§ 1228.30 - Scheduling temporary records.

(a) Initiation. Federal agencies request authority to dispose of records, either immediately or on a recurring basis. Requests for immediate disposal are limited to records already in existence which no longer accumulate. For recurring records, approved schedules provide continuing authority to destroy the records. The retention periods approved by NARA are mandatory, and the agency shall dispose of the records after expiration of the retention period, except as provided in § 1228.54.

(b) Requirements. Each item on an SF 115 proposed for eventual destruction shall include the following:

(1) Records series title used by agency personnel to identify the records;

(2) Description of the records including physical type and informational content;

(3) If the records are contained in a Privacy Act system of records, a citation to the agency's alpha-numeric or numeric code designation for the system of records. If the system of records was added or deleted since the publication of the current Office of the Federal Register compilation of Privacy Act Issuances, the agency shall also cite the date and page of the Federal Register on which the new system notice appears or the deleted system is announced.

(4) Disposition instructions, developed using the following guidelines:

(i) If the records series or system is current and continuing, the SF 115 will include a disposition instruction specifying the period of time after which the records will be destroyed.

(ii) If the records series or system is nonrecurring, i.e., no additional records will be created or acquired, the agency may propose either immediate destruction or destruction on a future date.

(c) Determination. NARA may determine that records proposed as temporary merit permanent retention and transfer to the National Archives. In such cases, NARA arranges with the agency to change the disposition instruction prior to approval of the SF 115.

(d) General Accounting Office concurrence. Each Federal agency shall obtain the approval of the Comptroller General for the disposal of program records less than 3 years old and for certain classes of records relating to claims and demands by or against the Government, and to accounts in which the Government is concerned in accordance with the GAO “Policy and Procedures Manual for Guidance of Federal Agencies,” title 8—Records Management (44 U.S.C. 3309). This approval must be obtained before the approval of the disposal request by NARA, but the request may be submitted concurrently to GAO and NARA.

(e) Withdrawn items. Agencies may request that items listed on the SF 115 be withdrawn in order to aid in NARA's processing (appraisal) of the remaining items on the schedule.

(1) If, during the course of the appraisal process, NARA determines that records described by an item(s) on the proposed schedule do not exist or are not arranged as stated on the SF 115, NARA may request the agency to withdraw the item(s) from consideration, if the agency is unable to offer sufficient clarification.

(2) If NARA and the agency cannot agree on the retention period for an item(s), the items(s) may be withdrawn. In these cases, the agency will submit an SF 115 with a revised proposal for disposition within 6 months of the date of the approval of the original SF 115.