ICE National LPR solicitation retraction and review (Department of Homeland Security)

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

-All orders from Secretary Johnson's office to cancel the contract proposal for the National License Plate Recognition (NLPR) database service (HSCECR-14-Q-00006)
-All orders from Secretary Johnson's office to review the above contract proposal.
-All final reports summarizing the results of the above review.

A copy of this solicitation is available here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1019214/dhs-solicitation-of-bids-for-license-plate.pdf

Per the Associated Press, February 19, 2014: "The Homeland Security Department abruptly reversed course Wednesday and dropped plans to ask a private company to give the government access to a nationwide database of license plate tracking information. Secretary Jeh Johnson directed that a contract proposal issued last week be canceled. [....] The department said Johnson has ordered a review of the proposal."

I furthermore request a fee waiver on the basis of my status as a journalist who has covered law enforcement technology, license plate readers and the Department of Homeland Security extensively. Here is a selection of articles I have published in national media outlets:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/04/08/big-brother-better-police-work-new-technology-automatically-runs-license-plates-everyone/1qoAoFfgp31UnXZT2CsFSK/story.html

www.betaboston.com/news/2014/03/05/a-vast-hidden-surveillance-network-runs-across-america-powered-by-the-repo-industry/

https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/05/nypd-social-media-policy-allows-catfishing-with-the-proper-paperwork.html

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2014/12/03/the-pentagon-finally-details-its-weapons-for-cops-giveaway

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/do-the-fbis-drones-invade-your-privacy-sorry-thats-private

https://news.vice.com/article/fbi-agent-who-killed-boston-bombing-suspects-friend-was-twice-accused-of-police-brutality

The present FOIA request concerns a matter of interest to the public, as demonstrated not only by avid readership of my articles and considerable activism around license plate readers, but also by legislative hearings at the local, state and federal levels on the same.

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, 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,

Shawn Musgrave