USAID grants for democracy & governance in Egypt

To Whom It May Concern:

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

The names of organizations and/or individuals awarded grants through USAID's democracy and governance program in Egypt from 2005-2012 and the amounts for each respective grant awarded.

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,
Erin Snider
Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University

Attached is an acknowledgement letter assigning the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) number to your request. You will be notified shortly of the assigned Government Information Specialist that will be processing this FOIA request. If you have questions, please contact us on 202 712-0960 or by e-mail at foia@usaid.gov.

Pamela Smith
USAID
Bureau for Management
Office of Management Services
Information and Records Division
202-712-1106

April 16, 2013
Re: USAID FOIA Request Tracking No. F-00199-13
Dear Ms. Snider:

Thank you for your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated March 25, 2013. You requested -
- Names of organizations and/or individuals awarded grants through USAID
Democracy & Governance Program in Egypt from 2005 through 2012, and the
amounts for each respective grant awarded.
Your request has been assigned tracking number
F-00199-13. Please use this number when corresponding with our office.
You have been placed in the "news media" fee category. As such, you will not be charged for search and review; however, you will be charged for duplication (first 100 pages free and $0.20 per page thereafter).
Your request has been assigned to Ms. Nakia Scott, Government Information Specialist. You may contact Ms. Scott by phone on (202) 712-5572 or by email at
nascott@usaid.gov, and reference F-00199-13 in your correspondence. (mailto:nascott@usaid.gov)
Thank you for your interest in the US Agency for International Development.

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 25, 2013. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. You had assigned it reference number #F-00199-13.

Thank you for your help.

Hello,

There was a considerable amount of confusion because USAID was not responding to the appropriate inbox or MuckRock tracking number for each one of Dr. Snider's requests. Just as USAID has its tracking system, MuckRock has its own -- each request generates a unique alphanumeric email address, each tied to Dr. Snider's account on the MuckRock website. USAID has been responding to one inbox for all of Dr. Snider's requests, which made it impossible for her to respond within the required time for each.

Please respond to this inbox with respect to F-00199-13. Do not hesitate to get in contact with MuckRock, and we look forward to working with USAID's FOIA office in the future.

Thank you,

Shawn Musgrave
MuckRock