2.3.1 Store Offsite - RIM Manual

Specifications for Offsite Storage of Government Information

Offsite Records Storage Services

Government Records Service (GRS) provides offsite records storage services to government ministries and eligible agencies using contracted offsite storage facilities. GRS manages these contracts and recovers the costs for offsite records storage through chargeback fees to clients. Offsite records storage services ensure that records in the physical custody of records storage facilities remain secure, confidential, usable, and accessible to authorized employees, and are transferred and disposed of in accordance with related policies and specifications.

GRS and Procurement Services collaborate to select and monitor contracted facilities, and to ensure compliance with established Specifications for Approved Offsite Records Facilities. Approved records storage facilities provide efficient, cost-effective, and secure records storage with humidity and temperature controls. Government ministries must use these approved records storage facilities to store any scheduled or unscheduled physical records they wish to send offsite.

All physical records that are scheduled for eventual transfer to the custody of the government archives, i.e. records having a final disposition of full retention (FR) or selective retention (SR), must be transferred through GRS services to approved records storage facilities when they become inactive, if not before. This ensures their secure preservation until they can undergo archival selection and be transferred to the government archives.

Physical records that are scheduled for destruction (DE) may also be sent offsite in cases where long term semi-active storage is required and managing the records onsite is not practical or appropriate. However, DE records eligible for destruction immediately or within 6 months are not eligible for transfer. Those records are more efficiently managed and destroyed at the ministry/agency office. For more information, see Defensible Information Destruction.

Ministries and agencies using approved records storage facilities must prepare their records for storage in a manner that ensures they will remain accessible for as long as they are required to support government business and accountability needs. This requires arranging, boxing, and documenting the records in accordance with the following guidance.

Eligibility of Records for Offsite Storage

Records will be accepted for storage as scheduled records if they are covered by an approved records schedule. Records should also have a final disposition of FR or SR or, in the case of records scheduled for DE, they should have more than six months left before they are eligible for final disposition.

Records will be accepted for storage as unscheduled records when at least one of the following conditions is met: if there is no existing schedule covering the records, if the applicable schedule is a draft not yet approved, if the records are still active and their closure date not yet known, or if the client is not subject to the Information Management Act.

Records should not be placed in offsite storage in the following cases:

1. The records are eligible for destruction immediately or within 6 months under an approved information schedule.
2. The records are digital files stored on portable media, e.g. floppy disks, CDs, external hard drives. Digital records should be stored on government servers where they can be securely backed up and managed for future access; files should be transferred to your LAN or a system such as EDRMS Content Manager. For guidance on legacy records only available on digital storage media/devices, contact GRS.
3. The records constitute an environmental hazard, e.g. containing pre-1950 nitrate film, mould, or other contaminants.

Records stored in approved facilities must be appropriately documented to facilitate their continued accessibility and eventual disposition. See the following specifications for best practices when:

• Assigning Accession Numbers
• Boxing Records
• Creating File Lists

Tracking Legal Custody and Authorized Access

GRS tracks legal custody of records in offsite records storage facilities over time to ensure that the records remain linked to the ministry or agency responsible for them. GRS also tracks current ministry/agency access authorization of employees to retrieve specific boxes of records.

The current legal custodian of the records can authorize access to the records in storage to designated employees. After legal custody has been transferred from one ministry or agency to another (i.e. when relevant functions/programs are transferred), the prior legal custodian no longer has authorized access to the records, except by arrangement with the new legal custodian. GRS has access to records throughout their time in storage in order to carry out needed records management functions (e.g. preservation actions and archival selection).

After records appraised for full or selective retention are transferred to the government archives, the ministry or agency that created them may access the records through BC Archives procedures and channels.

Permanently Removing Records from Storage

When ministries and agencies need to initiate permanent removal of records, that is, return them to the office from offsite storage, they may request GRS to return them to the ministry/agency (also known as “deaccessioning” or “reactivation”). Clients must notify GRS of such removals to ensure that storage costs are no longer charged and that physical custody is accurately tracked for legal and other purposes.

Roles and Responsibilities

Government Records Service (GRS) is responsible for administering offsite records storage services, including:

• Setting the specifications for boxing, listing, and accessioning records;
• Providing advice, training, and guidance for ministries and agencies to assist them in complying with this policy;
• Determining whether exceptions to this policy can be made due to special circumstances;
• Accepting records for offsite storage;
• Tracking records, transfers, legal custody and access authorizations;
• Arranging for secure disposition of eligible inactive records in approved offsite records storage facilities, either by destruction or transfer;
• Notifying ministries and agencies about actions relating to records and any relevant issues;
• Recovering the costs for offsite records storage through chargeback fees to clients; and
• Arranging for and maintaining contracts with approved records storage facilities.

Ministries and agencies are responsible for:

• Preparing boxes and associated documentation for offsite records storage in compliance with specifications;
• Documenting offsite records sufficiently to enable locating, retrieving, administering litigation holds, and other purposes;
• Providing GRS with accurate, timely information about the records, legal custody, and employees authorized to access them;
• Alerting GRS about the existence of any records that may be hazardous; and
• Paying for records storage.

Contracted offsite records storage facilities are responsible for:

• Meeting the specifications required for providing those services; and
• Providing timely records transfer and records retrieval services to authorized government employees.