UNCLASSIFIED
Nancy

Below is an extract from  the National Archives of Australia Publication
"Records Issues for Outsourcing"
(http://www.naa.gov.au/records-management/IM-framework/outsourcing/GDA25
.aspx). Even though it is aimed at Australian Commonwealth Government
agencies, the message should be universal - The contract should specify
ownership of the records.

"Unless specified in a contract, agencies may not be able to obtain
access to records
owned by a contractor for its own needs.

For these reasons, the Commonwealth should own all records that it needs
for its
ongoing business purposes and to maintain accountability to the
Parliament and
to the people. In an outsourced environment, this would mean all records
created
by the agency which have been provided to the contractor, and any
records
created by the contractor in the performance of the contract which would
provide
essential evidence of service delivery, should belong to the
Commonwealth

All legal agreements entered into by the Commonwealth for the purchase
of
services should clearly state the ownership (including intellectual
property rights
such as copyright) of any records resulting from the performance of the
contract."

If you do not own the records created by the contractor, you are at the
mercy of the contractor when it comes time to consider changing
contractors, as well as your own ongoing accountability requirements.

There is much in the publication which should be of general interest
when considering what should be contracts about records. [disclaimer
follows] Of course, I am biased because I wrote the publication.

John Lovejoy
[log in to unmask]
I usally speak only for me, but in this case, their words are the same
as my words

-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Nancy Ur
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2011 8:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [RM] Disposition of Records at End of Vendor Contracts

Happy New Year to All ListServ folks!  I'm wondering if you'd share your

handling of contract clauses that speak to the disposition of records
upon 
contract expiration, for records either created or received by contract
vendors 
on behalf of your company.  I'd like to know if anyone requires the
vendor to  
return the records to your company, whereby the records are incorporated

into your RRS. Your comments are much appreciated!

Nancy Ur
[log in to unmask]

UNCLASSIFIED

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]