Guides
Part of Government Records Verification: Status and Context
How to request public records, step by step
Learn how to request public records step by step: name the office, the record series, the custodian, and the date range before you file.
Knowing how to request public records means writing a request that describes records, not a question. This guide walks through the steps, using federal FOIA as the model.
What to take away
- Write the fact you need to establish first, then list the records that event would have created.
- Search reading rooms, dockets, audits and prior releases before you file; the search date matters because collections change.
- Send the request to the office that creates or maintains the record, not the office that announced the program.
- Describe record type, custodian, identifier, date range and format. Access laws do not require an agency to answer questions or build an analysis.
- Log the response against the requestwhich items were addressed, which offices were searched, which exemption covers each deletion.
"Tell me why the project failed" asks an agency to research and explain. "All final monthly status reports sent by the project manager to the oversight office from January through June" describes records that may exist. The second version is a request. The first is a question, and access laws do not compel answers.
This workflow uses the federal Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, as the model. State, local, court, legislative and international systems differ. For state and local records, the governing law might be the California Public Records Act, the Texas Public Information Act, or New York's Freedom of Information Law. Court records follow separate rules, such as the federal PACER system, and legislative and international systems run on their own statutes, exemptions, deadlines, fees and appeal routes. Confirm the rule that governs the actual custodian before you write.
Turn the story into a record list
Write the fact you are trying to establish. Then list what paperwork the event would have generated.
Reporting Question to Record Type
Reporting question
- Who approved the contract change?
- Signed modification
- When did officials learn of the failure?
- Incident ticket
- How much was paid?
- Invoice
- Why was a license denied?
- Application
Record it would create
- Who approved the contract change?
- Approval memo
- When did officials learn of the failure?
- Briefing
- How much was paid?
- Payment ledger
- Why was a license denied?
- Reviewer notes
| Reporting question | Record it would create |
|---|---|
| Who approved the contract change? | Signed modification, approval memo, workflow log |
| When did officials learn of the failure? | Incident ticket, briefing, email, meeting minutes |
| How much was paid? | Invoice, payment ledger, obligation and expenditure records |
| Why was a license denied? | Application, reviewer notes, notice, final decision |
Prioritize record series with fixed fields: dates, senders, recipients, identifiers, system names. Those details are what a search can actually match.
Find the office that holds it
Map the process, not the org chart. The office that announced a program may never touch its invoices. A parent agency can run separate FOIA components with separate logs. A contractor may hold records on the agency's behalf under terms that decide whether you can see them.
When the system is unclear, call the agency's FOIA Public Liaison, or a clerk, archivist or records officer. Ask which office maintains the record series, what the series is called, and how it is arranged. Do not ask that person to guess whether something will be released. If you hit a roadblock, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) at the National Archives offers mediation.
Search before you file
Check the agency site, the FOIA reading room, inspector general reports, and meeting packets. Also check procurement databases, court dockets, regulatory dockets, and prior releases. Search program aliases, form numbers, contract IDs, office names and record-series titles, not just the plain-language phrase.
The federal government's instructions on making a FOIA request at FOIA.gov say to check whether the material is already public, to write to the right agency office, and to describe records reasonably. File through FOIA.gov or the agency's own FOIA portal or online request form. The instructions also state that FOIA does not require an agency to create records, run research, analyze data or answer questions.
What you find first narrows the request and often hands you the exact custodian or identifier. Note the date you searched. Published collections change.
Scope the record in six parts
- Record typefinal inspection reports, approval memoranda, message exports.
- Custodiannamed roles, units, mailboxes, systems.
- Identifiercontract number, incident ID, facility, case, project.
- Date rangesay whether it covers creation, send date, filing or event.
- Fields and attachmentsexhibits, native files, metadata, data dictionaries.
- Exclusionsduplicates, newsletters, already-public copies, routine notices.
"Avoid all records related to" when a narrower identifier exists. Avoid a list so brittle that one different filename defeats the search.
Six-Part Request Scope
- Record typefinal reports, memos, message exports
- Custodiannamed roles, units, mailboxes, systems
- Identifiercontract number, incident ID, facility, case
- Date rangecreation, send date, filing or event
- Fields and attachmentsexhibits, native files, metadata
- Exclusionsduplicates, newsletters, already-public copies
Ask for the format that keeps the data usable
Request native electronic format where structure carries meaning. A spreadsheet flattened to PDF loses formulas, extra sheets, filters and full cell values. An email export keeps sender, recipient, date, subject, attachment links and message IDs that a printed page drops.
Ask for the code lists, layout and revision history you need to read the data, and state how you want it delivered.
Write it neutrally
Please provide final monthly status reports created from January 1 through June 30 of the most recent completed fiscal year, for Project Harbor under contract HC-27-104, including attachments. Please search the project manager's official email account and the Program Status Repository. I request electronic records in native format where readily reproducible, with record-level date, author and file-name metadata.
That paragraph describes records and likely locations. It does not argue the story or demand a conclusion, which keeps the request harder to reject as unclear.
Fees, waivers and the clock
Identify your requester category: commercial use, news media, educational or noncommercial scientific institution, or all other. The fee rules attached to each category differ. Commercial requesters pay search, review and duplication fees. News media and educational or noncommercial scientific requesters pay duplication fees only. All other requesters pay search and duplication fees. The first two hours of search and the first 100 pages of duplication are free for non-commercial requesters. Agencies publish their search and duplication rates in their FOIA regulations. If you want a waiver or expedited processing, make the factual showing the statute asks for instead of a slogan. An agency must decide an expedited-processing request within 10 calendar days. Offer a fee ceiling and ask for notice before costs pass it.
The category is worth arguing. The Justice Department has a decision tree for assessing fees. It sets out the basic rule for agencies missing a statutory time limit. Such an agency may not charge a news media requester duplication fees. The rule is excused in three narrow situations: the agency gives timely written notice of unusual circumstances, which can include records in offices separate from the one processing the request or a need to consult another agency or two or more of its components, and gets an additional 10 days; unusual circumstances apply and more than 5,000 pages of records are necessary; or a court finds exceptional circumstances.
Keep the submission, the confirmation, the tracking number, the portal copy, every clarification and the dates. By statute, an agency has 20 business days to make a determination on a request. Calendar the response points, and calendar the appeal deadline stated in the response letter, which agencies commonly set at 90 days from the adverse determination. Treat an acknowledgment as an acknowledgment, not a determination.
Negotiate scope in writing
When an office calls the request burdensome, ask which term drives the volume, which systems will be searched, and what narrower date, custodian or record type would still serve the reporting purpose. Confirm each agreed change in writing.
Watch for a narrowing that quietly removes the decision maker, the attachments or the system that matters. A fast empty search is not a win.
Audit the production
| Check | Question |
|---|---|
| Scope | Which request items did the response address? |
| Search | Which offices, custodians, systems and terms were used? |
| Count | Do page, file, attachment and row totals reconcile? |
| Withholding | Which authority covers each deletion or withheld record? |
| Completeness | Are referenced attachments and earlier versions present? |
| Format | Were native data and documentation supplied? |
Look for broken sequences, missing pages, blank attachments, unexplained duplicates and references to records that were never produced. When something is withheld, ask for the exemption claimed. The nine FOIA exemptions are at 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(1)–(b)(9); the deliberative process privilege is Exemption (b)(5). A gap is not automatically improper, but it is a question to put in writing.
Audit the Production
- Scopewhich request items did the response address?
- Searchwhich offices, custodians, systems and terms?
- Countdo page, file, attachment and row totals reconcile?
- Withholdingwhich authority covers each deletion?
- Completenessare referenced attachments and versions present?
- Formatwere native data and documentation supplied?
Appeal precisely, then verify
Use the process in the response letter. Name the disputed search, exemption, segregation, fee, format or procedural point and state the remedy you want. Keep proof of filing and the deadline, which the response letter states and which is commonly 90 days. Ask the FOIA Public Liaison for help, and OGIS can mediate a narrow problem without formal litigation.
Before publication, confirm names, identifiers, dates, versions and status inside the record system. Keep the agency's statements, a requester's allegations and your own analysis in separate lanes. Give the custodian enough detail to locate the exact point at issue, and seek comment on any material interpretation.
Common questions
Should I request information or records?
Describe identifiable existing records. Access laws generally do not require an office to answer questions or produce an analysis it has not already written. If you need an explanation, that is an interview request, not a records request.
Can I request emails by keyword alone?
You can, but a keyword-only search is hard for an agency to run and hard for you to audit. Custodian, account, date range, subject line and event identifiers usually produce a more reviewable search and a cleaner log.
Is a no-records response proof that nothing happened?
No. It reports the result of a search whose terms may never be stated. Assess which custodian was searched, which systems, which terms, the retention schedule and the exact wording of the response.
Should I publish a record as soon as I receive it?
Verify authenticity, completeness, status and context first, and weigh privacy risks. A produced record shows what one document says. What it proves depends on the rest of the file.
