NARA approves designations of permanent records. If records are not permanent, they are subject to disposition according to the applicable records retention schedules. The tapes on which these records are stored cost money to store and maintain, and occupy space that could be put to better use. The users of the records requested permanent retention because they felt the information might be useful in the future, and did not want to delete the records. OIT had no procedures for periodic user verification of the continued need for records stored on tape.
Users are responsible for applying the appropriate retention schedules to their records.
Deletions, additions, and modifications to these schedules must comply with NARA regulations. During the audit, OIT identified and deleted many of its duplicative records stored on tape. It is continuing to delete unneeded records and to correct the cause of the duplication. In consultation with OIT, OFIS should provide procedures and training to users for designating records as permanent. Recommendation D OIT should generate a periodic list of records maintained on tape for each user.