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TUESDAY, JUNE 5, 1973.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE

OPERATING EXPENSES, NARS

Mr. STEED. We will turn now to the budget request for the National Archives and Records Service.

The appropriation for fiscal year 1973 was $31,245,000. The request for 1974 is $33,230,000, an increase of $1,985,000.

We will be pleased to have your opening statement and then we will ask questions.

Dr. RHOADS. Mr. Chairman, I have no prepared opening statement. It is a pleasure to appear before you and your committee again.

INCREASES REQUESTED

Mr. STEED. You might review the reasons for the requested increases. Dr. RHOADS. Certainly. The figure that you mentioned as an increase includes a transfer of function from the Internal Revenue Service during the current fiscal year in the amount of $753,000, which would bring our 1973 base up to $31,998,000, leaving a net increase in appropriation of $1,232,000. That sum includes the following: $150,000 increase in regional record centers, which goes entirely for increased space maintenance costs payable to the Public Building Service; $150,000 for a new paperwork management function that has been given to us by the Office of Management and Budget to control interagency reporting, to try to keep that down and make sure interagency reporting requirements are cost effective, and have benefits commensurate with their costs; $100,000 for records management assistance to agencies which will enable us to hire additional staff members to assist Federal agencies in handling their paperwork more effectively and more expeditiously.

For every dollar that we have spent under that function for the last several years we have created savings to the agencies we assist of $10. The $100,000 increase ought to pay off in $1 million worth of savings to the Government.

There is an item of $425,000 to pay for the move to a new records center that is being constructed in Chicago. That is offset by a $550,000 item in the current year's budget, also a nonrecurring item, for moving the Federal Records Center in San Francisco which has now been completed.

In the National Archives we are requesting an increase of $325,000 primarily to handle a substantial increase in reference services and partially to increase the appraisal and disposal of records no longer needed.

Also part of that increase is for the data archives activity which involves the identification, appraisal, and accessioning of computer tapes containing permanently valuable information.

There is a $150,000 increase for the Presidential libraries that includes a small increase for each of the individual libraries; and a $100,000 increase for the Office of the Federal Register, which has experienced a rapidly increasing workload. I think now probably the $100,000 is going to be too small, as a matter of fact.

There is also a $42,000 increase in service direction for additional postage costs; and a $347,000 increase for administrative operations for centralized support services. There is a $200,000 decrease in our request under the Records Declassification appropriation.

PAY INCREASE

Mr. STEED. Thank you, Mr. Rhoads.

What about the pay raise; how did you handle that this year?

Dr. RHOADS. The pay raise was absorbed. Part of the funds used to absorb the pay raise were from the Records Declassification appropriation. We had some problems in startup time in the Records Declassification program and some of that money was used to support the pay raise.

Mr. STEED. Does the $33 million requested here cover that for fiscal 1974?

Dr. RHOADS. No, sir.

Mr. STEED. What was the impact of the pay raise?

Mr. GARDNER. GSA-wide, about $10.2 million a year. We absorbed about half of it, $5.1 million.

Mr. BUTTS. In this particular account it was $650,000.

Mr. STEED. Was that the annual cost?

Mr. BUTTS. That was the cost in 1973. It would be about twice that for 1974.

EMPLOYMENT

Mr. STEED. What is your total work force now?

Dr. RHOADS. Total staffing?

Mr. STEED. Yes. Do you have more than one category?

Give it by categories.

Dr. RHOADS. This I believe parallels the budget figure. Do you want figures for the current year?

Mr. STEED. Yes; the number you have on board now.

Dr. RHODES. In regional record centers we have 550 full-time employees; the National Personnel Records Center, 627; paperwork management assistance, 25; assistance to agencies, 64; National Archives, 508; Presidential libraries, 162; Federal Register, 65; and service direction, 24. The total is 2,025.

Mr. STEED. What is the additional number you are asking for in this budget?

Dr. RHOADS. 60.

Mr. STEED. Do you employ outside consultants?

Dr. RHOADS. Very rarely. We have none now.

FEDERAL RECORDS CENTERS

Mr. ROBISON. On page 111-4, of the justifications, we are told that records holdings in the Federal records centers increased from 6,700,000 cubic feet in 1961 to 11,606,000 cubic feet in 1972, and that annual reference service increased during the same period from 4,814,000 to 9,917,000. In light of this escalating workload, and what must be the accompanying space problems, can someone tell me what we savein the way of Federal records-why we save those items-that is, is it

because of legislation, administrative regulation or just plain tradition-for how long we save such items and, finally, whether or not there is within the Federal Establishment some sort of periodic review of the need and justification for such records keeping?

Dr. RHOADS. Records centers were established to store and to provide reference service on Federal records which must be retained for a time, but need not be kept in expensive office space and file equipment. Presently, the annual cost of storing a cubic foot of records in office space is $5.46 compared to $0.35 a cubic foot in records centers. Mr. ROBISON. What records are stored in records centers?

Dr. RHOADS. The 11.6 million cubic feet of records in records centers include files from virtually all Federal agencies, such as: 1,800,000 cubic feet of tax returns; 1 mililon cubic feet of original paid vouchers and contracts of the General Accounting Office; 600,000 cubic feet of veteran benefit files; 500,000 cubic feet of paid Treasury checks; 250.000 cubic feet of Federal court records; and 2,200,000 cubic feet of military and civilian personnel records. The remainder comprises record collections of various sizes documenting other areas of Federal activity.

Mr. ROBISON. Why do we save records?

Dr. RHOADS. Records are kept for varying periods of time based upon administrative requirements of an agency; legal requirements: fiscal requirements; and in some cases, the historical value of the records.

For example, individual income tax returns are kept a total of 7 years based upon tax legislation requirements; paid Treasury checks are kept 6 years 9 months because of the 6-year statute of limitation on tort claims; GAO paid vouchers and contracts are kept 10 years 3 months because of the statute of limitation on claims brought before the Comptroller General; civilian and military personnel records must be maintained until the benefits due the individuals and their survivors have been paid; court case records have legal and historical values.

Records are kept in records centers from a few years to 100 years depending on the Government's needs. The law requires that agencies recommend realistic retention periods on all records and submit their recommendations in the form of records schedules for approval of the Archivist, acting for the Administrator of General Services. Regulations further require that agencies review and update these schedules to ensure their currency. NARS makes periodic audits of the agencies to determine agency compliance with these regulations.

At the present time NARS is working with agencies and reviewing center holdings to determine whether records are scheduled for the minimum retention period.

Growth of the reference service workload from 1961 to 1972 was caused by two factors: (1) a normal increase rate of 5 percent annually because of the additional holdings, and (2) the transfer of IRS tax returns to Federal records centers on an accelerated basis. Records centers now receive tax returns from six IRS service centers within 6 weeks after processing; in the past they were held in expensive office space for 1 year.

RECORDS MANAGEMENT ASSISTANCE

Mr. ROBISON. With reference to III-10, it is certainly true that much of the typical Federal employee's time is taken up by paperwork of one sort or another. We are told, here, what GSA has been doing in trying to promote economy and efficiency in this regard and there is a reference to improvements in rather general language. To further justify this effort on your part, could you please give us some specific examples of results obtained during the past 2 years, say, with approximate dollar savings in employee efficiency and manpower savings? Dr. RHOADS. Records management assistance to Federal agencies during the past 2 years resulted in agency savings and benefits totaling $57 million. The cost to NARS of rendering the assistance totaled $3.9 million.

For the U.S. Civil Service Commission, Bureau of Retirement, Insurance, and Occupational Health, we developed an automated retirement withholding and service history recordkeeping system to provide accurate and up-to-date information and reduce manual recordkeeping. We eliminated 179 forms. The estimated savings are $5.5 million annually.

At the Department of Labor, Manpower Administration, we assisted in developing a nationwide apprenticeship reporting system to provide data on about 300,000 registered apprentices in 40,000 business establishments. A significant feature is feedback to States on apprenticeship operations. This reduced record processing by 1,800 man-days. We conducted a feasibility study on microfilming files and reports for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The possible use of microfilm in 10 regional and 52 area offices and Washington headquarters was being considered by the Administration. NARS recommended against such action since it was not cost effective. This resulted in cost avoidance of $73,000.

The U.S. Coast Guard asked NARS to develop an automated system for monitoring boat and engine manufacturers' efforts in notifying consumers, dealers, distributors, and so forth, of defective units and in inspecting and repairing defective boats/engines. Approximately $50,000 was saved in record processing and manpower costs.

For the Federal Maritime Commission we developed an integrated management information system on tariff data. The main features include automatic rate retrieval and improved analysis of industry trends. The system has simplified filing procedures and reduced analyst review by 1,119 man-days.

SHELVING AT RECORDS CENTERS

Mr. ROBISON. On page III-13, you tell us about the need for increased shelving in the 14 regional centers. Where are these centers located, first, and then, secondly, what is being tried and accomplished overall in reducing the need for expensive shelf space through the use of microfilming techniques and the like?

Dr. RHOADS. The 14 regional records centers are located in the following cities: Boston (Waltham, Mass.), New York, Philadelphia,

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