Federal Records Management

Federal Agency Records Management Reporting

One of the National Archives and Records Administration’s (NARA) most important responsibilities is to report on the state of federal records management. Effective records management programs in federal agencies ensure the preservation of and access to permanently valuable records of the Federal Government.

NARA requires three related but separate submissions: Senior Agency Official for Records Management (SAORM) Annual Report, the annual Records Management Self-Assessment (RMSA), and the Federal Electronic Records and Email Management (FEREM) Report. The information provided by agencies is consolidated into the annual Federal Agency Records Management Report.

Federal Agency Records Management Annual Report

For your convenience the 2024 questionnaires and templates are available here for download:

For information regarding previous questionnaires and templates see the information below or contact NARA's Records Management Oversight and Reporting Team at rmselfassessment@nara.gov.

Records Management Self-Assessment (RMSA)

Each year, Federal agencies are required to conduct a Records Management Self-Assessment (RMSA) and submit the findings to NARA. The goal of the self-assessments is to determine whether Federal agencies are compliant with statutory and regulatory records management requirements.

All reports prior to 2016 were published as an individual RMSA Annual Report.

Senior Agency Official for Records Management (SAORM) Reports

This report demonstrates how agencies are achieving the goals of M-19-21 and other important strategic initiatives. Please visit the SAORM Report page for the individual agency reports from 2019 to the present. All older reports are available on the SAORM Annual Reports Previous Years' Web page.

Federal Electronic Records and Email Management Reports

The Federal Electronic Records and Email Management reports are submitted annually as part of the overall Federal Agency Records Management annual reporting.

NARA uses a risk-based maturity model survey to measure electronic records and email management by Federal agencies. Each part is scored separately and gives its own maturity model score. The maturity model score is determined by adding the total number of points for all questions and dividing the total by the number of questions. The maximum possible number of points is 76 for Part I of the survey, and 20 for Part II of the survey, with a maximum maturity model score of 4 for each part. Based on an agency's maturity model scores, NARA assigns a separate high, moderate, or low-risk rating for managing federal electronic records and email effectively on a scale of 0 to 4, with high risk 0 to 1.9, moderate risk 2 to 2.9, and low risk 3 to 4.

To view the previous 2016-2018 Federal Email Management maturity model scores, risk levels, and answer choices and comments for all responding agencies, download the 2016-2018 Federal Email Management spreadsheet

Agency Scores and Responses

Agency scores and responses for the Federal Electronic Records and Email Management reports are available for download in a spreadsheet containing maturity model scores, risk levels, and answer choices and comments for all responding agencies:

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