GSA agrees to review steep fee after OGIS review

We have received a response from the Office of Government Information Services regarding the Freedom of Information Act request from GSA. Apparently GSA has agreed to review the request and the associated fees totaling $10,266. What the agency does remains to be seen, but their assertion that there is no public interest served in releasing the information is indefensible, particularly since all of the actions covered in the documentation took place outside the public arena and are essentially secret. I will be sending an inquiry to various GSA officials to see what they intend to do about this, hold the line with a constructive denial of the FOIA through punitive fees or release the information through the fee waiver, which I still firmly believe is justified based on the circumstances of this situation.

http://goo.gl/lsoUjU

(Originally posted March 26, 2014)