Transforming FOIA: How eDiscovery Technology Puts Agencies Back in Control

The future of FOIA is overdue for an upgrade. After all, FOIA professionals are struggling to meet the demands and scrutiny from the public, media, Congress, and watchdog groups.

A lot of pressure is placed on staff performance, but that ignores the real problem with FOIA management — unrealistic expectations. How are FOIA teams supposed to function effectively across siloed systems while working on documents with tools not designed for drastic increases in scale and complexity?

It's time for a more innovative, scalable approach. That's why OPEXUS + Casepoint is coming together to amplify productivity and efficiency. Leveraging eDiscovery can help meet these challenges head-on.

What Are the Major Challenges Facing FOIA Professionals?

1. Inordinate Workloads

This would represent a major concern if the conversation was only concerning recent staffing attrition and cuts. But the discussion is much bigger than that.

The number of requests that federal agencies receive is another independent factor that exacerbates FOIA professionals’ workloads. According to the 2024 Annual FOIA Report Summary, the total number of FOIA requests received reached 1.5 million in fiscal year 2024 (FY 2024). That’s a 25.15% increase from FY 2023 and a cumulative 61.73% from FY 2022, and 43% of agencies received more than double the requests in FY 2024 than they received in FY 2023. 

2. Size and Type of Data

The massive increase in data volumes that FOIA teams receive tends to get most of the attention.

However, increases in data also relate to the variety of data types and the complexity of requests. Many of those complex requests require deeper review, analysis, and culling, which is overly time- and resource-intensive. 

3. Access to Records

Providing access to information and documents is at the core of what FOIA is about. Yet, FOIA professionals spend a disproportionate share of the FOIA timeline waiting for record custodians to provide the requested data to them.

At many agencies, the delay from record custodians on its own exceeds the 20-day rule, which requires agencies to respond to FOIA requests within 20 business days. The request for document completion time often takes months, and in some cases, years.

Revolutionizing the FOIA Landscape: Bringing eDiscovery to FOIA Teams

FOIA professionals shouldn't have to depend on outside teams and disconnected, underpowered tools. That's the old way of doing things and it's clearly not working, given the demands of modern FOIA programs.

In recent years, FOIA teams have turned to eDiscovery systems to manage growing data volumes, handle increasingly complex data types, and take advantage of AI and analytics for faster, more cost-effective processing. In other words, eDiscovery software gives FOIA teams the strength, speed, security, and functionality needed to keep up with the FOIA environment.

Take a closer look at how the combination of FOIA and eDiscovery technologies can prepare agencies for the FOIA landscape we’re actually living in.

How eDiscovery Technology Modernizes FOIA Management

Combining the power of eDiscovery with trusted FOIA workflows gives professionals what they’ve never had before — modern technology for every step of the process.

Step 1: Finding Records

Existing Problem: Obtaining documents from owners is time-consuming, and finding information is difficult because there’s no way to search content within documents.

Solution: With eDiscovery functionality, technology locates responsive records in minutes — not weeks or months. Connectors pull documents automatically from their native location, whether it's SharePoint, Google Drive, Box, or somewhere else. Robust content-level search capabilities take it a step further, quickly locating specific information within documents, instead of by file name alone.

Step 2: Reviewing Records

Existing Problem: Tools aren’t built to handle today’s file types and volumes. It’s difficult to redact files in one location and figure out lengthy email chains and poor optical character recognition (OCR).

Solution: Reviewing and redacting documents now takes place in a modern, intuitive, one-stop platform that accelerates FOIA processing times. eDiscovery technology makes it easy to generate transcripts, manipulate documents, and redact sensitive information, while supporting more than 600 native file types.

Step 3: Responding to Requests

Existing Problem: New requests are oftentimes redundant to previous requests. Rewriting requests from scratch risks inconsistency and legal exposure.

Solution: Producing consistent responses to similar requests is simplified. Teams create production packages into FOIA workflows from the eDiscovery environment, eliminating the need to reinvent the wheel — and protecting agencies from losing their credibility.

Step 4: Reporting on Activity

Existing Problem: Intense public scrutiny and criticism can rise to the risk of suggesting personal liability for FOIA staff. FOIA teams need transparent and defensible proof that they acted according to protocol and in good faith.

Solution: Automatically generated activity data safeguards FOIA teams. Every action in the eDiscovery environment is logged automatically. From document history reports to audit trails for redactions, FOIA staff will always be audit-ready with the defensible data to back up their work.

The FOIA Landscape Needs Technology To Keep Up

Combining FOIA workflows with powerful eDiscovery technology can address immediate backlog issues and ensure the long-term sustainability of FOIA programs.

FOIA professionals will be able to leverage AI-assisted review, modern data connectors, and sophisticated analytics tools. Agencies can better fulfill their statutory obligations while providing the transparency that citizens deserve, reducing litigation risk, allowing FOIA offices to meet their commitments with lean teams, and meeting regulatory requirements like FOIA reporting and compliance practices.

All with unparalleled efficiency and security.