So what is DD Form 2086? The short answer: a Defense Department document, officially DD Form 2086, Record of Freedom of Information Processing Cost, January 2003, used to Freedom of Information (FOI) Processing Cost. Anything else you need follows from that.
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.
Who decides this form exists? not stated owns it; not stated directs its use. If someone told you to file this, the authority traces back to those.
How current is this? Edition not stated, publisher status not stated. That is the version described throughout this page.
What the form asks for
- Enter request number. First two digits are calendar year followed by a dash, then the component's request number
- 2. Type of request. Press space bar to mark X in first box if initial, second box if appeal.
- 4. Action office.
- Enter date completed. Enter as four digit year, two digit month, two digit day.
- Enter total clerical hours (E-9/G S -8 and below) to the nearest 15 minutes. Search (Time spent locating the information from the files.)
- Cost. (Total hours multiplied by clerical hourly rate of $20.00)
- Review/excising (Time spent reviewing the document and determining if it must retain classification or if certain information could be excised, allowing declassification.) Enter hours.
- Cost.
- Total hours spent on other activity. (Such as duplicating, hand carrying, restoring files)
- Cost.
- Enter total professional hours to the nearest 15 minutes.. O-1, O-6/G S -9, G S -15. Search.
- Cost. (Total hours multiplied by professional hourly rate of $44.00)
- Review/excising. Total hours.
- Cost.
- Other activity, coordination or denial. Total hours.
- Cost.
- Enter total executive hours to the nearest 15 minutes. O-7, G S -16/E S 1 and above. Search.
- Cost. (Total hours multiplied by executive hourly rate of $75.00)
- Review/excising, total hours.
- Cost.
- Other, including coordination/approval/denial, total hours.
- Cost.
- Computer search. Enter total hours of machine time (not PC, desktop, or laptop), when the amount of time required to complete a search on a government owned (not leased) computer is known and hourly operating costs are available).
- Enter hourly rate for computer search time, if known.
Download the form
What formats exist for this form? PDF. What is the scale of it? 2 pages and approximately 61 fields.
Why do two kinds of pdf exist? Because two kinds of user exist. One completes the form on screen and forwards a file; the other prints a blank and fills it by hand. The fillable release has interactive boxes, the printable release is a static image of the same page.
Is handwriting acceptable? Yes, but it is the weaker choice. Scanning flattens pen strokes and reproduction blurs them, while typed characters survive the whole chain intact. Print in capitals if you are working from a paper blank.
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.
Where do you look up an unclear entry? The form face first, not stated second. And when the two disagree? not stated controls.
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.
Can you assume a matching number is the same form? No, and this is where downloads go wrong. Read the prefix. Army numbering and Department numbering are independent systems, so the digits alone tell you nothing about which document you need.
Should you archive this file and reuse it next year? Better not. Forms are revised as directives are reissued, as data requirements shift and as statutory notice text is updated, and none of that reaches you directly. Download fresh, check the edition date.
Will your completed form be accepted? That is not a question this page can answer. What you have here is a published Department of Defense document, a description of it and instructions for filling it out. Nothing on the page is legal advice, and nothing here determines what any office does with a submission. Where do the remaining questions go? To not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2086?
- DD Form 2086, Record of Freedom of Information Processing Cost, January 2003
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?