Video summary
In fiscal year 2024, federal agencies faced a record-breaking surge in Freedom of Information Act requests, totaling 1.5 million, which caused the government-wide backlog to swell to 267,000 cases and pushed average response times for simple inquiries up to 44 days. This crisis resulted in $54 million in litigation costs alone, yet the root cause was identified not as a lack of staff but rather as fragmented systems characterized by disconnected tools, manual handoffs, and records scattered across dozens of disparate repositories. Agencies were forced to patch together various solutions that still required analysts to log into five different platforms just to answer a single request, creating inefficiencies that hindered timely public access to information.
To address these systemic failures, TFG Technology Solutions introduced the Ottawa platform, powered by the Hercules AI engine, which unifies the entire FOIA lifecycle within a single cohesive environment. Upon receiving a request through FOIA.gov, an agency portal, or email, the system automatically ingests the data, initializes the statutory 20-business-day clock, and routes the case to the appropriate analyst while simultaneously performing a federated search across electronic reading rooms, SharePoint, Exchange, Alfresco, Documentum, and SQL-based systems. By combining semantic and keyword searches, the platform ensures that responsive records are not missed due to varying author terminology, effectively transforming a raw pile of thousands of documents into a prioritized review queue where each file is pre-assessed for exemption likelihood before an analyst even opens it.
The workflow continues with analysts reviewing AI-flagged exemption candidates supported by plain language reasoning, confidence scores, and prior decision contexts, allowing them to approve, override, or escalate cases while every action is logged for full transparency. Approved redactions are applied programmatically to permanently remove underlying text rather than just obscuring it visually, and all outputs are automatically validated for Section 508 accessibility compliance before release, eliminating the need for manual remediation. Security and accountability are embedded into the platform's structure, ensuring that every AI recommendation is transparent regarding the rules and content that triggered it, while override actions are captured in a tamper-evident audit trail that feeds back into the model to improve accuracy over time without requiring IT intervention.
Beyond processing existing requests, the solution implements a proactive disclosure model that automatically publishes processed documents to an agency's electronic reading room, enabling real-time searches where users can receive existing records immediately without filing a new request, potentially reducing FOIA volume by 15 to 30% in targeted areas. For those who do file requests, a guided intake portal coaches users to be more precise, estimates response timelines using machine learning models trained on historical data, and provides meaningful real-time status updates, while leadership gains access to dashboards displaying queue depth, SLA risks, and exemption patterns. As a Native American-owned small business with a proven track record of delivering federal modernization for major agencies like the DOD, SEC, IRS, and DHS, TFG Technology Solutions offers an exclusive partnership that brings this robust, litigation-surviving governance model specifically designed to meet the intense compliance pressures of the FOIA.
Read the full video transcript
In FY 2024, federal agencies received a
record 1.5 million FOIA requests. And
the government-wide backlog surged to
267,000 [music]
cases.
Average response times for simple
requests stretched to [music] 44 days,
and FOIA litigation alone cost taxpayers
$54 million.
The root cause is not staffing,
>> [music]
>> but systems. Disconnected tools, manual
handoffs, records scattered across
dozens of repositories, [music]
agencies patching together solutions
that still leave analysts logging into
five different platforms
>> [music]
>> to answer a single request. TFT's
technology solutions and Ottawa AI built
[music] a different answer.
The Ottawa platform, powered by the
Hercules [music] AI engine, delivers the
complete FOIA life cycle in a single
cohesive environment. From the moment a
request arrives to the moment records
reach the public.
A request arrives through FOIA.gov, an
agency portal, or by [music] email. Our
solution ingests it automatically,
initializes the 20-business-day
statutory clock, and routes it to the
right analyst, and tracks it before a
human takes the first action.
The platform initially performs a
federated search of the electronic
reading room, quickly providing matched
documents to the request.
Then it fans out a federated search,
simultaneously querying SharePoint,
Exchange, Alfresco, Documentum, and
SQL-based line of business systems
through a single interface. Semantic and
keyword searches combine, so responsive
records are not missed because an author
chose different terminology.
Responsive records flow into the
Hercules e-discovery engine, which
duplicates, clusters, and scores [music]
each document for exemption likelihood
before the analyst ever opens a file.
What used to be a [music] raw pile of
thousands of documents becomes a
prioritized, pre-assessed review queue.
The analyst reviews AI flagged [music]
exemption candidates with plain language
reasoning for every flagged item,
confidence scores, and prior decision
context. [music]
They approve, override, or escalate.
Every action is logged with a user
[music] ID and a timestamp for full
transparency and process governance.
>> [music]
>> Approved redactions are applied
programmatically.
Underlying text is permanently removed,
not just visually obscured, and every
output is automatically validated for
Section 508 accessibility compliance
before release. No manual remediation
step is required.
Security and accountability are not
add-ons in the Aderant platform. They
are structural. Every AI recommendation
is transparent, able to display what
rule fired, what content triggered it,
and why analysts are never presented
with a determination they cannot
interrogate or defend.
When they override a recommendation,
that override is captured in a
tamper-evident audit trail and feeds
back into the model, so accuracy
improves over time without IT
intervention.
Role-based access controls are granular
and enforced. Analysts see their cases,
supervisors see their queues, program
managers see performance data, and
unauthorized users from other
departments do not see data they aren't
supposed to.
Every document released through the
processing workflow is automatically
published to the agency's electronic
reading room,
>> [music]
>> indexed, searchable, and accessible.
When a user begins typing a new request,
the portal searches the reading room in
real [music] time. If the record already
exists, they can receive it immediately.
No request filed and no processing
required. We estimate [music] that
agencies implementing this proactive
disclosure model will see
FOIA volume drop 15 to 30% in targeted
subject areas.
For requesters who do file, our guided
five-step intake portal coaches them to
be more precise,
>> [music]
>> flagging vague scope, estimating
response timelines with a machine
learning model trained on foia.gov data,
and keeping them informed at every stage
transition with real-time status updates
that are actually meaningful. And for
FOIA leadership, we provide real-time
dashboards showing queue depth, SLA
risk, exemption patterns, and annual
report readiness, updated continuously
from live case data.
TFG Technology [music] Solutions is a
Native American-owned small business
with a track record of delivering
federal modernization at scale at the
DOD, SEC, [music]
IRS, CMS, DHS, and many others. Our
Hercules partnership [music] is
exclusive, so no other vendor in this
showcase is bringing this platform to
FOIA. And Hercules was built for the
exact compliance pressures that FOIA
demands. [music]
Rapid analysis of large document
volumes,
consistent policy application,
fully traceable decisions,
and governance that [music] survives
litigation.