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Office of Research Administration

Quick Access Resources

PARS
(Proposal Approval Routing System)

Dashboard
(Research reporting Dashboard)

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Freedom of Access Act (FOAA)

Freedom of Information (FOIA)

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is the Federal open records law that applies to records held by federal agencies. Because University of Maine researchers often receive federal funding, Principal Investigators (PIs) may occasionally receive FOIA-related inquiries from federal sponsors. In such cases, PIs should immediately contact ora@maine.edu for guidance and coordination.

Freedom of Access Act (FOAA)

The Freedom of Access Act (FOAA) is the Maine state public records law and applies to records held by public institutions in Maine, including the University of Maine System. All FOAA requests should be directed to foaa@maine.edu or to:

The Office of General Counsel
University Of Maine System
15 Estabrooke Drive
Orono, ME 04469
Phone: 207-581-5841
Fax: 207-581-9212

Additional FOAA guidance is available on the Office of General Counsel’s website.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Answer: No, the Office of Research Administration (ORA) will respond to the Sponsor after consultation with UMS General Counsel and all other relevant parties to ensure all confidential, proprietary, and financial information is protected from disclosure.

Answer: Yes.

Answer: There is no way to control what people do with the information that is released. That’s the reason PIs are given an opportunity to redact information they don’t want released publicly—as long as the information falls under one of the exemptions.

Answer:

The nine exemption categories are as follows:

Classified national defense and foreign relations information;
Internal agency rules and practices;
Information that is prohibited from disclosure by another federal law;
Trade secrets and confidential business information;
Inter-agency or intra-agency communications that are protected by legal privileges;
Information involving matters of personal privacy;
Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes;
Information relating to the supervision of financial institutions; and
Geological information on wells.