TTAC Files FOIA Request for Model ID on Fed's 27,205 Bailout Buy

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Earlier this afternoon, I filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with Uncle Sam re: the Stimulus Package spending on 27,205 Chrysler, Ford and GM vehicles. What we want to know: the models purchased. Why we want to know it: is Uncle Sam spending U.S. bailout bucks to purchase vehicles made outside of the United States? And how fuel efficient are these vehicles? As saving jobs and the environment were the two rationales behind the authorization, we feel the government should reveal this information. So far the GSA, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Jack Reed (one of RF’s RI homies) have either ignored or flat out denied our request. So I’ve filed the FOIA request using my own name/address as follows:

Under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. subsection 552, I am requesting the following information:

A “vehicle-by-vehicle report including the year, manufacturer, model, and combined fuel economy for the new and replaced vehicle, along with the percent improvement for the entire procurement” identified by Agency Bureau Code (023-05), and TAFS (47-4543 2009 \ 2010).

This specific information is promised at the recovery.org GSA Program Plan site for the Energy-Efficient Federal Motor Vehicle Fleet Procurement. The procurement took place on June 1, 2009 according to the GSA Recovery Plan Weekly Financial And Activity Report for the week ending June 5, 2009. The procurement amounted to an obligation of $287,512,450. The Financial and Activity Report for the week ending June 12 reveals that “GSA is beginning to receive the new vehicles.”

Thank you.

Relevant links:


http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/program-plan&program_id=7628


http://www.recovery.gov/sites/default/files/financial_and_activity_report_20090609GSA.xls

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Edward Niedermeyer Edward Niedermeyer on Jun 18, 2009

    holydonut: GSA FOIA has a handy online form. We've received confirmation of our request, and we'll be hearing back by the 16th of July at the latest.

  • Holydonut Holydonut on Jun 18, 2009

    Edward: The interesting part is when they ask you how much in fees you're willing to pay. I bet in your case the required fee will automatically be $0.01 greater than whatever you entered.

  • Conslaw Conslaw on Jun 18, 2009

    You may find out that there isn't a global list at all at this point. The GSA probably conveyed to the individual agency the conditional approval of X cars per agency or office, and left it to the office to select the vehicle. They might have certain purchasing guidelines. This is the type of document that is likely to be available from the GSA publicly either on their website or at a "reading room". The GSA might eventually compile a list, but by the time they do, the list is likely to be stale. One of the most interesting things that you might turn up is the incremental amount of vehicle spending above and beyond what would be ordinary for these agencies.

  • Conslaw Conslaw on Jun 18, 2009

    If they don't have "mobile performance rights", why can millions of Sirius and XM car radios access the service? How about users of mobile XM receivers like the XMP3, Pioneer Inno and Samsung Helix? I have a Samsung Helix, and I receive all of the XM channels. For what it's worth, I find it cheaper to carry the helix and a pay-as-you go phone than go the iPhone route. My XM subscription is $12.95/month, and I pay about $10.00 per month for cell minutes. That's less than half of what AT&T charges for the typical iPhone data plan.

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