FIA-20-0028 - In the Matter of One Source Equipment Rentals, Inc.

On June 8, 2020, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) appeal filed by One Source Equipment Rentals, Inc. (Appellant)
concerning a FOIA request made to the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Appellant's FOIA request sought payment bonds associated with
two purchase orders at the Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12). NNSA referred Appellant's request to the management and operating contractor at Y-12, which in turn
referred the request to Bechtel National, Inc. (BNI), the firm contracted to complete the construction project with which the payment bonds were associated. BNI performed a
keyword search of its electronic procurement database using the applicable purchase order numbers and identified contracting records related to the procurements, but failed to locate
the requested payment bonds. According to BNI, payment bonds were not required in connection with the purchase orders identified by the Appellant and if the payment bonds
existed they would have been stored in the electronic procurement database. Appellant asserted on appeal that the search for records responsive to the request was inadequate.
OHA determined that the location of the search and the keywords used to conduct the search were reasonably calculated to locate any records responsive to Appellant's FOIA
request. Therefore, OHA denied Appellant's appeal.