did that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2023?
Yes. In FY 2023, the backlog of requests was 8. In FY 2024, the backlog of requests was 1.
If not, according to Annual FOIA Report Section XII.D.1, did your agency process more requests during Fiscal Year 2024 than it did during Fiscal Year 2023? N/A.
If your agency’s request backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2024, please explain why and describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able to reduce its backlog. When doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:
An increase in the number of incoming requests
A loss of staff
An increase in the complexity of the requests received (if possible, please provide examples or briefly describe the types of complex requests contributing to your backlog increase)
Litigation
Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples when possible
N/A
If you had a request backlog, please report the percentage of requests that make up the backlog out of the total number of requests received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2024. Please use the following calculation based on data from your Annual FOIA Report: (backlogged requests from Section XII.A) divided by (requests received from Section V.A) x 100. This number can be greater than 100%. If your agency has no request backlog, please answer with “N/A.”
We had 1 backlogged request which equates to 1.23%.
If your agency had a backlog of appeals at the close of Fiscal Year 2024, according to Section XII.E.2 of the Annual FOIA Report, did that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2023?
The agency had no backlog of appeals.
-
If not, according to section XII.E.1 of the Annual FOIA Report, did your agency process more appeals during Fiscal Year 2024 than it did during Fiscal Year 2023?
N/A.
If your agency’s appeal backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2024, please explain why and describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able to reduce its backlog. When doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:
An increase in the number of incoming requests
A loss of staff
An increase in the complexity of the requests received (if possible, please provide examples or briefly describe the types of complex requests contributing to your backlog increase)
Litigation
Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples when possible
N/A
If you had an appeal backlog please report the percentage of appeals that make up the backlog out of the total number of appeals received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2024. Please use the following calculation based on data from your Annual FOIA Report: (backlogged appeals from Section XII.A) divided by (appeals received from Section VI.A) x 100. This number can be greater than 100%. If your agency did not receive any appeals in Fiscal Year 2024 and/or has no appeal backlog, please answer with "N/A."
N/A
In the 2024 guidelines for Chief FOIA Officer Reports, any agency with a backlog of over 1000 requests in Fiscal Year 2023 was asked to provide a plan for achieving backlog reduction in the year ahead. Did your agency implement a backlog reduction plan last year? If so, describe your agency’s efforts in implementing this plan and note if your agency was able to achieve backlog reduction in Fiscal Year 2024?
If your agency had a backlog of more than 1,000 requests in Fiscal Year 2024, please explain your agency’s plan to reduce this backlog during Fiscal Year 2025.
No, the agency did not have a backlog of more than 1,000 requests in Fiscal Year 2024.
In Fiscal Year 2024, did your agency close the ten oldest pending perfected requests that were reported in Section VII.E. of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report?
Yes.
If no, please provide the number of these requests your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.E of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest requests to close, please indicate that.
The agency was able to close 9 out of 9 requests.
Beyond work on the ten oldest requests, please describe any steps your agency took to reduce the overall age of your pending requests.
N/A
In Fiscal Year 2024, did your agency close the ten oldest appeals that were reported pending in Section VI.C.5 of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report?
The agency had no appeals in FY 2023 that needed to be closed in FY 2024.
If no, please provide the number of these appeals your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.C.(5) of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest appeals to close, please indicate that.
N/A
Beyond work on the ten oldest appeals, please describe any steps your agency took to reduce the overall age of your pending appeals.
N/A
In Fiscal Year 2024, did your agency close the ten oldest consultations that were reported pending in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report?
There were no ten oldest consultations pending in FY 2023.
If no, please provide the number of these consultations your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2023 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest consultations to close, please indicate that.
N/A
If your agency did not close its ten oldest pending requests, appeals, or consultations, please explain why and provide a plan describing how your agency intends to close those “ten oldest” requests, appeals, and consultations during Fiscal Year 2025.
N/A
Were any requests at your agency the subject of FOIA litigation during the reporting period? If so, please describe the impact on your agency’s overall FOIA request processing and backlog. If possible, please indicate:
The number and nature of requests subject to litigation
Common causes leading to litigation
Any other information to illustrate the impact of litigation on your overall FOIA administration
N/A
A. Remove Barriers to Access
B. Timeliness
C. Backlogs
Backlogged Requests
Backlogged Appeals
D. Backlog Reduction Plans
N/A