Freedom of Information Act Annual Report for FY 2005 (Covers October 1, 2004 through September 30, 2005).
During FY2005, the median processing time for all combined initial requests was 55 calendar days. Not all requests took 55 calendar days to process. Requests for readily available documents that involved little or no review were processed faster. Other requests took longer to process for a variety of reasons. Some requesters asked for a large volume of documents that had to be located, photocopied, and reviewed. USAID is an international organization that has many overseas offices. Delays in our response time occurred when documents had to be transmitted from the overseas offices to Washington. USAID received many requests for procurement-related documentation relating to grants and cooperative agreements, especially for proposals. Such requests were often timeconsuming and labor-intensive because they involved repeated discussions with the grantees concerning the ramifications of releasing requested information that may be confidential commercial or proprietary information.
