The General Records Schedule (GRS)
The GRS is the National Archives' government-wide disposition authority for the common administrative records that nearly every federal agency creates. Instead of each agency scheduling these records itself, the GRS provides one standard set of retention and disposition rules. Here's how it's organized.
GRS 1
Financial Management & Reporting
Records documenting an agency's financial transactions and reporting — accounting, payments, billing, budgeting, and grant and cooperative-agreement administration.
GRS 2
Human Resources
The employee lifecycle — recruitment and hiring, personnel management, pay and leave administration, training, labor-management relations, and separation.
GRS 3
Information Technology
General technology-management records and information-systems-security records: system documentation, operations, and the security controls that protect agency systems and data.
GRS 4
Information Management
Records about managing information itself — records-management program files, information access and protection (including FOIA and Privacy Act request files), and rules for input/output records and electronic copies.
GRS 5
Administrative & Facilities
The common records every office generates — routine correspondence and housekeeping files, transitory and intermediary records, continuity and emergency planning, facilities and property, mail and printing, and security services.
GRS 6
Email & Other Cross-Agency Records
Government-wide approaches to high-volume modern records, including email captured under the role-based Capstone approach.
Using the GRS
The GRS is mandatory for the records it covers, and NARA updates it over time, so always confirm the current item number and retention period in the official schedule before applying or disposing of records. Agency-unique, mission, or program records not covered by the GRS must be scheduled separately with NARA.