NARA readies e-archiving RFP

NARA Electronic Records Archives site

The National Archives and Records Administration on Friday announced that the final request for proposals on its Electronic Records Archive (ERA) project will be released Dec. 5, even though Congress has not yet passed the fiscal 2004 appropriations for the agency.

The ERA program is intended to provide the means for storing, searching and accessing the government's electronic records for hundreds of years to come. Performing such a feat is already a challenge as records created by technology from only a decade ago are often unreadable by today's computers.

According to the notice, the RFP will be for a one-year base contract with six option periods that would bring the total to eight years, with the final year being entirely for operations and support, not further development.

The Senate cut all of the ERA funding from NARA's fiscal 2004 request in September, citing problems with the agency's management of the program as discovered by the General Accounting Office. However the agency's funding is now under consideration in the conference committee going over the entire Transportation, Treasury and General Government appropriations bill.