Why FOIA Professionals Are Frustrated With Their Legacy FOIA Management Systems

In June 2024, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Advisory Committee released its final report and recommendations for the 2022-2024 term. Among the 15 formal recommendations is one that introduces several criticisms FOIA professionals had with their management systems.

These frustrations seem reasonable when you consider the clunky tools and multiple systems professionals juggle when responding to rising FOIA requests — which reached an all-time high of nearly 1.2 million requests in fiscal year 2023. However, advancements in technology, like the launch of Casepoint FOIA in January 2024, are transforming how agencies manage growing workloads.

Learn more about the pain points FOIA professionals have faced and how modern software like Casepoint FOIA can alleviate them.

During this term, the FOIA Advisory Committee had discussions with FOIA professionals in several federal agencies, all of whom expressed frustration with their respective FOIA case management systems.

5 Frustrations Reported by FOIA Professionals

The committee didn’t shy away from expressing the complaints expressed by FOIA professionals.

“During this term, the FOIA Advisory Committee had discussions with FOIA professionals in several federal agencies, all of whom expressed frustration with their respective FOIA case management systems,” according to the report in Recommendation 2024-11.

Outdated systems can be frustrating — yet it may surprise you to hear that every single professional wasn’t happy. Here are the five frustrations from the report.

1. Lack of Critical Features Creates System Inefficiencies

Manual processes and legacy systems can’t handle large data volumes or new data types. Some agencies have resorted to legacy FOIA solutions alongside their eDiscovery platform, but workflows are still inefficient, and several other problems represented on this list exacerbate the issues.

How does a modern application compare? Casepoint combined FOIA workflow tracking and management capabilities within its end-to-end AI-based eDiscovery platform. In a FedRAMP Moderate and FedRAMP High Authorized cloud platform, agencies can manage every part of the FOIA process efficiently. The Casepoint platform connects directly to more than 600 data sources in the cloud, pulling records directly into the system and finding relevant documents automatically via AI.

Features include categorizing and tagging documents using relevant metadata, automated notifications within the platform, AI-powered redactions, and easy-to-generate compliance reports. And there are several other ways Casepoint FOIA streamlines workflows and improves efficiency in a single platform.

2. Unlike Modern SaaS Solutions, Legacy FOIA Systems Have Frequent Downtime

Downtime for an outdated tool is in stark contrast to what agencies can expect with a modern platform. Casepoint’s service-level agreement for network and power uptime is an availability percentage of no less than 99.95% in each calendar month. The availability percentage is calculated from maximum uptime, including scheduled and unscheduled downtime, over an applicable month in its entirety.

3. Additional Financial Costs Without Enough Efficiency Value

Agencies that are using multiple tools to take care of FOIA as well as eDiscovery and other data discovery needs can easily spend more than they would for a more modern application. The specifics are difficult to speak to in detail, of course, but this response might indicate that the direct costs alone are not worth it — and the next complaint gets into some of the indirect costs.

4. Cost of Agency Labor Hours to Implement and Maintain a Legacy System

Inefficient and expensive solutions are enough to handle on their own. But agencies also have to come to terms with the extensive platform maintenance required, and the IT drain can be significant.

Things are different with an integrated, modern system. Maintenance is handled from Casepoint’s side, and that’s true as well for most of the initial phase. Casepoint’s implementation teams work with agencies to set up the platform and make sure everything is working properly.

5. Poor Customer Service

Unfortunately, poor support is rather common with legacy FOIA software. Casepoint has heard these frustrations from agency partners for quite some time, alongside insights for how FOIA applications should work. All of this feedback was implemented into the development process until Casepoint FOIA was unveiled at the beginning of 2024.

Customer service is a point of pride at Casepoint. Casepoint has a 0% customer churn rate for 2024 and is recognized by G2 as easiest to do business with (alongside other accolades, like leader and momentum leader). With Casepoint FOIA, agencies have access to dedicated experts and comprehensive resources to address any questions that may arise.

What’s Next for FOIA?

The five points of frustration in the previous section help pinpoint rather major parts of the FOIA case management landscape. But what does that mean moving forward? Let’s take a look at the recommendation from the committee and how Casepoint’s platform (which came after the timeframe of the report) fits in.

The Committee’s Recommendation

"We recommend that the Chief FOIA Officers (CFO) Council form a working group to analyze the interest in and the need for (1) a shared FOIA case management system and (2) a centralized record repository for use by federal agencies and the public," the committee said. "This working group shall draft a white paper of its findings and present it to the CFO Council within two years of its formation."

In the comment to this recommendation, the committee discussed the complaints about the case management systems and how all-inclusive tools might improve how agencies approach FOIA. The report also mentioned how a shared FOIA case management system existed in the past (FOIAonline), but was decommissioned in September 2023.

It will be interesting to track the progress of these recommendations, although any outcomes will take time. The findings are expected to be published within two years of the working group’s formation — if and when it is established.

We recommend that the Chief FOIA Officers (CFO) Council form a working group to analyze the interest in and the need for (1) a shared FOIA case management system and (2) a centralized record repository for use by federal agencies and the public. This working group shall draft a white paper of its findings and present it to the CFO Council within two years of its formation.

Modernizing FOIA Case Management

The committee’s focus on collaboration and centralization is logical and could help streamline a FOIA process that is only growing in volume and complexity. After all, manual processing methods and legacy systems aren’t efficient solutions.

Agencies don’t have to wait years for an answer. Casepoint FOIA has transformed how FOIA requests are handled, and collaboration and centralization are not exceptions. A realistic, tangible step in this direction has already been taken.

Casepoint’s platform allows agencies to create and update a FOIA Reading Room for a public repository of released documents. It acts as a public self-help area.

The FOIA Reading Room provides a central repository of publicly disclosed and searchable documents, improving efficiency and transparency while complying with FOIA requirements. It also alleviates the burden of administration by releasing commonly requested records, potentially reducing FOIA requests. Plus, the FOIA Reading Room is incorporated within Casepont’s powerful management and tracking system to offer many other powerful features in a single, FedRAMP Authorized platform.