UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Chief Financial Officer and

Assistant Secretary for Administration
Washington, D,C, 20230

May 19, 2006

Melanie Sloan
Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington
11 Dupont Circle, N. W.
2nd Floor
Washington, D.C. 20036

RE: Freedom ofInformation Act Request CRRIF 05-127

Dear Ms. Sloan:

This is in response to your Freedom ofInformation Act (FOIA) request for "any contact, dating
from January 1,2001, that any office of the Department of Commerce may have had with any
external public affairs firms including, but not limited to Ketchum Public Affairs and
Fleischman-Hilliard Public Affairs, Specifically, we request the release of any contracts the
Department of Commerce may have entered into with any public affairs firm. We further request
records of contacts any Department of Commerce employee may have had with any employee of
any public affairs firm. We further request records of contacts any Department of Commerce
employee may have had with any employee of any public affairs firm with which the Department
of Commerce had a contractual relationship."

We are enclosing responsive documents. One-hundred eighteen documents are being partially
withheld pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552 (b)(4), which protects trade secrets and commercial or
financial information obtained from a person and which is privileged or confidential and would
cause substantial harm to the competitive position from whom the information was obtained.
We have withheld employer tax identification numbers.

Sixty-six documents are being partially withheld pursuant to 5 U.S.c. § 552 (b)(4) and (b)(6).
Exemption (b)(4) protects trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a
person and which is privileged or confidential and would cause substantial harm to the
competitive position from whom the information was obtained. Exemption (b)(6) protects
personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly
unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. We have withheld employer tax identification
numbers, home addresses, home telephone numbers, and home fax numbers.
You have the right to appeal this response to your FOIA request. An appeal must be received
within 30 calendar days of the date of this letter by the Assistant General Counsel for
Administration (Office), Room 5898-C, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th and Constitution
Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20230. Your appeal may also be sent bye-mail to
FOIAAppeals@doc.gov or by facsimile (fax) to 202-482-2552. The appeal must include a eopy
of the original request, this response to the request and a statement of the reason why this
response was in error. The submission (including e-mail and fax submissions) is not complete
without the required attachments. The appeal letter, the envelope, the e-mail subject line, and the
fax cover sheet should be clearly marked "Freedom of Information Act Appeal." The e-mail, fax
machine, and Office are monitored only on working days during normal business hours (8:30
a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday). FOIA appeals posted to the e-mail
box, fax machine or Office after normal business hours will be deemed received on the next
normal business day.

Sincerely,

/JIfA!~Ia~
Brenda Dolan
Departmental Freedom of Information
and Privacy Act Officer
U.S. Department of Commerce

Enclosures