research-synthesis-requesters.md

Research Synthesis: Requesters

We are conducting research to write recommendations for the site referenced in last summer’s FOIA Improvement Act that “allows a member of the public to submit a request for records… to any agency from a single website.” At a minimum, our work requires researching how to send requests to agencies in a way that fits into their existing processes and doesn’t add a delay or otherwise burden the process.

We’re especially interested in understanding how this can be done in a way that improves the system as a whole.

This document IS:

• Initial research that is broader than what we plan to work on
• Imperfect and incomplete: please let us know what we’re missing!
• Qualitative: this research is used to find patterns to further examine and test

This document is NOT:

• Finished or complete
• A list of everything we plan to fix or address
• Quantitative, statistically significant, or generalizable

We are sharing our initial research because we know it is imperfect and would greatly appreciate your feedback. Please open an issue in GitHub or email us at National.FOIAPortal@usdoj.gov, and keep our contributing policy in mind.

What we were researching

The goal of our research is to inform hypotheses that address the following:

• How might we create a platform that improves the FOIA requesting experience?
• How might we make it easier for agencies to respond to requests?
• How might various FOIA requesters benefit from a national FOIA platform?
• How might agency processes be improved or enhanced by a national FOIA platform?

Requesters this document covers

• Academia
• Journalism and advocacy
• Open gov advocacy
• Attorneys (advocates for users who need their records)
• Business

Requesters this document doesn’t cover

• Agency stakeholders
• Agency developers and IT staff
• First-time requesters

What we learned

Pain points

Requesters who we spoke with often distrust the FOIA process and struggle with a lack of insight and understanding into what is happening from the time of submission to the receipt of a response from the agency.

Requesters have little trust that their request won’t fall into a “black hole” unless they closely track and nudge it, that it’s being handled as quickly as possible, that searches are conducted exhaustively, and that redactions are made in good faith.

For these requesters, these concerns are significantly greater than the challenges related to submitting requests.

High

• Requesters have little insight into the process after submission.
• The process takes a long time.
• Requesters want access to individuals handling their request so they can check on status of the request or attempt to get their response more quickly.
• Requesters report that time estimates are rarely accurate and requesters don’t place any value or meaning in them.
• Lack of trust in redactions. Perception of incomplete disclosure.

Medium

• Inconsistencies in the submission process between agencies creates distrust. For example:
  • different submission mechanism/format requirements (email vs web form vs fax vs USPS)
  • complicated request requirements above what’s in the statute
• Requesters are rarely familiar with the regulatory process for creating agency request requirements.
• The mechanism/format of request response can be frustrating.
• Many requesters prefer the highest degree of anonymity possible. Some use tools like MuckRock or hire third parties to file requests on their behalf.
• There is a lack of trust for reasons behind friction in the process: requesters are dubious about whether differences in submission and response formats and requirements are due to technical limitations or by design.

Other learnings

• Many requesters expressed a desire to be able to search through more government records, but what is public is often used to hone in searches, not to replace them.
• The requesters we spoke to understand that FOIA offices are under-staffed and/or under-resourced. They often prefer to have a good relationship with FOIA officers as opposed to an antagonistic one. If they have easy access to an attorney, they are inclined to appeal or bring lawsuits when other avenues are exhausted.
• No requesters in the groups we spoke with struggled to discover where to submit requests, but importantly, we have not yet interviewed first-time requesters.
• Requesters often build their own work-around processes like spreadsheets or even apps to track their requests and deadlines so they can follow up with agencies.

Return to the research summary update.