AC 33.2016

July 26, 2016

MEMORANDUM TO FEDERAL AGENCY CONTACTS: NARA’s 2015 Records Management Self-Assessment Report

I am pleased to announce the publication of the National Archives and Records Administration’s 2015 Records Management Self-Assessment (RMSA) report. It is now available on our website at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/resources/self-assessment.html and attached to this memo.

Each year, all Federal agencies are required to conduct a Records Management Self-Assessment (RMSA) and submit it to NARA. The goal of the RMSA is to determine whether Federal agencies are compliant with statutory and regulatory records management requirements. In FY 2015, all 260 agencies that received the RMSA link completed the self-assessment. This includes all Cabinet-level department records officers, departmental components, and independent agencies.

This is our seventh RMSA and we are very pleased to see that agencies continue to make progress. As the requirements of the Managing Government Records Directive (OMB M-12-18) are fully implemented and as we increase oversight of records management across the Government, we believe these improvements will continue. Also, we hope an increasing number of agencies use the RMSA data to chart the progress of their own programs.

The 2015 report highlights some positive trends of improved recordkeeping by Federal agencies. There continues to be a gradual improvement of overall RMSA scores. More than half of agencies have submitted records retention schedules to NARA within the last two years. And the majority of agencies indicate records management staff have oversight over records created at the highest levels of their agency (i.e., those of the agency head and appropriate advisors and executive staff).

We are committed to continuing to work with Federal agencies to strengthen their records management programs and improve RMSA scores. We look forward to working with Congress, OMB, and the Federal agencies to strengthen records management across the Federal Government.

If you have any questions about the report or need additional information, please contact your appraisal archivist. If you do not know who your appraisal archivist is, please consult the NARA website at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/appraisal/index.html.

LAURENCE BREWER
Chief Records Officer
for the U.S. Government