DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS (VET)
UNABLE TO DETERMINE AGENCY BACKLOG
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Recordkeeping Issues - At the request of VET, the
Archive limited the FOIA request to the Central Office at
the Department and limited the search of documents to only
those older than 30 days. The VA sent an acknowledgment letter
on March 13, 2003, which recognized the limited search and
also advised that the request was being forwarded to VET components.
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Ten Oldest - Nothing yet received. |
Workload Statistics - VET's reported statistics from
1998 through 2002 indicate that the agency has received an
increasing number of FOIA requests (up 611.22% from 210,371
in 1998 to 1,496,191 in 2002). The number processed each year
also has increased (up 613.67% from 208,740 processed in 1998
to 1,489,724 processed in 2002). VET's processing rate per
year -- a comparison of the number of requests processed to
the number received - increased from 99.22% in 1998 to 99.57%
in 2002. |
Backlog Statistics - VET's backlog of pending FOIA
requests has increased (from 12,361 FOIA requests pending
at the end of 1998 to 42,666 FOIA requests pending at the
end of 2002). VET's backlog as a percentage of FOIA requests
processed each year has decreased from 5.92% in 1998 to 2.86%
in 2002. Its backlog rate per year -- a comparison of the
number of requests pending at the end of the year to the number
received during that year -- has decreased from 10.23% in
1998 to 2.85% in 2002. |
Processing Time - VET reports that its median days
to process has ranged from 10-25 days over the 1998-2002 period.
The median days that backlogged requests have been pending
has ranged from 3-36 days in 2002. Expedited requests have
a median processing time range of 2-3 days over the 1998-2001
time period, with a range of 1-7 reported for 2002. |