Special Report: DOE/IG-0945

September 3, 2015

The Department of Energy's Management of Electronic Mail Records

Under requirements established by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), agencies must develop and implement policies to ensure that all information defined as "Federal records," specifically including electronic mail (email), are maintained in agency recordkeeping systems.  Failure to appropriately identify and manage email as records impairs the agencies' ability to respond to the requirements of various statutes and obligations, including the Freedom of Information Act, discovery in litigation, law enforcement efforts, and maintenance of historical records of Departmental activities. 

The Office of Inspector General's Follow-up Audit on Retention and Management of the Department of Energy's Electronic Records (DOE/IG-0838, September 2010) identified issues with the Department's electronic records management process.  In particular, the review found that the Department had not included Federal requirements in its recordkeeping policies and guidance, considered records management to be a low priority, and had not properly trained its employees to identify and maintain electronic records.  In 2012, the Office of Management and Budget issued direction to Federal agencies to manage all email records using an automated software application by the end of 2016.  

We determined that the Department was not effectively managing its Federal email records.  Our conclusion is based on our review of the processes in place at seven Department programs and three field sites.  We found that the Department, including its National Nuclear Security Administration, had not implemented a process to ensure that email records were identified and managed in accordance with Federal requirements.  With one notable exception, all of the programs and sites reviewed relied on users to identify and retain email records.  The Department also had not effectively implemented the archival and retrieval process related to email records. To be clear, under existing policies recovery of email may be possible for varying periods of time, however, the, process would be very difficult and cost prohibitive.  Furthermore, the Department had not fully addressed the use of personal email accounts to conduct government business.   

These issues occurred, in part, because the Department's approach to records management lacked coordination among programs.  Despite recent concerns regarding email records retention, effective records management had not been treated as a priority.  To its credit, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) had already implemented an automated records management solution that was used to manage its email records.  Because of the extent of policy weaknesses and the lack of understanding by employees regarding their email retention responsibilities, we did not feel it would be productive and therefore did not test whether any particular individual's email had been properly maintained.

Topic: Management & Administration