The Office of Information Policy (OIP) has released its summary and assessment of the 2024 Chief FOIA Officer (CFO) Reports from various agencies. The report focuses on improvements in five key areas: FOIA leadership, fair administration, proactive disclosures, technology utilization for efficiency, and removing access barriers.
The OIP's assessment distinguishes between high and medium volume agencies based on the number of requests received, using a five-step scoring system to evaluate success. For 2024, twenty-two milestones were used for high volume agencies and twenty for medium volume ones. The detailed assessment is available as both a spreadsheet and PDF.
Alongside this assessment, OIP has provided guidance aimed at enhancing FOIA administration. This includes recommendations on FOIA training, maintaining up-to-date websites, and processing requests efficiently.
"OIP’s yearly assessment is intended to serve as a vehicle to both recognize agency successes and to identify areas where further improvement can be made," stated the office.
New guidelines have also been issued for the 2025 CFO Reports with continued emphasis on the key areas highlighted in the Attorney General’s 2022 FOIA Guidelines. Agencies are required to submit their reports by specific deadlines based on the number of requests they handle.
Agencies receiving more than 50 requests must submit draft reports by January 13, 2025. Those with fewer requests have until February 7, 2025. Detailed submission processes are included in the guidelines.
OIP will provide refresher training sessions for preparing these reports to ensure compliance with new requirements.