Freedom of Information Act Office | National Institutes of Health (NIH) Official websites use .gov .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS lock or means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Breadcrumb List of Institutes and Centers NIH Office of the Director Office of the Principal Deputy Director Administration and Services Office of Communications and Public Liaison Public Affairs Public Information Freedom of Information Act Office Code of Federal Regulations Exemptions and Exclusions FOIA Policies FOIA Requester Service Centers and FOIA Public Liaisons Fees Financial Disclosure Reports Major Information Systems NIH FOIA Contact Information NIH FOIA Library NIH Freedom of Information Office Coordinators Other Public Information Servers Publicly Available Information Reference Guide Submitting FOIA Appeals Submitting FOIA Requests Contact OCPL Clear Communication Office of Legislative Policy and Analysis (OLPA) Office of Management Assessment (OMA) Executive Secretariat (ExecSec) Science Policy Research, Funding and Coordination Directors of NIH Institutes and Centers Freedom of Information Act Office Notice to FOIA Requesters Please submit all requests through our online portal rather than mail, fax, or courier, to ensure timely logging of your request. If you need to submit a payment, to ensure that it can be processed in a timely manner, please use pay.gov. Welcome The NIH FOIA office generally handles three different categories of requests: requests for information maintained by the Office of the Director, NIH requests that involve trans NIH issues or initiatives unless a specific IC has responsibility requests for information that will not be released because it is protected by one or more of the FOIA's nine exemptions or three exclusions While all requests may be sent to the NIH FOIA Office , each of NIH's separate Institutes and Centers has its own FOIA Coordinator . Requesters should direct requests for information about a specific NIH component to that component. A list of the FOIA Coordinators & for each component is available at this site for your convenience. Background/Overview The Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. 552 , provides individuals with a right to access to records in the possession of the federal government. The government may withhold information pursuant to the nine exemptions and three exclusions contained in the Act. This page last reviewed on April 14, 2026 www.nih.gov An official website of the Department of Health and Human Services Looking for U.S. government information and services? Visit USA.gov