AC 20.2017

January 9, 2017

MEMORANDUM TO FEDERAL AGENCY CONTACTS: GRS Transmittal 27 and Public Affairs Records Scheduling Guide

The Office of the Chief Records Officer is pleased to announce the publication of General Records Schedule (GRS) Transmittal 27.  It is now available on our website at  http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/grs/ and attached to this memo. The transmittal includes only newly issued schedules or those that have been revised since the last transmittal, an annotated version of GRS 1-27, and Frequently Asked Questions for new schedules.

This transmittal publishes five new schedules:
GRS 2.6 Employee Training 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 6.4 Public Affairs Records

It also publishes new or updated items in four schedules:
GRS 1.1 Financial Management and Reporting Records
GRS 2.5 Employee Separation Records
GRS 3.1 General Technology Management Records
GRS 4.2 Information Access and Protection Records

Agency Records Officers must disseminate the new schedules within their agencies no later than July 2017.

We are also happy to announce publication of our first scheduling guide, Scheduling Public Affairs Records. It can currently be found on the GRS web page associated with GRS 6.4. These guides are meant to assist agencies in determining disposition of records common across the Federal Government, but not appropriate for inclusion in the GRS. Agencies are not required to use them as they are recommended guidance and not formal requirements.

Use of the new GRS is mandatory and applies retrospectively and day-forward for all described records. If your agency intends to use agency-specific schedule items instead of any item in the newly issued schedules (see list above), you must inform us at  GRS_Team@nara.gov by May 8, 2017. You will need to provide the agency-specific schedule and item numbers as well as the related GRS item (a template is available here). Agencies wishing to use agency-specific schedule items instead of any other GRS items must submit a new schedule requesting a deviation from the GRS.

For more information, please see the  GRS web page. If you have any questions about the GRS, please contact  GRS_Team@nara.gov.

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

Attachments:
AC 20.2017 grs-trs27.pdf
AC 20.2017 grs06-4-sch-guide.pdf