Title 21

SECTION 1401.11

1401.11 Fees to be charged - general.

§ 1401.11 Fees to be charged - general.

ONDCP will assess a fee to process FOIA requests in accordance with the provisions of this section and Uniform Freedom of Information Fee Schedule and Guidelines published by the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB Guidelines”). ONDCP shall ensure that searches, review and duplication are conducted in the most efficient and the least expensive manner. ONDCP will ordinarily collect all applicable fees before sending copies of records to a requester. ONDCP will charge the following fees unless a waiver or reduction of fees is granted under § 1401.15, or the total fee to be charged is less than $25.00. ONDCP will notify you if we estimate that charges will exceed $25.00 including a breakdown of the fees for search, review or duplication and whether applicable entitlements to duplication and search at no charge have been provided. ONDCP will not process your request until you either commit in writing to pay the actual or estimated total fee, or designate some amount of fees you are willing to pay.

(a) Search for records. ONDCP will charge $77.00 per hour, which is a blended hourly rate for all personnel that respond to FOIA requests plus 16 percent of that rate to cover benefits.

(b) Review of records. ONDCP will charge $77.00 per hour, which is a blended hourly rate for all personnel that responded to FOIA requests plus 16 percent of that rate to cover benefits. Records or portions of records withheld under an exemption subsequently determined not to apply may be reviewed to determine the applicability of exemptions not considered. The cost for a subsequent review is assessable.

(c) Duplication of records. We will charge duplication fees to all requesters. We will honor your preference for receiving a record in a particular format if we can readily reproduce it in the form or format requested. If we provide photocopies, we will make one copy per request at the cost of $.10 per page. For copies of records produced on tapes, disks or other media, we will charge the direct costs of producing the copy, including operator time. Where we must scan paper documents in order to comply with your preference to receive the records in an electronic format, we will charge you the direct costs associated with scanning those materials. For other forms of duplication, we will charge the direct costs. We will provide the first 100 pages of duplication (or the cost equivalent for other media) without charge except for requesters seeking records for a commercial use.

(d) Other charges. ONDCP will recover the costs of providing other services such as certifying records or sending records by special methods.

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