II.8.4 Agency Enforcement

In order to carry out its obligation to the public to assure that data will be made available in response to a future FOIA request, OMB should include in the revisions to Circular A-110 a mechanism sufficient to enforce the government's and the public's right to access the data indefinitely into the future. Existing enforcement mechanisms in Circ. A-110 may be insufficient for this purpose. OMB should give special attention in this regard to situations in which the grantee is no longer receiving federal funds and the federal awarding agency lacks a specific monetary "carrot" or "stick" to encourage the former grantee to cooperate in responding to a FOIA request.

Accordingly, OMB should amend Circular A-110 to provide specifically that the federal awarding agency may, in cases where the awardee or former awardee refuses to cooperate in responding to a FOIA request for data, to seek judicial intervention in the form of an injunction for specific performance to provide the data to the agency. CRE offers to following amendment to section ___.36 to effect this recommendation:

The Federal awarding agency may take such action as it deems necessary to enforce its rights to obtain data produced under an award, including but not limited to actions described in Sections ___.14 and ___.62 of this Circular.