Announcing New Reporting Deadlines and Resources

October marks the end of Fiscal Year 2018 and the beginning of the FOIA reporting season.  Today, OIP is announcing the deadlines for the submission of agencies' Fiscal Year 2018 Annual FOIA Reports, Fiscal Year 2019 Quarterly FOIA Reports, and 2019 Chief FOIA Officer Reports.  The overall report requirements and process will be similar to prior years. 

All three of these reports serve a vital role in illustrating the steps taken and the progress made by agencies in administering the FOIA, and provide valuable information about how agencies promote efficiency, make more information available proactively, and use technology to improve FOIA administration.

Agencies are already hard at work compiling the data for these reports and to assist agencies OIP has:

• Updated its Annual FOIA Report Handbook with additional helpful details and updated the DOJ Annual FOIA Report Tool to fully incorporate the new data elements that are required by the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016; 
• Updated and streamlined its List of Statutes Found to Qualify Under Exemption 3 of the FOIA, which agencies must use in their Annual FOIA Report when citing to Exemption 3 statues; and   
• Published a short “at-a-glance” resource that provides an easy-to-understand snapshot of all of the reporting obligations an agency has in an easy-to-understand ready reference. 

Agencies should mark the following deadlines on their calendars to ensure that they are able to satisfy all of their reporting obligations in the upcoming year:

FISCAL YEAR 2018 ANNUAL FOIA REPORT

November 19, 2018 – Agencies are required to submit their Fiscal Year 2018 Annual FOIA Report to OIP for review and clearance.

For guidance on the requirements for completing the Annual FOIA Report, please see the Department’s Annual FOIA Report Handbook and Agency Reporting Obligations At-a-Glance.

FISCAL YEAR 2019 QUARTERLY FOIA REPORTS

January 25, 2019 – Quarter 1 data is required to be posted.
April 26, 2019 – Quarter 2 data is required to be posted.
July 26, 2019 – Quarter 3 data is required to be posted.
October 25, 2019 – Quarter 4 data is required to be posted.

For guidance on the requirements for completing the FY 2019 Quarterly Reports, please see OIP’s guidance on quarterly reporting.

2019 CHIEF FOIA OFFICER REPORTS

February 15, 2019 – Updated deadline for all agencies to submit their 2019 Chief FOIA Officer Reports to OIP for review and clearance.

March 11, 2019 – Agencies are required to post their 2019 Chief FOIA Officer Reports online.

For guidance on the requirements for completing the 2019 Chief FOIA Officer Report, please see OIP's 2019 Chief FOIA Officer Report Guidelines.

If you have any questions regarding any of the deadlines noted above or the requirements for any of the reports, please contact OIP’s FOIA Compliance Team at (202) 514-3642 (FOIA). You can also find all of these reporting deadlines on the Reports page of OIP’s website.