A coming report from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) reveals that 71 percent of Federal agencies are managing all of their records in an electronic format – meeting a deadline set by NARA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
NARA and OMB issued a joint memo in December 2022 that said Federal agencies had until June 30, 2024, to manage and store all of their permanent and temporary records digitally.
Originally, the two agencies set a Dec. 31, 2022, deadline, but they extended that deadline after an assessment showed that more than one-third of the government wasn’t quite ready to make the switch.
This week, William Fischer, the acting chief records officer at NARA, offered a first look at how many agencies met the June deadline.
Fischer said the complete data will be included in the 2024 Federal Agency Records Management Annual Report, which will be published this fall. However, he offered a sneak preview of the report at DGI’s @930gov Conference on July 31.
Notably, the reporting period for the coming report was from Jan. 13, 2025, to March 14, 2025, and NARA asked Federal agencies to report on their records management in 2024.
“This is a benchmark year, because it points us to the progress that agencies have made across the government in meeting the goals of the transition to electronic records directives,” Fischer said on Thursday.
Fischer shared that 71 percent of agencies reported that they have met the goal under the directive from OMB and NARA to manage all of their permanent records in an electronic format for eventual transfer and accessioning by June 30, 2024.
Twenty-nine percent reported they did not meet the June 2024 deadline. However, Fischer said that about half of that 29 percent, or 14.5 percent, reported that they had submitted exception requests or were going to submit an exception request to aspects of this requirement.
“So, when you look at it from that standpoint, I think this is very encouraging data,” Fischer said. “We have about 14.5 percent of agencies that reported they outright did not meet the goal, and they did not report that they had an exception request in process or approved.”
Fischer also said that “it could be some consolation” that of the 14.5 percent of agencies, about 40 percent of them are “micro agencies” with fewer than 100 employees.
“This is very encouraging news that the government writ large has made extraordinary progress over the, let’s say, last decade, but especially over the last five to seven years in terms of making this transition to electronic records, especially in the case of their permanent electronic records,” he said.
As for the temporary records, Federal agencies reported the same numbers. Fischer said 71 percent of agencies reported that they met the June 2024 goal to manage all of their temporary records in an electronic format.
Twenty-nine percent reported that they did not meet the goal, but Fischer said, “This broke out the same way as it did for the permanent records with those agencies; half of those 29 percent reported that they had an exception request that was approved by the National Archives, or they were submitting an exception request.”
“So again, I think this is very encouraging, but of course, there’s more work to be done, because, especially in the case of temporary records, this is of great interest in terms of improving services, improving the business management practices within an agency, and reducing costs for the storage of analog paper,” Fischer said.
Once NARA publishes the 2024 Federal Agency Records Management Annual Report, those interested can find it here, along with reports from previous years.