Preserving Federal Records

The Federal Records Act¹

Congress deemed federal records needed to preserved and enacted the Federal Records Act (FRA) in 1950. The FRA requires executive branch departments and agencies to collect, retain and preserve — or sometimes dispose of — federal records. The duties of the FRA are assigned to the Archivist of the United States (AOTUS).

The provisions of the FRA apply to federal departments and many independent agencies. The records that must be collected and maintained by the departments and agencies for the following reasons:

• document persons, places, things or matters related to agency business;
• document agency business and its officials;
• provide the ability of Congress or other agencies to scrutinize government functions;
• protect financial, legal and other rights of the government and people affected by agency actions;
• document policy creation and decisions.

The head of each federal agency cooperates with the Archivist in applying "standards, procedures, and techniques designed to improve the management of records, promote the maintenance and security of records deemed appropriate for preservation, and facilitate the segregation and disposal of records of temporary value."

The agency assigns the duty of records management to a person within the agency, typically called a "Records Officer." The Records Officer must develop record schedules for all records created and/or received by the agency. Most importantly, NARA must approve the schedules prior to their implementation — whether the records are scheduled as temporary, and destroyed after a certain date, or scheduled as permanent, and retained by the agency, to eventually change legal custody from the agency to NARA. If an agency wants to shorten a retention schedule for a set of records, they must start the records schedule process from scratch, and the decision for the change rests with AOTUS. When an agency and NARA are at odds on a decision regarding records, the decision ultimately lies with AOTUS.

The FRA does not apply to Congress nor the President. To read about the Presidential Records Act, visit The Presidential Records Act: An Overview.