The short answer: A FOIA office runs on intake logs, case files, letter templates, redaction passes and a status report for leadership, and most of that work is typed into more than one place. In ArcSuite AI, each request is one case record. The AI fills letters and proposes redactions as suggestions, and staff decide what goes out. The walkthrough below follows one request through all of it.
Requests arrive online, by mail and by email. The FOIA coordinator enters each one in an intake form: the requester, the fee category, the request type and the records sought. The submission waits in an intake queue. The coordinator reviews it, assigns the request number and approves it, and the approval creates the case. Nothing is typed twice.
The case carries the fields a FOIA office reports on: fee category, processing track, command, stage, response due date and days open. Exemptions applied, pages reviewed, pages released and fees are recorded on the same record.
Records that belong to another agency stay connected. In the walkthrough, the request links to a referral sent to the FBI and to the response that came back, and appeals link to their request the same way. The FBI's reply, a PDF from outside the system, is uploaded to the consultation step, so it stays with the case.
A checklist shows where the case stands, step by step, and the case names who holds each role: the FOIA Action Officer, the Initial Denial Authority and the FOIA Coordinator.
The first checklist step opens the acknowledgment letter from the office's own template. The AI fills it from the case record. Each change arrives as a suggestion that a person accepts or rejects, and where the case has no value, the placeholder stays. Nothing enters the letter until someone accepts it.
The responsive record opens in ArcCompose. The analyst picks a saved redaction prompt from the office's prompt library, so every analyst asks for the same thing in the same words. The AI marks the personal details in the record, such as names, a date of birth, a Social Security number, a home address and a witness's phone number and email, and tags each mark with its exemption code, for example (b)(6) or (b)(7)(C). Staff still see the text underneath, highlighted.
The analyst checks each mark and can remove any of them. Some withholdings are judgment calls the AI should not make, so the analyst marks those by hand. In the walkthrough, a passage that describes an investigative technique is marked (b)(7)(E).
On export to PDF or Word, the marked text is removed from the file, not covered over. Each redaction prints as a black bar with its exemption code.
When review is done, the Initial Denial Authority's step opens the final determination letter, and the AI fills it from the case as suggestions. The analyst then asks the AI to check the letter against the office's FOIA library: the statute, the DOJ Guide to the FOIA and the DOJ Citizen's Guide. It quotes the passage it relied on and names the source document. Where the library does not support a point, it says so, which is the answer a reviewer needs to see.
A dashboard shows the whole workload: open requests, open requests past their due date and pages released. It breaks open work down by processing track, command and stage, shows closed requests by determination, and lists every past due request.
The record types, fields, intake form, checklist and dashboard in the walkthrough were built with the platform's administrator tools. An administrator can change any of them without a developer, which is how the same platform fits a different FOIA office's tracks, fee rules and letters.
Worth stating plainly, because the limits are part of the evaluation.
A FOIA request touches intake, a case file, outside agencies, two or more letters, a redaction pass and a status report. When those live in one record, the analyst stops retyping and the program manager stops asking for status. The AI saves the typing and the first pass, and the people with the authority still make every release decision.
ArcSuite AI operates under an Authority to Operate issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and is available on GSA Schedule 47QRAA18D003H and PSA Cooperative 25-203-AFR.
ArcSuite AI is a commercial software platform that brings artificial intelligence into case work. Here it is configured for Navy FOIA and Privacy Act requests. Every record you see is fictional sample data. Let's follow the work from intake to release. A request can arrive online, by mail, or by email. The FOIA coordinator enters it in this intake form: the requester, the fee category, the request type, and the records sought. The submission waits in the intake queue. The coordinator reviews it, assigns the request number, and approves it. Now it is a FOIA request case. I apply the case checklist, from intake to release. The first step opens the acknowledgment letter, from the Navy's own template, in ArcCompose. I ask the AI to fill the letter from the case. Each change comes in as a suggestion, and where the case has no value, the placeholder stays. I accept or reject each one. Nothing enters the letter until I accept it. Here is a request further along: NCIS case summaries, asked for by a news organization. The record holds the fee category, the processing track, the command, the stage, the response due date, and the days open. Exemptions, pages, and fees are recorded here too. Some records belong to another agency. This request links to the referral sent to the FBI, and to the response that came back. Appeals link to their request the same way. Files from other systems come in the same way. I upload the FBI's reply, a PDF, to the consultation step, so it stays with the case. The checklist shows where the case stands. The records search is done, and the line by line review is in progress. The case also names who holds each role: the FOIA Action Officer, the Initial Denial Authority, and the FOIA Coordinator. The responsive record opens in ArcCompose. I pick a saved redaction prompt from the prompt library. The AI marks names, a Social Security number, and contact details, each with its exemption code, such as (b)(6), or (b)(7)(C). Staff still see the text, highlighted. I check each mark, and I can remove any I disagree with. Then I redact one more passage myself. It describes an investigative technique, so I mark it (b)(7)(E). When I export to PDF or Word, the marked text is removed, not covered. Each redaction prints as a black bar with its exemption code. When the review is done, the Initial Denial Authority's step opens the final determination letter. The AI fills it from the case, as suggestions. Then I ask it to check the letter against the FOIA library: the statute, the DOJ Guide to the FOIA, and the DOJ Citizen's Guide. It quotes the source it used, so I can verify it. The program dashboard shows the whole workload: open requests, open requests past their due date, and pages released. It breaks open work down by processing track, command, and stage, shows closed requests by determination, and lists every past due request. None of this is custom code. The record types, fields, intake form, checklist, and dashboard were built with the platform's administrator tools. A Navy administrator can change them without a developer. ArcSuite AI. The AI proposes, and Navy staff decide.
No, and it should not. In ArcSuite AI the AI proposes redactions, each tagged with an exemption code, and a person checks every mark, removes any they disagree with and adds their own before anything is released.
Any exemption under 5 U.S.C. 552(b), including the parts of exemption 7 such as (b)(7)(C) and (b)(7)(E). A redaction can also be plain, with no code, when it is not a FOIA withholding.
Yes. Staff see marked text highlighted while they work. On export to PDF or Word, the marked words are left out of the file and a black bar with the exemption code prints in their place.
No. The walkthrough is configured for a Department of the Navy FOIA office with fictional sample data. Record types, fields, intake forms, checklists, letter templates and dashboards are set up with administrator tools, so another agency's FOIA office can configure its own.
Bring your intake form, your tracks and one of your letters. We will configure them and run one request from intake to release.