DFAIT's "Prep Fee" memos

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McCull och , Monique ~ C From : Grenon , Jean-OCPSent: January 30 , 2008 4:17 PMTo: Najrn, Ami -OCP; Lapointe, Dany -OCP; Lauzon, Dominique-OCPce : McCulloch, Monique-OCPSubject: Preparation Fees

Furthef 10our dscussion, please note that effective January 2008, preparation lees wi. now be charged lo r allAT1Arequests of 500 or more pages. This changein policy has been approved by Monique McCuIod1. theAfDirector DFAIT- ATIP.

-."... . ,AlDeputy DirectorDFAlT ATIP

2008108101

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McCulloch, Monlque DCPFrom: Grenon, Jean -DCPSent: July 4. 2008 11:42 AMTo: Thibodeau, Mathieu DCP; Regnier. Diane -DCP; Archambault, Francine -DC?; Falls. Ron -DCP: Lamarre, Catherine-DCP;sauriol , tuce -OCP; Daigle. Jcaeone -DCPcc : Najm, Ami -OCP; Bertrand, Cindy DCP; McCulloch, Monique -DCPSubjec t : Prep Fee EstimatesAttachments : Prep Fee - Issues to ccreicer.occ

Attached is info that should be consideredwhen estimating Prep fees, Please pass on to your Teammembers.CheersJean

2008 /08/01

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UNCLASSIFIEDATIP - Fees & Departmental Performance

FEES Fees are being administe red by OFAIT in accordance with the

Access to Information Act (ATI Act) and its Regu lations. While section 11(6) of the ATI Act does permit Departments to waive

fees in certain cases, there are no legislat ive obligat ions to do so forrout ine andlor late files.

Since January 2008 , the ATIP Division with in DFAIT started to morefully adm inister permissible fees . However, DFAIT does not chargesearch and preparation fees in all cases.

Sea rch fees are being administered when requeste rs wish toproceed with the scope of the ir request that requ ires beyond 5 hoursof search t ime.

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Similarly , preparation fees are being administered when requesterswish to proceed with the scope of their request and the volume ofpages to be reviewed for exemptions exceeds 500 pages.Requesters have the right to have the fees investigated by theInformation Commissioner of Canada.

DEPARTMENTAL PERFORMANCE

There has been a steady increase of requests under both the Accessto Information Act and the Privacy Act. In 2007-2008, DFAITexperienced an 18.2% increase in requests to the Department.The Department has a unique role in the federal public service ofprocessing foreign cons ultations on beha lf of other governmentdepartments, a function that also consumes scarce ATIP resources.Steps are being taken to strengthen the departmental capacity andimprove the overa ll performance of the function.

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23 Jun 08Prepar.J.tion Fee - EstimatesThe following should be considered when calculating Preparation Feeestimates:a) the request results in volume of 500 pages or more,b) the $5.00 application fee (5 free hours of search and/or preparation) wasapplied to search and/or preparation of records,c) a re-scope of the request was considered, if applicable,d) the type of records and complexity was considered,e) a sampling of records preparation was considered, if applicable,

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UNCLASSIFIED The Department has increased the number of permanent resources

dedicated to our ATIP responsibilities and taken measures to staff allvacancies within the ATIP Division.

Despite the shortage of experienced ATIP analysts across thefederal ATIP community, DFAIT has hired 12 new ATIP employees inthe last 6 months.Through increased staffing, the Department has reduced theworkload per ATIP analyst ratio, which in turn will improve our 1009term retention of experienced staff.The Department is introducing a permanent Policy & Trainingcapacity to ensure that all ATIP Analysts receive the necessary indepth training and tools to do their job, as well as implement astructuredATIP awareness program for all departmental officials.There have been a number of other steps taken to improve overallcompliance, including measures to streamline the ATIP process.In addition, in February 2008, DFAIT sent out letters to requestersasking them to confirm their desire to continue processing outdatedrequests under the ATI Act. The purpose of the exercise was toreduce the backlog of old files thereby increase efficiency by focusinglimited resources on those requests that are still of interest.

For information purposes onlySince the beginning of the calendar year, the following is a breakdown of the volume of workthat was eliminated for the ATI? Division (just under 200,000 pages ) as a result of sendingletters to requesters to confirm their continued interest for outdated ATI Act requests as well assending prepa ration fees :

SentAbandonedConfirmed to continued/paidOutstanding# pages abandoned

Confirmation letters120

46S4

35,186

Preparation Fees6325' 424

161,996

Prepared byMoniqueMcCulloch, NDirector, OCP(992-1487) - July 11, 2008

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DFAIT's "Prep Fee" memos