Exhibits for Dr. Bright's May 2020 whistleblower complaint

[cid:image001.png@01D62F89.A23A67D0]U.S. OFFICE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL
1730 M Street, N.W., Suite 218
Washington, DC 20036-4505
(202) 804-7000
May 21, 2020
Mr. Douglas Lucas
Muckrock News
411A Highland Ave.
Somerville, ME 02144-2516
Via : requests@muckrock.com
Re: Freedom of Information Act and/or Privacy Act Request (#FOIA-2020-084)
Dear Mr. Lucas:
This letter acknowledges that the U.S. Office of Special Counsel’s (OSC) Office of the Clerk received your May 20, 2020 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and/or Privacy Act request on May 21, 2020. We understand your request to be "any and all records related to the exhibits, and all the exhibits themselves, Dr. Rick Bright, formerly director of BARDA (the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority), filed in May 2020 to accompany, or as part of, his whistleblower complaint." Your request has been assigned tracking number FOIA-2020-084. Please refer to this tracking number in future communications with OSC regarding this request.
OSC categorizes its FOIA requests in two tracks, “simple” and “complex.” We then generally process the requests in the order in which they were received within each category. After an initial review, we have placed your request in the complex track.
Please note that your FOIA request presents “unusual circumstances” as described in the FOIA because; the responsive records are held at one of our regional offices or at an off-site storage facility and it will take time to receive them or the request will require searching for, collecting, and examining a voluminous amount of material to determine if there are any responsive records and/or to process responsive records; the records you requested require consultation with other components within OSC or with another federal agency and it will take time to consult with them.
Such unusual circumstances allow agencies to extend the time needed to complete the processing of a request beyond 20 working days. You may wish to consider narrowing the scope of your request to limit the number of potentially responsive items or to arrange for an alternative time frame for processing your request.
If you have any questions, would otherwise like to discuss your request, or you require dispute resolution services, please feel free to contact Mahala Dar, OSC’s Chief FOIA Officer and acting FOIA Public Liaison, at mdar@osc.gov or at (202) 804-7000. Please reference the above-noted tracking number if you call or write. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer.
​
​
With kind regards,
​
/s/
​
Chauncey Lawson
FOIA Team
Office of the Clerk

________________________________
You can reach OGIS by mail at Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, Room 2510, College Park, MD, 20740-6001; by email at ogis@nara.gov; by fax at 202-741-5769; or by telephone at 202-741-5770 or toll-free at 1-877-684-6448.

Greetings Mr. Lucas,

First, thank you for your time on the phone this afternoon. I wanted to follow up with you to narrow the scope of your request. Based on our phone conversation, you stated that you are just interested in only the exhibits instead of "any and all records related to the exhibits..." Please confirm this by responding to this email. Your request will be updated with this information and we will continue to process it. If you have further questions, please let us know.

Kindly,
C. Lawson

Good Morning,

I am writing to provide a status update of you pending request with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC). Your request is currently in the search for records stage of processing. OSC generally processed request on a first come first serve basis.

If you have any questions, would otherwise like to discuss your request, or you require dispute resolution services, please feel free to contact Mahala Dar, OSC’s Chief FOIA Officer and acting FOIA Public Liaison, at mdar@osc.gov<mailto:mdar@osc.gov> or a (202)804-7000. Please reference the above-noted tracking number if you call or write. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer.

With kind regards,

Mr. Chauncey Lawson
OSC FOIA Team

Dear Mr. Lucas:

Please be advised that this is a status update on your pending FOIA request with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel (OSC). Generally, OSC processes requests in the order that it is received; however, due to OSC’s FOIA backlog and COVID-19, it may take longer to process your request. Currently, your request is 24 of 49 in our processing queue. We are searching for records and/or reviewing the records for release determination. If you have any questions and/or concerns, please feel free to email foiarequest@osc.gov<mailto:foiarequest@osc.gov>.

With kind regards,
​
/s/
​
Mike Eby
FOIA Team
Office of the Clerk

Michael Eby
FOIA Attorney
U.S. Office of Special Counsel
1730 M Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
meby@osc.gov<mailto:meby@osc.gov>
202-804-7000

Dear Mr. Lucas:

Please see the attached final release letter for FOIA Request FOIA-2020-084.

Feel free to contact me with any questions and/or concerns.

Thank you,
Mahala

-------
Mahala Dar, Esq.
Clerk
Office of the Clerk
U.S. Office of Special Counsel
1730 M Street, N.W., Suite 218
Washington, DC 20036-4505
☎: (202) 804-7000
✉: mdar@osc.gov<mailto:mdar@osc.gov>
[Twitter icon]<https://twitter.com/US_OSC>[cid:image003.png@01D5F07E.303BF940]<https://osc.gov/>

NOTICE: This message and any attachments may contain information that is sensitive, confidential, or legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please immediately notify the sender and delete this email from your system; you should not copy, use, or disclose its contents. Thank you for your cooperation.