Regulatory Inquiry Response Template
Three documents and three sheets that map each numbered specification to what was produced and the scope position taken on it.
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Request to Document Map · Halvern Foods Co. · FTC CID 2026-CID-0417
Two specifications both show real documents produced. Only one of them needed a full certification.
The scope position, not the document count, is what the sworn certificate is actually certifying.
| Spec | Scope Position | Docs Produced | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | Complied as issued | 212 | Certified complete |
| 3 | Privilege withheld | 156 | Certified for non-privileged material only |
| 20 | Quashed in full | 0 | No certification required |
24 specifications, 4 scope positions, 1 sworn certificate that has to match every row
Specification 20's zero documents is not a gap. It is the correct result of a granted petition, and the map is what tells a reader that on sight instead of leaving a zero indistinguishable from a specification nobody actually searched.
Most templates for responding to a regulatory inquiry are a project-plan checklist: assign an owner, set a legal hold, track the return date on the calendar. None of them record the one fact that actually matters if the response is later called incomplete, the specific position taken on each numbered specification in the letter or demand, and exactly what was produced against it. A generic checklist proves the company did something. It does not prove what was decided about specification 14 specifically, or why specification 20 shows zero documents produced.
The deadlines behind that record are specific and unforgiving. A recipient of an FTC civil investigative demand must meet and confer with staff within 14 days of service, under 16 C.F.R. § 2.7(k). A petition to limit or quash is due within 20 days, under 16 C.F.R. § 2.10, and it stays the compliance clock only for the specifications actually challenged, not the whole demand. The production itself must carry a sworn certificate of completeness.
Applied to Halvern Foods Co.'s 24-specification CID, 15 specifications are complied with as issued and 2 are narrowed by agreement. Two more are narrowed or quashed by a Commission ruling, and 5 are produced in part with 47 documents withheld on privilege grounds. Three productions total 4,032 documents on one contiguous Bates range. Fourteen months later, staff asks about specification 14 by number, and the map already shows 212 records on a specific Bates range, the same mapping habit a wider compliance program runs on.
What's in the pack
Response Letter
The regulator-facing summary, grouped by scope position, complied with, narrowed, challenged, or withheld, cross-referenced to the map underneath it.
Internal Brief
The plain-language summary for the executive team and board: what triggered the inquiry, current status, and who decided what.
Privilege and Scope Note
The contemporaneous record behind every specification narrowed, challenged, or withheld, logged the way Fed. R. Evid. 502(b) protects it.
Request to Document Map
One row per numbered specification: its scope position, its document count and Bates range, and the certification note behind it.
Production Log
Every production round logged by date, specifications covered, document count, and Bates range, reconciled against the map.
Deadline Tracker
Every procedural deadline computed as an actual date from the date of service, not left as a day count.
How to use it
- 1
Open in River, or take it blank
Open the pack in River and send the inquiry letter or demand, or download the Word documents and CSV sheets from the template library and build the map yourself.
- 2
Build the Request to Document Map before collecting anything
Every numbered specification gets a row, its plain-language summary and a scope position, before documents are gathered, so nothing gets decided by what happened to be found.
- 3
Track every deadline from the date of service
A meet-and-confer window, a petition deadline, a return date, each computed as an actual date, and logged as met on the day it actually happens.
- 4
Log every production and draft the letter last
Each production round ties its Bates range back to the map, and the Response Letter and Internal Brief both summarize a record that is already complete.
Frequently asked questions
Is this template free?
Yes, no account or card required. The download is Word documents and CSV sheets in a zip. Edit with AI is the second half: the agent builds the Request to Document Map from the inquiry letter itself, then tracks every deadline from the date of service.
What am I actually downloading?
Three Word documents and three CSV sheets, zipped. The sheets open in Excel, Numbers or Google Sheets straight off the download, and the Response Letter, Privilege and Scope Note, and Internal Brief open in Word or Pages.
Why isn't a project checklist enough for a CID or similar inquiry?
A checklist proves the company assigned owners and tracked a return date. It does not record what was decided about any one numbered specification, complied with, narrowed, challenged, or withheld, which is exactly what a follow-up months later asks about, and what the sworn certificate of completeness is actually certifying.
Does filing a petition on one specification pause the whole demand?
No. A timely petition to limit or quash stays the compliance clock only for the specifications it actually challenges. Every other specification's original return date still applies, so a production covering the uncontested specifications still has to go out on schedule while the petition is pending.
What if the inquiry becomes a discovery request in litigation instead?
The scope-position logic carries over directly. The discovery response template answers each request for production the same way, tied to the objection stated and the Bates range that satisfies it, and the document review and privilege pack builds the withheld-document log a formal privilege log requires.
What if the inquiry surfaces conduct the company hasn't investigated internally yet?
Route that specification's underlying conduct to the internal investigation pack before certifying the response. Its Investigation Plan classifies every witness into a warning tier before the first interview, the same before-not-after discipline this pack applies to scope positions, and its findings often become the position taken here.
How does this fit with the other legal packs?
Regulatory change flags the new obligation; this pack responds once a regulator actually asks about it. A privacy-specific inquiry often routes through the dedicated privacy pack instead, since its rights-request and breach clocks need their own tracking rather than a specification-by-specification map.
Map every specification before the documents go out
Take the Word documents and CSV sheets blank, or open this exact pack in River and send the inquiry letter you received.
Edit with AI