UI Compensation Public Privat Partnership records
| Submitted | Aug. 15, 2023 |
| Est. Completion | July 19, 2021 |
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Communications
From: Todd Feathers
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Ohio Open Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
1) All contracts, statements of work, memorandums of understanding, data sharing agreements, and other agreements entered into by ODJFS and other parties (including the 12 private companies) participating in the Unemployment Insurance Public Private Partnership (https://data.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/data/projects/jfs+fighting+covid+fraud).
2) All periodic status reports (e.g., weekly, monthly, 90-day) and final reports prepared by the UI Public Private Partnership.
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 about the operations of a government agency. 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 of the employee hours required to fulfill the request.
Should you choose to reject this request or redact portions of responsive documents, 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 10 business days.
Sincerely,
Todd Feathers
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Ohio Open Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 15, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Ohio Open Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 15, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
Dear Mr. Feathers, We have reviewed your public records request sent on August 15, 2023, and must deny it. Neither Ohio nor federal law permits the disclosure of the records you seek.
Ohio Revised Code 4141.21 provides that “the information maintained by the director of job and family services or the unemployment compensation review commission or furnished to the director or commission by employers or employees pursuant to this chapter is for the exclusive use and information of the department of job and family services and the commission in the discharge of their duties and shall not be open to the public.” Two exceptions are identified by the statute: RC 4141.162 and 4141.43. R.C. 4141.162 requires the state to create an income and eligibility verification system and share eligibility information with other federal and state programs. R.C. 4141.43 permits ODJFS to share information with other federal and state entities. Since your request meets neither of these exceptions, the records you request cannot be provided.
Federal law is similarly limiting, permitting release of unemployment information only where state law permits, or in certain circumstances. For example, 20 C.F.R. 605.3(h) and 20 C.F.R. 607 (b) permits the state to release unemployment information to a state entity that has subpoena power without a subpoena. The Ohio Auditor is empowered to issue subpoenas under R.C. 117.18, thus ODJFS’ tender of the documents of the documents you have requested, and which were sent to the Ohio Auditor, is in accord with state and federal law. There is not, however, any basis in federal law to provide these records to you.
Regards,
[cid:image001.png@01D9E737.7B569670]
Nicole S. Moss
Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of Legal Services
D: 614.995.0131
She/Her
This e-mail, together with any attachments or files transmitted with it, may contain confidential information belonging to the sender, or constitute non-public information that is not subject to disclosure under O.R.C. Section 149.43, Ohio's Public Records Act. Additionally, if the sender is an employee of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, this e-mail, together with any attachments or files transmitted with it, may contain information that is protected by the attorney-client privilege or other applicable privileges. The information in this e-mail is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you are not the named addressee, you should not disseminate, distribute, or copy this e-mail. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender by e-mail and delete this e-mail from your system. If you are not the intended recipient, do not disclose, copy, distribute, or re-distribute this e-mail or take any action in reliance on the contents of the information contained in this e-mail. Nothing contained in this notice by itself exempts, nor should it be interpreted to by itself exempt, this e-mail from disclosure as a public record upon the proper submission of a request for public records pursuant to O.R.C. Section 149.43, Ohio's Public Records Act.
P Please consider the environment before printing this email.
From: Todd Feathers
Hello Nicole,
I think you may have sent this in response to the wrong public records request (my apologies for submitting multiple requests during the same time period). Was this intended for the request for unemployment claims data?
I don't believe any of the records described in this request—for contracts and status reports related to the public private partnership—contain information maintained by or furnished to the department for the purposes of processing unemployment claims (no more so than the contracts, statements of work, weekly status updates, and other material the department has already provided me in response to a previous request).
Thank you as always for your continued help!
Todd
From: Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
Mr. Feathers, I have provided all of the records to our Communications Office for a final review. I will be unavailable next week, but I expect that someone will be responding to your request below very soon.
[cid:image001.png@01D9F868.60DACEA0]
Nicole S. Moss
Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of Legal Services
D: 614.995.0131
She/hers
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image001
From: Todd Feathers
Thank you very much, Nicole!
Todd
From: Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
Dear Mr. Feathers,
Attached please find records that are responsive to your public records request below. We have taken redactions on Sprint#4_Final, pages 16 & 18, and on P3_Project_Sprint #2, page 31, because the information there is not public record and is protected from dissemination pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 4141.21.
Thank you,
ODJFS, Office of Legal and Acquisition Services
There are too many files to display on this communication. See all files
From: Todd Feathers
Hello,
Thank you again for your help with this request, and my apologies for the belated follow up, but I believe there are a few outstanding documents responsive to this request that I'd like to make sure I receive.
DJFS provided me three numbered presentation's for the public private partnership's project sprints: Sprint 1, Sprint 2, and Sprint 4. The numbers and dates suggest there should be a Sprint 3 presentation that is responsive. Similarly, The presentation for Sprint 4 references an upcoming presentation for Sprint 5.
The contract with Russel Allen Partners also states that the company was responsible for documenting weekly updates and providing those to DJFS throughout the course of the project. DjFS provided only three weekly updates in response to my request, all from March 2021, but the project extended through at least June of 2021.
I'd like to ask that DJFS search again for responsive records, specifically the missing Sprint presentations and weekly updates.
If you could confirm receipt of this email, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thank you,
Todd Feathers
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Ohio Open Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 15, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
Mr. Feathers, Please accept my apologies for the delay and for my inadvertent omission of Sprint#3.
Your original request asked for reports from the Unemployment Insurance Public Private Partnership. It is my understanding, although I am waiting for confirmation, that Sprint#5 was provided by Russell Allen Partners and not the “P3 Project” as noted on the coversheet. However, I am construing your email of November 27, 2023, as a new public records request, and will be providing that document soon.
Similarly, I have construed the following sentence as new request since you did not previously ask for records from Russell Allen Partners: “the contract with Russel Allen Partners also states that the company was responsible for documenting weekly updates and providing those to DJFS throughout the course of the project. DJFS provided only three weekly updates in response to my request, all from March 2021, but the project extended through at least June of 2021.” I have asked if we possess any records that are responsive to this request and have not yet heard back. If there are records, I will let you know how long a review might take.
[cid:image002.png@01DA3426.926030B0]
Nicole S. Moss
Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of Legal Services
D: 614.995.0131
She/Her
This e-mail, together with any attachments or files transmitted with it, may contain confidential information belonging to the sender, or constitute non-public information that is not subject to disclosure under O.R.C. Section 149.43, Ohio's Public Records Act. Additionally, if the sender is an employee of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, this e-mail, together with any attachments or files transmitted with it, may contain information that is protected by the attorney-client privilege or other applicable privileges. The information in this e-mail is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you are not the named addressee, you should not disseminate, distribute, or copy this e-mail. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify the sender by e-mail and delete this e-mail from your system. If you are not the intended recipient, do not disclose, copy, distribute, or re-distribute this e-mail or take any action in reliance on the contents of the information contained in this e-mail. Nothing contained in this notice by itself exempts, nor should it be interpreted to by itself exempt, this e-mail from disclosure as a public record upon the proper submission of a request for public records pursuant to O.R.C. Section 149.43, Ohio's Public Records Act.
P Please consider the environment before printing this email.
From: Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
Mr. Feathers, Please find Sprint #5 attached.
I have received a number of documents that are responsive to your most recent request for weekly updates from Russell Allen Partners. They will need to be reviewed by both ODJFS Office of Legal Services and the Chief of Information Technology and Risk. I estimate that it may take us two weeks to complete those reviews, take redactions as necessary and provide these documents. If that timeline changes, I will let you know.
[cid:image002.png@01DA3E43.4D6E82F0]
Nicole S. Moss
Deputy Chief Counsel, Office of Legal Services
D: 614.995.0131
She/hers
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