INSIGHTi
VA, HHS to Vaccinate NARA National
Personnel Records Center Staff
May 12, 2021
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) reached an agreement with the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Health and Human Services for supply and administration
of coronavirus vaccine to protect NARA employees involved in the processing of military personnel
records. This agreement is designed to help NARA staff enter the National Personnel Records Center
(NPRC) and retrieve physical documents involved in verifying veteran and military benefits claims. As of
March 8, 2021, the NPRC reports that its backlog of records requests was more than 480,000.
This Insight explains the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on records access from the NPRC; the typical
means of servicemember and constituent access to records; and efforts at NARA, the Department of
Defense (DOD), and VA to digitize records to improve remote accessibility to information. It concludes
with policy options for Congress to address the records request backlog.
Impact of Coronavirus Pandemic on Records Access
The NPRC, which is part of NARA, is the central repository for the federal government’s military and
civil service personnel-related records. The NPRC holds more than 4 mil ion cubic feet of records and
stores these documents permanently in accordance with the Federal Records Act (44 U.S.C. Chapters 21,
29, 31, and 33). NARA manages an individual’s records 62 years after the servicemember’s separation
from the military. Prior to that, records are under the purview of DOD and VA.
Due to the pandemic, al NARA research rooms, libraries, and museums have been closed to the public.
The NPRC continues to service only urgent records requests related to homeless veterans, medical
emergencies, and funerals. NARA has suspended reproduction and digitization services due to the
pandemic until further notice.
NARA notes, “The biggest obstacle to returning NPRC’s performance to its pre-pandemic level lies in the
reality that the majority of NPRC’s holdings and reference activity involve paper records that can be
accessed only by on-site staff.” The NPRC announced it would be expanding its on-site workforce to 20
percent at its location in St. Louis, MO, in light of improving local conditions. While this figure is less
than NPRC’s pre-pandemic capacity, it reflects an increase in personnel from its early pandemic
reduction.
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Access to Service Records
In addition to requesting records from the NPRC, servicemembers and constituents may be able to request
information from DOD and VA, depending on the circumstances.
DOD Instruction Number 5015.02 provides department-wide records management procedures on
servicemember records preservation. Certain servicemembers who discharged from the Army, Navy,
Marines, Air Force, or Coast Guard may be eligible to request their records directly from DOD.
VA is required by statute to assist veterans in developing their claims for benefits. This “Duty to Assist”
can apply to accessing records from either federal or non-federal entities. This authority is typical y used
in assisting a veteran in filing a claim for disability compensation, disability pension, health care, or
burial, among other VA benefits. Besides contacting DOD for a veteran’s personnel file, VA can also
directly contact NPRC for records.
Digitization Efforts
Government-wide efforts to digitize paper records to increase remote accessibility are ongoing. The
Office of Management and Budget and NARA announced the implementation of electronic recordkeeping
guidance in 2018, and NARA wil end its acceptance of paper records for archiving after December 31,
2022.
Currently, DOD is enhancing its digital capabilities for DOD records to interface with VA, including those
records for servicemembers who separated prior to the use of electronic health records. In a 2014 report to
Congress, DOD explained that it is scanning Service Treatment Records from January 1, 2014, and
beyond into a system that is designed to share data with VA. Some records prior to 2014 have also been
scanned, including some records that were not retired and sent to NPRC.
Congress has pushed for digitizing the DD-214 form, which records a servicemember’s separation.
Section 569 of the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 116-92) requires that DOD provide
veterans and former servicemembers with a machine-readable and electronical y transferable DD-214
form by December 31, 2023.
In September 2020, in response to the passage of the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2019
(P.L. 116-23), VA completed a digitization program of 1,800 deck logs of naval vessels that served in the
Vietnam War. VA entered into an agreement with NARA to digitize these documents, which comprise
approximately 29 mil ion images, and has already helped over 25,000 Vietnam veterans receive VA
benefits.
Recently, Congress appropriated $50 mil ion (to remain available until September 30, 2022) to NARA via
the Records Center Revolving Fund in the 2021 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 116-260) to offset
the loss of user fees collected by the fund as a result of the pandemic. According to a bipartisan letter to
President Biden and the U.S. Archivist, as of April 5, 2021, $15 mil ion from this funding has been
al ocated to NPRC.
Issues for Congress
Given Congress’s recent appropriation of funds to address NPRC pandemic operations, Members might
consider the following additional questions in response to the records request backlog:
 In light of NARA’s goal of accepting only digital records by the end of 2022, are DOD
and VA prepared to provide digital files? How should monetary and professional
resources be leveraged to accomplish this goal?

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
 Should servicemember information be retrieved by a form identifier (e.g., by looking
through al DD-214s), or should information be retrieved by a servicemember-specific
identifier?
 Is communication among DOD, VA, and NPRC sufficient? How can it be improved?


Author Information

Heather M. Salazar
Meghan M. Stuessy
Analyst in Veterans Policy
Analyst in Government Organization and Management





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