The National Archives and Records Administration, whose research facilities were crippled by COVID and whose Office of Government Information Services acts as an ombudsman for FOIA requesters and agencies, has released its annual FOIA report for fiscal year 2022. Here are the highlights:
Received 14,975 requests, a 93.8 percent increase from FY 2021, when it received 7,725 requests.
Processed 14,977 requests, a 118 percent increase from FY 2021, when it processed 6,867 requests.
Received 81 appeals, a 50 percent increase from FY 2021, when it received 54 appeals
Processed 22 appeals, a 51 percent decrease from FY 2021, when it processed 45 appeals.
Backlogged requests were 9971 at end of FY 2022, which is significantly higher than the 4,369 backlogged requests that it identified in its FY 2021 report. In its FY 2022 report, NARA has adjusted its FY 2021 request backlog to 9,969 without explanation.
Backlogged appeals were 155 at end of FY 2022, compared to 99 backlogged appeals at the end of FY 2021, a 56.5 percent increase.
For processed perfected requests, the overall department response time was an average of 141 days for “simple” requests and 1048 days for “complex” requests.
Processing costs were $1.5 million and litigation costs were $0, whereas in FY 2021 the agency incurred $1.2 million in processing costs and $0 in litigation costs.
Fees collected for processing requests totalled $0, matching $0 from FY 2021.