Today, we received a reply to our correspondence logs FOIA from USAID as an excel spreadsheet. This is only the second time we have gotten a reply in a format that can be uploaded and used to fulfill our goal of making the logs searchable using keywords. Here are the two replies we have received so far: from EPA(.xls) and USAID (.xls).

Just a quick update on how things are moving along: I’ve been asking FOIA officers from SBA, FERC and FTC to give us the logs in an electronic format and not as print outs. Although, as of now, it seems unlikely that we are going to get it in excel or a similar format. Most of these agencies use Lotus Notes or similar software that doesn’t allow then to import data into a spreadsheet (or that’s what I’m being told.)