GSA Building Contamination Request
| Tracking # |
GSA-2019-001033 |
| Submitted | May 9, 2019 |
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Communications
From: Jonathan Banister
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
A list of all federal government buildings, either owned or leased, that have experienced incidents involving contamination. This can include lead paint contamination, asbestos contamination or any other type of contamination. The list should include the address of each building, the date the incident was reported, and what, if anything, has happened with the building since the initial report.
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 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Banister
From: General Services Administration
This message is to confirm your request submission to the FOIAonline application: View Request. Request information is as follows: (https://www.foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/submissionDetails?trackingNumber=GSA-2019-001033&type=request)
* Tracking Number: GSA-2019-001033
* Requester Name: Jonathan Banister
* Date Submitted: 05/10/2019
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description: To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
A list of all federal government buildings, either owned or leased, that have experienced incidents involving contamination. This can include lead paint contamination, asbestos contamination or any other type of contamination. The list should include the address of each building, the date the incident was reported, and what, if anything, has happened with the building since the initial report.
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 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Banister
Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/
From: General Services Administration
The FOIA request - GSA-2019-001033 description has been modified. Additional details for this item are as follows:
* Tracking Number: GSA-2019-001033
* Requester: Jonathan Banister
* Submitted Date: 05/10/2019
* Description: To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
A list of all federal government buildings, either owned or leased, that have experienced incidents involving contamination. This can include lead paint contamination, asbestos contamination or any other type of contamination. The list should include the address of each building, the date the incident was reported, and what, if anything, has happened with the building since the initial report.
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 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Banister
Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/
From: General Services Administration
Dear Jonathan Banister:
We received your request in the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Office and assigned control GSA-2019-001033. Please refer to this number in all future correspondence concerning this request. Based on this, we anticipate response on or prior to June 10, 2019.
We have twenty (20) workdays in which to respond (excluding weekends and Federal Holidays). However, it may not always be possible to provide the documents within this time period. In some cases, we may take an extension and will advise you. Please be advised that your request may be subject to fees for search, review and reproduction costs. Should this be the case, you will be given an estimate of the costs. All estimates are developed in Good Faith and are based on our reasonable judgment. However, due to the unique nature of each request and complexity of documents involved, actual costs to search and review the material may vary. You will be notified of fees, time frames and any other issues prior to and throughout the process.
Additionally, please be advised that at any time, you can log into the FOIAonline, to access your original request and review the workflow associated with this-tracking number. Should you have any further questions, feel free to contact this office at our Toll Free Number 1-855-675-FOIA or by email at gsa.foia@gsa.gov to inquire about the status of your request. If you have any concerns regarding the FOIA Requester Service Center, please contact Ms. Audrey Corbett Brooks, Public FOIA Liaison Officer at (mailto:gsa.foia@gsa.gov) (202) 501-3094 or by email at audrey.brooks@gsa.gov . (mailto:audrey.brooks@gsa.gov)
Respectfully,
Freedom of Information Act Requester Service Center
U.S General Service Administration
1800 F Street, Northwest, Room 7300
Washington, DC 20405
Toll Free number: (855)-675- FOIA
Fax number: (202) 501-2727
From: General Services Administration
Good Afternoon Mr. Jonathan Banister,
This is in reference to your General Services Administration (GSA) Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) (GSA-2019-001033), in which you requested, the following:
“A list of all federal government buildings, either owned or leased, that have experienced incidents involving contamination. This can include lead paint contamination, asbestos contamination or any other type of contamination. The list should include the address of each building, the date the incident was reported, and what, if anything, has happened with the building since the initial report."
The Freedom of Information Act provides authority to Federal Agencies to release documents that are specifically identified by the requester. It does not require an Agency to do an all-encompassing search of all records in order to respond to requests. As written, we need additional clarification to complete your request.
The Office managing your FOIA needs additional information in order to proceed with your FOIA. Please clarify your request by letting us know the following information:
1. It is asking for a list of ALL federal buildings, both owned and leased, that have experienced incidents involving contamination. This is vague and overly broad. GSA would only know about issues that happened in the locations that GSA has anything to do with. There are Post Offices and military bases and such, all around the world, that are "federal government buildings" that GSA has no involvement with, and we would not have a clue about anything that might have happened at these locations.
2. Please provide a timeframe for this request. Insert specific Date Range (from & to)
3. With the time frame clarified, is the request looking for information for buildings that existed at one time, but are now gone (demolished) or for sites that were federal buildings at the time the incident occurred, but have since been sold and are now in the hands of the private sector, or for just buildings that exist in GSA’s inventory today?
4. The statement "and what, if anything, has happened with the building since the initial report" is vague and overly broad. Please clarify. Literally anything might have "happened". The building could have been sold, been refurbished, had a fire, been involved in a hurricane, anything. Kindly clarify what exactly you are looking for.
Please provide all clarifications by May 27, 2019, otherwise we will interpret this as you no longer being interested in the matter and your FOIA request will be canceled without further notification on our part. This action does not constitute a denial of your request nor does it affect your rights to submit future FOIA requests to this Agency.
Please reference FOIA Request number GSA-2019-001033 when you respond.
Respectfully,
GSA FOIA Requester Service Center
Washington DC Headquarter Office
From: Jonathan Banister
Hello,
Thank you for getting back to me and listing these areas for clarification, I'm my request was not as clear as it could have been. Here are my responses to your questions of the corresponding number:
1. You can limit the search to all federal buildings with GSA involvement in the leasing or ownership and exclude any such as military or Post Office buildings that do not involve the GSA.
2. The time frame can be over the last 10 years, so from May 14, 2009 to May 14, 2019.
3. The request is just looking for information on buildings that exist in GSA's inventory today.
4. You can remove this phrase "what, if anything, has happened since the initial report," from my request. I understand your point that it is overly broad.
Thanks,
Jonathan Banister
From: General Services Administration
The FOIA request - GSA-2019-001033 has been supplemented with additional supporting files. Additional details for this item are as follows:
* Tracking Number: GSA-2019-001033
* Requester: Jonathan Banister
* Submitted Date: 05/10/2019
* Description: To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
A list of all federal government buildings, either owned or leased, that have experienced incidents involving contamination. This can include lead paint contamination, asbestos contamination or any other type of contamination. The list should include the address of each building, the date the incident was reported, and what, if anything, has happened with the building since the initial report.
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 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Banister
Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/
From: General Services Administration
GSA-2019-001033 has been processed with the following final disposition: Records Not Reasonably Described
From: Jonathan Banister
Hello,
This disposition notice says I did not respond with clarification by the May 27 due date, but I actually responded on May 20. Maybe it wasn't seen because I didn't reference the case number, but it is GSA-2019-001033. Below is the clarifications response that I sent previously before the deadline. If you could get back to me and let me know if it is possible to obtain these records, I would appreciate it.
1. You can limit the search to all federal buildings with GSA involvement in the leasing or ownership and exclude any such as military or Post Office buildings that do not involve the GSA.
2. The time frame can be over the last 10 years, so from May 14, 2009 to May 14, 2019.
3. The request is just looking for information on buildings that exist in GSA's inventory today.
4. You can remove this phrase "what, if anything, has happened since the initial report," from my request. I understand your point that it is overly broad.
Thanks,
Jonathan Banister
From: General Services Administration
The FOIA request - GSA-2019-001033 description has been modified. Additional details for this item are as follows:
* Tracking Number: GSA-2019-001033
* Requester: Jonathan Banister
* Submitted Date: 05/10/2019
* Description: CLARIFIED FOIA ON MAY 20, 2019:
"....... Here are my responses to your questions of the corresponding number: 1. You can limit the search to all federal buildings with GSA involvement in the leasing or ownership and exclude any such as military or Post Office buildings that do not involve the GSA.2. The time frame can be over the last 10 years, so from May 14, 2009 to May 14, 2019.3. The request is just looking for information on buildings that exist in GSA's inventory today.4. You can remove this phrase "what, if anything, has happened since the initial report," from my request. I understand your point that it is overly broad.Thanks,Jonathan Banister"
From: Jonathan Banister
Hello,
I received an update on June 6 that acknowledged my responses to the clarification questions. I am following up to see if there is an updated date when you anticipate to have a response to my initial request. You previously said I could expect a response by June 10, but I understand the need for clarification may have delayed it. Let me know when I can now expect a response.
Thanks,
Jon
From: General Services Administration
GSA-2019-001033 has been processed with the following final disposition: Full Grant.
Given the nature of this request, some records are only being released to you as the requester. If you have an account in FOIAonline, you may access those records by . Otherwise, those responsive records will be sent via the method agreed upon with the FOIA processor. logging into FOIAonline (https://www.foiaonline.gov/foiaonline/action/public/home)
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