What should I do if a record cannot be located when someone requests it for a FOIA request or audit?

A record that cannot be located is one of the more stressful situations a records professional faces, but it is also a defined, manageable process. The goal is to conduct a thorough, well-documented search and to account for the record’s status. A missing record is not automatically a destroyed or improperly handled record, and a disciplined response protects both the requester’s rights and your organization’s credibility.

Conduct and document a reasonable search

Begin a complete, good-faith search across every system and location where the record might reasonably exist. For FOIA, agencies are expected to perform a reasonable search of all locations likely to contain responsive records.

• Identify all repositories: shared drives, email, content systems, physical files, offsite storage, and backups.
• Interview the custodians and program staff most likely to have created or held the record.
• Search by multiple terms, dates, file numbers, and known variations.
• Record what you searched, when, who searched, and the terms used. This search documentation is essential evidence.

Check the record’s disposition status

Determine whether the record still should exist. Consult the applicable retention schedule.

• If the retention period has expired and the record was destroyed under an authorized schedule, document the disposition authority and the destruction date.
• If the record should still be retained but cannot be found, treat it as a potential unauthorized loss or premature destruction.
• Verify there is no active legal hold or litigation hold that should have suspended disposition.

Escalate, certify, and respond

Once the search is complete, formalize the outcome.

• For a FOIA request, the agency may issue a “no records” response, certifying that an adequate search was conducted and none were located.
• For an audit, provide the auditor with the search documentation and disposition records so the absence is fully explained.
• If a record that should exist appears lost or improperly destroyed, report it through your records officer and follow your incident or unauthorized-disposition reporting procedures.

Prevent recurrence

Use the event to strengthen controls: improve indexing, enforce schedules consistently, and confirm legal holds are applied promptly. Strong recordkeeping practices make records findable before a request ever arrives.

For related guidance, see the retention and disposition topic hub.