August 1, 2007


 Mr. Clay Johnson, III
 Chair, President’s Management Council
  Washington, DC 20503

SUBJECT:  Executive Order 13,392 - Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Improvement Plan



 
 
All federal agencies are required to provide to the President’s Management Council an updated status report regarding corrective actions taken, or to be taken, regarding each reported deficiency in meeting one or more milestones in implementing their FOIA Improvement Plans.  The purpose of this letter is to update on the status of deficiencies contained in the Postal Service’s FOIA Annual Report.
 
The Postal Service met nearly all of the goals and milestones established in the report submitted in response to Executive Order 13,392 that were to be completed by February 1, 2007.  Two milestones were not completed on time, as described in Section XII.C of the USPS FOIA Annual Report.  The milestones that were not completed on time are found at Sections E.5.1 and E.18.4 of the Plan.  A description of each deficient milestone and its status is listed below:
 
Milestone E.5.1

1. FOIA Processing and Tracking
2. Designate the Records Office to either receive FOIA requests, or be copied on FOIA requests, for USPS records except for records under the designation of USPS Inspector General and the Chief Postal Inspector by updating the USPS FOIA Reference Guide.  This milestone was due for completion in October 2006 and has not been met.  
3. The decision was made to designate the Records Office as the recipient of all FOIA requests.  The draft changes to the Postal Service’s FOIA Reference Guide, titled AS353 Handbook, Guide to Privacy and the Freedom of Information Act, were completed and submitted for approval through the established clearance process on May 3, 2007.  
4. Once the updated Reference Guide has been approved for publication, the updated FOIA Reference Guide will be submitted to our Information Policies & Procedures department for republication.  Republication of the FOIA Reference Guide is targeted for completion by September 30, 2007.        
 




Milestone E.18.4

1. FOIA Program
2. Train Records Office staff and FOIA Coordinators on electronic Records Information System as a research tool to identify records custodians.  This milestone was due for completion December 2006 and was not met.  
3. This milestone was completed in April 2007. To complete this task, a memo was sent to all Headquarters records custodians by the Chief FOIA Officer to request that one or more FOIA Coordinators be designated for their functional areas for the purpose of assisting in coordinating and responding to FOIA requests (February 2007).  A list of the newly appointed HQ FOIA Coordinators and their contact information was posted to our internal website (May 2007).  A power point presentation was prepared for training purposes.  In April 2007, training was provided to the HQ FOIA Coordinators in three sessions.  The training covered procedural aspects of the FOIA, EO 13,392, records schedules (eRIMS) and coordinator duties.  The training presentation was posted to our internal website for future reference.  Additionally, a slide presentation was prepared and presented to newly appointed field FOIA Coordinators in April 2007, and covered procedural aspects of the FOIA, EO 13,392, records schedules (eRIMS) and coordinator duties.
4. No additional steps are necessary.
 
Please direct any questions you may have concerning the USPS FOIA Report and Implementation Plan to Ms. Jane Eyre, Manager, Records Office, at (202) 268-2144.  



Delores Killette
Consumer Advocate and Chief FOIA Officer