FOIA

Learn how to submit a Freedom of Information Act request for information and records from SBA.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives you the right to request access to records from any federal agency. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is required to disclose information requested under the FOIA unless it falls under one of nine exemptions and three exclusions.

Please note that SBA is experiencing a significant increase in the number of FOIA requests since the onset of the pandemic. This increase is due in part to the agency’s administration of COVID-19 relief programs including the Paycheck Protection Program, COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loans, Restaurant Revitalization Fund and Shuttered Venue Operators Grant. Your request will be processed in the order in which it was received. Should you wish to discuss the status of your request or should you wish to narrow your request in order to reduce the time needed to respond to your request, please feel free to contact FOIAstatus@sba.gov.

Frequently Requested Records

• COVID-19 relief programs data

  • Paycheck Protection Program data

  • COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) and EIDL Advances

  • Restaurant Revitalization Fund data

  • Shuttered Venue Operators Grant data

• SBA 7(a) and 504 loan data

• SBA FOIA Annual Reports

• Congressional correspondence

• SBA credit card holder data

• SBA loss reports

The publicly released PPP data is based on information submitted by the lender to SBA.  

For concerns about publicly released EIDL data, please email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.

Public information on sba.gov

In addition to frequently requested records above, many documents are readily available on SBA.gov.

Examples include:

• Lists of SBA’s headquarters and field offices
• All SBA procedures and formal guidance
• Final opinions rendered in the adjudication of administrative cases
• Additional program data can be found in our open data store (data.sba.gov)