Search includes all time spent looking for material that is responsive to a request, including page-by-page or line-by-line identification of material within documents. A search will determine what specific documents, if any, are responsive to a request. A search for Agency records responsive to a request may be accomplished by manual or automated means.

Search charges, as set forth in this part, may be billed even when an Agency record, which has been requested, cannot be identified or located after a diligent search and consultation with a professional NASA employee familiar with the subject area of the request has been conducted or if located, cannot be made available under § 1206.308.

In responding to FOIA requests, FOIA offices shall charge the following fees based on the date the request is received in the NASA FOIA Office unless a waiver or reduction of fees has been granted under § 1206.506. Fees will be determined on October 1st of each year based on the appropriate General Schedule (GS) base salary, plus the District of Columbia locality payment, plus 16 percent for benefits of employees. Fees such as search, review, and duplication will be charged in accordance with the requester's fee category as defined in § 1206.507.

For each quarter hour spent by personnel searching for requested records, including electronic searches that do not require new programming, the fees will be the average hourly GS-base salary, plus the District of Columbia locality payment, plus 16 percent for benefits of employees in the following three categories, as applicable:

Clerical—Based on a GS-6, Step 5 (all employees at a GS-7 and below are classified as clerical for this purpose).

Professional—Based on a GS-11, Step 7 pay (all employees at a GS-8 through GS-12 are classified as professional for this purpose);

Managerial—Based on GS-14, Step 2, pay (all employees at a GS-13 and above are classified as managerial for this purpose).

Requesters will be charged the direct costs associated with conducting any search that requires the creation of a new program to locate the requested records.

For requests that require the retrieval of records stored by an agency at a Federal records center operated by the NARA, additional costs shall be charged in accordance with the Transactional Billing Rate Schedule established by NARA.