AC 03. 2021

October 8, 2020

MEMORANDUM TO FEDERAL AGENCY CONTACTS: 2021 Annual Move of Permanent Records

This communication is for Federal agencies storing permanent records in NARA's Federal Records Centers (FRCs).

We appreciate your support in preserving the historically valuable records of your agency in the National Archives of the United States. The transfer requests for the 2021 Annual Move have been loaded into the Electronic Records Archives (ERA). Agencies may now log into the ERA Portal and submit them for transfer consideration. In order to ensure the timely transfer of permanent records, agencies need to complete all submission actions by December 1, 2020, allowing eligible permanent records to be moved during the January through March 2021 timeframe. 

This year we experienced issues with the data exchange resulting in a week delay in the planned load on October 1st. If agencies are impacted by this delay, they may request an extension to the December 1st schedule by emailing our office at annual.move@nara.gov. At this time we do not anticipate further delays in the established timeline, but that could change based on the future status of operations.  NARA will closely monitor progress and send updates as needed. 

Please note, to be fully submitted to NARA, a transfer request must be submitted in both the Transferring Official and Agency Approving Official roles. The ERA Agency User Manual is a great resource for step-by-step instructions, ERA field definitions, and system information. Online ERA training is available and agencies may find lessons 1 and 2 particularly helpful as they cover the steps agencies must take when creating a transfer request and submitting a transfer request to NARA.

If you have questions about getting started using ERA, identifying agency roles, and establishing user accounts, please contact NARA at ERAhelp@nara.gov or by phone to (877) 372-9594. If you have any questions about a particular transfer, difficulty locating eligible transfers, or general questions about the Annual Move, please send an email to annual.move@nara.gov. 

We look forward to working with you on the 2021 Annual Move.  

LAURENCE BREWER
Chief Records Officer
for the U.S. Government