This question is for those records manager in agencies which either have or are developing a vital records program: have you selected Official Personnel Folders (OPF) as vital records? If not, why not? If so, are all the contents vital or are selected documents vital? How have you chosen to protect the OPFs (if they are vital)? Thanks for your help.

Sherry Smith Agency Records Manager Comptroller of the Currency 202-874-5035

-- Anonymous, November 23, 1999

Answers

In the Navy, the RM's position is that OMPF'S/OPF'S are not vital records. This was discussed with BUPERS and NARA and both agreed. Department of the Navy vital records policy and guidance is contained in SECNAVINST 5210.15A which, despite it's age, is still accurate. You could check out NARA'S Vital Records and Records Disaster Mitigation and Recovery instruction guide at http://www.nara.gov/records/pubs/vital.html for further guidance.

-- Anonymous, December 03, 1999

Official personnel files for civilians are the purview of OPM (Office of Personnel Management) and not the property of the Army. The OMPFs (Official Military Personnel Folders) have always been considered vital records. The entire contents are included in this category. OMPFs are maintained in a PAC (I think that stands for Personnel Administration Center, but don't quote me, it is a soldier's duty station admin office) and forwarded to the Veterans Administration (VA), ARPERSCOM (Army Reserve Personnel Command), or NPRC (National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis) as appropriate. Except for records in PERMS (Personnel Electronic Records Management System - this is an imaging system), no duplicate set of records is maintained by the Army. The service member gets a copy of all documents that go into the OMPF for their personal set of records.

-- Anonymous, November 23, 1999

OPF are not vital records because the informational content of the files can be easily and quickly reproduced/rebuilt from other sources. Every employee maintains copies of Personnel Action Forms for their own records and financial data is available off the system back-up tapes. Supervisors and Managers are also maintaining duplicate copies of employee's personnel actions.

-- Anonymous, December 03, 1999