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AC 23.2013

May 28, 2013

MEMORANDUM TO FEDERAL AGENCY CONTACTS: NARA/OMB M-12-18 Goals Due On or Before December 31, 2013

NARA/OMB M-12-18, Managing Government Records Directive (“Directive”) directs Federal agencies to report to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) progress being made towards specific goals and requirements. This is a shared responsibility of the Senior Agency Official (SAO) and the Agency Records Officer (ARO) of each agency. In consultation with OMB, NARA provides the following direction below on meeting these reporting requirements.

While there are many actions and requirements in the Directive that agencies do not need to report this fiscal year, there are several goals and requirements described below that are due on or before December 31, 2013. To comply with these requirements, agencies will have from October 1 through December 31 to submit a report on the progress toward specific goals or requirements in the Directive to NARA that they made during the prior fiscal year:

  • Transition to a digital government (Goals 1.1 and 1.2). The first annual report from the SAO to the Chief Records Officer for the U.S. Government covering progress made towards Goals 1.1 (managing all permanent records in an electronic format) and 1.2 (managing both permanent and temporary email in electronic format) of the Directive will be due at the end of this calendar year. NARA will provide a template for this report in early summer. NARA will start accepting reports on October 1, 2013, with all reports due no later than December 31, 2013.

  • Existing use of cloud services or storage (Requirement A4). The SAO report should also identify any existing cloud services or storage, and the date of implementation.

  • Annual renewal of SAO designee (Goal 2.1). Please identify the name, title, agency, office, email, phone number, and address information of the agency SAO. This report includes reaffirming the current SAO, or designating a new SAO. This information should be sent to PRMD@nara.gov no later than November 15, 2013.

  • Identify permanent records (Requirement 2.2). By December 31, 2013, agencies must identify and report to NARA all scheduled permanent records that have been in existence for more than 30 years that have not been transferred to NARA. Attached to this communication is a spreadsheet for agencies to use to gather this information. The spreadsheet should cover records not located in NARA Federal Records Centers (FRC). In a separate communication, agencies will receive reports from NARA on 30-year-old or older records that are stored in NARA FRCs. The completed spreadsheet should be submitted with the agency response to the Records Management Self-Assessment (RMSA).

  • Identify unscheduled records (Requirement 2.5). By December 31, 2013, agencies must identify all unscheduled records and report this information to NARA. Attached is a spreadsheet for agencies to use to gather information concerning unscheduled records. The spreadsheet should cover all unscheduled records, regardless of location, excluding those records currently stored in NARA Federal Records Centers (FRC). In addition, the spreadsheet should include information formerly submitted to NARA related to reporting of electronic records series and systems (see NARA Bulletin 2010-02). The completed spreadsheet should be submitted with the agency response to the RMSA. Separately, agencies will receive reports from NARA on unscheduled records (i.e., “U” coded) that are stored in NARA FRCs.

Although not specifically mentioned in the Directive, agencies will still be required to complete the annual Records Management Self-Assessment (RMSA). To align RMSA reporting with the above Directive requirements, NARA has moved the RMSA from its usual summer time frame to October 1 through December 31, 2013.

Beyond 2013, NARA will continue to request agency reports related to the Directive in the October 1 to December 31 time frame. NARA will also report annually to OMB and to Congress on the progress Federal agencies are making in meeting the goals and requirements of the Directive and other records management requirements. If an agency is unable to report completion of any specific requirement, NARA will require a progress report detailing the agency’s status towards completion.

If you have any questions, please send an email to PRMD@nara.gov.

PAUL M. WESTER, JR.
Chief Records Officer
for the U.S. Government

Attachments:

AC 23 2.2 Reporting Worksheet Part B (xls)
AC 23 2.5 Reporting Worksheet Part B (xls)
AC 23 Guidance for 2.5 Reporting Tool (docx)

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