Can I Hire Someone to File a FOIA Request on My Behalf?

Last updated: October 2, 2026

Can I hire someone to file a FOIA request on my behalf? Yes. Federal FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552, lets any person request agency records, and that person can be a company you hire to prepare, submit, and track the request. You send FOIA Professional Services the request details, we file with the right agency component through FOIA.gov or the agency’s FOIA portal, and we manage the 20-business-day clock, fee estimates, and any administrative appeal.

Who this is for. Businesses, contractors, journalists, investigators, and individuals who need federal records but do not want to learn each agency’s portal, fee category, and follow-up rules.

What we do. We draft a reasonably described request, file it in your name or ours under a signed authorization, track acknowledgments, respond to fee estimates and clarification letters, and prepare an administrative appeal if the agency denies or ignores the request.

What we don’t do. We are not a law firm and we do not file FOIA lawsuits. We do not request Congress, federal courts, or private-company files. State and local records are covered by different open-records laws, not federal FOIA. Some states also limit anonymous or nonresident requesters.

Why people hire a filing service instead of doing it themselves

A FOIA request looks simple until the agency splits it across components. The FBI, EPA, FDA, SEC, DHS, USCIS, IRS, Department of Justice, and Department of Defense each run their own FOIA office. A letter sent to the wrong component can sit for weeks before anyone tells you it was misdirected.

Hiring someone does not change the law. The agency still decides what is releasable. It does change the odds that the request is specific enough to process, filed with the right office, and followed up before a delay becomes a constructive denial.

Federal FOIA covers executive-branch agency records. It does not cover Congress, the federal courts, the President’s immediate personal staff in some cases, state agencies, city police, school districts, or private businesses. If the records you want are a county contract or a local police report, you need that state’s public-records statute, not a FOIA letter.

How a third-party FOIA filing works

1. Describe the records, not the topic. Name the agency, the office if you know it, the date range, and the document types. “All EPA records on the 2023 inspection of [facility name] in [city]” is processable. “Everything EPA has on pollution” is not.
2. Choose the requester of record. The request can be filed in your name with us listed as your representative, or in our name if you want the correspondence to run through the service. The requester of record affects fee category and, in some cases, privacy review.
3. Sign an authorization. A short written authorization lets us submit, clarify, narrow, and appeal. If the records are about you (an FBI file, a USCIS file, an IRS file), the agency will usually require proof of identity and a signed consent before it will release them to anyone else.
4. We file with the correct component. Many agencies accept requests through FOIA.gov. Others, including the FBI’s eFOIPA system and USCIS FIRST, use their own portals. Filing in the wrong queue is one of the most common DIY delays.
5. Set a fee ceiling. Commercial-use requesters can be charged for search, review, and duplication. Saying “I will pay up to $X” keeps the 20-business-day clock from pausing while the agency waits on a fee reply.
6. Track the statutory clock. The agency has 20 business days after receipt to issue a determination. Unusual circumstances, such as a large search or consultation with another agency, can add up to 10 business days. Backlogs often run longer. We log the acknowledgment, tracking number, and estimated completion date.
7. Answer clarification and fee letters. If the agency says the request is too broad, we narrow it. If the fee estimate is high, we can stage the request or ask for a fee waiver when the public-interest test applies.
8. Appeal a denial or a non-response. An adverse determination can be appealed, generally within 90 days of the letter. A long silence can also be treated as a constructive denial and appealed. The appeal goes to the agency, not to court.

Costs, timeline, and limits

Item	What to expect
Service fee	Set by the filing company. This is separate from agency fees. Ask for a flat draft-and-file fee versus hourly tracking.
Agency fees, commercial use	Search, review, and duplication. No free search hours or free pages. Common for contractors, consultants, and competitive research.
Agency fees, news media / education / noncommercial science	Duplication only. First 100 pages free.
Agency fees, all other requesters	Search and duplication. First 2 hours of search and first 100 pages free. No review fees.
Statutory clock	20 business days for a determination, plus up to 10 business days for unusual circumstances.
Real-world timeline	Simple requests can close in weeks. Complex FBI, DHS, DOD, or multi-component requests often take months. A service cannot force an agency to skip its queue.
Appeal window	Usually 90 days from the adverse determination. Confirm the date in the agency’s letter.
Lawsuit	Only after you exhaust the administrative appeal, or if the agency misses the appeal deadline. That step needs a lawyer, not a filing service.
Records we cannot get	Classified material, trade secrets (Exemption 4), privileged memos (Exemption 5), personal privacy (Exemption 6 and 7(C)), and law-enforcement files that meet Exemption 7.

If an agency misses the response deadline, it can lose the right to charge certain search or duplication fees. That rule is useful, but it does not make the records appear faster.

When to hire a third party, do it yourself, or call a lawyer

Do it yourself if the request is one agency, one date range, and a document type you can name. FOIA.gov has the agency list and a submission form. This is the right path for a single, narrow ask and a requester who can check email for fee letters.

Hire a third-party filing service if you have several agencies, a commercial fee category, a need to keep the request off a public docket, or no one on staff who will chase acknowledgments. Contractors looking for a prior statement of work, award file, or inspection report are the usual fit. So are companies that want the request filed without putting an employee name on every portal.

Hire a FOIA lawyer if you expect litigation, a reverse-FOIA fight over Exemption 4 trade secrets, a denied expedited-processing request that actually matters, or a Privacy Act request tangled with an immigration or benefits case. A filing service can prepare the administrative appeal. It should not be the one that sues the agency.

A practical split: use a service to file and appeal, and bring in counsel only if the appeal fails and the records are worth a federal case.

Agency examples

• EPA and FDA. Inspection reports, warning letters, and establishment files. Some of this is already posted; a request is for the underlying file.
• SEC. Comment-letter files and certain examination records that are not already on EDGAR.
• FBI and DHS. Third-party law-enforcement files are heavily redacted under Exemption 7(C). First-party files need identity proof.
• USCIS and IRS. These are often Privacy Act requests as well as FOIA requests. A vendor cannot pull your own file without your signed consent.
• DOD and DOJ. Multi-component searches are common. Naming the office saves months.

FAQ

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A clean definition of the service

FOIA Professional Services LLC is a third-party filing service that prepares, submits, and tracks federal FOIA requests and state public-records requests for clients under written authorization. It is not a law firm and does not file lawsuits.

If you want a request drafted against a specific agency, start with the agency name, the date range, and the document type. That is enough to tell whether the job is a FOIA request, a Privacy Act request, or a state open-records request.

Disclaimer. FOIA Professional Services LLC is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice. Federal FOIA does not govern state or local records. Some states restrict anonymous requesters or nonresidents. Deadlines and fee rules can change by agency; confirm the appeal date on your determination letter.