41 C.F.R. Subpart 105–60.3—Availability of Opinions, Orders, Policies, Interpretations, Manuals, and Instructions
Title 41 - Public Contracts and Property Management
GSA makes available to the public the materials described under 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2), which are listed in §105–60.302 through an extensive electronic home page, http://www.gsa.gov/. A public handbook listing those materials as described in §105–60.304 is available at GSA's Central Office in Washington, DC, and at the website at http://www.gsa.gov/staff/c/ca/pub1.htm. Members of the public who do not have the means to access this information electronically, and who are not located in the Washington, DC area, may contact the Freedom of Information Act office in any of the regional offices listed in this regulation. These offices will make arrangements for members of the public to access the information at a computer located at the FOIA office. Reasonable copying services are provided at the fees specified in §105–60.305. GSA materials available under this subpart 105–60.3 are as follows: (a) Final opinions, including concurring and dissenting opinions and orders, made in the adjudication of cases. (b) Those statements and policy and interpretations that have been adopted by GSA and are not published in the (c) Administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff affecting a member of the public unless these materials are promptly published and copies offered for sale. (a) Locations. Selected areas containing the materials available for public inspection and copying, described in this §105–60.302, are located in the following places:
Central Office (GSA Headquarters), General Services Administration, Washington, DC. Telephone: 202–501–2262 FAX: 202–501–2727, Email: [email protected] 1800 F Street, NW. (CAI), Washington, DC 20405 Office of the Inspector General FOIA Officer, Office of Inspector General (J) General Services Administration 1800 F Street NW., Room 5324 Washington, DC 20405 New England Region General Services Administration (1AB) (Comprised of the States of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont) Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr., Federal Building, 10 Causeway Street, Boston, MA 02222 Telephone: 617–565–8100 FAX: 617–565–8101 Northeast and Caribbean Region (Comprised of the States of New Jersey, New York, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) General Services Administration (2AR) 26 Federal Plaza, New York, NY 10278 Telephone: 212–264–1234 FAX: 212–264–2760 Mid-Atlantic Region (Comprised of the States of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia, excluding the Washington, DC metropolitan area) General Services Administration (3ADS), 100 Penn Square East, Philadelphia, PA 19107 Telephone: 215–656–5530 FAX: 215–656–5590 Southeast Sunbelt Region (Comprised of the States of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) General Services Administration (4E), 401 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30365 Telephone: 404–331–5103 FAX: 404–331–1813 Great Lakes Region (Comprised of the States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin) General Services Administration (5ADB), 230 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60604 Telephone: 312–353–5383 FAX: 312–353–5385 Heartland Region (Comprised of the States of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska) General Services Administration (6ADB), 1500 East Bannister Road, Kansas City, MO 64131 Telephone: 816–926–7203 FAX: 816–823–1167 Greater Southwest Region (Comprised of the States of Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma) General Services Administration (7ADQ), 819 Taylor Street, Fort Worth, TX 76102 Telephone: 817–978–3902 FAX: 817–978–4867 Rocky Mountain Region (Comprised of the States of Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming) Business Service Center, General Services Administration (8PB-B), Building 41, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225 Telephone: 303–236–7408 FAX: 303–236–7403 Pacific Rim Region (Comprised of the States of Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona, Guam, and Trust Territory of the Pacific) Business Service Center, General Services Administration (9ADB), 525 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 941105 Telephone: 415–522–2715 FAX: 415–522–2705 Northwest/Arctic Region (Comprised of the States of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington) General Services Administration (10L), GSA Center, 15th and C Streets, SW., Auburn, WA 98002 Telephone: 206–931–7007 FAX: 206–931–7195 National Capital Region (Comprised of the District of Columbia and the surrounding metropolitan area) General Services Administration (WPFA-L), 7th and D Streets SW., Washington, DC 20407 Telephone: 202–708–5854 FAX: 202–708–4655. (b) Time. The offices listed above will be open to the public during the business hours of the GSA office where they are located. (c) Reproduction services and fees. The GSA Central Office or the Regional Business Service Centers will furnish reasonable copying and reproduction services for available materials at the fees specified in §105–60.305. GSA publishes a handbook for the public that identifies information regarding any matter described in §105–60.302. This handbook also lists published information available from GSA and describes the procedures the public may use to obtain information using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This handbook may be obtained without charge from any of the GSA FOIA offices listed in §105–60.303(a), or at the GSA Internet Homepage (http://www.gsa.gov/staff/c/ca/cai/links.htm).
Title 41: Public Contracts and Property Management
PART 105–60—PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF AGENCY RECORDS AND INFORMATIONAL MATERIALS
Subpart 105–60.3—Availability of Opinions, Orders, Policies, Interpretations, Manuals, and Instructions
§ 105-60.301 General.
§ 105-60.302 Available materials.
§ 105-60.303 Rules for public inspection and copying.
§ 105-60.304 Public information handbook and index.
§ 105-60.305 Fees.
§ 105-60.305-1 Definitions.
For the purpose of this part:
(a) A statute specifically providing for setting the level of fees for particular types of records (5 U.S.C. 552(a)(4)(A)(vii)) means any statute that specifically requires a Government agency to set the level of fees for particular types of records, as opposed to a statute that generally discusses such fees. Fees are required by statute to:
(1) Make Government information conveniently available to the public and to private sector organizations;
(2) Ensure that groups and individuals pay the cost of publications and other services which are for their special use so that these costs are not borne by the general taxpaying public;
(3) Operate an information dissemination activity on self-sustaining basis to the maximum extent possible; or
(4) Return revenue to the Treasury for defraying, wholly or in part, appropriated funds used to pay the cost of disseminating Government information.
(b) The term direct costs means those expenditures which GSA actually incurs in searching for and duplicating (and in the case of commercial requesters, reviewing and redacting) documents to respond to a FOIA request. Direct costs include, for example, the salary of the employee performing the work (the basic rate of pay for the employee plus 16 percent of that rate to cover benefits), and the cost of operating duplicating machinery. Overhead expenses such as costs of space, and heating or lighting the facility where the records are stored are not included in direct costs.
(c) The term search includes all time spent looking for material that is responsive to a request, including line-by-line identification of material within documents. Searches will be performed in the most efficient and least expensive manner so as to minimize costs for both the agency and the requester. Line-by-line searches will not be undertaken when it would be more efficient to duplicate the entire document. Search for responsive material is not the same as review of a record to determine whether it is exempt from disclosure in whole or in part (see paragraph (e) of this section. Searches may be done manually or by computer using existing programming or new programming when this would not significantly interfere with the operation of the automated system in question.
(d) The term duplication means the process of making a copy of a document in response to a FOIA request. Copies can take the form of paper, microform audiovisual materials, or magnetic types or disks. To the extent practicable, GSA will provide a copy of the material in the form specified by the requester.
(e) The term review means the process of examining documents located in response to a request to determine if any portion of that document is permitted to be withheld and processing any documents for disclosure. See §105–60.305–6.
(f) The term commercial-use request means a request from or on behalf of one who seeks information for a use or purpose that furthers the commercial, trade, or profit interests of the requester or person on whose behalf the request is made. GSA will determine whether a requester properly belongs in this category by determining how the requester will use the documents.
(g) The term educational institution means a preschool, a public or private elementary or secondary school, an institution of graduate higher education, an institution of undergraduate higher education, an institution of professional education, or an institution of vocational education which operates a program or programs of scholarly research.
(h) The term noncommercial scientific institution means an institution that is not operated on a “commercial” basis as that term is used in paragraph (f) of this section 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.
(i) The term representative of the news media means any 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 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. “Freelance” journalists will be regarded as working for a news organization if they can demonstrate a solid basis for expecting publication through that organization even though they are not actually employed by it.
§ 105-60.305-2 Scope of this subpart.
This subpart sets forth policies and procedures to be followed in the assessment and collection of fees from a requester for the search, review, and reproduction of GSA records.
§ 105-60.305-3 GSA records available without charge.
GSA records available to the public are displayed in the Business Service Center for each GSA region. The address and phone number of the Business Service Centers are listed in §105–60.303. Certain material related to bids (excluding construction plans and specifications) and any material displayed are available without charge upon request.
§ 105-60.305-4 GSA records available at a fee.
(a) GSA will make a record not subject to exemption available at a time and place mutually agreed upon by GSA and the requester at fees shown in §105–60.305–10. Waivers of these fees are available under the conditions described in §105–60.305–13. GSA will agree to:
(1) Show the originals to the requester;
(2) Make one copy available at a fee; or
(3) A combination of these alternatives.
(b) GSA will make copies of voluminous records as quickly as possible. GSA may, in its discretion, make a reasonable number of additional copies for a fee when commercial reproduction services are not available to the requester.
§ 105-60.305-5 Searches.
(a) GSA may charge for the time spent in the following activities in determining “search time” subject to applicable fees as provided in §105–60.305–10:
(1) Time spent in trying to locate GSA records which come within the scope of the request;
(2) Time spent in either transporting a necessary agency searcher to a place of record storage, or in transporting records to the locations of a necessary agency searcher; and
(3) Direct costs of the use of computer time to locate and extract requested records.
(b) GSA will not charge for the time spent in monitoring a requester's inspection of disclosed agency records.
(c) GSA may assess fees for search time even if the search proves unsuccessful or if the records located are exempt from disclosure.
§ 105-60.305-6 Reviews.
(a) GSA will charge only commercial-use requesters for review time.
(b) GSA will charge for the time spent in the following activities in determining “review time” subject to applicable fees as provided in §105–60.305–10:
(1) Time spent in examining a requested record to determine whether any or all of the record is exempt from disclosure, including time spent consulting with submitters of requested information; and
(2) Time spent in deleting exempt matter being withheld from records otherwise made available.
(c) GSA will not charge for:
(1) Time spent in resolving issues of law or policy regarding the application of exemptions; or
(2) Review at the administrative appeal level of an exemption already applied. However, records or portions of records withheld in full under an exemption which is subsequently determined not to apply may be reviewed again to determine the applicability of other exemptions not previously considered. GSA will charge for such subsequent review.
§ 105-60.305-7 Assurance of payment.
If fees for search, review, and reproduction will exceed $25 but will be less than $250, the requester must provide written assurance of payment before GSA will process the request. If this assurance is not included in the initial request, GSA will notify the requester that assurance of payment is required before the request is processed. GSA will offer requesters an opportunity to modify the request to reduce the fee.
§ 105-60.305-8 Prepayment of fees.
(a) Fees over $250. GSA will require prepayment of fees for search, review, and reproduction which are likely to exceed $250. When the anticipated total fee exceeds $250, the requester will receive notice to prepay and at the same time will be given an opportunity to modify his or her request to reduce the fee. When fees will exceed $250, GSA will notify the requester that it will not start processing a request until payment is received.
(b) Delinquent payments. As noted in §105–6.305–12(d), requesters who are delinquent in paying for previous requests will be required to repay the old debt and to prepay for any subsequent request. GSA will inform the requester that it will process no additional requests until all fees are paid.
§ 105-60.305-9 Form of payment.
Requesters should pay fees by check or money order made out to the General Services Administration and addressed to the official named by GSA in its correspondence. Payment may also be made by means of Mastercard or Visa. For information concerning payment by credit cards, call 816–926–7551.
§ 105-60.305-10 Fee schedule.
(a) When GSA is aware that documents responsive to a request are maintained for distribution by an agency operating a statutory fee based program, GSA will inform the requester of the procedures for obtaining records from those sources.
(b) GSA will consider only the following costs in fees charged to requesters of GSA records:
(1) Review and search fees.
Manual searches by clerical staff: $13 per hour or fraction of an hour. Manual searches and reviews by professional staff in cases in which clerical staff would be unable to locate the requested records: $29 per hour or fraction of an hour. Computer searches: Direct cost to GSA. Transportation or special handling of records: Direct cost to GSA.
(2) Reproduction fees.
Pages no larger than 8 Pages over 8 Pages requiring reduction, enlargement, or other special services: Direct cost of reproduction to GSA. Reproduction by other than routine electrostatic copying: Direct cost of reproduction to GSA.
(c) Any fees not provided for under paragraph (b) of this section, shall be calculated as direct costs, in accordance with §105–60.305–1(b).
(d) GSA will assess fees based on the category of the requester as defined in §105–60.305–1(f)–(1); i.e., commercial-use, educational and noncommercial scientific institutions, news media, and all other. The fees listed in paragraph (b) of this section apply with the following exceptions:
(1) GSA will not charge the requester if the fee is $25 or less as the cost of collection is greater than the fee.
(2) Educational and noncommercial scientific institutions and the news media will be charged for the cost of reproduction alone. These requesters are entitled to the first 100 pages (paper copies) of duplication at no cost. The following are examples of how these fees are calculated:
(i) A request that results in 150 pages of material. No fee would be assessed for duplication of 150 pages. The reason is that these requesters are entitled to the first 100 pages at no charge. The charge for the remaining 50 pages would be $5.00. This amount would not be billed under the preceding section.
(ii) A request that results in 450 pages of material. The requester in this case would be charged $35.00. The reason is that the requester is entitled to the first 100 pages at no charge. The charge for the remaining 350 pages would be $35.
(3) Noncommercial requesters who are not included under paragraph (d)(2) of this section will be entitled to the first 100 pages (page copies) of duplication at not cost and two hours of search without charge. The term search time generally refers to manual search. To apply this term to searches made by computer, GSA will determine the hourly cost of operating the central processing unit and the operator's hourly salary plus 16 percent. When the cost of search (including the operator time and the cost of operating the computer to process a request) reaches the equivalent dollar amount of two hours of the salary of the person performing a manual search, i.e., the operator, GSA will begin assessing charges for computer search.
(4) GSA will charge commercial-use requesters fees which recover the full direct costs of searching for, reviewing for release, and duplicating the records sought. Commercial-use requesters are not entitled to two hours of free search time.
(e) Determining category of requester. GSA may ask any requester to provide additional information at any time to determine what fee category he or she falls under.
§ 105-60.305-11 Fees for authenticated and attested copies.
The fees set forth in §105–60.305–10 apply to requests for authenticated and attested copies of GSA records.
§ 105-60.305-12 Administrative actions to improve assessment and collection of fees.
(a) Charging interest. GSA may charge requesters who fail to pay fees interest on the amount billed starting on the 31st day following the day on which the billing was sent. Interest will be at the rate prescribed in 31 U.S.C. 3717.
(b) Effect of the Debt Collection Act of 1982. GSA will take any action authorized by the Debt Collection Act of 1982 (Pub. L. 97–365, 96 Stat. 1749), including disclosure to consumer reporting agencies, use of collection agencies, and assessment of penalties and administrative costs, where appropriate, to encourage payment.
(c) Aggregating requests. When GSA reasonably believes that a requester, or group of requesters acting in concert, is attempting to break down a request into a series of requests related to the same subject for the purpose of evading the assessment of fees, GSA will combine any such requests and charge accordingly, including fees for previous requests where charges were not assessed. GSA will presume that multiple requests of this type within a 30-day period are made to avoid fees.
(d) Advanced payments. Whenever a requester is delinquent in paying the fee for a previous request (i.e., within 30 days of the date of the billing), GSA will require the requester to pay the full amount owed plus any applicable interest penalties and administrative costs as provided in paragraph (a) of this section or to demonstrate that he or she has, in fact, paid the fee. In such cases, GSA will also require advance payment of the full amount of the estimated fee before the agency begins to process a new request or a pending request from that requester. When advance payment is required under this selection, the administrative time limits in subsection (a)(6) of the FOIA (i.e., 10 working days from receipt of appeals from initial denial plus permissible time extensions) will begin only after GSA has received the fee payments described in §105–60.305–8.
§ 105-60.305-13 Waiver of fee.
(a) Any request for a waiver or the reduction of a fee should be included in the initial letter requesting access to GSA records under §105–60.402–1. The waiver request should explain how disclosure of the information would contribute significantly to public's understanding of the operations or activities of the Government and would not be primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. In responding to a requester, GSA will consider the following factors:
(1) Whether the subject of the requested records concerns “the operations or activities of the Government.” The subject matter of the requested records must specifically concern identifiable operations or activities of the Federal Government. The connection between the records and the operations or activities must be direct and clear, not remote or attenuated.
(2) Whether the disclosure is “likely to contribute” to an understanding of Government operations or activities. In this connection, GSA will consider whether the requested information is already in the public domain. If it is, then disclosure of the information would not be likely to contribute to an understanding of Government operations or activities, as nothing new would be added to the public record.
(3) Whether disclosure of the requested information will contribute to “public's understanding.” The focus here must be on the contribution to public's understanding rather than personal benefit to be derived by the requester. For purposes of this analysis, the identity and qualifications of the requester should be considered to determine whether the requester is in a position to contribute to public's understanding through the requested disclosure.
(4) Whether the requester has a commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure; and if so: whether the magnitude of the identified commercial interest of the requester is sufficiently large, in comparison with the public's interest in disclosure, that disclosure is “primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.”
(b) GSA will ask the requester to furnish additional information if the initial request is insufficient to evaluate the merits of the request. GSA will not start processing a request until the fee waiver issue has been resolved unless the requester has provided written assurance of payment in full if the fee waiver is denied by the agency.
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