How to File a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request

To file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, put your request in writing to the specific federal agency that holds the records, describe those records in enough detail for staff to locate them, and state the maximum fee you are willing to pay. There is no central federal FOIA inbox — each of the roughly 100 federal agencies processes its own requests, so identifying the correct agency is the first real step.

For bidders, FOIA is a research tool of last resort. Much of what teams want — prior contract awards, incumbent pricing, scoring sheets — is often already published or available informally by asking the contracting officer. Try that first. When the informal route fails, FOIA gives you a legal right to the record.

What Is FOIA?

The Freedom of Information Act, codified at 5 U.S.C. § 552, gives any person the right to request access to records held by a federal executive branch agency. Agencies must disclose what is requested unless the material falls within one of nine exemptions. Importantly, exemptions apply to information, not whole documents — an agency is required to release any reasonably segregable portion of a record after redacting the exempt parts.

What Are the Nine FOIA Exemptions?

Most exemptions never come up in procurement research. The one that does, constantly, is Exemption 4 — a competitor's pricing and proprietary technical detail is frequently withheld as confidential commercial information. Here is the full list:

Separately, FOIA contains three narrow "exclusions" covering certain ongoing criminal investigations, confidential informant records and classified FBI foreign intelligence or terrorism records. When an exclusion applies, an agency may respond as though the records do not exist.

How Do You File a FOIA Request?

Start at the FOIA.gov agency search, which lists every federal agency along with its FOIA contact, submission method and its own regulations. Then work through these steps:

1. Identify the right agency. Each agency handles only its own records, and a request sent to the wrong one does not start the clock. If a contract was awarded by a component within a department, check whether that component runs its own FOIA office.
2. Check what is already public. Agencies post frequently requested material in an online FOIA Library or electronic reading room. Searching there first can save you weeks.
3. Describe the records precisely. Name the solicitation or contract number, the award date, the parties and the document type. "All records relating to procurement" invites a rejection for failing to reasonably describe the records; "the winning technical proposal and price schedule for Solicitation No. XYZ-2025-014, awarded March 2025" does not.
4. State your fee ceiling. Include a sentence such as "I agree to pay fees up to $50; please contact me before incurring charges beyond that amount." Without it, agencies routinely pause processing to seek your approval.
5. Request expedited processing only if you qualify. See the criteria below. An unsupported expedition request adds a step without speeding anything up.
6. Keep your submission confirmation. Record the tracking number and date received. You will need both to follow up, and the date received is what starts the statutory clock.

One thing that has changed: FOIAonline, the shared portal that once let requesters file with several agencies from one account, has been decommissioned. Agencies that used it have migrated to their own systems, so check the agency's current submission page rather than relying on an old bookmark.

What Does a FOIA Request Cost?

Nothing to submit. What you may be charged afterward depends on which of three statutory requester categories you fall into:

Every category except commercial use also gets the first two hours of search time and the first 100 pages of duplication at no charge, per FOIA.gov. Be honest about your category — describing a competitive-intelligence request as non-commercial is the kind of thing agencies notice. You may also request a fee waiver if disclosure is in the public interest, though commercial requesters rarely qualify.

How Long Does a FOIA Request Take?

An agency has 20 business days from receipt to determine whether it will comply, and it can take up to 10 additional business days in "unusual circumstances" — for example, when it must collect records from field offices or consult another agency. That deadline governs the determination, not the delivery of documents. High-volume agencies carry real backlogs, so plan on months rather than weeks for anything complex, and never build a bid timeline around a pending FOIA response.

When Can You Request Expedited Processing?

Expedited processing moves your request ahead of others, so the statutory bar is deliberately high. The grounds are:

• Imminent threat to life or physical safety. Failure to get the records quickly could reasonably be expected to endanger someone.
• Urgency to inform the public. Available to requesters primarily engaged in disseminating information, where there is urgency to inform the public about actual or alleged federal government activity.
• Agency-specific grounds. Individual agency regulations may add narrow categories, such as the loss of substantial due process rights.

The agency must rule on an expedition request within 10 calendar days. Note that a looming proposal deadline is not, on its own, a qualifying reason — commercial urgency and statutory urgency are not the same thing.

How Is a State Open Records Request Different From a Federal FOIA Request?

FOIA reaches federal agencies only. State, county and municipal records are governed by that state's own transparency statute — called an Open Records Act, Public Records Act, Sunshine Law or Right to Know Act depending on where you are. Deadlines, fees and exemptions all vary by state, and many are considerably faster than the federal process. Since most public bidding happens below the federal level, this is the route bidders use most often. Our guide to open records requests covers how to file one, and if you are weighing where to compete, it is worth understanding why local agency RFPs matter.

What Do Experienced FOIA Requesters Do Differently?

1. They ask informally first. A short email to the contracting officer often produces the same document in days instead of months. FOIA is the fallback, not the opening move.
2. They narrow the date range. Bounding a request to a specific period cuts search time, which cuts both cost and delay.
3. They expect Exemption 4 redactions. A competitor's unit pricing and proprietary methodology are usually withheld. What generally does come through — total award value, evaluation scores, contract terms — is often enough to sharpen your next bid.
4. They appeal. Every denial carries administrative appeal rights, and the response letter must explain them. Appeals are free and a meaningful share succeed at least in part.

Find Your Next Public-Sector Contract

Research only pays off if there is something to bid on. Federal, state and local agencies post opportunities across hundreds of separate portals; Bid Banana consolidates them into a single search so you can see what is open in your industry without checking each site.

If a FOIA or open records request is holding up a bid decision, The Bid Lab handles this research for clients regularly. Schedule a free consultation, call 1-844-4BIDLAB, or email respond@thebidlab.com.