Agencies Plan for Government-Wide FOIA Portal

Three federal agencies are creating a common web portal for Freedom of Information Act requests with the intention of launching it in fall 2012. The $1.3 million portal, being built mostly with funds from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Commerce Department, with some participation from NARA, could save the federal government $200 million over 5 years were it to be adopted government-wide, according to a NARA blog post.

In a Jan. 10 interview, NARA Office of Government Information Services Director Miriam Nisbet said the idea for the project originated with the Environmental Protection Agency, which about a year ago saw the possibility of using its already-developed Regulations.gov platform as a FOIA request portal...