Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to Add FOIAXpress® Online Payment Connector to Public Access Link (PAL) Portal
AINS Payment Gateway Enables First U.S. Federal Agency to Collect Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request Fees via Secure, Online Payment Solution
AINS would like to announce the United States Department of Treasury, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has selected AINS’ FOIAXpress® online payment connector for its eFOIA Public Access Link (PAL) portal to help simplify payments, and streamline collection processing and settlement.
With the addition of the FOIAXpress online payment connector, OCC will be the first U.S. federal agency to allow secure, online payments for FOIA requesters through their online portal. In addition to submitting requests and reviewing responsive documents via OCC’s public portal, FOIA requesters will be able to receive invoices, access account information and make secure payments through a single, unified point of access to support all of their FOIA needs.
“We are pleased to continue our relationship with OCC, and look forward to working with them to further streamline our FOIA customers’ processing efforts,” said Moe Goswami, president and CEO, AINS, Inc. “The availability of the online payment connector marks another milestone in our continued development of FOIAXpress. By enabling real-time, secure payments via a public portal, government agencies can now ensure they are capturing processing costs at the point of the receipt of documents, greatly improving processing times and enhancing the overall citizen experience.”
Historically, most government agencies have billed request processing fees to a requester after requests are processed, leading to delinquent and unpaid balances. For larger requests, many times estimates are provided to the requester in advance, requiring additional time for notifications and for the method of payment to reach the responding agency before records are released. By allowing secure online payments, agencies will have built-in flexibility to support a range of diverse billing requirements to ensure the timely recovery of costs associated with processing requests, while enhancing the online experience for constituents and reducing processing times. As an added benefit, PAL is already tightly integrated with FOIAXpress, providing the enterprise with a complete system for full lifecycle support of FOIA, FOIA Appeals and Privacy Act requests—all of which is hosted by AINS in its FedRAMPSM certified hosting facility.
The FOIAXpress online payment connector is the first online payment tool of its kind, allowing government agencies to seamlessly accept online payments for FOIA processing. This innovative payment gateway is available as an add-on to the FOIAXpress PAL portal, providing connectivity with third-party payment providers. AINS initially built this integrated, online payment functionality for the Canadian Government as an added feature of ATIPXpress® to support Access to Information and Privacy Act (ATIP) and FOIP requests.
FOIAXpress® is the industry’s leading software for collaborative, case-based processing of Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act requests. Built on the eCase® adaptive case management platform, FOIAXpress offers federal, state and local government agencies, public institutions and healthcare organizations a single, unified platform for managing the entire lifecycle of requests—from initial inquiry to delivery of documents through archival of the case. FOIAXpress is a powerful tool for automating the FOIA request process, saving organizations time and money, while ensuring compliance with U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reporting and procedural requirements. With the largest installed base of any eFOIA management system on the market, FOIAXpress is the solution of choice for more than 300 government agencies and institutions in the U.S. and Canada.
For more information about FOIAXpress and its PAL web portal, visit www.www.ains.com/foiaxpress.
