(a) A request must explicitly state a willingness to pay all fees associated with processing the request, fees up to a specified amount, or a request for a fee waiver, if processing fees will likely exceed the statutory entitlements as defined in §1206.507(b) and (c).

(b) If the FOIA office determines that fees for processing the request will exceed the agreed upon amount or the statutory entitlements, the FOIA office will notify the requester that:

(1) He/she must provide assurance of payment for all anticipated fees or provide an advance payment if estimated fees are expected to exceed $250.00, or

(2) The FOIA office will not be able to fully comply with the FOIA request unless an assurance or advance payment as requested has been provided.

(3) He/she may wish to limit the scope of the request to reduce the processing fees.

(c) If the FOIA office does not receive a written response within 20 working days after requesting the information, it will presume the requester is no longer interested in the records requested and will administratively close the request without further notification.

(d) A commercial-use requester (as defined in§1206.507(c)(1)) must:

(1) State a willingness to pay all fess associated with processing a request; or

(2) State a willingness to pay fees to cover the costs of conducting an initial search for responsive records to determine a fee estimate.

(e) If a requester is only willing to pay a limited amount for processing a request and it is for more than one document, the requester must state the order in which he/she would like the request for records to be processed.

(f) If a requester is seeking a fee waiver, the request must include sufficient justification to substantiate a waiver. (See subpart E of this part for information on fee waivers.) Failure to provide sufficient justification will result in a denial of the fee waiver request.

(g) If a requester is seeking a fee waiver, he/she may also choose to state a willingness to pay fees in case the fee waiver request is denied in order to allow the FOIA office to begin processing the request while considering the fee waiver.

(h) If a fee is chargeable for search, review, duplication, or other costs incurred in connection with a request for an Agency record, the requester will be billed prior to releasing Agency documents. If the total amount of processing fees is under $50.00, the Agency will release the records when final processing is complete.

(1) If the exact amount of the fee chargeable is not known at the time of the request, the requester will be notified in the initial determination (or in a final determination in the case of an appeal) of the amount of fees chargeable.

(2) For circumstances in which advance payment of fees is required, the requester will be notified after the FOIA office has obtained an estimate of associated fees.

(i) The FOIA office will begin processing a request only after the request has been properly described in accordance with these regulations and fees have been resolved.

(j) If the requester is required to pay a fee and it is later determined on appeal that he/she was entitled to a full or partial fee waiver, a refund will be sent as appropriate.

(k) NASA may refuse to consider a waiver or reduction of fees for requesters (persons or organizations) from whom unpaid fees remain owed to the Agency for another information access request.

[79 FR 46678, Aug. 11, 2014, as amended at NASA-2019-0005, 84 FR 54775, Oct. 11, 2019]