6-4.3 National Archives and Records Administration and Federal Records Centers

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the government agency that stores and maintains the U.S. Government’s permanent collection of documents that records important events in American history. NARA also stores federal government inactive temporary records across the country in secure FRCs.

The following procedures apply with respect to transferring records to the FRCs:

1. Conditions. Forward to FRCs only:
1. Records series approved by the Records Office and having a remaining life of more than 1 year.
2. Volumes of records consisting of 1 cubic foot or more. (The installation must keep quantities of less than 1 cubic foot and destroy them in house when the retention period expires.)
2. Procedures. Separated employee personnel and medical records are stored in the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri; for applicable procedures, contact the Records Office. For all other FRCs, use the following procedures:
1. Assemble records to be shipped and pack (95 percent to capacity) in 1 cubic foot boxes obtained for this purpose from the General Services Administration (Item # 8115-00-117-8249). Prepare a box list, identifying the folders in each box, in duplicate. Insert one copy of the box list in the first box of the accession to be shipped with the records, and retain one copy locally.
2. Complete two copies of Standard Form (SF)-135, Records Transmittal and Receipt. This form may be obtained from the NARA Web site at: http://www.archives.gov/frc/forms/sf-135-intro.html. Send both copies to the receiving FRC at least 2 weeks before the intended shipping date.
3. The FRC shows approval by returning one annotated copy of the SF-135 to the requesting installation.
4. Place a copy of the SF-135 in the first box of the shipment and ship. Hold a copy in your office until the FRC returns the receipted copy.
5. File the receipted copies locally in the event they are needed for retrieval of the stored records prior to their disposal.
3. Location. See eRIMS or visit the NARA Web site
   (http://www.archives.gov/frc/) for Federal Record Center
   addresses and areas served.
4. Retrieval. The installation from where the records were sent handles their retrieval. For the retrieval process of medical records, contact the Headquarters Medical Program Office. Requests for retrievals are made on Optional Form (OF) 11, Reference Request — Federal Records Centers, or through NARA’s electronic retrieval system, Centers Information Processing System (CIPS). FEDSTRIP ordering offices order Form OF-11, directly from GSA. Non-FEDSTRIP ordering offices order this form from their supporting supply section or from their GSA Customer Supply Center. Retrievals are made at the Federal Records Centers by the accession number and the box location number recorded on the SF-135 when the records were approved for transfer.