Fees and Fee Waivers
For FOIA Processing Services
Fees
The FOIA allows agencies to charge requesters for FOIA
search, review, copying, and other special services such as
courier deliveries. USAID's fees practices are governed by the
FOIA and by the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) Uniform
Freedom of Information Act Fee Schedule and Guidelines.
There are four government-wide requester categories:
Commercial Use Requesters; Educational and Non-Commercial
Scientific Institution Requesters; Representatives of the News
Media; and All Other Requesters.
If the potential costs of processing a request is of great
concern to you, you may ask for a cost estimate. USAID's FOIA
staff will attempt to let you know roughly what your fees will be
before they process your request. However, it is often difficult
to estimate the costs until a search for the requested documents
is actually accomplished.
USAID's Service Fees are as follows:
(1) Commercial Use:
Search: $26.83 per hour
Search costs will be assessed even though no records
may be found or even if, after review, there is no
disclosure or records.
Review: $46.27 per hour
Duplication: 20¢ per page
(2) Educational & Non-Commercial Scientific Institutions
Search: No fee
Review: No fee
Duplication: 20¢ per page after the first 100 pages
(3) Representatives of the News Media
Search: No fee
Review: No fee
Duplication: 20¢ per page after the first 100 pages
(4) All Others
Search: Same as "Commercial Users" except the first
two hours shall be furnished without charge.
Review: No fee
Duplication: 20¢ per page after the first 100 pages
USAID does not charge a processing fee if the total processing
cost of a request is $14.99 or less.
Applicable Definitions
"SEARCH" includes all time spent looking for material that is
responsive to a request, including page-by-page or line-by-line
identification of material within documents. Line-by-line
search will not be done when duplicating an entire document would
prove the less expensive and quicker method of complying with a
request.
"REVIEW" is the process of examining documents located in
response to a commercial use request to determine whether any
portion of any document located is permitted to be withheld. It
also includes processing documents for disclosure, e.g., doing
all that is necessary to redact those documents of exempt
material and otherwise preparing them for release. Review fees
do not include time spent resolving general legal or policy
issues regarding the application of exemptions.
"DUPLICATION" is the process of making a copy of a document
available to the FOIA requester. Copies can take the form of
paper copy, microfilm or audiovisual materials (among others) and
will be in a form that is reasonably usable by requesters.
"COMMERCIAL USE REQUEST" refers to a request from or on behalf
of one who seeks information for a use or purpose that is related
to commerce, trade, or the profit interest of the requester or of
the person on whose behalf the request is made. In determining
whether a request properly belongs in this category, the Agency
will determine the use to which a requester will put the
documents requested. Where the Agency has reasonable cause to
doubt the use to which a requester will put the records sought,
or where that use is not clear from the request itself, the
Agency may seek additional clarification before assigning the
request to a specific category.
"EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION" refers to a preschool, a
public or private elementary or secondary school, an institution of
undergraduate or graduate higher education, an institution of
professional education, or an institution of vocational
education which operates a program or programs of scholarly research. A
student who makes a request in furtherance of the completion of
a course of instruction in carrying out an individual research
goal does not qualify as an EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION requester.*
"NON-COMMERCIAL SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION" refers to an
institution that is not operated on a "commercial"
basis as that term is referenced in the above definition
for COMMERCIAL USE REQUEST above and which is operated solely for
the purpose of conducting scientific research, the results
of which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry.*
* To be eligible for inclusion, requesters must show that the
request is being made as authorized by and under the auspices of
a qualifying institution and that the records are not sought for
a commercial use, but are sought in furtherance of
scholarly (if the request is from an educational institution) or
scientific (if the requests is from a non-commercial scientific
institution) research.
"REPRESENTATIVE OF THE NEWS MEDIA" refers to a person
actively gathering news for an entity that is organized and operated to
publish or broadcast news to the public. The term "news" means
information that is about current events or that would be of
current interest to the public. Examples of news media entities
include television or radio stations broadcasting to the public
at large, and publishers of periodicals (but only in those
instances when they can qualify as disseminators of "news"
who make their products available for purchase or subscription by
the general public). These examples are not intended to be
all-inclusive. Moreover, as traditional methods of news delivery
evolve (e.g. electronic dissemination of newspapers through
telecommunication services), such alternative media would be
included in this category. In the case of "freelance"
journalists, they may be regarded as working for a news
organization if they can demonstrate a sound basis for expecting
publication through such an organization, even though not
actually employed by it. A publication contract would be the
clearest evidence, but the Agency may also look to the past
publication record of the requester in making this
determination.
"ALL OTHERS" refers to requesters that do not fit into
any of the other requester categories.
Important Payment Practices
PAYMENTS: (a) Payments will be in U.S. Dollars in the form of
either a check or bank draft drawn on a bank in the United
States or a money order.
(b) The check or money order should be made
payable to the order of the U.S. Treasury and mailed to the
Chief, Information and Records Division, U.S. Agency for
International Development, Room 2.7C, Ronald Reagan Building,
Washington, D.C. 20523-2701
ADVANCE PAYMENT OR CONFIRMATION: When USAID estimates or
determines that allowable charges to a requester are likely to
exceed $250.00, USAID will require a requester to make an
advance payment of the entire estimated charges before continuing to
process the request. Where the estimated charges are in the
$25.00 to $250.00 range, then USAID in its discretion, before
processing the request, may require either (a) an advance deposit
of the entire estimated charges or (b) written confirmation of
the requester's willingness, when billed, to pay such
charges.
AGGREGATING REQUESTERS: When USAID reasonably believes that a
requester or group of requesters is attempting to break a
request down into a series of requests for the purpose of evading the
assessment of fees, the Agency will aggregate any such
requesters and charge accordingly.
NONPAYMENT OF FEES: USAID will begin assessing interest charges
on the thirty- first day following the day on which the requester
is advised of the fee charge. Interest will be at the rate
prescribed in 31 U.S.C. 3717.
Where a requester has previously failed to pay a fee charged in
a timely fashion (i.e. within thirty days of the billing date),
USAID will require the requester to pay the full amount owed plus
any applicable interest as provided above, and to make an advance
payment of the full amount of the remaining estimated fee before
USAID begins to process a new request or continues processing a
then-pending request from the requester. The administrative
response time limits prescribed in subsection (a)(6) of the FOIA
will begin only after the Agency has received fee payments
described in this section.
EFFECT OF THE DEBT COLLECTION ACT OF 1982 (PUB. L.97-365):
USAID will use the authorities the Debt Collection Act, including
disclosure to consumer reporting agencies and use of collection
agencies, where appropriate, to encourage repayment.
Waiving or Reduction Fees
In accordance with section (4)(A)(iii) of the FOIA, USAID
will furnish documents without charge or at a reduced charge if
disclosure of the information is in the public interest because
it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding
of the operations or activities of the Government and is not
primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.
You should make your request for a waiver or reduced fees
at the same time you make your initial request for records. If
your waiver or fee reduction request is not granted, the waiver/fee
reduction denial letter sent to you will designate an appeal
officer.
In determining whether a waiver or reduction should be
granted because the release will be in the public interest,
USAID takes many factors into consideration:
- Whether the subject matter of the request specifically
concerns identifiable operations or activities of the
government.
- Whether the release of the disclosable portions of the
requested records will be informative regarding the particular
government activities or operations that are connected to the
subject matter of the request.
- Whether the requested information is already in the
public domain, either in a duplicative or a substantially
identical form.
- Whether the disclosure will contribute to the
understanding of the public at large, as opposed to the
individual understanding of the requester or a narrow segment of
interested persons.
Note: An important factor taken into consideration is the
requester's identity and qualifications -- e.g., expertise in
the subject area and ability and intention to disseminate the
information to the general public is evaluation.
- Whether an identifiable contribution to public understanding
of government operations or activities will be a "significant"
one, i.e., such that the general public's understanding of the
subject matter in question will likely be enhanced by the
disclosure to a significant extent.
Once the public interest requirement for a waiver or fee
reduction has been met, then a determination of whether
disclosure of the requested information is primarily in the
commercial interest of the request is made. If it is determined
that there is a commercial interest, a waiver or fee reduction is
granted when the public interest in disclosure is greater in
magnitude than the requester's commercial interest.
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