Freedom of Information Act Annual Report for FY 2007 (Covers October 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007)
During FY2007, the median processing time for all combined initial requests was 146 calendar days. Not all requests took 146 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 or scanned, 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, especially for grant/cooperative agreement proposals and other documents relating to contracts, grants and cooperative agreements. Such requests were often time-consuming and labor-intensive because they involved repeated discussions with the awardees concerning the ramifications of releasing requested info
