OGIS: The FOIA Ombudsman and Mediation

When a Freedom of Information Act request stalls, gets denied, or produces a dispute that neither side seems able to resolve, requesters and agencies are not left only with the option of litigation. Congress created an independent office inside the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to serve as the federal FOIA Ombudsman: the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS). Its job is to reduce friction in the FOIA process by offering a neutral, non-adversarial path to resolving disagreements and by studying how the FOIA system works across government.

OGIS occupies an unusual position. It is housed within NARA, which already oversees federal records management, yet its mandate is specifically about access disputes rather than recordkeeping policy. Understanding what OGIS can and cannot do helps requesters use it effectively and helps agency FOIA professionals understand where it fits in the broader information-access landscape.

What OGIS is and where it sits

OGIS was established by amendments to FOIA and operates as part of NARA. It is designed to be independent of the agencies whose FOIA decisions it reviews, which is essential to its credibility as a neutral party. Because NARA’s broader role is to set government-wide records management policy and guidance, OGIS benefits from sitting alongside the institution that thinks about the full lifecycle of federal records — from creation through disposition and, ultimately, archival preservation or public access.

This placement is deliberate. Records management and information access are two sides of the same coin: an agency cannot disclose what it cannot find, and poor recordkeeping is a frequent root cause of FOIA delays and disputes. OGIS’s vantage point lets it see patterns that connect access problems back to underlying records practices.

The mediation and dispute-resolution role

The most visible OGIS function is mediation. When a requester and an agency reach an impasse, OGIS can offer alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services to help them communicate, clarify misunderstandings, and reach a workable outcome without going to court. Common situations include:

• A requester believes an agency conducted an inadequate search or withheld too much under a FOIA exemption.
• Communication has broken down, and the parties are talking past each other about scope, fees, or timing.
• An administrative appeal has been decided and the requester is weighing whether further action is worthwhile.

OGIS mediation is voluntary and confidential, and OGIS does not act as a decision-maker. It cannot overturn an agency’s determination, compel disclosure, or substitute its judgment for a court’s. Instead, it works to get the parties to a shared understanding — often by helping a requester narrow an overbroad request or by helping an agency explain the basis for a withholding more clearly. Many disputes that look intractable turn out to rest on miscommunication that a neutral facilitator can resolve.

Importantly, using OGIS does not require giving up other rights. A requester can seek OGIS assistance and still pursue an administrative appeal or, ultimately, litigation. OGIS services are also free, which makes them an accessible option for requesters who cannot afford counsel.

OGIS as a compliance reviewer

Beyond case-by-case mediation, OGIS has a systemic review mandate. It examines agencies’ FOIA policies, procedures, and compliance, and it reports on what it finds. These reviews look at how agencies handle the FOIA process end to end — intake, searches, processing, the quality of responses, and the timeliness of decisions — and they identify recurring problems and recommend improvements.

This function gives OGIS a role that no single requester or agency could fill: it can spot trends, compare practices across agencies, and surface structural issues such as chronic backlogs or inconsistent fee handling. Its recommendations are advisory rather than binding, but they carry weight as independent, evidence-based assessments and feed into the broader conversation about FOIA administration.

How OGIS relates to FOIA Public Liaisons and OIP

OGIS is one piece of a larger support structure, and it is easy to confuse with adjacent roles. Each agency designates a FOIA Public Liaison, an agency official who helps resolve problems within that agency and is often the first point of contact when a request goes sideways. The Department of Justice’s Office of Information Policy (OIP) provides government-wide FOIA policy guidance, oversees compliance from the executive-branch side, and adjudicates certain matters. OGIS, by contrast, is the independent ombudsman that sits outside the requesting agency and offers neutral mediation.

In practice these roles are complementary. A requester might first work with an agency’s FOIA Public Liaison, consult OIP guidance to understand policy, and turn to OGIS when an impasse calls for a neutral third party. OGIS frequently encourages requesters to engage the Public Liaison before or alongside mediation, because many issues are best solved at the agency level.

Why records management underpins all of it

Most FOIA friction traces back to recordkeeping. If records are well organized, properly described, retained according to schedule, and findable, an agency can search and respond promptly. If they are scattered, poorly indexed, or prematurely destroyed, even a willing agency struggles to comply — and disputes follow. This is why sound records management practices, the kind reflected in NARA’s records management policy and guidance, are foundational to FOIA success.

It is worth noting that NARA’s modernization of its electronic records expectations runs in parallel. In 2022, NARA revoked its endorsement of the DoD 5015.2 standard in favor of the Universal Electronic Records Management (ERM) Requirements developed through the Federal Electronic Records Modernization Initiative (FERMI). The shift toward outcome-based, interoperable requirements aims to improve how agencies capture and manage electronic records — which in turn improves their ability to locate and disclose those records when a FOIA request arrives.

Using OGIS effectively

For requesters, the practical lesson is that OGIS is a resource to use early and constructively, not just a last resort. Contacting OGIS, keeping communication professional, and being willing to narrow a request can resolve many disputes faster than an appeal or a lawsuit. For agencies, engaging with OGIS in good faith — and treating its systemic recommendations as opportunities to improve — strengthens FOIA administration over time. Anyone working in this area can deepen their understanding through the broader FOIA and public records resources, where access law and records management intersect.