ESI Retention Requirements for Federal Government

FOIA (Freedom of Information Act)

http://www.justice.gov/oip/amended-foia-redlined.pdf

The U.S. Government Freedom of Information Act (FOIA was originally enacted in 1966 to allow any person the right to request access to federal agency records maintained by agencies within the executive branch of the Federal Government.  Agencies are required to disclose records upon written request. The exception being those records that are protected from disclosure by any of the nine FOIA exemptions or by one of the three special law enforcement record exclusions. This right of access is enforceable in U.S. courts, since its enactment the FOIA statute has been amended several times.

The Electronic Freedom of Information Act (E-FOIA) Amendments of 1996 require agencies to provide the public with electronic access to any of their "Reading Room" records created by them since November 1, 1996. Each agency shall make available for public inspection and copying final opinions, including concurring and dissenting opinions, as well as orders, made in the adjudication of cases and a general index of the records.

Legislation authored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) which strengthens the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) was approved by the Senate on October 20, 2009 and is set to soon become law. Senator Leahy introduced the OPEN FOIA Act earlier this year, and pushed for its inclusion in the 2010 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, which was passed by the Senate by a vote of 79-19. The House of Representatives has already passed the bill, clearing the way for President Obama to sign it into law.
The OPEN FOIA Act will: 

• Restore and enforce meaningful deadlines for agency action under FOIA
• Impose real consequences on federal agencies for missing FOIA’s 20-day statutory deadline
• Clarify that FOIA applies to government records held by outside private contractors
• Establish a FOIA hotline service for all federal agencies
• Create a FOIA Ombudsman to provide FOIA requestors and federal agencies with a meaningful alternative to costly litigation

This new OPEN FOIA Act puts some real response deadlines and expectations into the Freedom of Information Act and how Federal Agencies manage their data.

Mimosa Live Content Archive Positions Government Agencies to Meet FOIA Requirements

The Mimosa NearPoint™ live content archive — email archiving, SharePoint archiving, file system archiving — ensures that electronic data from the most difficult to control agency data sources are effectively managed and available for FOIA inquiries at a moment's notice.

The NearPoint live content archive captures, indexes, manages retention policies and de-duplicates all Exchange, SharePoint and File System data into a single repository, keeping data secure and accessible for the period of time you set.

• Provides automated retention and disposition processes, making it easy to manage millions of records for compliance purposes
• Allows authorized self-service access by auditors for fast completion of complex searches across data repositories
• Native export capability allows for easy transport and analysis

With NearPoint, an agency can satisfy stringent FOIA requirements for their electronic data without crippling the current infrastructure environment — a “win-win” for IT administrators and compliance/legal departments alike.