(a) Board means the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.

(b) Agency means agency as defined in 5 U.S.C. 552(e).

(c) Executive Director means the Executive Director of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 8401(13) and as further described in 5 U.S.C. 8474.

(d) FOIA means Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552, as amended.

(e) FOIA Officer means the Board's Director of Administration or his or her designee.

(f) General Counsel means the General Counsel of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board.

(g) Working days or workdays means those days when the Board is open for the conduct of Government business, and does not include Saturdays, Sundays, and Federal holidays.

(h) Requester means a person making a FOIA request.

(i) Submitter means any person or entity which provides confidential commercial information to the Board. The term includes, but is not limited to, corporations, state governments, and foreign governments.

This subpart contains the regulations of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, implementing 5 U.S.C. 552. The regulations of this subpart describe the procedures by which records may be obtained from all organizational units within the Board and from its recordkeeper. Official records of the Board, except those already published in bulk by the Board, available pursuant to the requirements of 5 U.S.C. 552 shall be furnished to members of the public only as prescribed by this subpart. To the extent that it is not prohibited by other laws the Board also will make available records which it is authorized to withhold under 5 U.S.C. 552 whenever it determines that such disclosure is in the interest of the Thrift Savings Plan.

(a) The Board maintains a public reading area located in Room 4308, 1250 H Street, NW., Washington, DC. Reading area office hours are from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Monday through Friday. In the reading area, the Board makes available for public inspection and copying all of the material required by 5 U.S.C. 552(a)(2), including all documents published by the Board in the Federal Register which are currently in effect.

(b) The FOIA Officer shall maintain an index of Board regulations, directives, bulletins, and published materials.

(c) The FOIA officer shall also maintain a file open to the public, which shall contain copies of all grants or denials of FOIA requests, appeals, and appeal decisions by the General Counsel. The materials shall be filed by chronological number of request within each calendar year, indexed according to the exceptions asserted, and, to the extent feasible, indexed according to the type of records requested.

Requests for records that originated in another agency and that are in the custody of the Board may, in appropriate circumstances, be referred to that agency for consultation or processing, and the person submitting the request shall be so notified.

(a) A request made under the FOIA must be submitted in writing, addressed to: FOIA Officer, Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, 1250 H Street, NW., Washington, DC 20005. The words “FOIA Request” should be clearly marked on both the letter and the envelope.

(b) Each request must reasonably describe the record(s) sought, including, when known: Entity/individual originating the record, date, subject matter, type of document, location, and any other pertinent information which would assist in promptly locating the record(s). Each request should also describe the type of entity the requester is for fee purposes. See § 1631.11.

(c) When a request is not considered reasonably descriptive, or requires the production of voluminous records, or places an extraordinary burden on the Board, seriously interfering with its normal functioning to the detriment of the Thrift Savings Plan, the Board may require the person or agent making the FOIA request to confer with a Board representative in order to attempt to verify, and, if possible, narrow the scope of the request.

(d) Upon initial receipt of the FOIA request, the FOIA Officer will determine which official or officials within the Board shall have the primary responsibility for collecting and reviewing the requested information and drafting a proposed response.

(e) Any Board employee or official who receives a FOIA request shall promptly forward it to the FOIA Officer, at the above address. Any Board employee or official who receives an oral request made under the FOIA shall inform the person making the request of the provisions of this subpart requiring a written request according to the procedures set out herein.

The FOIA Officer shall have the authority to approve or deny requests received pursuant to these regulations. The decision of the FOIA Officer shall be final, subject only to administrative review as provided in § 1631.10.

(a) When the FOIA Officer receives a request which he or she, in good faith, believes is not reasonably descriptive, he or she will so advise the requester within five workdays. The time limit for processing such a request will not begin until receipt of a request which reasonably describes the records being sought.

(b) The FOIA Officer shall either approve or deny a reasonably descriptive request for records within 10 working days after receipt of the request unless additional time is required for one of the following reasons:

(1) It is necessary to search for and collect the requested records from other establishments that are separate from the office processing the request (e.g., the recordkeeper);

(2) It is necessary to search for, collect, and appropriately examine a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records which are demanded in a single request; or

(3) It is necessary to consult with another agency having a substantial interest in the determination of the request or to consult with two or more components of the Board having a substantial subject matter interest therein.

(c) When additional time is required for one of the reasons stated in paragraph (b) of this section, the FOIA Officer shall acknowledge receipt of the request within the 10 workday period and include a brief explanation of the reason for the delay, indicating the date by which a determination will be forthcoming. An extended deadline adopted for one of the reasons set forth above may not exceed 10 additional workdays.

(a) When a requested record has been identified and is available, the FOIA officer shall notify the person making the request as to where and when the record is available for inspection or that copies will be made available. The notification shall also advise the person making the request of any fees assessed under § 1631.13 of this part.

(b) A denial or partial denial of a request for a record shall be in writing signed by the FOIA Officer and shall include:

(1) The name and title of the person making the determination;

(2) A statement of fees assessed, if any; and

(3) A reference to the specific exemption under the FOIA authorizing the withholding of the record, and a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the record withheld; or

(4) If appropriate, a statement that, after diligent effort, the requested records have not been found or have not been adequately examined during the time allowed by § 1631.8, and that the denial will be reconsidered as soon as the search or examination is complete; and

(5) A statement that the denial may be appealed to the General Counsel within 30 calendar days of receipt of the denial or partial denial.

(c) If, after diligent effort, existing requested records have not been found, or are known to have been destroyed or otherwise disposed of, the FOIA Officer shall so notify the requester.

(a) There are four categories of FOIA requesters; commercial use requesters; representatives of news media; educational and noncommercial scientific institutions; and all other requesters. The Freedom of Information Reform Act of 1986 prescribes specific levels of fees for each of these categories:

(1) When records are being requested for commercial use, the fee policy of the Board is to levy full allowable direct cost of searching for, reviewing for release, and duplicating the records sought. Commercial users are not entitled to two hours of free search time, nor 100 free pages of reproduction of documents, nor waiver or reduction of fees, based on an assertion that disclosure would be in the public interest. The full allowable direct cost of searching for, and reviewing, records will be charged even if there is ultimately no disclosure of records. Commercial use is defined as a use that furthers the commercial trade or profit interests of the requester or person on whose behalf the request is made. In determining whether a requester falls within the commercial use category, the Board will look to the use to which a requester will put the documents requested.

(2) When records are being requested by representatives of the news media, the fee policy of the Board is to levy reproduction charges only, excluding charges for the first 100 pages. The phrase “representatives of the news media” refers to any person actively gathering news for an entity that is organized and operated to publish or broadcast news to the public. The term “news” means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news media entities include television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at large, and publishers of periodicals (but only in those instances where they can qualify as disseminators of news) who make their products available for purchase or subscription by the general public. These examples are not intended to be all-inclusive. As traditional methods of news delivery evolve (e.g. electronic dissemination of newspapers through telecommunications services), such alternative media would be included in this category. In the case of freelance journalists, they may be regarded as working for a news organization if they can demonstrate a solid basis for expecting publication through that organization, even though not actually employed by it. A publication contract would be the clearest proof, but the Board may also look to the past publication record of a requester in making this determination.

(3) When records are being requested by an educational or noncommercial scientific institution whose purpose is scholarly or scientific research, the fee policy of the Board is to levy reproduction charges only, excluding charges for the first 100 pages. The term “educational institution” refers to a preschool, a public or private elementary or secondary school, an institution of undergraduate higher education, an institution of graduate higher education, an institution of professional education, and an institution of vocational education, which operates a program or programs of scholarly research. The term “noncommercial scientific institution” refers to an institution that is not operated on a commercial basis as that term is defined under paragraph (a)(1) of this section and which is operated solely for the purpose of conducting scientific research, the results of which are not intended to promote any particular product or industry. To be eligible for inclusion in this category, a requester must show that the request is being made under the auspices of a qualifying institution and that the records are not sought for a commercial use, but are sought in furtherance of scholarly (if the request is from an educational institution) or scientific (if the request is from a noncommercial scientific institution) research.

(4) For any other request which does not meet the criteria contained in paragraphs (a) (1) through (3) of this section, the fee policy of the Board is to levy full reasonable direct cost of searching for and duplicating the records sought, except that the first 100 pages of reproduction and the first two hours of search time will be furnished without charge. If computer search time is required, the first two hours of computer search time will be based on the hourly cost of operating the central processing unit and the operator's hourly salary plus 16 percent. When the cost of the computer search, including the operator time and the cost of operating the computer to process the request, equals the equivalent dollar amount of two hours of the salary of the person performing the search, i.e., the operator, the Board shall begin assessing charges for computer search. Requests from individuals requesting records about themselves filed in the Board's systems of records shall continue to be treated under the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, which permit fees only for reproduction. The Board's fee schedule is set out in § 1631.14 of this part.

(b) Except for requests that are for a commercial use, the Board may not charge for the first two hours of search time or for the first 100 pages of reproduction. However, a requestor may not file multiple requests at the same time, each seeking portions of a document or documents, solely in order to avoid payment of fees. When the Board believes that a requester or, on rare occasions, a group of requesters acting in concert, is attempting to break a request down into a series of requests for the purpose of evading the assessment of fees, the Board may aggregate any such requests and charge accordingly. For example, it would be reasonable to presume that multiple requests of this type made within a 30 calendar day period had been made to avoid fees. For requests made over a long period, however, the Board must have a reasonable basis for determining that aggregation is warranted in such cases. Before aggregating requests from more than one requester, the Board must have a reasonable basis on which to conclude that the requesters are acting in concert and are acting specifically to avoid payment of fees. In no case may the Board aggregate multiple requests on unrelated subjects from one requester.

(c) In accordance with the prohibition of section (4)(A)(iv) of the Freedom of Information Act, as amended, the Board shall not charge fees to any requester, including commercial use requesters, if the cost of collecting a fee would be equal to or greater than the fee itself.

(1) For commercial use requesters, if the direct cost of searching for, reviewing for release, and duplicating the records sought would not exceed $25, the Board shall not charge the requester any costs.

(2) For requests from representatives of news media or educational and noncommercial scientific institutions, excluding the first 100 pages which are provided at no charge, if the duplication cost would not exceed $25, the Board shall not charge the requester any costs.

(3) For all other requests not falling within the category of commercial use requests, representatives of news media, or educational and noncommercial scientific institutions, if the direct cost of searching for and duplicating the records sought, excluding the first two hours of search time and first 100 pages which are free of charge, would not exceed $25, the Board shall not charge the requester any costs.

(a) The Board may waive all fees or levy a reduced fee when disclosure of the information requested is deemed to be in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the Board or Federal Government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requester. In making its decision on waiving or reducing fees, the Board will consider the following factors:

(1) Whether the subject of the requested records concerns the operations or activities of the Board or the Government,

(2) Whether the disclosure is likely to contribute to an understanding of Government operations or activities (including those of the Board),

(3) Whether the disclosure is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of TSP or Government operations or activities,

(4) Whether the requester has a commercial interest that would be furthered by the requested disclosure, and

(5) Whether the magnitude of the identified commercial interest of the requester is sufficiently large, in comparison with the public interest in disclosure, that disclosure is primarily in the commercial interest of the requester.

(b) A fee waiver request must indicate the existence and magnitude of any commercial interest that the requester has in the records that are the subject of the request.

(a) When the Board estimates or determines that allowable charges that a requester may be required to pay are likely to exceed $250.00, the Board may require a requester to make an advance payment of the entire fee before continuing to process the request.

(b) When a requester has previously failed to pay a fee charged in a timely fashion (i.e., within 30 calendar days of the date of the billing), the Board may require the requester to pay the full amount owed plus any applicable interest as provided in § 1631.14(d), and to make an advance payment of the full amount of the estimated fee before the agency begins to process a new request or a pending request from that requester.

(c) When the Board acts under paragraph (a) or (b) of this section, the administrative time limits prescribed in subsection (a)(6) of the FOIA (i.e., 10 working days from the receipt of initial requests and 20 working days from receipt of appeals from initial denial, plus permissible extensions of these time limits) will begin only after the Board has received fee payments under paragraph (a) or (b) of this section.

(a) Manual searches for records. The Board will charge at the salary rate(s) plus 16 percent (to cover benefits) of the employee(s) conducting the search. The Board may assess charges for time spend searching, even if the Board fails to locate the records or if records located are determined to be exempt from disclosure.

(b) Computer searches for records. The Board will charge the actual direct cost of providing the service. This will include the cost of operating the central processing unit (CPU) for that portion of operating time that is directly attributable to searching for records responsive to a FOIA request and operator/programmer salary, plus 16 percent, apportionable to the search. The Board may assess charges for time spent searching, even if the Board fails to locate the records or if records located are determined to be exempt from disclosure.

(c) Duplication costs. (1) For copies of documents reproduced on a standard office copying machine in sizes up to 81/2 × 14 inches, the charge will be $.15 per page.

(2) The fee for reproducing copies of records over 81/2 × 14 inches, or whose physical characteristics do not permit reproduction by routine electrostatic copying, shall be the direct cost of reproducing the records through Government or commercial sources. If the Board estimates that the allowable duplication charges are likely to exceed $25, it shall notify the requester of the estimated amount of fees, unless the requester had indicated in advance his/her willingness to pay fees as those anticipated. Such a notice shall offer a requester the opportunity to confer with agency personnel with the objective of reformulating the request to meet his/her needs at a lower cost.

(3) For copies prepared by computer, such as tapes or printouts, the Board shall charge the actual cost, including operator time, of producing the tape or printout. If the Board estimates that the allowable duplication charges are likely to exceed $25, it shall notify the requester of the estimated amount of fees, unless the requester has indicated in advance his/her willingness to pay fees as high as those anticipated. Such a notice shall offer a requester the opportunity to confer with agency personnel with the objective of reformulating the request to meet his/her needs at a lower cost.

(4) For other methods of reproduction or duplication, the Board shall charge the actual direct costs of producing the document(s). If the Board estimates that the allowable duplication charges are likely to exceed $25, it shall notify the requester of the estimated amount of fees, unless the requester has indicated in advance his/her willingness to pay fees as high as those anticipated. Such a notice shall offer a requester the opportunity to confer with agency personnel with the objective of reformulating the request to meet his/her needs at a lower cost.

(d) Interest may be charged to those requesters who fail to pay fees charged. The Board may begin assessing interest charges on the amount billed starting on the 31st calendar day following the day on which the billing was sent. Interest will be at the rate prescribed in section 3717 of title 31 of the United States Code, and it will accrue from the date of the billing.

(e) The Board shall use the most efficient and least costly methods to comply with requests for documents made under the FOIA. The Board may choose to contract with private sector services to locate, reproduce, and disseminate records in response to FOIA requests when that is the most efficient and least costly method. When documents responsive to a request are maintained for distribution by agencies operating statutory-based fee schedule programs, such as, but not limited to, the Government Printing Office or the National Technical Information Service, the Board will inform requesters of the steps necessary to obtain records from those sources.

(a) In general, all records of the Board are available to the public, as required by the Freedom of Information Act. However, the Board claims the right, where it is applicable, to withhold material under the provisions specified in the Freedom of Information Act as amended (5 U.S.C. 552(b)).

(b) Records from non-U.S. Government source. (1) Board personnel will generally consider two exemptions in the FOIA in deciding whether to withhold from disclosure material from a non-U.S. Government source.

Exemption 4 permits withholding of “trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person as privileged or confidential.” Exemption 6 permits withholding certain information, the disclosure of which “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

(2)(i) Exemption 4. Commencing January 1, 1988, the submitter of confidential commercial information must, at the time the information is submitted to the Board or within 30 calendar days of such submission, designate any information the disclosure of which the submitter claims could reasonably be expected to cause substantial competitive harm. The submitter as part of its submission, must explain the rationale for the designation of the information as commercial and confidential.

(ii) Confidential commercial information means records provided to the Board by a submitter that arguably contains material exempt from release under Exemption 4 of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4), because disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause substantial competitive harm.

(iii) After January 1, 1988, a submitter who does not designate portions of a submission as confidential commercial information waives that basis for nondisclosure unless the Board determines that it has substantial reason to believe that disclosure of the requested records would result in substantial harm to the competitive position of the submitter.

(3) When the Board determines that it has substantial reason to believe that disclosure of the requested records would result in substantial competitive harm to the submitter, and has no designation from the submitter, it shall notify the submitter of the following:

(i) That a FOIA request has been received seeking the record,

(ii) That disclosure of the record may be required,

(iii) That disclosure of the record could result in competitive harm to the submitter,

(iv) That the submitter has a period of seven workdays from date of notice within which it or a designee may object to the disclosure its records, and

(v) That a detailed explanation should be submitted setting forth all grounds as to why the disclosure would result in substantial competitive harm, such as, the general custom or usage in the business of the information in the record, the number and situation of the persons who have access to the record, the type and degree of risk of financial injury that release would cause, and the length of time the record needs to be kept confidential.

(4) In exceptional circumstances, the Board may extend by seven workdays the time for a submitter's response for good cause.

(5) The Board shall give careful consideration to all specified grounds for nondisclosure prior to making an administrative determination on the issue of competitive harm.

(6) Should the Board determine to disclose the requested records, it shall provide written notice to the submitter, explaining briefly why the submitter's objections were not sustained and setting forth the date for disclosure, which date may be less than 10 calendar days after the date of the letter to the submitter.

(7) A submitter who provided records to the Board prior to January 1, 1988, and did not designate which records contain confidential commercial information, shall be notified as provided in § 1631.15(b)(3). After making such notification, the Board will follow the procedures set forth in § 1631.15(b)(4)-(6).

(8) The Board will, as a general rule, look favorably upon recommendations for withholding information about ideas, methods, and processes that are unique; about equipment, materials, or systems that are potentially patentable; or about a unique use of equipment which is specifically outlined.

(9) The Board will not withhold information that is known through custom or usage in the relevant trade, business, or profession, or information that is generally known to any reasonably educated person. Self-evident statements or reviews of the general state of the art will not ordinarily be withheld.

(10) The Board will withhold all cost data submitted, except the total estimated costs from each year of a contract. It will release these total estimated costs and ordinarily release explanatory material and headings associated with the cost data, withholding only the figures themselves. If a contractor believes that some of the explanatory material should be withheld, that material must be identified and a justification be presented as to why it should not be released.

(11) Exemption 6. This exemption is not a blanket exemption for all personal information submitted by a non-U.S. Government source. The Board will balance the need to keep a person's private affairs from unnecessary public scrutiny with the public's right to information on Board records. As a general practice, the Board will release information about any person named in a contract itself or about any person who signed a contract as well as information given in a proposal about any officer of a corporation submitting that proposal. Depending upon the circumstances, the Board may release most information in resumes concerning employees, including education and experience. Efforts will be made to identify information that should be deleted and offerors are urged to point out such material for guidance. Any information in the proposal, such as the names of staff persons, which might, if released, constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy if released should be identified and a justification for non-release provided in order to receive proper consideration.

The Freedom of Information Act exempts from all of its publication and disclosure requirements nine categories of records which are described in 5 U.S.C. 552(b). These categories include such matters as national defense and foreign policy information, investigatory files, internal procedures and communications, materials exempted from disclosure by other statutes, information given in confidence and matters involving personal privacy.

Where requested records contain matters which are exempted under 5 U.S.C. 552(b) but which matters are reasonably segregable from the remainder of the records, they shall be disclosed by the Board with deletions. To each such record, the Board shall attach a written justification for making deletions. A single such justification shall suffice for deletions made in a group of similar or related records.

The Executive Director shall submit annually, on or before March 1, a Freedom of Information report covering the preceding calendar year to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate. The report shall include those matters required by 5 U.S.C. 552(d).

This subpart contains the regulations of the Board concerning procedures to be followed when a subpoena, order, or other demand (hereinafter in this subpart referred to as a “demand”) of a court or other authority is issued for the production or disclosure of:

(a) Any material contained in the files of the Board;

(b) Any information relating to materials contained in the files of the Board; or

(c) Any information or material acquired by an employee of the Board as a part of the performance of his or her official duties or because of his or her official status.

No employee or former employee of the Board shall, in response to a demand of a court or other authority, produce any material contained in the files of the Board or disclose any information or produce any material acquired as part of the performance of his or her official status without the prior approval of the Executive Director or his or her designee.

(a) Whenever a demand is made upon an employee or former employee of the Board for the production of material or the disclosure of information described in § 1631.31, he or she shall immediately notify the Executive Director or his or her designee. If possible, the Executive Director or his or her designee shall be notified before the employee or former employee concerned replies to or appears before the court or other authority.

(b) If response to the demand is required before instructions from the Executive Director or his or her designee are received, an attorney designated for that purpose by the Board shall appear with the employee or former employee upon whom the demand has been made and shall furnish the court or other authority with a copy of the regulations contained in this part and inform the court or other authority that the demand has been or is being, as the case may be, referred for prompt consideration by the Executive Director or his or her designee. The court or other authority shall be requested respectfully to stay the demand pending receipt of the requested instructions from the Executive Director.

If the court or other authority declines to stay the effect of the demand in response to a request made in accordance with § 1631.32(b) pending receipt of instructions from the Executive Director, or his or her designee, or if the court or other authority rules that the demand must be complied with irrespective of the instructions from the Executive Director not to produce the material or disclose the information sought, the employee or former employee upon whom the demand has been made shall respectfully decline to comply with the demand. [United States ex. rel. Touhy v. Ragen, 340 U.S. 462 (1951)].