(a) In general. HUD will ordinarily respond to FOIA requests according to their order of receipt.

(b) Tracking number. FOIA requests will be logged in the order that they are received and be assigned a tracking number. A requester should use the tracking number to identify his or her request when contacting the FOIA office for any reason.

(c) Expedited processing.

(1) Requests and appeals will be taken out of order and given expedited treatment whenever it is determined that they involve:

(i) Circumstances in which the lack of expedited treatment could reasonably be expected to pose an imminent threat to the life or physical safety of an individual;

(ii) An urgency to inform the public about an actual or alleged Federal Government activity, if made by a person primarily engaged in disseminating information; or

(iii) The loss of substantial due process rights.

(2) A request for expedited processing may be made at the time of the initial request for records or at any later time. For a prompt determination, a request for expedited processing should be received by the proper office designated to receive FOIA requests as provided in §15.102.

(3) A requester who seeks expedited processing should submit a statement, certified to be true and correct to the best of that person's knowledge and belief, explaining in detail the basis for requesting expedited processing. For example, a requester who makes a request under paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section, if not a full-time member of the news media, should establish that he or she is a person primarily engaged in disseminating information, though it need not be his or her sole occupation. A requester making a request under paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section also should establish a particular urgency to inform the public about the government activity involved in the request, beyond the public's right to know about government activity generally. The formality of certification may be waived as a matter of administrative discretion.

(4) HUD will make a determination within 10 calendar days of receipt by the appropriate component of HUD, as provided in §15.103, whether to grant or deny a request for expedited processing and notify the requester of HUD's determination. FOIA requests accepted for expedited processing will be processed as soon as practicable and on a priority basis.

(d) Multitrack processing.

(1) For requests that do not qualify for expedited processing, HUD may use two or more processing tracks by distinguishing between simple and complex FOIA requests based on the following: The time and work necessary to process the FOIA request and the volume of agency records responsive to the FOIA request.

(2) When HUD uses multitrack processing, it may provide requesters in its slower track an opportunity to limit the scope of their requests in order to qualify for faster processing within the specified limits of HUD's faster track. When HUD chooses to provide this option, HUD will contact the requester by telephone, letter, or email, whichever is more efficient in each case.

[80 FR 49145, Aug. 17, 2015, as amended at 82 FR 3622, Jan. 12, 2017]