American Small Business League v. United States Small Business Administration

Background

American Small Business League (ASBL) brought a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) located and produced records in its possession that responded to ASBL’s original request. The SBA provided the records in a comma-separated values (.csv) file, and the opinion states that ASBL had access to the information in that file.

ASBL sought additional relief, including records from the General Services Administration (GSA), a .bak file in addition to the .csv file, and records concerning the criteria used to determine or verify whether a business was “small.”

Court’s Analysis

The court held that an agency is required to produce only records in its possession. The SBA therefore was not required to request original records from the GSA or search GSA records for information that the SBA did not maintain.

The court also held that ASBL could not expand its original FOIA request after receiving the responsive records. The original request did not specify a desired file format, apart from asking that the records be contained in a single database to the extent possible. The court found that the format the SBA provided was not unworkable, so ASBL was not entitled to an additional .bak file.

The original request also did not mention records concerning the criteria used to determine or verify whether a business was small. The court additionally noted that the SBA stated it had no such records because it did not independently assess the size of the businesses reported in its yearly goaling or Scorecards.

Disposition

Judge Vince Chhabria granted the SBA’s motion for summary judgment and denied ASBL’s motion for summary judgment. The court concluded that the SBA had met ASBL’s original FOIA request and that no further relief was warranted.