What is DD Form 2086-1? It is a Department of Defense form titled DD Form 2086-1, Record of Freedom of Information Processing Cost for Technical Data, July 1997, and its job is straightforward: Freedom of Information (FOI) Processing Cost for Technical Data. That single line covers most of what people want to know before they download it.
Is there a version specific to your service? No. A DD number is issued at Department level, which is the whole point of the prefix — every military department and defense agency works from one identical document. Looking for a branch variant wastes time you do not have.
Where does the requirement come from? From not stated, with not stated responsible for the document itself. Those are the names to cite if anyone asks under what authority you filed.
How current is this? Edition not stated, publisher status not stated. That is the version described throughout this page.
What the form asks for
- 1. Request number. First two digits are calendar year followed by a dash, then component's request number.
- 2. Type of request. Press space bar to mark X in first box if initial, second box if appeal.
- 3. Date completed (four digit year, two digit month, two digit day).
- Enter total clerical hours (E-9/G S -8 and below) to nearest 15 minutes. Enter total search time (time expended in locating material from files).
- Cost. (Total hours of search time multiplied by clerical hourly rate of $13.25.). Chargeable to all requesters.
- Total hours of Review/excising (time expended determining whether document must retain classification or whether some information could be excised, permitting declassification).
- Cost. (Total hours multiplied by clerical hourly rate of $13.25). Chargeable to all requesters.
- Total hours of Correspondence and forms preparation (preparation of all correspondence and forms needed to respond to the request).
- Cost. Total hours multiplied by clerical hourly rate of $13.25.
- Total hours spent on Other activity, such as duplicating, hand carrying, restoring files, et cetera).
- Cost. Total hours multiplied by clerical hourly rate of $13.25.
- Enter total hours of time at Minimum charge.
- Cost. Minimum charge hours multiplied by clerical hourly rate of $8.30.
- Enter total professional hours, to nearest 15 minutes. O-1, O-6/G S -9, G S -15. Search time.
- Cost. Total search hours multiplied by actual professional hourly rate. Chargeable to all requesters.
- Total Review/excising hours.
- Cost. Review/excising hours multiplied by actual professional hourly rate. Chargeable to all requesters.
- Total hours of Coordination/approval/denial. Time spent coordinating with other interested agencies and obtaining approval or denial.
- Cost. Total coordination hours multiplied by actual professional hourly rate.
- Total hours of Other activity.
- Cost. Total hours of Other activity multiplied by actual professional hourly rate.
- Total hours of Minimum charge time.
- Cost. Total minimum charge multiplied by one half professional hourly rate.
- Executive Hours (O-7, G M - 1 - 6, or E S 1 and above), to the nearest 15 minutes. Total hours of search time.
Download the form
What can you download? The available set is PDF. How big is the job? The form runs 2 pages with roughly 80 fields to complete.
Fillable or printable — which do you have? Click inside a box. If it accepts a cursor and typed text, the file is fillable and your entries save with it. If nothing happens, the pdf is flat, and the only way forward is printing it and writing on paper.
Should you type or write? Type, whenever the choice is yours. The reason is what happens after submission: the record gets copied and scanned, and every pass costs handwriting legibility that typed entries never lose.
Can you skip around the form? Better not to. The layout runs identification, then content, then certification, and entries near the bottom frequently take their meaning from what sits above them.
Why does the edition matter so much here? Because DD forms are revised centrally. When the Department reissues one, it reissues it for all branches simultaneously, and the field layout can shift. Compare the printed date against not stated before you type anything.
Is the form its own instruction manual? Partly. The rest sits in not stated, which is also the authority where the two texts conflict.
What happens after you finish? It routes to the office specified in not stated or in local guidance. And your own record? Save a duplicate first; nobody regrets having one.
Do you need to know which branch issued a related form? No. DD numbering is Department-wide and unified, which means the number on its own is a complete address for the document.
Why do some instructions cite both a DA and a DD form? Because the procedure touches both systems, not because the forms are related. Service forms answer to a service proponent; DD forms answer to not stated or another Department office. The sequences were never aligned.
How often does a form like this change? Unpredictably — revision follows directive changes, altered collection requirements and updated notice language. What is the practical defence? Verifying not stated every time you download rather than trusting a saved copy.
What does this page actually provide? The blank form and a description of it. What does it not provide? Legal guidance, procedural rulings, or any assurance about a particular filing. Who answers those? not stated, the administrative office that serves you, or the authority identified in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2086-1?
- DD Form 2086-1, Record of Freedom of Information Processing Cost for Technical Data, July 1997
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?