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We get a fair number of questions about how to handle high fees. There are some basic starting points we recommend for reducing fees captured in the guides at https://www.muckrock.com/tags/fees/.

It can be hard to know whether an agency is being malicious or just literal and bureaucratic, but it often helps to go into a negotiation assuming the latter. Always remember that you’re communicating with a real person and asking them to help you.

1. Ask for clarification: it is almost always fair to ask for clarification on what the basis for the estimate is, especially if it seems like a lot of time.
2. Review the guidance for your state on RCFP’s Open Government Guide and MuckRock’s state page, to get a better sense of how fees can be assessed, by law. This can vary quite a bit.
3. If the agency is quoting you what seems like a lot of hours, there are a few good options:
   • Can the request be narrowed to a small subset of documents that will help you figure out whether or not this is what you actually need? For example, the first $50 of the response might reveal that it is not worth pursuing the rest.
   • Sometimes paper is easier to access than a database export: can you narrow the request to get just paper records?
   • Ask the agency how you can reduce the burden: "Thanks for your help understanding this estimate. I'd like to make sure that I'm not accidentally requesting more information than intended, as I'm primarily interested in [the contracts, final determinations of these tests, etc]. If you have suggestions for how I could potentially reduce the burden of this request, I'd be interested in revising it to reduce the staff time required."

You may also find one of the following MuckRock articles helpful:

• https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2019/jul/11/foia-faq-fees/ — looks at what you should know about FOIA fee categories - and how to make sure you end up in the correct one.
• https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/mar/31/foia-media-status-guide/ — may also prove helpful
• https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2018/sep/27/sample-appeals-for-high-fees/ — includes a handful of quick tips on what you can do to overrule an agency.
• https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2018/sep/07/fee-survey-ii/

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