{"id":797,"date":"2021-08-12T15:03:47","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T15:03:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oasisdiscovery.com\/ediscovery-unredacted\/?p=797"},"modified":"2021-08-12T15:03:48","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T15:03:48","slug":"how-ediscovery-tools-benefit-foia-requests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oasisdiscovery.com\/ediscovery-unredacted\/ediscovery\/how-ediscovery-tools-benefit-foia-requests\/","title":{"rendered":"How eDiscovery Tools Benefit FOIA Requests"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Any agency managing FOIA<\/a> (Freedom of Information Act) requests knows that the process\u2014from start to finish\u2014is not an easy one. Because these requests center around confidential information, security is of the utmost importance and must be inherent throughout the lifecycle. In addition to containing sensitive information and risk for leaking confidential government information to the public, they also appear in droves. In the last three fiscal years, federal agencies have processed over 2.4 million requests\u2014over 800,000 requests<\/a> each year. Backlogs have decreased slightly, yet FOIA requests seem to present a strenuous workload with no end in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why\nare FOIA requests such a tedious job? <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Beyond\nthe sheer volume of requests (which are added on to an agency\u2019s regular\nworkload), their complex requirements can be difficult to meet, especially\nwithin the twenty-day turnaround deadline. According to data\nprovided by FOIA.gov<\/a>,\n26% of requests (about 204,000) received no response in 2020, which the\ngovernment stated occurs when the requested information is not able to be found\nor has been backlogged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\nproduce a FOIA request response, thousands, if not millions of documents (and\ntheir metadata) must be sifted through to identify pertinent information and\nensure the exclusion of confidential information. Many of these documents come\nin different formats and have been scanned at low quality, ultimately reducing\nthe efficacy of manual review and bulk search. Plus, there are always a hefty number\nof redactions, which take a lot of time to find and exclude correctly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How\ncan eDiscovery tools help? <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

eDiscovery applications<\/a> were designed as a solution to\nthese specific problems: collection tools gather all the necessary data across\nvarious sources and formats, review tools standardize and sort them into more\neasily digestible sets, analytics tools help uncover the story within the data\nand ensure identification of similar content, and production tools package the\ndata into the desired formats for delivery. Compared to manual review, eDiscovery\ntools provide for a faster, more accurate, more secure, and automated review. To\nsave time, effort, and cost, using a collection of eDiscovery tools for\ncompleting FOIA requests proves to be highly advantageous to all FOIA-handling\nagencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

eDiscovery\ntools can:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n