Department of Veterans Affairs FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT
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Department of Veterans Affairs FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA)
REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2014
I. BASIC INFORMATION REGARDING THE REPORT
1. Point of Contact for questions regarding the report:
James P. Horan, Director FOIA Service (005R1C) Department of Veterans Affairs 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20420 (202) 632-7453
2. The electronic address for this report on VA’s World Wide Web site is:
http://www.foia.va.gov/FOIA_Reports.asp
3. A copy of the report in paper form may be obtained by contacting the Department FOIA Officer (see I.1, above).
II. MAKING A FOIA REQUEST
1. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components that are designated to receive FOIA requests can be found at the below links:
Veterans Affairs Central Office (VACO) Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) National Cemetery Administration (NCA) Board of Veterans Appeals(BVA)
2. Some requests are not granted in cases where the document requested either does not exist or cannot be found after a reasonable search or where the FOIA would prevent granting the request based on an applicable FOIA exemption. A description of each FOIA exemption category is provided in Section III.3, below
III. ACRONYMS, DEFINITIONS, AND EXEMPTIONS
1. Below is a list of acronyms used in this Report:
Component Abbreviation Admin BVA C&LA CFM GC HRM IG MGMT NCA OAL OASHRA OASP&IA ODASB ODASIA ODI OF OIT ORM OSDBU OSP P&P PA SEC VBA VHA
Component Name Office of Administration Board of Veterans' Appeals Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs Office of Construction and Facilities Management General Counsel Office of Human Resources Management Inspector General Office of Management National Cemetery Administration Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction Office of Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration Office of Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs Office of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget Office of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs Office of Diversity and Inclusion Office of Finance Office of Information and Technology Office of Resolution Management Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness Office of Policy and Planning Office of Public Affairs Office of the Secretary Veterans Benefits Administration Veterans Health Administration
IV. EXEMPTION 3 STATUTES
Statute
Type of Information Withheld
Case Citation
Agency / Component
5 U.S.C. App § 3 (IG Act) 41 U.S.C. § 4702 41 USC § 2102 38 U.S.C. § 5701
Names or employees who provide information or complaints to the Inspector General.
OAL
VHA
IG
Prohibits the release of contractor proposals submitted to an agency during the course of federal procurements of property or services.
Hornbostel v. United States Department of the Interior, 305 F. Supp. 2d 21, 30 (D.D.C. 2003)
CFM
OAL
OIT
VHA
Contractor bid or proposal infomration; source selection information
Legal & Safety Employer Research, CFM Inc. v. U.S. Dep't. of the Army, No. Civ. S001748, 2001 WL 34098652, at *3-4 (E.D. Cal. May 4, 2001)
GC
OAL
VHA
Records pertaining to any claim Ashton v. VA, 1999 U.S. App.
OIT
filed with the Department for names LEXIS 22957 (2d Cir. 1999)
and addresses of present and
former members of the Armed
Number of Times
Relied upon by Agency / Component
Total Number of
Times Relied upon
by Agency Overall
1
11 1 9
2
67 38
5 22
4
13 1 1 7 2
123
38 U.S.C. § 5705 38 U.S.C. § 7332
38 U.S.C. § 7451 26 U.S.C. § 6103
Forces and their dependents.
OSDBU
VBA
VHA
IG
Records created as part of a
Schulte & Sun-Sentinel Co. v. VA,
medical quality assurance program. No. 86-6251, slip op. at 3-4, 12
(S.D. Fla. Feb. 2, 1996)
OAL
VHA
OIT
Records of the identity, diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment of any patient or subject which are maintained in connection with the performance of any patient or subject which are maintained in connection with the performance of any program or activity relating to drug abuse, alcoholism, or alcohol abuse, infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or sickle cell anemia.
Palmer v. Derwinski, No. 91-197, slip op. at 3-4 (E.D. Ky, June 10, 1992)
Admin
VBA
VHA
Information collected in VA nurse and other health-care personnel wage surveys.
OAL
VHA
Certain tax return and tax convention information.
Church of Scientology v. IRS, 484 CFM U.S. 9, 15 (1987) and Tax Analysts v. IRS, 217 F. Supp. 2d 23, 27-29
1 2 87 31 2
71 59 10
1
2,369
5 2,363
1 2
1 1
15
(D.D.C. 2002)
OAL
VHA
Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e), enacted Certain records pertaining to grand by Act of July 30, 1977, Pub. jury proceedings L. No. 95-78, 91 Stat. 319
Sussman v. USMS, 494 F.3d 1106, IG 1113 (D.C. Cir. 2007); Fund for Constitutional Gov't v. Nat'l Archives & Records Serv., 656 F.2d 856, 867-68 (D.C. Cir. 1981); Durham v. U.S. Atty. Gen., No. 06843, 2008 WL 620744, at *2 (E.D. Tex. Mar. 3, 2008); Cozen O'Connor v. U.S. Dep't of Treasury, 570 F. Supp. 2d 749, 776 (E.D. Pa. 2008).
7 7 4
4
V.A. FOIA REQUESTS -- RECEIVED, PROCESSED AND PENDING FOIA REQUESTS
Agency / Component
Number of Requests Pending as of
Start of Fiscal Year
Number of Requests Received in Fiscal Year
Number of Requests Processed in Fiscal Year
Number of Requests Pending as of End of Fiscal Year
Admin
3
24
20
7
BVA
2
16
16
2
C&LA
2
34
33
3
CFM
71
75
75
71
GC
17
117
114
20
HRM
18
12
23
7
IG
16
369
360
25
MGMT
3
18
16
5
NCA
7
62
39
30
OAL
14
267
242
39
OASHRA
5
10
5
10
OASP&IA
9
16
8
17
ODASB
2
1
3
0
ODASIA
33
5
35
3
ODI
0
2
1
1
OF
0
21
20
1
OIT
34
259
255
38
ORM
2
29
30
1
OSDBU
3
19
18
4
OSP
0
5
5
0
P&P
1
2
2
1
PA
3
9
4
8
SEC
39
84
89
34
VBA
1,085
2,107
2,655
537
VHA
1,047
24,446
23,914
1,579
AGENCY OVERALL
2,416
28,009
27,982
2,443
Although VA indicated in its FY 2013 Annual Report a different number then above, the figure denoted in this chart is correct. The difference is attributed to the following: 1) in some instances the office did not show requests that were in fact completed in FY 2013 as completed in VA’s FOIA tracking system until after the FY 2013 report was finalized, and 2) there were some discrepancies in accounting.
V.B.(1). DISPOSITION OF FOIA REQUESTS -- ALL PROCESSED REQUESTS
Agency / Component
Number of Full Grants
Number Number of of Partial Full Denials Grants / Based on
Partial Exemptions Denials
No Records
Number of Full Denials Based on Reasons Other than Exemptions
All Records Referred to Request
Another Withdrawn Component or Agency
FeeRelated Reason
Records not Improper Reasonably FOIA Described Request
for Other Reason
Not Agency Record
Duplicate Request
Other *Explain in Chart Below
TOTAL
Admin
5
5
1
4
3
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
20
BVA
7
5
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
16
C&LA
4
0
0
28
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
33
CFM
12
17
7
8
0
9
15
0
0
0
7
0
75
GC
27
49
14
8
0
2
6
2
0
0
6
0
114
HRM
2
1
1
12
0
6
1
0
0
0
0
0
23
IG
32
214
39
47
5
5
1
3
0
11
3
0
360
MGMT
12
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
16
NCA
15
9
1
6
0
1
0
0
0
0
7
0
39
OAL
79
103
8
18
0
3
12
4
0
0
15
0
242
OASHRA
3
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
OASP&IA
5
1
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
ODASB
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
ODASIA
1
0
0
34
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
35
ODI
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
OF
12
1
0
0
0
7
0
0
0
0
0
0
20
OIT
58
38
18
51
0
32
5
12
0
0
41
0
255
ORM
5
8
12
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
30
OSDBU
4
4
0
4
0
3
3
0
0
0
0
0
18
OSP P&P PA SEC VBA VHA
AGENCY OVERALL
0 2 3 31 530 11,641
12,494
1 0 0 5 1,896 5,984
8,342
3 0 0 1 63 4,977
5,147
1 0 0 44 102 862
1,239
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
1
0
12
1
0
228
98
10
312
144
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
4
2
0
0
3
0
89
33
0
0
17
1 2,655
34
0
0
86
4 23,914
90
0
11
187
6 27,982
V.B.(2). DISPOSITION OF FOIA REQUESTS -- "OTHER" REASONS FOR "FULL DENIALS BASED ON REASONS OTHER THAN EXEMPTIONS"
Agency / Component
Description of "Other" Reasons for Denials from Chart B(1)
Number of Times "Other" Reason Was Relied Upon
TOTAL
ORM
Requestor died before request was completed
1 1
VBA
Subsumed by Litigation
1 1
VHA
AGENCY OVERALL
Requestor died before request was completed Subsumed by Litigation
3 4
1
6
REPORT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2014
I. BASIC INFORMATION REGARDING THE REPORT
1. Point of Contact for questions regarding the report:
James P. Horan, Director FOIA Service (005R1C) Department of Veterans Affairs 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20420 (202) 632-7453
2. The electronic address for this report on VA’s World Wide Web site is:
http://www.foia.va.gov/FOIA_Reports.asp
3. A copy of the report in paper form may be obtained by contacting the Department FOIA Officer (see I.1, above).
II. MAKING A FOIA REQUEST
1. Names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all individual agency components that are designated to receive FOIA requests can be found at the below links:
Veterans Affairs Central Office (VACO) Veterans Benefit Administration (VBA) Veterans Health Administration (VHA) National Cemetery Administration (NCA) Board of Veterans Appeals(BVA)
2. Some requests are not granted in cases where the document requested either does not exist or cannot be found after a reasonable search or where the FOIA would prevent granting the request based on an applicable FOIA exemption. A description of each FOIA exemption category is provided in Section III.3, below
III. ACRONYMS, DEFINITIONS, AND EXEMPTIONS
1. Below is a list of acronyms used in this Report:
Component Abbreviation Admin BVA C&LA CFM GC HRM IG MGMT NCA OAL OASHRA OASP&IA ODASB ODASIA ODI OF OIT ORM OSDBU OSP P&P PA SEC VBA VHA
Component Name Office of Administration Board of Veterans' Appeals Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs Office of Construction and Facilities Management General Counsel Office of Human Resources Management Inspector General Office of Management National Cemetery Administration Office of Acquisition, Logistics, and Construction Office of Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration Office of Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs Office of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget Office of Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs Office of Diversity and Inclusion Office of Finance Office of Information and Technology Office of Resolution Management Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness Office of Policy and Planning Office of Public Affairs Office of the Secretary Veterans Benefits Administration Veterans Health Administration
IV. EXEMPTION 3 STATUTES
Statute
Type of Information Withheld
Case Citation
Agency / Component
5 U.S.C. App § 3 (IG Act) 41 U.S.C. § 4702 41 USC § 2102 38 U.S.C. § 5701
Names or employees who provide information or complaints to the Inspector General.
OAL
VHA
IG
Prohibits the release of contractor proposals submitted to an agency during the course of federal procurements of property or services.
Hornbostel v. United States Department of the Interior, 305 F. Supp. 2d 21, 30 (D.D.C. 2003)
CFM
OAL
OIT
VHA
Contractor bid or proposal infomration; source selection information
Legal & Safety Employer Research, CFM Inc. v. U.S. Dep't. of the Army, No. Civ. S001748, 2001 WL 34098652, at *3-4 (E.D. Cal. May 4, 2001)
GC
OAL
VHA
Records pertaining to any claim Ashton v. VA, 1999 U.S. App.
OIT
filed with the Department for names LEXIS 22957 (2d Cir. 1999)
and addresses of present and
former members of the Armed
Number of Times
Relied upon by Agency / Component
Total Number of
Times Relied upon
by Agency Overall
1
11 1 9
2
67 38
5 22
4
13 1 1 7 2
123
38 U.S.C. § 5705 38 U.S.C. § 7332
38 U.S.C. § 7451 26 U.S.C. § 6103
Forces and their dependents.
OSDBU
VBA
VHA
IG
Records created as part of a
Schulte & Sun-Sentinel Co. v. VA,
medical quality assurance program. No. 86-6251, slip op. at 3-4, 12
(S.D. Fla. Feb. 2, 1996)
OAL
VHA
OIT
Records of the identity, diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment of any patient or subject which are maintained in connection with the performance of any patient or subject which are maintained in connection with the performance of any program or activity relating to drug abuse, alcoholism, or alcohol abuse, infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or sickle cell anemia.
Palmer v. Derwinski, No. 91-197, slip op. at 3-4 (E.D. Ky, June 10, 1992)
Admin
VBA
VHA
Information collected in VA nurse and other health-care personnel wage surveys.
OAL
VHA
Certain tax return and tax convention information.
Church of Scientology v. IRS, 484 CFM U.S. 9, 15 (1987) and Tax Analysts v. IRS, 217 F. Supp. 2d 23, 27-29
1 2 87 31 2
71 59 10
1
2,369
5 2,363
1 2
1 1
15
(D.D.C. 2002)
OAL
VHA
Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e), enacted Certain records pertaining to grand by Act of July 30, 1977, Pub. jury proceedings L. No. 95-78, 91 Stat. 319
Sussman v. USMS, 494 F.3d 1106, IG 1113 (D.C. Cir. 2007); Fund for Constitutional Gov't v. Nat'l Archives & Records Serv., 656 F.2d 856, 867-68 (D.C. Cir. 1981); Durham v. U.S. Atty. Gen., No. 06843, 2008 WL 620744, at *2 (E.D. Tex. Mar. 3, 2008); Cozen O'Connor v. U.S. Dep't of Treasury, 570 F. Supp. 2d 749, 776 (E.D. Pa. 2008).
7 7 4
4
V.A. FOIA REQUESTS -- RECEIVED, PROCESSED AND PENDING FOIA REQUESTS
Agency / Component
Number of Requests Pending as of
Start of Fiscal Year
Number of Requests Received in Fiscal Year
Number of Requests Processed in Fiscal Year
Number of Requests Pending as of End of Fiscal Year
Admin
3
24
20
7
BVA
2
16
16
2
C&LA
2
34
33
3
CFM
71
75
75
71
GC
17
117
114
20
HRM
18
12
23
7
IG
16
369
360
25
MGMT
3
18
16
5
NCA
7
62
39
30
OAL
14
267
242
39
OASHRA
5
10
5
10
OASP&IA
9
16
8
17
ODASB
2
1
3
0
ODASIA
33
5
35
3
ODI
0
2
1
1
OF
0
21
20
1
OIT
34
259
255
38
ORM
2
29
30
1
OSDBU
3
19
18
4
OSP
0
5
5
0
P&P
1
2
2
1
PA
3
9
4
8
SEC
39
84
89
34
VBA
1,085
2,107
2,655
537
VHA
1,047
24,446
23,914
1,579
AGENCY OVERALL
2,416
28,009
27,982
2,443
Although VA indicated in its FY 2013 Annual Report a different number then above, the figure denoted in this chart is correct. The difference is attributed to the following: 1) in some instances the office did not show requests that were in fact completed in FY 2013 as completed in VA’s FOIA tracking system until after the FY 2013 report was finalized, and 2) there were some discrepancies in accounting.
V.B.(1). DISPOSITION OF FOIA REQUESTS -- ALL PROCESSED REQUESTS
Agency / Component
Number of Full Grants
Number Number of of Partial Full Denials Grants / Based on
Partial Exemptions Denials
No Records
Number of Full Denials Based on Reasons Other than Exemptions
All Records Referred to Request
Another Withdrawn Component or Agency
FeeRelated Reason
Records not Improper Reasonably FOIA Described Request
for Other Reason
Not Agency Record
Duplicate Request
Other *Explain in Chart Below
TOTAL
Admin
5
5
1
4
3
0
1
0
0
0
1
0
20
BVA
7
5
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
16
C&LA
4
0
0
28
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
33
CFM
12
17
7
8
0
9
15
0
0
0
7
0
75
GC
27
49
14
8
0
2
6
2
0
0
6
0
114
HRM
2
1
1
12
0
6
1
0
0
0
0
0
23
IG
32
214
39
47
5
5
1
3
0
11
3
0
360
MGMT
12
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
16
NCA
15
9
1
6
0
1
0
0
0
0
7
0
39
OAL
79
103
8
18
0
3
12
4
0
0
15
0
242
OASHRA
3
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
5
OASP&IA
5
1
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
8
ODASB
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
ODASIA
1
0
0
34
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
35
ODI
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
OF
12
1
0
0
0
7
0
0
0
0
0
0
20
OIT
58
38
18
51
0
32
5
12
0
0
41
0
255
ORM
5
8
12
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
30
OSDBU
4
4
0
4
0
3
3
0
0
0
0
0
18
OSP P&P PA SEC VBA VHA
AGENCY OVERALL
0 2 3 31 530 11,641
12,494
1 0 0 5 1,896 5,984
8,342
3 0 0 1 63 4,977
5,147
1 0 0 44 102 862
1,239
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
1
0
12
1
0
228
98
10
312
144
0
0
0
0
0
5
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
4
2
0
0
3
0
89
33
0
0
17
1 2,655
34
0
0
86
4 23,914
90
0
11
187
6 27,982
V.B.(2). DISPOSITION OF FOIA REQUESTS -- "OTHER" REASONS FOR "FULL DENIALS BASED ON REASONS OTHER THAN EXEMPTIONS"
Agency / Component
Description of "Other" Reasons for Denials from Chart B(1)
Number of Times "Other" Reason Was Relied Upon
TOTAL
ORM
Requestor died before request was completed
1 1
VBA
Subsumed by Litigation
1 1
VHA
AGENCY OVERALL
Requestor died before request was completed Subsumed by Litigation
3 4
1
6
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