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Exhibit B: FOIA Request for Restaurant Revitalization Fund Data (September 16, 2022)

Summary

Exhibit B, Doc 28-2 in Case 1:23-cv-01735-BMB, filed November 14, 2023: a letter dated September 16, 2022 from Manju Gupta, Counsel at Ulmer, to the Chief of the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. The letter is a FOIA request for Restaurant Revitalization Fund records from May 3, 2021 to the present. It asks for the SBA's distribution criteria for RRF grants, updated individual award data including recipient name, award amount and grant purpose, and documents on efforts to recover grants awarded to ineligible applicants. It cites a Government Accountability Office report, GAO-22-105442, and asks the SBA to release all segregable, non-exempt portions under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(8).

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“Exhibit B: FOIA Request for Restaurant Revitalization Fund Data (September 16, 2022).” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/28-att2-exhibit-b-foia-request-to-sba-for-rrf-data-2022-09-16-39bb87713a/, SHA-256 dd2917e7b6e2639d5dbefe3077b3f668d2aa9c0a55563c73b11069ecb05b189a.

Full text

Case: 1:23-cv-01735-BMB Doc #: 28-2 Filed: 11/14/23 1 of 3. PageID #: 118




                     EXHIBIT B
                 Case: 1:23-cv-01735-BMB Doc #: 28-2 Filed: 11/14/23 2 of 3. PageID #: 119

        Ulmer    ATTORNEYS                                                              DIRECT
                                                                                                  Manju Gupta
                                                                                                  Counsel
                                                                                                  216.583.7066
                                                                                     DIRECT FAX   216.583.7067
                                                                                          EMAIL   mgupta@ulmer.com




                 September 16, 2022



                 VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL: FOIAasba.2ov

                 Chief, Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts Office
                 U.S. Small Business Administration
                 409 Third St. SW, Eighth Floor
                 Washington, DC 20416

                  Re:        FOIA Request for Restaurant Revitalization Fund Data


                 Dear Information Officer:

                         Please consider this letter as a formal request to the U.S. Small Business Administration
                 ("SBA") for public records under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA"). This is an
                 ongoing request. Likewise, if the SBA generates and/or discovers additional responsive
                 documents alter its initial production, please supplement. The time period covered by this
                 request is May 3, 2021 to the present, and includes all electronic and/or hard copy records. I
                 hereby request the following:

                      1. Documents or data showing SBA's distribution criteria for grants awarded pursuant to
                         the American Rescue Plan Act, specifically the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (the
                         "RRF"), from May 3, 2021 to the present.

                      2. Documents or data showing the SBA's distribution criteria for any future grant awards
   CLEVELAND
                         under the RRF.
    COLUMBUS

    CINCINNATI
                      3. Documents addressing the SBA's eradication of distributing RRF grants on the basis of
                         race and sex that has been held to be unconstitutional by the Sixth Circuit Court of
     CHICAGO
                         Appeals in Vitolo v. Guzman, 999 F.3d 353 (6th Cir. 2021).
    NEW YORK

WASHINGTON DC
                      4. Updated individual award data for all loans or other financial awards made pursuant to
                         RRF, including but not limited to, grant applicants who were approved for funding but
   BOCA RATON            have not received funding to date.' The data should include: (i) the name of the
                         recipient; (ii) application date; (iii) date of grant approval; (iv) award amount; (v) grant
   ULMER COM             purpose; (vi) whether the grant applicant identified as being women owned,
                         socially/economically disadvantaged, or veteran owned; and (vii) any other information
                         reported to USAspending.gov for federal awards.



                  Pursuant to the SBA's website, data.sba.gov, information on RFF grants was last updated on August 18, 2021.


                 1660 West 2nd Street                          FIRM   216.583.7000      F    216.583-7001
                 Suite 1100
                 Cleveland, OH 44113-1406
 Case: 1:23-cv-01735-BMB Doc #: 28-2 Filed: 11/14/23 3 of 3. PageID #: 120

Ulmer
 ATTORNEYS


 Chief, Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts Office
 U.S. Small Business Administration
 Page 2
 September 16, 2022

     5. Documents addressing the SBA's efforts or plans to recover RRF grants awarded to
        ineligible applicants, or grants that should be otherwise returned because of fraud or
        other reasons. For example, the Government Accountability Office released a report
        titled Restaurant Revitalization Fund: Opportunities Exist to Improve Oversight that
        stated the SBA does not require recipients to report their operating status, despite the
        statute requiring that businesses that permanently close return the unused funds to the
        SBA.2

     6. Documents and communications addressing the timing of future RRF distributions.

     7. All policies related to the administration of the RRF, including but not limited to, the
        updated distribution criteria for RRF grants.

     8. Documents and communications between the SBA and any other governmental entity
        regarding: (i) updated distribution criteria for RRF grants; (ii) efforts to recover RRF
        grants awarded to ineligible applicants or grants that should otherwise be returned; and
        (iii) timing of future RRF grant distributions.

     If you regard these documents as potentially exempt from the FOIA's disclosure
 requirements, I request that you nonetheless exercise your discretion to disclose them. As
 required under 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(8), please release all segregable, non-exempt portions of
 documents. To permit me to reach an intelligent and informed decision whether to file an
 administrative appeal of any denied material, please describe any withheld records (or portions
 thereof) and explain the basis for your exemption claims.

     To expedite the release of the requested documents, please disclose them on an interim basis
 in electronic format as they become available to you, without waiting until all the documents
 have been processed. If you have any questions regarding my request, including scope, please
 contact me at mgupta@ulmer.com. Please invoice me for charges incurred. Thank you for
 your assistance in this matter.

 Very truly yours,


         41 -1
 Manju Gupta




 2 GAO-22-105442: littris://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-22-105442.ndf


                                                                             200798561v2

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