National Personnel Records Center

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT NPRC
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NPRC is desperately struggling to fulfill a backlog of 632,000 requests. It is receiving nearly nonstop IT capacity upgrades, and overtime is approved with nearly no caveats. Attempts to higher as many as 300 new employees have been met with little interest, and many of the most experienced employees, as well as trainers for new employees opted to retire during the pandemic as well. Employees have died of Covid and lost family members. The center was only able to operate under specific conditions set forth by Washington DC during the pandemic; a policy that continues to burdon them currently and likely will until the end of the federal emergency in May.

Had an effort been made to digitize the 100 million or so pages of documents NPRC houses as they were moved to the building for its opening in 2008, most of the delays - both in terms of access to records, AND availability to fulfill requests remotely by staff - could've been prevented. But at that time, Congress saw the request as frivolous and too costly.

As such, the entire operation in the face of the pandemic has been reactive. The building still experiences weekly incidents of Covid among staff requiring entire areas to be shutdown for hours at a time for cleaning.

The employees are exhausted, and The National Archives and Records Administration, which runs NPRC, is the lowest paying Federal Agency which requires specialized skills. They are also being endlessly and constantly harassed to do more and more.

Further complicating issues are Veterans, justifiably upset at a lack of response, filling 5, 6, 7, 10 requests for the same thing.

As of a report released today, requests for separation documents/DD 214s are being processed in an average of 20 days again. That's twice as long as the agency deems acceptable, but it's down from weeks, months, or years.

Additionally, NPRC is always buried in requests that are generally nonsense. Ie...

"My name is John Smith. I need my records."

If you make a request, include your branch, DOB, SSN, and approx dates of service. There's 1.2 million John Smiths in
NPRC's registry.

NPRC is also inundated by FOIA requests by novelists, which are considered a priority due to the legal statutes and obligations surrounding the Freedom of Information Act.

They also receive thousands of requests for things which are in no way within their holdings or the scope of their operations, all of which must be mitigated and referred to other agencies or branches.

NPRC does not have your VA C-File. That's a VA record, for example. And for everyone that desperately needs their 214 for a home loan or medical care, there's 2 requests along the lines of:

"I had a buddy in Nam, I think his name was George or James. I was a marine, but he was Regular Army. He saved my life... No! It was John! Help me find my friend...

Continued as pt 2 under Updates.

I sent an urgent request for my resignation SF 50 from my last federal job. My one complaint is that there is no automatic reply of any kind confirming receipt so there is no other option but to just wait and hope that it was acknowledged. It was driving me crazy having no control over communication. I live four hours away from the facility and at my wits end I google mapped the address Of NPRC and discovered a phone number that is not provided anywhere in the resources providing information on how to obtain these important documents. I immediately phoned to see if it is possible to drive four hours to request in person. I was lucky enough that a lady named Lisa L. answered the phone when I called. Unfortunately I was told that they are not open to the public. When I explained the urgency for my request she took the time to look in the system and verify that my request was received. She went the extra mile and verified that the information that I was requesting was available, and within 30 minutes she faxed my document to the number provided and I received it. I am able to start my new job much sooner because of this nice lady that cared enough to help me. I am forever grateful that she answered my phone call. She has restored my hope in the goodness of people. There are still good employees that do the right thing and she is proof. THANK YOU Lisa L!!!!!!!

The security guard here has helped me tremendously. I'm doing some family research and have received a great deal of help from the security guard who works the door.