Exterro Client Brief: U.S. General Services Adminstration (GSA)

Exterro Helps “Reduce the Burden” on Staff Managing E-Discovery and FOIA Activities

US General Services Administration (GSA)

Industry: Federal Government

Founded: 1949

Employees: about 12,000

About GSA

Established by President Truman in 1949, the GSA was created to consolidate a number of agencies including but not limited to the National Archives Establishment, the Federal Works Agency and its Public Buildings Administration into one federal agency tasked with administering supplies and providing workplaces for federal employees. GSA oversees approximately 364 million square feet of real property, approximately $102 billion in annual contracts, and over 231,000 leased vehicles.

The Challenge of Managing Data Requests

Government agencies face intense pressure when it comes to accessing and using data. They need it to drive mission outcomes and for legal and regulatory reasons. But the sheer volume of information makes data management challenging, and inadequate processes expose agencies to a range of possible hazards. 

One area that makes this problem apparent is in the government’s fulfillment of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. When data is fragmented and uncontrolled, agencies risk missing the mandatory timelines for responding to those inquiries. They also become vulnerable to legal and regulatory liabilities.

To minimize risk and meet their statutory obligations effectively, agencies need a new approach. They need a data risk-management platform, a system that elevates their capabilities around discovery, privacy, data governance, digital forensics and cybersecurity compliance. By partnering with Exterro, GSA is setting an example for other agencies facing these challenges.

Solving Challenges at GSA

In conducting GSA’s privacy impact assessment regarding the use of Exterro, their e-discovery software solution, GSA found that “Exterro reduces the burden on the Office of General Counsel (OGC) staff in the collection, review and preparation of documents and materials as required by the Courts during the discovery phase of litigation.” Beyond litigation, Exterro “reduces the burden of the staff in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request Service Center during the collection, review and preparation of documents and materials in response to FOIA requests.” 

Benefits of using Exterro’s E-Discovery Software 

• “Greatly reduces the volume of paper document collection” 
• “Decreases the need/or use of paper records” 
• “Eliminates the need for potentially less secure digital tools that have previously been used in the capture, review and production of materials during litigation and in response to FOIA requests.” 

Use Cases for Data Risk Management Software

E-Discovery

“Exterro is an end-to-end discovery solution that provides a user-friendly, searchable, and secure e-discovery document management system to facilitate effective data collection, data analysis, data sharing, electronic discovery, litigation support, project collaboration and document review for OGC.” 

“Exterro is used to collect, search and analyze information related to Agency litigation. The system also allows for identification of personnel for litigation purposes and for the issuance of relevant litigation holds.”

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests

“This system reduces the burden of the staff in the FOIA Request Service Center during the collection, review and preparation of documents and materials in response to FOIA requests.” 

“The FOIA office will be using the system to further search, collect, and organize FOIA relevant documents.”

Exterro Is FedRAMP Authorized

Exterro is the only complete end-to-end e-discovery software provider to be currently designated FedRAMP Authorized. This approval comes in addition to Exterro’s achievement of SOC® 2 Type 2 certification by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). “Protecting our clients’ data is of the utmost importance to us and government agencies and other entities can now be even more confident in our consistent application of security best practices,” said Shashi Angadi, Chief Technology Officer at Exterro.

All quotes were taken from GSA’s Privacy Impact Assessment conducted on April 25, 2018.