Calculating FOIA Response Times after the Government Shutdown
By DOJ/OIP, FOIA Post, Nov. 18, 2025
As federal employees return to work following the recent lapse in appropriations, OIP is aware that there are questions regarding whether the lapse in appropriations affects how agencies should count the number of days needed to respond to FOIA requests and administrative appeals. OIP has issued guidance to federal agencies in calculating FOIA response times for requests received during the government shutdown.
Agencies should use the automatically generated received date as the “date received” for electronic communication. For physical mail, the date on which the mail was physically received by the FOIA office should control. For most agencies, this means that the “date received” for physical mail will be the date that the government reopened, November 13, 2025. You can read the full guidance piece here.
OIP’s FOIA Counselor Service and Annual FOIA Report Team are available to answer any questions on this guidance or any other topic regarding FOIA administration by calling (202) 514-FOIA (3642).