§ 1301.6 - Responses to requests.

§ 1301.6 Responses to requests.

(a) Acknowledgements In general. TVA, to the extent practicable, will communicate with requesters having access to the Internet electronically, such as email.

(b) Acknowledgments of requests.

On receipt of a request, the FOIA Officer ordinarily shall send an acknowledgement letter to the requester which shall confirm the requester's agreement to pay fees under § 1301.10 and provide an assigned request number for further reference.

(b) Grants of requests. Ordinarily, TVA shall have twenty business days from when a request is received to determine whether to grant or deny the request. Once TVA makes a determination to grant a request in whole or in part, it shall notify the requester in writing. The FOIA Officer shall inform the requester in the notice of any fee charged under § 1301.10 and shall disclose records to the requester promptly on payment of any applicable fee, if the fee is equal to or more than $100. If the fee is less than $100, the FOIA officer shall disclose the records along with a statement of the fee. Records disclosed in part shall be marked or annotated to show the amount of information deleted unless doing so would harm an interest protected by an applicable exemption. The location of the information deleted also shall be indicated on the record, if technically feasible.

(c

TVA will acknowledge the request in writing and assign it an individualized tracking number if it will take longer than 10 working days to process. TVA will include in the acknowledgment a brief description of the records sought to allow requesters to more easily keep track of their requests.

(c) Estimated dates of completion and interim responses. Upon request, TVA will provide an estimated date by which the agency expects to provide a response to the requester. If a request involves a voluminous amount of material, or searches in multiple locations, TVA may provide interim responses, releasing the records on a rolling basis.

(d) Grants of requests. Once TVA determines it will grant a request in full or in part, it will notify the requester in writing. TVA will also inform the requester of any fees charged under § 1301.11 of this subpart and will disclose the requested records to the requester promptly upon payment of any applicable fees.

(e) Adverse determinations of requests. If TVA makes an adverse determination denying a request in any respect,

they shall

it will notify the requester of that determination in writing. Adverse determinations, or denials of requests,

consist of: a determination to withhold any requested record

include decisions that: the requested record is exempt, in whole or in part;

a determination that a

the request does not reasonably describe the records sought; the information requested is not a record subject to the FOIA; the requested record does not exist

or

, cannot be located

; a determination that a

, or has been destroyed; or the requested record is not readily reproducible in the form or format sought by the requester

; a determination that what has been requested is not a record subject to the FOIA; a determination on any disputed fee matter, including a denial of a request for a fee waiver; and a denial of a request for expedited treatment. The denial letter shall be signed by the FOIA Officer or the FOIA Officer's designee, and shall

. Adverse determinations also include denials involving fees or fee waiver matters or denials of requests for expedited processing. In the event of an adverse determination, TVA will inform the requester of the availability of its FOIA Public Liaison to offer assistance to requesters.

(f) Content of denial. The denial must be signed by the head of the agency or their designee and must include:

(1) The name and title or position of the person responsible for the denial;

(2) A brief statement of the

reason(s)

reasons for the denial, including any FOIA exemption applied by

TVA

the agency in denying the request;

(3) An estimate of the volume of any records or information withheld,

in

such as the number of pages or

in

some other reasonable form of estimation

. This estimate does not need to be provided

, although such an estimate is not required if the volume is otherwise indicated

through

by deletions marked on records that are disclosed in part

,

or if providing an estimate would harm an interest protected by an applicable exemption; and

(4) A statement that the denial may be appealed under § 1301.9(a) of this subpart, and a description of the appeal requirements

of § 1301.9.

.

(5) A statement notifying the requester of the assistance available from the agency's FOIA Public Liaison and the dispute resolution services offered by OGIS.

(g) Markings on released documents. Records disclosed in part must be marked clearly to show the amount of information deleted and the exemption under which the deletion was made unless doing so would harm an interest protected by an applicable exemption. The location of the information deleted must also be indicated on the record, if technically feasible.

(h) Use of record exclusions.

(1) In the event that TVA identifies records that may be subject to exclusion from the requirements of the FOIA pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(c), TVA will confer with the Department of Justice, Office of Information Policy, to obtain approval to apply the exclusion.

(2) If an exclusion is invoked, TVA will maintain an administrative record of the process of invocation and approval of the exclusion by OIP.