[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 86 (Monday, May 4, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26500-26502]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-09352]


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NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

[NARA-2020-033]


Records Management; General Records Schedule (GRS); GRS 
Transmittal 31

AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

ACTION: Notice of new General Records Schedule (GRS) Transmittal 31.

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SUMMARY: NARA is issuing revisions to the General Records Schedule 
(GRS). The GRS provides mandatory disposition instructions for 
administrative records common to several or all Federal agencies. 
Transmittal 31 includes only changes we have made to the GRS since we 
published Transmittal 30 in December 2019. Additional GRS schedules 
remain in effect that we are not issuing via this transmittal.

DATES: This transmittal is effective May 4, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You can find all GRS schedules, crosswalks, and FAQs at 
http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/grs.html (in Word, PDF, and CSV 
formats). You can download the complete current GRS, in PDF format, 
from the same location.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For more information about this notice 
or to

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obtain paper copies of the GRS, contact Kimberly Keravuori, Regulatory 
and 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 website at http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/appraisal/index.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: GRS Transmittal 31 announces changes to the 
General Records Schedules (GRS) made since we published GRS Transmittal 
30 in December 2019. The GRS provide mandatory disposition instructions 
for records common to several or all Federal agencies. Transmittal 31 
includes alterations to 16 previously published schedules.
    You can find all schedules (in Word and PDF formats), a master 
crosswalk, 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 you can download.

1. What changes does this transmittal make to the GRS?

    GRS Transmittal 31 alters 15 schedules to insert language requiring 
agencies to offer records created prior to a specified date (January 1, 
1921, unless stated otherwise in questions 3-6 and 8 below) to NARA. 
Only if NARA declines the offer may agencies destroy such records. This 
requirement existed in schedules in the old GRS but was omitted in the 
new GRS revision. We have determined the requirement is still 
necessary, so are reinstating it in these schedules covering the 
applicable records:

GRS 1.1 Financial Management and Reporting Records
GRS 2.1 Employee Acquisition Records
GRS 2.2 Employee Management Records
GRS 2.3 Employee Relations Records
GRS 2.5 Employee Separation Records
GRS 2.6 Employee Training Records
GRS 2.7 Employee Health and Safety Records
GRS 4.1 Records Management Records
GRS 4.2 Information Access and Protection Records
GRS 5.3 Continuity and Emergency Planning Records
GRS 5.4 Facility, Equipment, Vehicle, Property, and Supply Records
GRS 5.5 Mail, Printing, and Telecommunication Service Management 
Records
GRS 5.6 Security Records
GRS 5.7 Agency Accountability Records
GRS 6.4 Public Affairs Records

    This transmittal also publishes updates to:
GRS 6.1 Email Managed under a Capstone Approach (see question 7 below)
    This transmittal also rescinds certain items in GRS 6.6, Rulemaking 
Records, and moves other items from that schedule to GRS 5.7 (see 
question 9 below). Because of these changes, GRS 6.6, Rulemaking 
Records, no longer exists.
    We discuss these items in the questions below.

2. What changes did we make to GRS 1.1?

    We added this requirement to the schedule's introduction: 
``Agencies must offer any records created prior to January 1, 1921, to 
the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) before applying 
disposition instructions in this schedule.'' We also added this note to 
items 010 and 011: ``Agencies must offer any records created prior to 
January 1, 1933, to the National Archives and Records Administration 
(NARA) before applying this disposition authority.''

3. What changes did we make to GRS 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 4.1, 
4.2, 5.3, 5.5, and 5.7?

    We added this requirement to each schedule's introduction: 
``Agencies must offer any records created prior to January 1, 1921, to 
the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) before applying 
disposition instructions in this schedule.''

4. What changes did we make to GRS 5.4?

    We added this requirement to the schedule's introduction: 
``Agencies must offer any records created prior to January 1, 1921, to 
the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) before applying 
disposition instructions in this schedule.'' We also added this note to 
items 070 and 071: ``Agencies must offer any records created prior to 
January 1, 1939, to the National Archives and Records Administration 
(NARA) before applying this disposition authority.''

5. What changes did we make to GRS 5.6?

    We added this requirement to the schedule's introduction: 
``Agencies must offer any records created prior to January 1, 1921, to 
the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) before applying 
disposition instructions in this schedule.'' We also added this note to 
items 120 and 130: ``Agencies must offer any records created prior to 
January 1, 1939, to the National Archives and Records Administration 
(NARA) before applying this disposition authority.''

6. What changes did we make to GRS 6.1?

    We added to this schedule's introduction the requirement that 
agencies systematically resubmit form NA-1005, and that users should 
consult a new ``resubmission'' section in this schedule's FAQs for 
details.

7. What changes did we make to GRS 6.4?

    We added this requirement to the schedule's introduction: 
``Agencies must offer any records created prior to January 1, 1921, to 
the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) before applying 
disposition instructions in this schedule.'' We also added this note to 
item 030: ``Agencies must offer any cartographic and aerial 
photographic records created prior to January 1, 1950, to the National 
Archives and Records Administration (NARA) before applying this 
disposition authority.''

8. What changes did we make to GRS 6.6?

    We rescinded items 010 through 030 (DAA-GRS-2017-0012-0001 through 
0003) because we learned they do not reflect how agencies create and 
maintain rulemaking records. We moved items 040-050 (DAA-GRS-2017-0012-
0004 and 0005) to items 070 and 080 in GRS 5.7. GRS 6.6, Rulemaking 
Records, will no longer appear as a chapter in the GRS.

9. How do agencies cite 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. Please also include schedule and item 
number. For example, ``DAA-

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GRS-2017-0007-0008 (GRS 2.2, item 070).''

10. Do agencies 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.

David S. Ferriero,
Archivist of the United States.
[FR Doc. 2020-09352 Filed 5-1-20; 8:45 am]
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