[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 138 (Thursday, July 20, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33518-33520]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-15250]


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NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

[NARA-2017-055]


Records Management; General Records Schedule (GRS); GRS 
Transmittal 28

AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

ACTION: Notice of new General Records Schedule (GRS) Transmittal 28.

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SUMMARY: NARA is issuing a new set of General Records Schedules (GRS) 
via GRS Transmittal 28. The GRS provides mandatory disposition 
instructions for administrative records common to several or all 
Federal agencies. Transmittal 28 announces changes we have made to the 
GRS since we published Transmittal 27 in January. We are concurrently 
disseminating Transmittal 28 (the memo and the accompanying records 
schedules and documents) directly to each agency's records management 
official and have also posted it on NARA's Web site.

DATES: This transmittal is effective the date it publishes in the 
Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: You can find this transmittal on NARA's Web site at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/grs/. You can download the complete 
current GRS, in PDF format, from NARA's Web site at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/grs.html.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information about this notice 
or to obtain paper copies of the GRS, contact Kimberly Keravuori, 
External Policy Program Manager, by email at 
[email protected] or by telephone at 301.837.3151.
    Writing and maintaining the GRS is the GRS Team's responsibility. 
This team is part of Records Management Services in the National 
Records Management Program, Office of the Chief Records Officer at 
NARA. You may contact NARA's GRS Team with general questions about the 
GRS at [email protected].
    Your agency's records officer may contact the NARA appraiser or 
records analyst with whom your agency normally works for support in 
carrying out this transmittal and the revised portions of the GRS. You 
may access a list of the appraisal and scheduling work group and 
regional contacts on our Web site at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/appraisal/index.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: GRS Transmittal 28 announces changes to the 
General Records Schedules (GRS) made since NARA published GRS 
Transmittal 27 in January 2017. The GRS provide mandatory disposition 
instructions for records common to several or all Federal agencies. We 
are nearing the end of our five-year plan to completely rewrite the 
GRS. With Transmittal 28, 92% of old items are now superseded.
    Transmittal 28 includes only schedules newly issued or updated 
since the last transmittal, those schedules' associated new-to-old 
crosswalks and FAQs, an update to the FAQs for GRS 6.1 (but not 
schedule 6.1 itself, which remains unchanged), and an update to the 
FAQs about Flexible Dispositions. This means that many current GRS 
schedules are not included in this Transmittal.
    This means that many current GRS schedules are not included in this 
Transmittal. You can find all schedules (in Word, PDF, and CSV 
formats), crosswalks and FAQs for all schedules, and FAQs about the 
whole GRS at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/grs.html. At the same 
location, you can also find the entire GRS (just schedules--no 
crosswalks or FAQs) in a single document (https: //www.archives.gov/files/records-mgmt/grs/trs28-sch-only.pdf).

[[Page 33519]]

What changes does this transmittal make to the GRS?

    GRS Transmittal 28 publishes nine new schedules:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GRS 2.1 Employee Acquisition         DAA-GRS-2014-0002
 Records.
GRS 2.2 Employee Management Records  DAA-GRS-2017-0007
GRS 2.3 Employee Relations Records.  DAA-GRS-2015-0007
GRS 2.4 Employee Compensation and    DAA-GRS-2016-0015
 Benefits Records.
GRS 5.1 Common Office Records......  DAA-GRS-2016-0016
GRS 5.2 Transitory and Intermediary  DAA-GRS-2017-0003
 Records.
GRS 5.6 Security Records...........  DAA-GRS-2017-0006
GRS 5.8 Administrative Help Desk     DAA-GRS-2017-0001
 Records.
GRS 6.5 Public Customer Service      DAA-GRS-2017-0002
 Records.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    It also publishes a new item in one schedule: GRS 1.1, Financial 
Management and Reporting Records (see question 3). In addition, it 
supersedes in its entirety GRS 4.3, Input Records, Output Records, and 
Electronic Copies (see question 4).
    This transmittal also includes an updated table of contents that 
shows some alterations to the previously published schedule titles. 
Research led us to conclude that it is not possible at this time to 
write a GRS for legal records, so the number assigned to that 
anticipated schedule--GRS 6.3--has been assigned instead to Information 
Technology Records. A new schedule for rulemaking records is GRS 6.6. 
Both 6.3 and 6.6 should be published in Transmittal 29.
    This transmittal publishes a revised Frequently Asked Questions 
(FAQs) for GRS 6.1. The revisions include adding new GRS citations 
where appropriate; removing unnecessary references to some CFR 
citations in Q3; clarifying Q4 text; clarifying culling in Q22; and 
clarifying how to report calendars, appointments, tasks, chat 
transcripts, and other communications on NA-1005 in Q27. Finally, this 
transmittal publishes updated FAQs on Flexible Dispositions, adding a 
new Q6 about batching records for disposal.

How has GRS 1.1 changed? How might these changes affect my agency?

    We added one new item (080) to cover administrative claims made by 
or against the Federal Government. We also added three new questions to 
the GRS 1.1 FAQs concerning travel receipts scanned into e-systems 
(question 9), audit records (question 16) and use of item 080 (question 
18).

Why did you delete GRS 4.3?

    We deleted GRS 4.3, Input Records, Output Records, and Electronic 
Copies, because we have superseded its seven items with two new items 
in GRS 5.1 and 5.2. We superseded GRS 4.3, item 040, Non-recordkeeping 
copies of electronic records, with the closely parallel and identically 
titled GRS 5.1, item 020. We moved it to 5.1 to place it in context 
with other common office records. The new item is media-neutral. We 
superseded GRS 4.3, items 010, 011, 020, 030, 031, and 040 with GRS 
5.2, item 020, Intermediary records. We found we could gather records 
of various formats from various sources into a single unit by 
recognizing this unifying trait: They are stopping points en route to a 
final record scheduled elsewhere.

What GRS items does GRS Transmittal 28 rescind?

    Many old GRS items are superseded by new GRS items. A few old 
items, however, have outlived their usefulness and cannot be 
crosswalked to new items. The table below lists old items newly 
rescinded by GRS Transmittal 28.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
     GRS          Item             Title                  Reason
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1...........  1a..........  Official Personnel   Was simply a filing/
                             Folders:             handling instruction
                             Transferred          and never had an
                             employees.           associated disposition
                                                  authority.
1...........  2a..........  Service Record       The Service Record Card
              2b..........   Cards.               (SF 7) became obsolete
                                                  in 1994.
1...........  6...........  Employee Record      The Employee Record
                             Cards.               Card (SF 7b) became
                                                  obsolete in 1993.
1...........  7a1.........  Position             Non-record technical
                             Classification       reference in all
                             Standards Files.     agencies but OPM,
                                                  where they are mission
                                                  records.
1...........  7a2b........  Position             No longer exist in the
                             Classification       electronic world. If
                             Standards Review     on paper, they are non-
                             Files.               record duplicates.
1...........  7c1.........  Classification       OPM believes these
1...........  7c2.........   survey reports.      records no longer
                            Inspection, audit,    exist.
                             and survey files.
1...........  11..........  Position             These records no longer
                             Identification       exist.
                             Strips.
1...........  13..........  Incentive Awards     Agencies are no longer
                             Program Reports.     required to complete
                                                  OPM Form 1465.
                                                  Instead, OPM extracts
                                                  data from the
                                                  Enterprise Human
                                                  Resources Integration-
                                                  Statistical Data Mart
                                                  to report Government-
                                                  wide data on cash and
                                                  time-off awards.
1...........  25b.........  Copies of EEO        These are non-record
                             Complaint Case       duplicates.
                             Files.
1...........  25e.........  Employee Housing     Item does not appear to
                             Requests.            be in use.
1...........  33d.........  Test Material Stock  Blank unused forms are
                             Control.             not records.
1...........  33h.........  Letters to           OPM Form 4896 is
                             Applicants Denying   obsolete and the
                             Transfer of          entire work process no
                             Eligibility.         longer exists.
1...........  35b1........  Health benefits      Replaced by GRS 2.4,
                             denied, appealed     item 110. Like the old
                             to OPM for           item, the new item
                             reconsideration:     instructs about
                             Appeal successful--  filing, not
                             benefits granted.    disposition. As a
                                                  result, it cannot be
                                                  entered into ERA so
                                                  cannot supersede the
                                                  old. The old item must
                                                  therefore be
                                                  rescinded.
2...........  1a..........  Pay record for each  Item was not a
                             employee as          disposition
                             maintained in an     instruction but rather
                             electronic data      an instruction to make
                             base.                sure the current
                                                  record is full and
                                                  correct.
2...........  2...........  Noncurrent Payroll   Item authorized
                             Files.               periodic disposal of
                                                  system data after long-
                                                  term records were
                                                  downloaded and
                                                  safeguarded. Such data
                                                  is now covered under
                                                  5.1, item 020.

[[Page 33520]]

 
2...........  14a.........  Savings Bond         Paper savings bond
              14b.........   Purchase Files.      purchase via payroll
              14c.........                        deduction was
                                                  discontinued in 2010.
                                                  Payroll deductions
                                                  under the current
                                                  TreasuryDirect e-
                                                  system are covered in
                                                  GRS 2.4, item 010.
2...........  23b.........  Payroll Change       Electronic payroll
                             Files: all other     processing means these
                             files.               records no longer
                                                  exist.
26..........  1b..........  Internal agency      Item is not a
                             committees related   disposition
                             to an agency's       instruction. It tells
                             mission.             agencies to submit a
                                                  schedule for records.
                                                  Now handled via a note
                                                  in GRS 5.1, item 030.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Rescinded items are shown in context of their schedules in the old-
to-new crosswalk.

How do I cite new GRS items?

    When you send records to an FRC for storage, you should cite the 
records' legal authority--the ``DAA'' number--in the ``Disposition 
Authority'' column of the table. For informational purposes, please 
include schedule and item number. For example, ``DAA-GRS-2013-0001-0004 
(GRS 4.3, item 020).''

Do I have to take any action to implement these GRS changes?

    NARA regulations (36 CFR 1226.12(a)) require agencies to 
disseminate GRS changes within six months of receipt.
    Per 36 CFR 1227.12(a)(1), you must follow GRS dispositions that 
state they must be followed without exception.
    Per 36 CFR 1227.12(a)(3), if you have an existing schedule that 
differs from a new GRS item that does not require being followed 
without exception, and you wish to continue using your agency-specific 
authority rather than the GRS authority, you must notify NARA within 
120 days of the date of this transmittal.
    If you do not have an already existing agency-specific authority 
but wish to apply a retention period that differs from that specified 
in the GRS, you must submit a records schedule to NARA for approval via 
the Electronic Records Archives.

How do I get copies of the new GRS?

    You can download the complete current GRS, in PDF format, from 
NARA's Web site at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/grs.html.

Whom do I contact for further information?

    Writing and maintaining the GRS is the responsibility of the GRS 
Team. You may contact the team with general questions about the GRS at 
[email protected]. This team is part of Records Management Services in 
the National Records Management Program of the Office of the Chief 
Records Officer at NARA.
    Your agency's records officer may contact the NARA appraiser or 
records analyst with whom your agency normally works for support in 
carrying out this transmittal. A list of the appraisal and scheduling 
work group and regional contacts is on the NARA Web site at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/appraisal/index.html.

David S. Ferriero,
Archivist of the United States.
[FR Doc. 2017-15250 Filed 7-19-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7515-01-P