Agency Reporting Requirements

Introduction
Agencies are required to submit reports on several key attributes of their FOIA program to the Attorney General of the United States on or before February 1 of each year; the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires that agencies also submit these reports to the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS). Copies of annual FOIA reports can be found in agency FOIA reading rooms and on a webpage maintained by Department of Justice's Office of Information Policy. Many of the statistics can also be viewed and downloaded from FOIA.gov.

The Department of Justice also requires agencies to annually submit Chief FOIA Officer Reports.

Requirements
Annual FOIA reports are required to include data on:
 * number of requests received, processed, and backlog;
 * disposition of requests processed;
 * number of appeals received and processed and disposition;
 * ten oldest pending requests and appeals;
 * average processing time for simple and complex requests;
 * exemption 3 statutes used;
 * number of requests for expedited review and fee waivers granted and denied;
 * total amount collected in fees;
 * number of full time and full time equivalent FOIA employees;
 * processing costs.

Chief FOIA Officer Reports contain details of FOIA administration at each agency, as well as the steps taken to implement the Attorney General's 2009 FOIA Guidelines during each reporting year. The questions agencies are asked to answer in these reports change annually.