NEW CUMBERLAND, Pa. –
Defense Logistics Agency Disposition Services - Document Services is helping the Defense Department digitize paper records to meet National Archives and Records Administration requirements by June 2024.
DLA has been scanning and converting paper records for DOD customers for over a decade while continuously increasing its ability to keep up with the influx of customers that has grown since NARA announced the requirement in 2019. DLA currently handles about 40 scanning projects for customers such as the Coast Guard, Joint Pathology Center, Army Corps of Engineers and Defense Technical Information Center.
Technicians can scan and digitize documents of any size, from business cards to large-format engineering drawings. They also scan a wide range of record types including medical files, pathology slides, microfilm, and confidential and secret records. Secure destruction of physical records is available after conversion.
Document Services ensures customers with permanent records meet NARA’s new digitization regulations that went into effect June 5. The regulations draw from the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative’s standards for digitization and allows agencies to use the digital versions for the same business purposes as the source records while ensuring they are properly preserved for the NARA archive. NARA originally said it would stop accepting paper documents in December 2022 but extended the date.
The FADGI star system rates the qualities of digital images on a scale of one (lowest quality) to four (highest quality). Scanning at the three-star level is ideal for archive material because it captures minute details of photographs and maps in addition to other features such as stamps and watermarks. Three-star images are considered “reproducible masters.” If the original physical document is destroyed, they can serve as an adequate replacement.
Non-permanent records – the majority of customer data – is scanned and converted to the level desired. DLA representatives help customers through the process and answer questions on FADGI guidelines.
Customers interested in conversion services must complete an assessment form to estimate costs and processing timelines. Factors include document volume and condition, the amount of document preparation required, the level of indexing or metadata needed to retrieve the documents, potential optical recognition services and destruction.
Converting records to digital format has many benefits besides meeting NARA’s requirements:
- Reduces physical document storage costs
- Increases efficient information sharing
- Easier to search and retrieve documents and data due to organizing and indexing with metadata
- Protects critical information
- Aids in disaster recovery
- Improves records management for audit purposes
Visit DLA Document Services for more information or contact the Customer Support Center at 1-866-736-7010 or contact.docsvcs@dla.mil.