Public-domain instruments
...you can use them for free -- no need to ask for permission!
Mini-Markers (40-item adjective measure of Big Five)
28 item very brief version of SDI (Survey of Dictionary-based Isms), developed in 2003, recommended as better than the 2000 version linked below
28 item very brief version of SDI-B (Survey of Dictionary-based Isms, Version B), developed in 2000
You can't use the NEO-FFI for free, but if you already have item responses you can rescore the items into subcomponents for free, as follows:
NEO-FFI subcomponents (from 1998 article in Journal of Personality Assessment): Norms and scoring key