NIH Contract w/ Stratton Securities Inc for ORR Support

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

A copy of the contract between NIH and Stratton Securities Inc with the AWARD ID of "75N99019L00008" signed on June 14, 2019.

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,

Russel Neiss

Hi Holly,

Please send along responsive records as they come if that helps to expedite it (particularly since the contract may be easier to find and send than the emails).

I believe Ms. Jones is at the CRC.

Below is the contact information I have located:
NIH Offices of Acquisition
Telephone: (301) 402-1433
Fax: (301) 480-5563
E-mail address: sj11a@nih.gov
Mailing Address: CRC, Room 6-5561, Bethesda, MD 20892

Again, thank you for your time.

Hi,

I believe the history of this request is very straight forward.

I sent two separate FOIA requests to the NIH via fax on 6/24/2019. They were combined into a single request that was given the number 51272.

A copy of your response letter can be found here: https://cdn.muckrock.com/foia_files/2019/06/25/51272_Muckrock.pdf

I have received no further follow up until your email excepting pro-forma letters telling me my request was in the queue.

You can see the full history of correspondence related to this request at the following two urls:
https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/nih-emails-related-to-orr-rental-76036/
https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-states-of-america-10/nih-contract-w-stratton-securities-inc-for-orr-support-76034

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to write back. I believe that these records should be fairly easy to locate however.

Thank you,
Russel Neiss

Thank you -- the "75N99019L00007" is indeed a typo.

The contract and records related to said contract is number 75N99019L00008

It can be seen here in the Federal Procurement Data System:
https://www.fpds.gov/ezsearch/fpdsportal?q=PRINCIPAL_NAICS_CODE%3A%22531110%22+DEPARTMENT_FULL_NAME%3A%22HEALTH+AND+HUMAN+SERVICES%2C+DEPARTMENT+OF%22+PIID%3A%2275N99019L00008%22&templateName=1.5.1&indexName=awardfull

Again thank you so much for your assistance.

This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552 ("FOIA"), concerning the National Institutes of Health ("NIH" or "Agency") refusal to disclose certain documents within its control. The requested documents are a series of emails created or received by two NIH employees, and a contract awarded by the NIH to Stratton Securities Inc (Contract 75N99019L00008). These documents are clearly under NIH jurisdiction and the Agency's refusal to disclose the requested items violates the FOIA.

On June 24, 2019 I filed two separate FOIA requests to the NIH via fax. They were combined into a single request that was given the number 51272 in an acknowledgement letter sent on June 25, 2019.

The request sought:

1. All Emails sent to or from Sydney Jones (sjlla@nih.gov) from May 1, 2019 - June 14, 2019 that contain any of the following keywords: "ORR", "75N99019L00007","UAC", "Unaccompanied Alien Child"

2. All Emails sent to or from Sydney Jones (sjlla@nih.gov) from May 1, 2019 - June 14, 2019 from or to the domain: "acf.hhs.gov"

3. All Emails sent to or from Pat Rice (ricepa@mail.nih.gov) from May 1, 2019 – June 14, 2019, that contain any of the following keywords: "ORR", "75N99019L00007", "UAC", "Unaccompanied Alien Child"

4. All Emails sent to or from Pat Rice (ricepa@mail.nih.gov) from May 1, 2019 – June 14, 2019, from or to the domain "acf.hhs.gov"

5. A copy of Contract 75N99019L00008 that was awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to Stratton securities Inc with the AWARD ID of "75N99019L00008" signed on June 14, 2019.

In an email on January 24, 2020 I confirmed that the award ID of 75N99019L00007 was a typo and that all the records requested were related to contract number 75N99019L00008.

On January 28, 2020 in a "final response" letter, the Agency refused to disclose any of the requested materials. The Agency offered no legal justification for their refusal to disclose these documents, nor did they inform me of my right to appeal this adverse determination.

In denying the release of these records, the Agency strangely suggesting that emails sent or received by NIH officials and a contract signed by the NIH are somehow under the jurisdiction of Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services and not the NIH. It is clear that the NIH failed to conduct an adequate search for responsive records. To achieve FOIA’s core purpose of disclosure, an agency must perform an adequate search for responsive records. [Founding Church of Scientology v. NSA, 610 F.2d 824, 837 (D.C. Cir. 1979)]. An agency “must show that it made a good faith effort to conduct a search for the requested records, using methods which can be reasonably expected to produce the information requested.” [Oglesby v. Dep’t of the Army, 920 F.2d 57, 68 (D.C. Cir.1990)]. A court will apply “a ‘reasonableness’ test” to assess whether an agency’s search for responsive records was adequate. [Campbell v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 164 F.3d 20, 27 (D.C. Cir. 1998)]. This reasonableness test is “consistent with congressional intent tilting the scale in favor of disclosure.” Id.

Here, the evidence suggests that the NIH violated FOIA by failing to conduct an adequate search for responsive records and failing to disclose records that are responsive to the Request. Accordingly, the NIH must produce all of the withheld records immediately. In so doing, the Agency must also provide an estimated date of completion of its release of the records. 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(7)(B).

Thank you for your time and attention, and your commitment to open government.

Best regards,
Russel Neiss