• Appropriately scoping requests to determine responsiveness.
• Properly assessing requester fee categories, fee waiver issues, request type (simple versus complex) and salient legal issues which may affect processing.
• Appropriately referring requests to appropriate agency program offices or divisions.

• The ability to identify complex and sensitive requests early in the processing lifecycle and manage them accordingly.
• Assisting requesters in news media, academia, the legal community, industry and the general public in promptly responding to and resolving problems associated with submitted of FOIA requests.

• Working closely with agency SMEs and federal agency records officers, privacy officers, and IT staff at all levels in the development of System of Records Notices (SORNs), Privacy Act Impact Analyses, revisions of agency regulations and directives pertinent to the FOIA/PA and other statutory requirements.

Providing critical legal support in response to FOIA lawsuits, federal subpoenas, congressional inquiries, and discovery requests – In this age of increasing FOIA litigation, Panum’s FOIA analysts play a key role in the production of documents for FOIA lawsuits. Expert and timely processing of litigation records saves the government time and money by eliminating the need to spend appropriated funds on plaintiff’s attorney fees. Panum’s FOIA Analysts completed a litigation processing task at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and lead up the creation of a Vaughn Index, which ultimately settled a large FOIA lawsuit for the Bureau.

• The ability to manage large caseloads of simple and complex FOIA/PA requests and appeals and generating reports and statistical information.
• The ability to generate periodic (including DOJ-required Quarterly Reports, Annual FOIA Report, and the Chief FOIA Officer’s Report) and ad hoc statistical reports, from proprietary FOIA/PA management platforms or using raw data.
• Panum’s FOIA professionals process a wide range of FOIA requests at multiple federal agencies, at times performing cradle-to-grave processing and in other instances reviewing hundreds of thousands of agency records for release. Capturing component successes through periodic statistics-gathering and reporting assist FOIA offices measure their successes.

The ability to create tailored business applications, connect them to existing data sources or core business systems, and utilize these applications to improve overall efficiency in day-to-day operations is a goal most organizations strive to achieve. Panum understands the positive impact that effective data-driven application development, intelligent database design and implementation, and on-demand data analysis can have on an organization.

Our data management consulting services focus on enhancing our customer’s core business functionality by leveraging modern cloud platform data management and analysis solutions. Panum’s team will assist in evaluating and guiding the organization in utilizing new machine learning and Big Data processing.

• Applying the requirements and guidelines set forth by the Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), and the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS).
• Working with officials of these agencies regarding the interpretation of governing statutes and regulations.