Emails about temporary suspension of EPA contract and grant awards

This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov:443/foia/action/public/view/request?objectId=090004d28111e9af)
* Tracking Number: EPA-HQ-2017-003210
* Requester Name: Joshua Eaton
* Date Submitted: 01/25/2017
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: Requesting any all emails — sent between Jan. 20, 2017, and the date your office processes this request, inclusive — notifying employees of a temporary suspension of EPA contract and grant awards.

Good Morning Mr. Eaton,

This email is in response to the communications below that were recently forwarded to me. Without the FOIA Request Tracking Number clearly provided in each of follow-up correspondence, any inquiry regarding an open FOIA that is sent to the National FOIA Office cannot be processed. With the inclusion of the Request Number in your most recent inquiry, the FOIA Office was able to identify my office as the point of contact.

I’ve attached the correspondence our Office of General Counsel sent to your provided email address on February 23, 2017 requesting clarification on your request. Contact information was provided to you at that time, and you were advised to reach out to Becky Dolph, either by phone or by email. We were in the process of closing this request out for failure to respond, but we are responding to other FOIAs requesting “1) Any memo, email or other document issued from 1/1/2017 to the present from any of the temporary employees who joined the Agency as part of what is referred to as the "beachhead team" directing EPA staff to freeze or otherwise suspend all contracts and grants and 2) Any subsequent memo, email or other document issued to staff to effectuate any direction from the beachhead team directing EPA staff to freeze or otherwise suspend all contracts and grants. This portion of the request is limited to the memo, email or other document issued by the most senior career staff member of EPA either in the Office of the Administrator or the Office of Administration and Resources Management; you do not seek memos, emails, or other documents further disseminating this information throughout the Agency.”

We will treat your request as clarified to seek that information if you so choose, otherwise you would need to submit a new request with more specific parameters.

Please let me know if you have any questions, I can be reached at 202-564-7177 or Sandfoss.kristina@epa.gov.

Thank you for your interest in the EPA and have a wonderful day!
Kristina

Good Afternoon Joshua,

There was an issue but hopefully it’s been corrected. The clarification is helpful and we are processing your request. I am confident you will be receiving a response in the next week or two.

Thanks and have a great day!
Kristina

Hi Joshua,

Here is the information that should have been released to you through FOIA OnLine. FOIA OnLine has your information and request associated with tracking # ending in 003210 rather than 003208. Apologies for the miscommunications, I will follow up with our FOIA Office to correct this on our end.

Thank you and have a good day!
Kristina