AC 16.2013

March 11, 2013

MEMORANDUM TO FEDERAL AGENCY CONTACTS: Notice of Changes in Reporting Requirements for Electronic Records

NARA Bulletin 2010-02 (http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/bulletins/2010/2010-02.html) reminds Federal agencies of their continuing responsibility to schedule all their electronic records series and electronic systems, including web site content records. While this requirement remains in effect, Federal agencies are no longer required to report their progress to NARA semi-annually.  Instead, these reports will be required annually beginning in December 2013.

With the promulgation of OMB/NARA M-12-18, Managing Government Records Directive, NARA is identifying existing Federal agency records management reporting requirements and is actively working on streamlining reporting processes and consolidating these requirements for ease of agency reporting. Beginning this year, electronic records reporting will be included with related reporting requirements documented in the OMB/NARA directive, and will be due at the end of this calendar year.

Though not required, as you identify and schedule your electronic records, I encourage you to submit inventories or spreadsheets to your appraisal archivist that lists: (a) the name of the electronic records series and/or system, (b) a brief description, and (c) the scheduling status (i.e., pending NARA approval, or drafted but not submitted to NARA).  This information will be used to assist NARA staff in evaluating and prioritizing your agency's scheduling needs.

If you have general questions about this notice, please contact Laurence Brewer, Director, National Records Management Program at Laurence.Brewer@nara.gov.  If you have any questions about scheduling your electronic records, please contact your appraisal archivist. If you do not know who your assigned appraisal archivist is, you will find a list of these contacts on the NARA web site at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/appraisal/.

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