Illinois DES Pondera data and documents

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act., I hereby request the following records:

1) The "Master Design Document" provided to the department by Pondera as part of the attached statement of work (as described on page 5).

2) The "Data Files Specification Document" provided to the department by Pondera as part of the attached statement of work (as described on page 5).

3) The "Preliminary Leads Report" provided to the department by Pondera as part of the attached statement of work (as described on page 5).

4) De-identified FraudCaster scorecard data—from the date the system went live until the present—detailing the following data points for each claimant/case:
- FraudCaster score (from 1-100)
- Age
- zip code
- Race
- Gender
- Case status/closure reason
- Recommended outcome
- Violation/Flag reason

Please note that none of the data fields I have requested contain personally identifiable information or could be used in combination to identify an individual. Illinois DES regularly publishes data about unemployment claimants age, race, gender, and zip code (see: https://ides.illinois.gov/resources/labor-market-information/tracking-differences.html).

The data I have requested is easily exportable from the Pondera system and will require minimal effort produce. The attached "Pondera guide" document describes how this data can be easily extracted from the CaseTracker system as a .csv or .xls file (page 7 of the guide). The guide states:

"Users can easily create reports using a drag-and-drop interface ... The reporting tool is used to aggregate any case data to create customizable reports for external consumption. Reports can automatically be broadcast to PDF, CSV, DOC, XLS, WORD, or HTML."

I ask that all fees be waived as I am a journalist and intend to use the requested records to publish articles in the public interest. In the event you choose to impose fees, I request a detailed breakdown of the fees, including the hourly wage of each employee involved and an explanation justifying the employee hours required to fulfill the request.

Should you choose to reject this request or redact portions of it, I ask that you provide a detailed breakdown of the statutory exemptions and associated case law underlying your decision to withhold each/any portions from public review.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Todd Feathers