[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 11 (Tuesday, January 19, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 2821-2822]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-809]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
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  Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 11 / Tuesday, January 19, 2010 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 2821]]



OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

5 CFR Part 293

RIN 3206-AM05


Personnel Records

AGENCY: U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

ACTION: Proposed rule with request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing to 
amend the regulations governing disposition of Official Personnel 
Folders of Federal employees to clarify the roles and responsibilities 
of OPM and Federal agencies.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 22, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Send or deliver written comments to, Tanya Bennett, Records 
Manager, Office of Chief Information Officer, Office of Personnel 
Management, 1900 E Street, NW., Room 7439, Washington, DC 20415-8200; 
by e-mail to [email protected]; by fax to (202) 606-1719.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tanya Bennett by telephone at (202) 
606-4054, by fax at (202) 606-1719, or by e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Office of Personnel Management 
(OPM) is proposing to amend part 293 of title 5, Code of Federal 
Regulations (Personnel Records) to clarify agency responsibilities 
concerning Official Personnel Folders (OPFs) of employees in the civil 
service.
    Section 293.303, currently encaptioned ``Ownership of folder,'' 
provides that OPFs are under the ``jurisdiction and control'' of and 
are ``part of the records of'' OPM. The language of the current version 
of Sec.  293.303 has caused confusion with respect to the allocation of 
costs for the storage and physical transfer of OPFs. The National 
Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which stores OPFs when the 
subjects are not employed by the Federal Government, has informed OPM 
that it adopted the position that it lacks authority to bill any agency 
other than OPM for costs associated with OPFs because it believed that 
the language of 5 CFR 293.303 precluded any other solution. This 
interpretation has caused the cost of OPF transfers initiated by other 
agencies to be shifted to OPM. For example, any time an agency requests 
that NARA send the agency the OPF of an applicant for an agency 
position, OPM is billed. Sometimes, the same file is returned and 
requested more than once by the same agency in connection with the same 
personnel action. As long as the cost is borne by OPM, however, an 
entity has no incentive to make requests judiciously, i.e., obtain all 
necessary information at once.
    The purpose of the proposed amendments is to clarify OPM's and 
agencies' roles with respect to OPFs and permit a more rational 
allocation of the costs associated with the movement of OPFs. The use 
of the term ``ownership'' and the reference to ``jurisdiction and 
control of OPM'' in 5 CFR 293.303 were intended to summarize OPM's 
Governmentwide authority to standardize practices and procedures for 
the establishment and maintenance of the OPF, not to minimize the 
responsibilities of other agencies with respect to the maintenance and 
use of OPFs.
    To clarify the intended meaning of its regulations, OPM proposes 
the following specific changes to the regulations:
     In section 293.303, we propose to change the heading from 
``Ownership of the folder'' to ``The roles of the Office and 
custodians'' to revise and clarify the text of the section. ``Ownership 
of the folder'' will be deleted as the title of this section because 
its use has had confusing implications as to what entity should be 
responsible for ancillary costs associated with the OPF.
     In section 293.303, we also propose to delete the phrase 
``under the jurisdiction and control of'' to eliminate confusion about 
the meaning of this clause. This section now specifies that the role of 
the Office is to develop regulations, practices and procedures for the 
establishment, maintenance, and transfer of OPFs. Additionally, several 
subsections have been proposed to specify the role of custodians.
     In section 293.102, we propose to add a definition of the 
term ``custodian,'' to be consistent with the revisions to section 
293.303 summarized above.
     In section 293.307, which addresses the disposition of 
folders of former Federal employees, we propose to add paragraphs (c) 
and (d) to clarify responsibility for costs associated with the 
disposition of OPFs of former employees.

Executive Order 12866, Regulatory Review

    This rule has been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget 
in accordance with Executive Order 12866.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    I certify that these regulations will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because they 
would apply only to Federal agencies and employees.

List of Subjects in 5 CFR Part 293

    Government employees, Privacy, Records.

U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
 John Berry,
Director.
    Accordingly, OPM proposes to amend part 293 of title 5, Code of 
Federal Regulations, as follows:

PART 293--PERSONNEL RECORDS

    1. The authority citation for part 293 is revised to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 552, 552a, 1103, 1104, 1302, 2951(2), 3301, 
and 4315; E.O. 12107 (December 28, 1978), 3 CFR 1954-1958 Comp.; 5 
CFR 7.2; E.O. 9830; 3 CFR 1943-1948 Comp.

Subpart A--Basic Policies on Maintenance of Personnel Records

    2. In Sec.  293.102, add a definition of Custodian in alphabetical 
order to read as follows:


Sec.  293.102  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Custodian means an agency in physical possession of an Official 
Personnel Folder. The custodian is responsible for the maintenance and 
disposition of the Folder and the costs associated with maintenance and 
disposition until after the Folder has been transferred to and accepted 
at the National Personnel Records Center. The custodian carries out its 
responsibilities

[[Page 2822]]

with respect to the Folder in accordance with regulations, practices, 
and procedures promulgated or published by the Office of Personnel 
Management.
* * * * *

Subpart C--Official Personnel Folder

    3. Revise Sec.  293.303 to read as follows:


Sec.  293.303   The roles of the Office and custodians.

    (a) The OPF of each employee in a position subject to civil service 
rules and regulations and of each former employee who held such a 
position is part of the records of the Office of Personnel Management 
(the Office). The Office has Governmentwide responsibility for 
developing regulations, practices and procedures for the establishment, 
maintenance, and transfer of OPFs.
    (b) An agency is the legal custodian of an employee's OPF during 
the period of the employee's employment at that agency. An agency is 
responsible for the establishment of the OPF for a new appointee or a 
new employee for whom no OPF has previously been established and is 
similarly responsible for the maintenance of a previously existing OPF 
during the period any new appointee or employee remains in the agency's 
employ. An agency is also the custodian of an OPF it requests from the 
National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) for any other temporary use, 
during the period the agency holds the OPF and until the OPF is 
returned to the NPRC.
    (c) Once an employee separates from federal service, the agency 
must transfer the OPF to the NPRC in accordance with established 
procedures for maintaining OPFs as indicated in OPM's Guide to 
Personnel Recordkeeping.
    (d) Once NPRC has approved the transfer, the Office is the legal 
custodian of the OPF and is responsible for the maintenance of the OPF 
until the destruction date established for the file pursuant to the 
National Archive and Records Administration's General Records Schedule 
unless another agency requests the OPF from the NPRC in the interim. In 
the event another agency requests the OPF from the NPRC, that agency 
becomes the custodian from the date that the OPF is transmitted by the 
NPRC until the date that the NPRC receives the OPF back from the 
agency.
    4. Amend Sec.  293.307 by adding new paragraphs (c) and (d) as 
follows:


Sec.  293.307  Disposition of folders of former Federal employees.

* * * * *
    (c) Agencies are responsible for all costs associated with the 
establishment and maintenance of OPFs, and transfer of OPFs to the 
National Personnel Records Center.
    (d) Agencies are responsible for all costs associated with agency-
initiated requests for OPFs or services from the National Personnel 
Records Center.

[FR Doc. 2010-809 Filed 1-15-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325-39-P