§ 402.55 Referrals and consultations.

(a) Consultation and referral. When reviewing records located by SSA in response to a request, SSA will determine whether another agency of the Federal Government is better able to determine whether the record is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA. As to any such record, SSA will proceed in one of the following ways:

(1) Referral of FOIA records in whole or in part to an outside agency. We will notify the requester in writing when we opt to refer records in whole or in part to another agency for direct response from that agency, including the name(s) or the agency(s) to which the record was referred and that agency's FOIA contact information, unless notification would cause harm to an interest protected under the FOIA. In such instances, in order to avoid harm to an interest protected by an applicable exemption, we coordinate to seek the view of the originating agency.

(2) Agency consultation. If a request is for records that were created by, or provided to us by, another agency that is not subject to the FOIA, we may consult with that agency, as described in paragraph (b) of this section.

(b) Consultation with another agency or entity. If a request is for records that originated with SSA but contain information of interest to another agency or entity, we may consult with the other agency or entity prior to issuing our release determination to the requester.