Need To Establish Retention Periods and Optimal Time for Microfilming Military Personnel Records

Gao ID: GGD-81-59 April 27, 1981

GAO reviewed the official personnel records of the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps to evaluate the manner in which the records were being maintained.

GAO found that, although the records generally were being maintained in a competent manner, there were areas where improvements could result in substantial savings. The four services do not have approved retention periods for military personnel records as required by Federal regulations. GAO believes that savings could be realized if a 75-year retention period for the records is established. In addition, the services' microfilm should either be of such a high quality that it will last indefinitely or should be inspected at regular intervals. Of the four services, only the Army has prepared a formal economic analysis to determine the optimal time for microfilming personnel records. Although the services believe that their microfilming is being done at the proper time, GAO believes that formal cost analyses should be performed to substantiate that belief.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: No director on record Team: No team on record Phone: No phone on record


The Justia Government Accountability Office site republishes public reports retrieved from the U.S. GAO These reports should not be considered official, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Justia.