The District's Act has been in force since March 1977, and the Office of Open Government's guide to it sets out both the policy and the purpose: it is the public policy of the District that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those who represent them, and the Act was designed to pierce the veil of administrative secrecy and to open agency action to the light of public scrutiny. It gives any person the right to request a document in any form prepared, owned, used, in the possession of or retained by a public body, and requires agencies to make a reasonable search for records when a request arrives.
There is no central FOIA office in the District government, so each public body answers for its own records. A requester must work out which body is likely to hold the material and send the request to that body's FOIA officer, and the Office of Open Government publishes a list of agency FOIA officers for the purpose. A request may be made orally or in writing and may be posted, faxed or emailed; an oral request may be honoured, although the agency has the right to ask for it in writing. Most agencies also take requests through the District government FOIA portal. For records held by other jurisdictions nearby, see the District of Columbia pages.
- Fifteen business days: the standard response period for a District public body.
- Twenty five for body camera footage: requests for body worn camera recordings run on a longer clock from the start.
- Ten more for volume: an extension of ten business days, or fifteen for camera footage, where the request generates a large volume of documents, with notice to the requester.
- Deemed denied: a request not completed within the statutory time is treated as refused, which opens the appeal.
Written by SearchSystems.net from District of Columbia's own systems: the Office of Open Government on the Freedom of Information Act, the District government's records request page, the Mayor's Office of Legal Counsel guidance on appeals, each read on October 15, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
The clock, and what stops it running out
A public body has fifteen business days to respond to a request. Where the request is for body worn camera footage the period is twenty five business days, recognising the review that recordings require. Where a request generates a large volume of documents the agency may invoke an extension of ten business days, or fifteen business days for camera footage, and must inform the requester that it has done so. A FOIA officer handling a very large request may also contact the requester to seek additional time.
The consequence of simply running past the time is spelled out: if the request is not completed within the statutory timeframe, the request is deemed denied by the agency and the requester may appeal. That makes silence an appealable event rather than a reason to keep waiting, and it is why a requester should diary the fifteenth business day and the extension date.
Writing a request the agency can answer
The District asks requesters to do three practical things. Mark the outside of the envelope, or the subject line of the fax or email, as a Freedom of Information Act request, so it is routed to the FOIA officer rather than treated as general correspondence. Include a daytime telephone number, email address or postal address so the officer can make contact. And describe the records as clearly and precisely as possible, being specific about names, dates, places, events, subjects and any other detail that helps identify the material, because a vague or overly broad request will prompt a request to narrow it and delay processing.
Where the agency uses the District portal, the request and any later appeal can both be handled through the requester's account there; where it does not, the request goes directly to the FOIA officer or the agency director.
What a request costs, and when it costs nothing
There is no initial fee for submitting a request. A public body may charge for searching, reviewing and reproducing records at the rates set in the municipal regulations, and two warnings follow from that. Search and review fees may be payable even where the search locates no responsive records, and even where records are found but withheld as exempt, so a speculative request can produce a bill and no documents. A requester can manage that by including a specific statement in the request letter limiting the amount of fees they are willing to pay, which obliges the agency to come back before exceeding it.
A waiver or reduction may also be asked for in the request letter, and the statutory test is set out in the Code: the requester must include a statement describing how the records will be used to benefit the general public, and the body may grant a waiver or reduction where it determines that furnishing the records primarily benefits the general public rather than the requester.
Appealing to the Mayor
An administrative appeal is submitted to the Mayor through the Mayor's Office of Legal Counsel. Where the original request went through the public access portal, the appeal can be filed by logging into the portal account. Where the request went directly to an agency, the appeal must be in writing and must include a copy of the original request, a copy of the body's written denial letter if one was issued, and a written statement of the arguments, circumstances or reasons supporting the information sought.
The letter must carry the words Freedom of Information Act appeal, or FOIA appeal, in the subject line and on the outside of the envelope, and it goes to the Mayor's Office of Legal Counsel at its Pennsylvania Avenue address or by email. One step is easy to miss: a copy of the appeal must also be provided to the public body whose denial is being appealed, addressed to that body's FOIA officer.
Going to court instead
A requester dissatisfied with a body's response may also appeal by filing a civil action in the D.C. Superior Court, and the administrative appeal is not a precondition for doing so. In practice the choice turns on what the dispute is about. Where the issue is delay, scope or a fee, the administrative appeal is faster and costs nothing. Where the issue is a contested exemption under the exemptions section of the Code, a judicial action gives the record a hearing on the merits.
Either way the deemed denial rule means a requester whose fifteen business days have passed without an answer already has something to appeal.
Exemptions, reporting and where to ask for help
Certain categories of document are exempt, and a request falling within one of the categories set out in the Code may be denied on that basis. Transparency about the system itself is built in: District agencies must report their disclosure activities for the previous fiscal year annually to the Secretary of the District of Columbia and to the Council, and those reports are published, so a requester can see how a particular body handles its requests before making one.
Help is available from the Office of Open Government, which answers questions about filing a request or about a pending one and maintains the list of agency FOIA officers. Records of the Board of Ethics and Government Accountability follow their own published route rather than the general one.
Questions about public records requests in District of Columbia
Related District of Columbia records
The District's other public records guides on this site are the District of Columbia background check guide for the Metropolitan Police criminal history service, the District of Columbia court records guide for the courts' case search, the District of Columbia arrest records guide for what a booking makes public, and the District of Columbia pages for every local office.