171.14—Fees to be charged—general.
The Department shall seek to charge fees that recoup the full allowable direct costs it incurs in processing a FOIA request. It shall use the most efficient and least costly methods to comply with requests for documents made under the FOIA. The Department will 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. With the exception of requesters seeking documents for a commercial use, the Department will provide the first two hours of search time and the first 100 pages of duplication without charge. By making a FOIA request, the requester shall be considered to have agreed to pay all applicable fees up to $25.00 unless a fee waiver has been granted.
(a) Searches for responsive records.
If the Department estimates that the search costs will exceed $25.00, the requester shall be so notified. Such notice shall offer the requester the opportunity to confer with Department personnel with the object of reformulating the request to meet the requester's needs at a lower cost. The request shall not be processed further unless the requester agrees to pay the estimated fees. For both manual and computer searches, the Department shall charge the estimated direct cost of each search based on the average current salary rates of the categories of personnel doing the searches. Further information on search fees is available by clicking on “FOIA” at the Department's Web site at http://www.state.gov or directly at the FOIA home page at http://foia.state.gov.
(1) Manual searches.
The Department will charge at the salary rate (i.e., basic pay plus 16 percent of basic pay) of the employee making the search.
(2) Computer searches.
The Department will charge at 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 attributable to the search.
(b) Review of records.
Only requesters who are seeking documents for commercial use may be charged for time spent reviewing records to determine whether they are releasable. Charges may be assessed for the initial review only; i.e., the review undertaken the first time the Department analyzes the applicability of a specific exemption to a particular record or portion of a record.
(c) Duplication of records.
Records shall be duplicated at a rate of $.15 per page. For copies prepared by computer, such as tapes or printouts, the Department shall charge the actual cost, including operator time, of production of the tape or printout. For other methods of reproduction or duplication, the Department shall charge the actual direct costs of producing the document. If the Department estimates that the duplication costs will exceed $25.00, the requester shall be so informed. The request shall not be processed further unless the requester agrees to pay the estimated fees.
(d) Other charges.
The Department shall recover the full costs of providing services such as those enumerated below:
(f)
Payment shall be in the form either of a personal check or bank draft drawn on a bank in the United States, or a postal money order. Remittances shall be made payable to the order of the Treasury of the United States and mailed to the Information and Privacy Coordinator.
(g)
A receipt for fees paid will be given upon request. Refund of fees paid for services actually rendered will not be made.