NARA Bulletin

A NARA Bulletin is a numbered guidance document the National Archives and Records Administration publishes to advise federal agencies on records-management policy and practice. Bulletins translate statutory and regulatory obligations into actionable direction, covering topics such as scheduling records, managing electronic records, transferring permanent records to the Archives, and meeting government-wide deadlines for digital recordkeeping. Unlike a statute or a regulation in the Code of Federal Regulations, a bulletin is interpretive: it clarifies expectations and sets timelines rather than creating new law, though agencies are expected to comply as a condition of sound records administration.

Bulletins matter because they signal shifts in NARA’s expectations and often establish concrete milestones. For example, NARA guidance has steered agencies toward managing permanent and temporary records in electronic form and away from product-specific endorsements; NARA retired its DoD 5015.2 endorsement program in 2022 in favor of the Universal Electronic Records Management Requirements developed through the FERMI effort, emphasizing functional outcomes over certified products.