GSA presidential transition processing notes and FOIA records
| Tracking # |
GSA-2021-000266 GSA-2021-000266 |
| Submitted | Nov. 18, 2020 |
| Est. Completion | Feb. 4, 2022 |
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Communications
From: Kevin Li
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
(PART A)
For FOIA requests GSA-2021-000185, GSA-2021-000186, GSA-2021-000188, GSA-2021-000191, GSA-2021-000192, GSA-2021-000194, GSA-2021-000199, as well as every FOIA request submitted between November 3, 2020, and the present, relating to ascertainment of the president-elect by the Administrator of General Services: (I) a complete copy of all correspondence relating to the request between the requester and GSA; (II) processing notes for the request; (III) any other records relating to the request.
(PART B)
Records created since November 1, 2020, relating to the slow rate of processing requests for expedited processing on GSA FOIA requests (considering that in previous years the median time to adjudicate requests for expedited processing was one day and now GSA has violated statutory deadlines).
(PART C)
Records created since November 1, 2020, relating to any directives, communications, or meetings between senior GSA employees who are not primarily engaged in FOIA work (such as any employee who reports directly to the Administrator or Deputy Administrator, and any person communicating at the direction of such an employee) and GSA employees who are primarily engaged in FOIA work.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
I request categorization as an “educational institution” for fee purposes in accordance with 41 CFR § 105-60.801(d). As a student of public policy at Stanford University, I have an interest in obtaining the requested records in potential furtherance of scholarly purposes, including for possible publication or to support an academic thesis. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has held that students filing FOIA requests should be classified as “educational institutions”. See Sack v. US Dept. of Defense, 823 F. 3d 687 (D.C. Cir. 2016) (“The statutory text and context lead us to this simple conclusion: If teachers can qualify for reduced fees, so can students.”).
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,
Kevin Li
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-2021-000266&type=request)
* Tracking Number: GSA-2021-000266
* Requester Name: Kevin Li
* Date Submitted: 11/18/2020
* Request Status: Submitted
* Description:
Please See attachment for description.
From: General Services Administration
Your request for Fee Waiver for the FOIA request GSA-2021-000266 has been
denied.
* Fee Waiver Original Justification:
I request categorization as an “educational institution” for fee purposes in accordance with 41 CFR § 105-60.801(d). As a student of public policy at Stanford University, I have an interest in obtaining the requested records in potential furtherance of scholarly purposes, including for possible publication or to support an academic thesis. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has held that students filing FOIA requests should be classified as “educational institutions”. See Sack v. US Dept. of Defense, 823 F. 3d 687 (D.C. Cir. 2016) (“The statutory text and context lead us to this simple conclusion: If teachers can qualify for reduced fees, so can students.”).
* Fee Waiver Disposition Reason:
This fee waiver request is being denied, as this request does not meet the policy requirements to officially constitute a fee waiver.
From: General Services Administration
Dear Kevin Li:
We received your request in the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Office and assigned control GSA-2021-000266. Please refer to this number in all future correspondence concerning this request. Based on this, we anticipate response on or prior to December 28, 2020.
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 Mr. Duane Smith, GSA’s FOIA Public Liaison at (202) 694-2934 or by email at (mailto:gsa.foia@gsa.gov) duane.smith@gsa.gov. (mailto:duane.smith@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
-
U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Acknowledgement Notice Letter
From: General Services Administration
Dear Kevin Li:
The attached Continued Interest Letter is in response to your U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request number GSA-2021-000266.
Please notify our office by responding to this correspondence whether you are still interested in receiving these records by 2/4/2022, otherwise we will interpret this as you are no longer 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. You can forward your response by email at gsa.foia@gsa.gov. For additional concerns, please contact the GSA FOIA Public Liaison, Seth Greenfeld at (202) 501-4560 or by email at seth.greenfeld@gsa.gov. (mailto:gsa.foia@gsa.gov)
We apologize for this inconvenience and look forward to hearing your response.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Travis Lewis
FOIA Program Manager
Office of General Counsel
General Services Administration
From: Kevin Li
Dear Ms. Lewis:
I respectfully ask that the requests continue to be processed.
Sincerely,
Kevin Li
From: General Services Administration
Dear Kevin Li <requests@muckrock.com>,
Your password has been updated per your request. You can change your password in the future from your
profile page.
If you believe you received this email in error or need additional assistance, please contact the FOIAonline Help Desk. (mailto:foia.help@epa.gov)
Thank you!
FOIAonline Team (mailto:foia.help@epa.gov)
From: General Services Administration
GSA-2021-000266 has been processed with the following final disposition: Request Withdrawn.
From: Kevin Li
Dear GSA:
On January 12, 2022, I submitted a reply indicating my wish that the FOIA request continue to be processed. I assume there was a mistake in the closure of this request. Please restore the request to active status and write to confirm this status change.
Sincerely,
Kevin Li
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following Freedom of Information Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Nov. 18, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Feb. 4, 2022. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date. You had assigned it reference number #GSA-2021-000266.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: General Services Administration
Good morning - GSA released our final response package to you on 9/14/2022.
Due to the size of the response package, we UPS'd it to the following
address (UPS Tracking #: 1Z Y49 E29 NT 1930 0560):
MuckRock News DEPT MR 105041
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144
Respectfully,
U.S. General Services Administration
*Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requester Service Center (LG)*
*Office of the General Counsel *
*1800 F Street, Northwest Washington, DC 20405 Toll Free number:(855)
675-FOIA (3642)*
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