AC 14.2024

Date: February 9, 2024 

Memorandum to Federal Records Management Contacts: Federal Records Centers and the M-23-07 deadline

We have been receiving questions from agencies about the Federal Records Center (FRC) program and the June 30, 2024 deadline established in OMB/NARA Memo M-23-07, Update to Transition to Electronic Records.  

Two specific questions are: 

• Can agencies transfer unscheduled records to FRCs before the deadline?
• Can agencies continue to send accretions to records already stored in FRCs after the deadline?

Transferring Unscheduled Records

If agencies have unscheduled records they want to store in FRCs before the deadline, the agency may transfer the unscheduled records to the FRCs. See the FRC Toolkit for more information about this process. You can also contact your Federal Records Center Account Manager for help. 

Your agency will still need to schedule the records. Contact your NARA appraiser for help with scheduling. 

Agencies should consider storing unscheduled records in FRC if they believe the records are potentially permanent and would like to eventually transfer these records to NARA in their original format.

Agencies that want to schedule their records before transferring them to the FRCs should be aware that NARA cannot guarantee approval of their schedule before the deadline. 

Accretions

In AC Memo 33.2022, NARA said “...agencies may continue to send accretions of analog records to records series already stored in the Federal Records Centers.”

Accretions happen when closed, inactive records become open and active. This may occur when an agency finds records related to a closed series and the agency and NARA want to keep the records together. It also can happen when an agency pulls records for reference and then has more records to add as part of the refile. If the refile no longer fits the original container, they update the box list and add an accretion.

Accretions are not transfers of new analog records to an ongoing series held in an FRC. NARA expects agencies to move to electronic recordkeeping for permanent and temporary records. 

If you have any questions about this memo, please contact your Federal Records Center Account Manager.

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

TASHA FORD
Director, Federal Records Centers Program