Pre-Disclosure Notifications Delays: In compliance with Executive Order 12600, NIH notifies submitters of records requested under FOIA for the submitters’ identification of portions containing confidential commercial information during our FOIA review process. Submitters — including hospitals, research institutions, and other medical professionals, and companies — remain severely affected by the pandemic, and require additional time to respond to our Pre-Disclosure Notifications. NIH subject matter experts, who review and confirm submitters’ redactions, may also need additional time for review during the pandemic. In these circumstances, requesters may experience unexpected delays as we process FOIA requests for records.
Please note that no special characters are permitted in your password hint answer (#,&,!,?).
Submitting FOIA Requests to the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
You have reached the NIH FOIA Request Portal
for the submission of FOIA requests. For
general information, including information about the Freedom of Information Act
and the applicable regulations, the types of records we maintain, and how we
process requests, please visit the NIH FOIA homepage.
Do not file a FOIA appeal through this Portal. FOIA appeals are properly filed directly with HHS. Please consult the NIH FOIA Appeals page for details on how to file an appeal.
Before you submit a request:
FOIA requesters interested in
obtaining information on NIH-funded research projects should first consult the NIH
RePORT (Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools) website before
submitting a FOIA request. RePORT provides access to a variety of
reporting tools, reports, data, and analyses of NIH research activities. One of
the tools available on the RePORT site is the RePORTER (RePORT
Expenditures and Results) module. RePORTER is an
electronic tool that allows users to search a repository of NIH-funded research
projects and access publications and patents resulting from NIH funding. RePORTER
will help requesters to identify the grant or contract number and the component
funding the research in order to submit a FOIA request (in the NIH FOIA Request Portal). Typically, a grant number and grant title are
necessary to submit a FOIA request. If you seek
data produced under a NIH grant, please visit
the NIH Data Sharing
Policy page before making a
request.
Clinicaltrials.gov is a searchable registry and results
information database of clinical research studies sponsored or funded by a
broad range of public and private organizations around the world. Not all studies listed on ClinicalTrials.gov
are funded by the NIH or other agencies of the U.S. Federal Government. NIH will not have records about studies that
are not sponsored or regulated by NIH.
The Federal
Procurement Data System provides
information on government contracts.
Another useful source of readily
available information is the NIH
FOIA Library.
Categories of information not
available through NIH FOIA:
- OGE Form 450 Confidential Financial Disclosure Reports are protected from release
-
Information
already available in the public domain
- HHS information
outside of NIH
Please note that FOIA is only
intended to provide access to existing records.
When submitting a request, please include specific search terms that are
not general in nature and a timeframe, as they typically aid in locating
records and reduce search and review time, and minimize fees. When available, please also include where and
with whom you believe the information is located. If you are unsure whether NIH can
release the records you seek, or where to direct your request, you may prefer
to call the appropriate FOIA
Service Center before filing your request.
Registering with the NIH FOIA Request Portal:
The NIH FOIA program leverages this
portal to ensure proper routing of requests to the appropriate NIH
Institute or Center (IC), and to provide
additional information to requesters during the processing of a request. By registering with this portal to file your
request, you will:
- help minimize
administrative delays,
- have access to
your recent requests and their status,
- receive automated
updates, and
- receive final
released documents via the portal
You will only need to register with
the portal once.
When preparing your FOIA request,
please identify the records requested (be as specific as possible, i.e.,
describe the subject matter of the records, and, if known, indicate the dates
of the records, the places where they originated, and the names of the
originating persons or offices);
- Grants - provide the grant number, title of project,
Principal Investigator’s name, and funding institution.
- Contracts - Provide the solicitation number, or full
contract number and company name.
Include the parent contract number and task order number if a
specific task order is requested.
- Emails – Provide a detailed description of the
subject matter for records sought, the names of individual NIH email
accounts to search, if known, and the date range.
If you know which component of NIH
has responsive documents, you will minimize processing time by directing your
request via this portal to the appropriate
NIH component when prompted
to do so.
If you have questions concerning your
request, we encourage you to contact the FOIA
Coordinator to whom you sent
your request or the NIH FOIA Office at 301-496-5633. If you are uncertain which component(s) you
would like to send your request to, please select OD as the component of
interest and indicate in your request which component(s) you believe may hold
responsive records.
To begin your FOIA request, please click register or sign in.
Routine Redactions on Requests for Grant and Contract documents
If you are requesting a copy of a funded grant application or an awarded
contract with associated documents, you should understand that NIH routinely
redacts certain information from those documents before we release them. More
information about these routine redactions can be found at this site. Just click on the type of document that
interests you: grants or contracts.