3.0 Responsibilities
The contractor
shall comply with the federal policies, regulations, and laws referenced
in
paragraph 1.1,
including those policies associated with safeguarding records covered
by the Privacy Act of 1974, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) statutes.
These policies include the preservation of all DHA records created
or received, regardless of format or mode of transmission (e-mail,
fax, etc.), or state of completion (draft, final, etc.). Contractors
may choose to maintain records in either paper or electronic format.
Depending on the chosen format, contractors shall use the appropriate
Addendum, either
A or
B,
for guidance on transferring paper records to the Federal Records
Centers (FRCs) or electronic records to DHA.
3.1 DHA
DHA will:
3.1.1 Develop
and implement policies and standard operating procedures for the
measurement and continuous improvement of the DHA RM Program;
3.1.2 Provide
scope requirements for the effective control of Government records
to include creation, organization, maintenance, use, and disposition
of records including records containing adequate and proper documentation
of the contractor’s administration and procedures;
3.1.3 Provide
annual RM training to contractors and custodians who manage Government records;
3.1.4 Notify
responsive contractors and custodians of time-sensitive records
freezes and lifts in a timely manner; and
3.1.5 Inspect contractors’ and custodians’
RM practices and applied procedures during the contractor’s normal
business hours.
3.2 Contractor
The
contractor shall:
3.2.1 Ensure that the contractor’s
Records Liaison shall attend the DHA RM training annually;
Note: All travel shall be at the contractor’s expense.
3.2.2 Understand
that records related to beneficiary health care, claims and all
supporting documentation, received or developed under DHA contracts
are the property of the U.S. Government, unless they are specifically
excluded:
3.2.2.1 Maintain all government records in their custody
pursuant to DHA RRS (see
Section 2).
3.2.2.2 Appoint
an individual to act as a RM Liaison to work with the DHA RM Officer
pursuant to DHA contractual scope.
3.2.2.3 Apply
current laws, regulations, standards, procedures, and techniques
to ensure the most economical, efficient, and reliable means for
the creation, retrieval, maintenance, preservation, and disposition
of Government records, regardless of media.
3.2.2.4 Maintain
file plans of all active and inactive Government records and provide
copies of file plans for review to the DHA RM Officer when requested.
3.2.2.5 Maintain
documentation on any Federal records that have been transferred
to the FRCs or destroyed pursuant to the DHA RRS.
3.2.2.6 Review,
comment, and update the file plan annually for each office within
their purview to ensure that records are accurately identified and
scheduled.
Note: File plans shall be made available
to the Government, if requested
3.2.2.7 Participate
in RM Program evaluations every two years to monitor compliance
with applicable RM laws and regulations.
3.2.2.8 Evaluate
current and potential information systems to identify record information
being created or received during the conduct of business and ensure
the preservation of federal records as specified in the DHA RRS.
Note: Record information created in information systems
and not identified in the DHA RRS shall be brought to the attention
of the DHA RM Officer.
3.2.2.9 Promote
awareness of their legal responsibility to report to the appropriate
official any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal,
alteration, or destruction of federal records. Applicable policies
and regulations are referenced in
paragraph 1.1.
3.2.2.10 Establish
a RM Program covering all media. The contractor shall use the standard classification
and filing system outlined in the DHA RRS. This allows for the maximum
uniformity and ease in maintaining and using Government records
and facilitating the locating, charge-out, re-filing, and disposing
of records.
3.2.2.11 Develop
and implement a vital records program in accordance with 36 CFR
Chapter XII Subchapter B, Part 1223, “Managing Vital Records.”
3.2.2.12 Retrieve
and deliver records within five working days of receiving the U.S.
Government’s request for them.
3.2.2.13 Maintain
and store federal records for the duration of their life cycle throughout
the contract’s period of performance.
Note: Refer to
Chapter 2, Section 10, paragraph 4.0 for record
transition instructions. Once a record’s retention has been satisfied,
the contractor shall transfer or destroy eligible records, whichever disposition
action is applicable to the records in question.
3.2.2.14 Manage
e-mail that complements Government records by applying the laws,
regulations, and instructions which are identified in this Policy
and include the following administrative actions:
3.2.2.14.1 Write and
implement e-mail instructions to include DHA RRS requirements and
risk prevention guidance addressing unauthorized additions, deletions,
and alterations to message content all of which impair record integrity.
At a minimum, the instructions shall address:
• Defining what is a
record versus what identifies a non-record;
• Adding records
to recordkeeping systems;
• Preserving data;
to include preserving names on distribution lists and directories;
• When to request
receipts and how to preserve them;
• Circulating drafts
securely; and
• Using external
e-mail systems for Government e-mail as records.
3.2.2.14.2 Assign
an individual to be responsible for the maintenance of the e-mail
recordkeeping system. This individual is also required to annually
monitor the use of the e-mail system to assure recordkeeping instructions
are being followed.
3.2.2.14.3 Train all
e-mail users and provide on-going training for any new users on
e-mail recordkeeping requirements in compliance with DHA RRS requirements
(also see
paragraph 1.1). This training shall include:
defining what is a record vs. a non-record; how to put records into
recordkeeping systems; preserving data; preserving names on distribution
lists or directories; when to request receipts and how to preserve
the receipts; how to deal with circulated drafts; and external e-mail
systems.
3.2.2.15 Routinely
transfer inactive paper records to the FRC designated by DHA RM
Officer in accordance with
Section 4.
4.0 Definitions
4.1 Active Records
Active records are those used to conduct current
DHA business. They may also be referred to as “open.” Active records
are generally maintained in office space or online in an electronic
system. Events in this phase of the records life cycle include creating
or receiving records and capturing them in a document or content
management system or recordkeeping system.
4.2 Case Files
A case file contains material on a specific
action, transaction, event, person, project, or other subject. As
an example, case files may cover one or several subjects that relate
to a particular case.
4.3 Content Management System
An application that provides capabilities for
multiple users with different permission levels to manage content,
data, or information.
4.4 Contractor Records
Records include data produced and maintained
by a contractor for DHA. The contractor is required to provide adequate
and complete documentation that results in records about DHA’s programs.
4.5 Disposition
Instructions
Actions taken on records no
longer needed to conduct the current business of DHA, and usually
include instruction for the cut off, transfer, retirement, and destruction
of record documents. Specific guidance and techniques for using
or applying disposition instructions are located in the DHA RRS.
4.6 Documentation
Documentation concerns the creation of records
and the assembly or consolidation of this information. This applies
to records in all media (paper, electronic, microfilm, etc.).
4.7 Electronic
Information Systems
Records generated in
systems created to perform DHA mission related functions (claims, Explanation
of Benefits (EOBs), etc.) and used by office or organizational personnel,
computer operators, programmers, and systems administrators. These
systems are usually identified by a specific name or acronym, and
contain structured data. These systems contain DHA records content
and shall be required to have retention schedules applied.
4.8 Electronic
Mail
A document created or received on an
agency electronic mail system, including brief notes, more formal
or substantive documents, and any attachments and routing information
which may be transmitted with the message. Electronic mail may be
a record or a non-record.
4.9 Electronic Recordkeeping
The creation, maintenance, use and disposition
of records created and stored by using a computer. Electronic recordkeeping
is part of the solution to manage, preserve, and provide access
to electronic records.
4.10 Electronic Recordkeeping System
An electronic recordkeeping system collects,
organizes, and categorizes electronic records in their native file
form instead of requiring the user to print and file them in a manual
filing system. Such a system automates the preservation, retrieval,
use, and disposition of the electronic record.
4.11 Electronic
Records
Records stored in a form that only
a computer can process and satisfies the definition of a federal
record, also referred to as machine-readable records or automatic
data processing records.
4.12 Electronic Standard Form 135
(SF-135)
The electronic SF-135 is modeled
after the transmittal document SF-135, which is designed for metadata
about the paper records. When transferring electronic records, the
metadata is different than the paper records (see
Addendum B).
The metadata collected for electronic transfers will be the key identifiers
used to search and retrieve the record.
4.13
Freeze
(Also Record Freeze)
An action or event that
suspends the destruction of records to include:
• Updates
to records retention schedules.
• Litigation.
• Natural disasters.
See also
paragraphs 4.14 (Frozen Records) and
4.25 (Records).
4.14
Frozen
Records (FRs)
Temporary records that cannot
be destroyed according to scheduled retention because of special
circumstances, such as a court order, which requires a temporary
extension of the approved retention period.
4.15
Inactive Records
Inactive records are documents which are no
longer referenced on a regular basis (yearly) and tend to be stored
in a less accessible place. Records become inactive when the cut-off,
as defined on a Records Retention Schedule, has been reached. Inactive
records may also be referred to as “closed” records.
4.16 Life Cycle
of Records
The concept that records pass
through the following stages: receipt, capture, creation, active use,
inactive use, distribution, storage, transfer, migration, disposition,
and archiving of the official record.
4.17 Lifts
An
action or event that removes a freeze from records that are suspended
from destruction. See
paragraphs 4.13 (Freeze) and
4.14 (Frozen
Records).
4.18 Medium/Media
The physical form of recorded information:
such as paper, film, disc, magnetic tape, and other materials on
which information can be recorded and stored.
4.19 Metadata
Data about a record; the attributes of electronic
records (structure, content, and context), including office of origin,
file codes, dates sent/received, disposition, security classification,
etc. For example, if a record can be viewed as a “letter”, then
metadata is found on the “envelope” (e.g., date stamp, return address,
addressee, etc.). Associated metadata is data that is linked to
or associated with a specific electronic record or record object.
4.20 Migration
The techniques and strategies used to move
electronic information from one storage medium to another over time
to prevent the loss of needed information because of technological
obsolescence.
4.21 Non-Record Material
Non-record material is any U.S. Government-owned
documentary material that does not meet the conditions of records
status or that is specifically excluded from the statutory definition
of a record (see 44 USC 3301). There are three specific categories
of materials excluded from the statutory definition of records:
• Library
and museum material (but only if such material is made or acquired
and preserved solely for reference or exhibition purposes), including
physical exhibits, artifacts, and other material objects lacking
evidential value.
• Extra
copies of documents (but only if the sole reason such copies are
preserved is for convenience of reference).
• Stocks of publications
and of processed documents. Catalogs, trade journals, and other publications
that are received from other Government agencies, commercial firms,
or private institutions and that require no action and are not part
of a case on which action is taken. (Stocks do not include serial
or record sets of agency publications and processed documents, including
annual reports, brochures, pamphlets, books, handbooks, posters and
maps.)
4.22 Optical Disc (OD)
A non-contact, random-access disc tracked by
optical laser beams and used for mass storage and retrieval of digitized
text and graphics. Sometimes called an optical digital disc or optical
digital data disc. Types include:
• Write Once Read Many
(WORM);
• Compact
Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM); and
• Digital Video Disc
(DVD).
4.23 Project Files
A project file contains material on a specific
action, transaction, event, person, project, or other subject. As
an example, project files may cover one or several subjects that
relate to a particular project.
4.24 Record Object
A record object is a container (typically,
a computer file) for a group of related information. The information
can be formatted as either text or images, and the computer file-type
indicates the format of the information. For example, scanned images
are typically stored in TIFF or as Portable Document Format (PDF)
files. Consideration should be given to using searchable PDF files
when TIFFs are too large or have too many pages to open and be viewed
in an efficient and reliable manner.
Note: For the purpose of electronic RM, a record object
is not necessarily a row of data in a database.
4.25
Records
According to 44 USC 3301, the term “records”
includes “all books, papers, maps, photographs, electronic records,
or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics,
made or received by an agency of the U.S. Government under Federal
law or in connection with the transaction of public business and
preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or it’s legitimate
successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies,
decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the Government,
or because of the informational nature of data in them. Library
and museum material made or acquired and preserved solely for reference,
and stocks or publications and of processed documents are not included.”
4.26 Records Management
(RM)
That area of general administrative
management concerned with achieving economy and efficiency in the
creation, use/maintenance, and disposition of records.
4.27 Smart Scan
Smart
Scan is a feature of the Archives and Records Centers Information
System (ARCIS) that provides a service of scanning the paper records
requested and having them e-mailed to the requestor. For more specific
details about the service, check the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) ARCIS web page.
4.28 Terabyte
Drive
A type of external hard drive containing
1024 gigabytes per terabyte. The contractor shall contact the DHA
RM Officer for guidance on the current standards.
4.29 Transfer
The term “transfer” has replaced the older
term “accession” for temporary records. Like an accession, a transfer
is a unique identifier used by National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
to track the records transferred using the transmittal document
SF-135 for paper, or for electronic records.
4.30 Transmission
and Receipt Data
4.30.1 Transmission
data: Information in electronic mail systems regarding the identities
of sender and addressee(s), and the date and time messages were
sent.
4.30.2 Receipt
data: Information in electronic mail systems regarding date and
time of receipt of a message, and/or acknowledgment of receipt or
access by the addressee(s).
4.31 Vital Records (Sometimes Called Essential Records)
Records essential to the continued functioning
or reconstitution of an organization during and after an emergency
and also those records essential to protecting the rights and interests
of that organization and of the individuals directly affected by
its activities (includes both emergency-operating and rights-and-interests
records). Vital records considerations are part of an agency’s records disaster
prevention and recovery program.