Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA)

The Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) conducts impartial administrative appeal hearings of adverse program decisions made by USDA and reviews of determinations issued by OHA hearing officers when requested by a party to the appeal. The USDA has realigned some of its FOIA functions by creating a stand-alone office titled “Office of Information Affairs” (OIA) under the Office of the General Counsel (OGC).  As part of the realignment, the OGC-OIA has assumed the FOIA functions for all USDA staff offices and certain mission areas.  FOIA requests submitted to OHA will be processed by the OGC-OIA. FOIA Reference Guide FOIA Regulations