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Office of Administrative Services
FOIA Requester Service Center
U.S General Services Administration
1800 F. Street, NW, Room: 7308
Washington, DC 20405
Toll Free: (855)-675-3642
Fax: (202) 501-2727
April 26, 2017 Mr. Daniel Van Schooten Project on Government Oversight 1100 G Street, NW, Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005 Dear Mr. Van Schooten, This is in response to your U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request (GSA-2017-000796), dated March 28, 2017, in which you requested:
“1. A copy of all ethics waivers and recusal agreements/records issued by the General Services Administration from January 1, 2017 to the present. These types of records are often, but not always, issued pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 207 and 208, 5 C.F.R. Part 2635, or Executive Order 13770 or its predecessor, Executive Order 13490; and 2. In the case of waivers issued under Executive Order 13770, I am requesting copies of the waivers that have been provided to the head of the agency, pursuant to Section 3(c): “A copy of the waiver certification shall be furnished to the person covered by the waiver and provided to the head of the agency in which that person is or was appointed to serve.”
With respect to the first part of your FOIA request, GSA has interpreted your request to mean that you are requesting a copy of all executed ethics waivers and recusal agreements issued by the Agency from January 1, 2017 through the date that your FOIA request was submitted. We are including the Agency records that are responsive to your request. With respect to the second part of your request, GSA has no responsive documents. No such waivers have been provided to the Agency pursuant to Executive Order 13770. Enclosed please find 8 pages of documents responsive to your request. In processing your request, please note that we have redacted private financial information and individuals’ signatures pursuant to the sixth (6th) statutory exemption under FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6), which permits an agency to withhold information from
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personnel and similar files, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. As we have redacted parts of the responsive documents per part 1 of your request, this technically constitutes a partial denial of your FOIA request. You may appeal the Agency’s determination accordingly. Furthermore, as we did not locate any responsive documents with respect to part 2 of your request, you also maintain the right to appeal the adequacy of the Agency’s search for responsive documents. You may administratively submit your appeal online via (https://foiaonline.regulations.gov/foia/action/public/home) or by writing to U.S. General Services Administration at the address shown below. Your appeal must be postmarked or electronically transmitted within ninety (120) days of the date of the response to your request:
U.S. General Services Administration FOIA Requester Service Center (H1F)
1800 F St. NW, Room 7308 Washington, DC 20405
Your appeal must be postmarked or electronically transmitted within 120 days (August 25, 2017) of the date of the response to your request. In addition, your appeal must contain a brief statement of the reasons why the requested information should be released. Please enclose a copy of your initial request and this denial. Both the appeal letter and envelope or online appeal submission should be prominently marked, “Freedom of Information Act Appeal.” This completes our action on this FOIA request. Should you have any questions, please contact me (Travis Lewis), at (202) 219-3078 or by email at [email protected]. If you need additional assistance, you may also contact Ms. Audrey Brooks, GSA’s FOIA Public Liaison at (202) 205-5912 or via email at [email protected]. Additionally, you may contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives and Records Administration to inquire about the FOIA mediation services they offer. The contact information for OGIS is as follows: Office of Government Information Services, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road-OGIS, College Park, Maryland 20740-6001, e-mail at [email protected]; telephone at (202) 741-5770; toll free at 1-(877) 684-6448; or facsimile at (202) 741-5769. Sincerely,
Travis Lewis Travis Lewis FOIA Program Manager
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