§ 31.42 Retention and access requirements for records.

[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2007]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR31.42]

[Page 400-401]

TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT

CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

PART 31_UNIFORM ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS FOR GRANTS AND COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS--Table of Contents

Subpart C_Post-Award Requirements

Sec. 31.42 Retention and access requirements for records.

(a) Applicability. (1) This section applies to all financial and
programmatic records, supporting documents, statistical records, and
other records of grantees or subgrantees which are:
(i) Required to be maintained by the terms of this part, program
regulations or the grant agreement, or
(ii) Otherwise reasonably considered as pertinent to program
regulations or the grant agreement.
(2) This section does not apply to records maintained by contractors
or subcontractors. For a requirement to place a provision concerning
records in certain kinds of contracts, see Sec. 31.36(i)(10).
(b) Length of retention period. (1) Except as otherwise provided,
records must be retained for three years from the starting date
specified in paragraph (c) of this section.
(2) If any litigation, claim, negotiation, audit or other action
involving the records has been started before the expiration of the 3-
year period, the records must be retained until completion of the action
and resolution of all issues which arise from it, or until the end of
the regular 3-year period, whichever is later.
(3) To avoid duplicate recordkeeping, awarding agencies may make
special arrangements with grantees and subgrantees to retain any records
which are continuously needed for joint use. The awarding agency will
request transfer of records to its custody when it determines that the
records possess long-term retention value. When the records are
transferred to or maintained by the Federal agency, the 3-year retention
requirement is not applicable to the grantee or subgrantee.
(c) Starting date of retention period--(1) General. When grant
support is continued or renewed at annual or other intervals, the
retention period for the records of each funding period starts on the
day the grantee or subgrantee submits to the awarding agency its single
or last expenditure report for that period. However, if grant support is
continued or renewed quarterly, the retention period for each year's
records starts on the day the grantee submits its expenditure report for
the last quarter of the Federal fiscal year. In all other cases, the
retention period starts on the day the grantee submits its final
expenditure report. If an expenditure report has been waived, the
retention period starts on the day the report would have been due.
(2) Real property and equipment records. The retention period for
real property and equipment records starts from the date of the
disposition or replacement or transfer at the direction of the awarding
agency.
(3) Records for income transactions after grant or subgrant support.
In some cases grantees must report income after the period of grant
support. Where there is such a requirement, the retention period for the
records pertaining to the earning of the income starts from the end of
the grantee's fiscal year in which the income is earned.

[[Page 401]]

(4) Indirect cost rate proposals, cost allocations plans, etc. This
paragraph applies to the following types of documents, and their
supporting records: indirect cost rate computations or proposals, cost
allocation plans, and any similar accounting computations of the rate at
which a particular group of costs is chargeable (such as computer usage
chargeback rates or composite fringe benefit rates).
(i) If submitted for negotiation. If the proposal, plan, or other
computation is required to be submitted to the Federal Government (or to
the grantee) to form the basis for negotiation of the rate, then the 3-
year retention period for its supporting records starts from the date of
such submission.
(ii) If not submitted for negotiation. If the proposal, plan, or
other computation is not required to be submitted to the Federal
Government (or to the grantee) for negotiation purposes, then the 3-year
retention period for the proposal plan, or computation and its
supporting records starts from end of the fiscal year (or other
accounting period) covered by the proposal, plan, or other computation.
(d) Substitution of microfilm. Copies made by microfilming,
photocopying, or similar methods may be substituted for the original
records.
(e) Access to records--(1) Records of grantees and subgrantees. The
awarding agency and the Comptroller General of the United States, or any
of their authorized representatives, shall have the right of access to
any pertinent books, documents, papers, or other records of grantees and
subgrantees which are pertinent to the grant, in order to make audits,
examinations, excerpts, and transcripts.
(2) Expiration of right of access. The rights of access in this
section must not be limited to the required retention period but shall
last as long as the records are retained.
(f) Restrictions on public access. The Federal Freedom of
Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552) does not apply to records Unless required
by Federal, State, or local law, grantees and subgrantees are not
required to permit public access to their records.