82 FR 37545 - Public Availability of Government Accountability Office Records

GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 154 (August 11, 2017)

These proposed revisions would clarify procedures to obtain Government Accountability Office (GAO) records. Specifically, the proposed revisions would add procedures for requesting records of GAO's Office of Inspector General. The proposed revisions would also clarify that documents prepared by GAO or GAO's Office of Inspector General for referral to another agency for law enforcement purposes are not subject to the regulations in this Part. The existing regulatory language on this point is imprecise.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 154 (Friday, August 11, 2017)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 37545-37546]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-16986]


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Proposed Rules
                                                Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.

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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 154 / Friday, August 11, 2017 / 
Proposed Rules

[[Page 37545]]



GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

4 CFR Part 81


Public Availability of Government Accountability Office Records

AGENCY: Government Accountability Office.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: These proposed revisions would clarify procedures to obtain 
Government Accountability Office (GAO) records. Specifically, the 
proposed revisions would add procedures for requesting records of GAO's 
Office of Inspector General. The proposed revisions would also clarify 
that documents prepared by GAO or GAO's Office of Inspector General for 
referral to another agency for law enforcement purposes are not subject 
to the regulations in this Part. The existing regulatory language on 
this point is imprecise.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 25, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
    Email: [email protected].
    Mail: Government Accountability Office, Office of the General 
Counsel, Attn: Legal Services, Room 7838, 441 G Street NW., Washington, 
DC 20548.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John A. Bielec, Assistant General 
Counsel, 202-512-2846.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: GAO is not subject to the Administrative 
Procedure Act and accordingly is not required by law to seek comments 
before issuing a final rule. However, GAO has decided to invite 
interested persons to participate in this rulemaking by submitting 
written comments regarding the proposed revisions. Application of the 
Administrative Procedure Act to GAO is not to be inferred from this 
invitation for comments.
    GAO will consider all comments received on or before the closing 
date for comments. GAO may change the proposed revisions based on the 
comments received.
    GAO proposes to amend section 81.2 by specifically providing that 
GAO's Office of Inspector General (OIG) will process any requests under 
this Part for OIG records. The OIG, which was established by statute in 
2008, audits and investigates matters related to GAO's operations. The 
OIG executes its responsibilities independently of and free from 
interference or control by any other office or body within GAO. In 
keeping with and to best preserve this independence, the OIG itself 
should process requests for its records. In doing so, consistent with 
its independent role and section 81.5(a), when the OIG receives a 
request for records that originated in GAO, the OIG will refer the 
requester to GAO. These revisions would provide that with respect to 
any request for OIG records, throughout this Part the term ``Counsel to 
the Inspector General'' would be substituted for ``Chief Quality 
Officer'' and the term ``Inspector General'' would be substituted for 
``Comptroller General''.
    In addition, paragraph 81.6(g) would be amended to clarify that 
documents prepared by GAO for referral to another agency for law 
enforcement purposes are exempt from the procedures in this Part. 
Paragraph 81.6(g) currently provides that records that GAO has already 
provided to another agency for law enforcement purposes are exempt. 
However, paragraph 81.6(g) does not specifically address requests for 
records that GAO, including the OIG, created for referral to another 
agency for law enforcement purposes, but has not yet provided to 
another agency. For instance, during an investigation into possible 
criminal activity, the GAO OIG creates documents that may be forwarded 
to another agency for law enforcement purposes at the conclusion of the 
OIG's investigation. The current regulations are unclear as to whether 
such records, which have not yet been forwarded to another agency, 
would be subject to this Part if requested before the conclusion of the 
investigation. The proposed changes would clarify that records compiled 
for referral to another agency for law enforcement purposes are exempt 
from this Part.

List of Subjects in 4 CFR Part 81

    Administrative practice and procedure, Archives and records, 
Freedom of information, Requests for records.
    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Government 
Accountability Office proposes to amend 4 CFR part 81 as follows:

PART 81--PUBLIC AVAILABILITY OF GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 
RECORDS

0
1. The authority citation for part 81 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  31 U.S.C. 711.

0
2. Amend Sec.  81.2 as follows:
0
a. redesignate the existing text as paragraph (a);
0
b. add paragraph (b) to read as follows:


Sec.  81.2  Administration.

* * * * *
    (b) Requests for records of GAO's Office of Inspector General (OIG) 
shall be processed by the Counsel to the Inspector General in 
accordance with this Part. The Inspector General will decide any 
administrative appeals of decisions of the Counsel to the Inspector 
General concerning such requests. Accordingly, with regard to any 
public request to inspect or copy records of the OIG, in this Part the 
term ``Counsel to the Inspector General'' is to be substituted for 
``Chief Quality Officer'' and the term ``Inspector General'' is to be 
substituted for ``Comptroller General''. All requests to inspect or 
obtain a copy of an identifiable record of the OIG must be submitted in 
writing to the Counsel to the Inspector General, U.S. Government 
Accountability Office, Suite 1808, 441 G Street NW., Washington, DC 
20548 or emailed to [email protected].
0
3. Amend Sec.  81.6 by revising paragraph (g) to read as follows:


Sec.  81.6  Records which may be exempt from disclosure.

* * * * *
    (g) Records compiled for law enforcement purposes that originate in 
another agency, or records prepared for referral to and/or provided by 
GAO or the OIG to another agency for law enforcement purposes.
* * * * *


[[Page 37546]]


    Dated July 27, 2017.
Susan A. Poling,
General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2017-16986 Filed 8-10-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 1610-02-P