Understanding FOIA Delay
Nat'l Archives & Records Admin., The FOIA Ombudsman, Oct. 4, 2017
One of the frustrations with the FOIA process that we hear about most frequently is the delay in an agency’s response to a request. Frequently, requesters contact us to ask why an agency has not responded within the 20 working days response time that is prescribed in the law. We understand that delays are extremely frustrating; unfortunately they are all too common at agencies that receive a large volume of requests and at agencies that are struggling to respond to a backlog of old requests.
To help requesters understand why an agency’s response may be delayed, we thought it might be useful to give you all a quick guide to where you can find statistics about an agency’s FOIA performance, and give you a few helpful hints on how to use these resources.
Read more here.