Governor Kathy Hochul on 14th March 2020 announced that New York State is moving forward with improvements to the process of responding to public records requests. She has directed the New York State Office of Information Technology Services to issue a Request for Quotes to secure a software platform which will accelerate and streamline the State's process for receiving, processing and responding to Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests. This is to build on efforts announced in October to streamline the process, including directing agencies to proactively post commonly-requested documents online and allowing agencies to respond to FOIL requests without Executive Chamber review. The announcement comes during Sunshine Week, an opportunity to spotlight efforts to increase openness and transparency in government.
The Office of Information Technology Services took the next step in the procurement process by issuing an RFQ for a software platform which will serve to accelerate and streamline the State's process for receiving, processing and responding to FOIL requests. Such a software platform will be a major step toward increasing transparency and timely access to public records. The new software platform will use technology to streamline the receipt, processing and response to FOIL requests, thus allowing a more efficient and expeditious process. Now that the RFQ is issued, ITS expects a contract to be finalized in the coming weeks.
This announcement is the latest effort from Governor Hochul to increase transparency, accountability and ethics in state government. Weeks after taking office, Governor Hochul publicly released transparency plans from more than 70 state agencies, recusal policies for top State officials, and instituted new human resources policies to protect employees across state government and within the Executive Chamber from discrimination and harassment.
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