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Government

A basis of action that can be reconstructed by somebody who was not there.

A basis of action that can be reconstructed years later, from retained sources, by someone who was not there and who is entitled to disagree.

the worked caseA supplier's registered address changed twice in eighteen months. The award file reproduces the address as it stood on the day of award, with the extract.

Request accessAll sectors
Pale limestone column bases and a stone plinth in hard diagonal light, with one narrow cobalt blue banner hanging between two columns.

Two worked cases on this page, both fictional and both built the way a real one is: a value, the document it was read from, the date of reading, and the value it was chosen over.

The questions you get asked

Nobody asks for more information. They ask whether one line can be defended.

These are the questions that arrive after the work is delivered, from the party entitled to disagree with it. Every property on this page exists because one of them has to have an answer that does not depend on the person who assembled the file.

The four guarantees
  • 01

    On what basis was this determination made, and what did the file contain at the time?

  • 02

    Why was this element withheld from the copy I received?

  • 03

    The supplier's registered details have changed twice. Which version did you act on?

  • 04

    Can you produce this file without the officer who assembled it?

Asked by an inspector general, by an appeals board or a court, and by a member of the public exercising a right of access.

The buyer

Programme offices, procurement integrity and oversight

Units whose determinations affect a person, a supplier or an appropriation, and whose files are read afterwards by inspectors, auditors, courts and requesters.

What they fuse

Three kinds of source, one answer

Each kind arrives with different licence terms, different reader restrictions and different reasons to be wrong. The record keeps them distinguishable after the fusion, which is the part that is normally lost.

Case and programme files

Applications, determinations and correspondence held in systems of record that never leave the agency.

Licensed and inter-agency data

Commercial registries and data shared under agreement, where the agreement itself constrains who may read what.

Public records

Entity registrations, award notices, court dockets, sanctions and debarment lists, published inspection reports.

Worked case one

A past state reproduced

An award file that still reads correctly three years later

By the time an award was challenged, the supplier had moved twice, changed its registered name once, and the registry page that had been read at the time no longer existed. The file did not need the live registry: it carried the retained extract, the date it was read, and the value as of that date.

The figure beside this is what the reader sees: the value, its status, the source it was read from, and the value it was chosen over.

An award file that still reads correctly three years lateras of 12 May 2023
Registered address at awardAs stated in the extract of 12 May 2023citedRegister extract retained 12 May 2023, page 1The live register now shows a different address; both are on the record with their dates.
Registered name at awardThe former name, retainedcitedSame extract, page 1The change of name did not change the identity of the supplier or the record's identifier.
Debarment status at awardNot foundnot foundExclusion list checked 12 May 2023, no matching recordRecorded as checked and not found, with the list version, rather than as cleared.
A record as it stood on 12 May 2023. Values are fictional and written for demonstration.

Worked case two

A value the reader may not see

One determination, three readers, and one element that is withheld

The same case file is read by the officer who wrote it, by an inspector, and by a member of the public under a records request. They are not entitled to the same material, and the record refuses to produce a version in which the restricted element is merely absent. The value is named, the restriction is named, and the basis of the restriction is cited, so a requester can contest a withholding instead of never learning that there was one.

A different failure from the first case, on the same record and under the same four guarantees. Both are fictional; neither is a simplification of how the values are shown.

One determination, three readers, and one element that is withheldas released on 8 April 2026
DeterminationAs issued 8 Apr 2026citedDetermination letter, retained, page 2Identical for every reader; nothing about the outcome depends on clearance.
Supporting inspection findingBlocked for this readerblockedInter-agency file shared under the agreement of 3 Feb 2025, clause 6The agreement decides who may read it, not the record; the finding is named and dated either way.
Identity of the complainantBlocked for this readerblockedWithheld as personal information under the agency disclosure policy in forceThat there was a complainant is disclosed; who they are is not.
Earlier determination on the same premisesNot foundnot foundCase system searched on the premises identifier, 8 Apr 2026Recorded as searched and not found, never as a first occurrence.
A file as released on 8 April 2026. Values are fictional and written for demonstration.

Why the record has to hold

What the rules ask for, in their own words

These are the recordkeeping obligations that make a defensible value a requirement rather than a preference. We name them because our customers are measured against them; we make no claim to certify anyone against any of them.

Making and preserving records

United States, federal agencies
Federal Records Act, 44 U.S.C. chapters 21, 29, 31 and 33

Agencies must make and preserve records that document the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures and essential transactions of the agency.

Electronic records management

United States, OMB and NARA
OMB/NARA Memoranda M-19-21 and M-23-07

Agencies manage records in electronic form with the metadata needed to retrieve and interpret them, and transfer permanent records to the National Archives electronically.

Contract file content

United States, federal acquisition
FAR Subpart 4.8, 48 CFR 4.801(b)

The contract file must constitute a complete history of the transaction, sufficient to support actions taken and to furnish essential facts in the event of litigation.

What changes for this reader

The same work, with the evidence attached at the moment it is read

Not a claim about speed and not a claim about savings: a description of the practice on each side. Everything on the left is what people in this role do today, and almost all of it is done well by people who resent having to do it that way.

How the product works
01today

The file holds a link to a registry page that has since been revised, moved or withdrawn.

with the record

It holds the extract as it was read, with the date of reading, so the file does not depend on a page somebody else maintains.

02today

A check against an exclusion list is recorded as a line on a checklist, initialled.

with the record

It is recorded with the list, its version and the date searched, so nothing reads as a clearance that was never granted.

03today

Producing a file for an inspector means asking the officer who worked on it what they remember and hoping they are still in post.

with the record

The file reproduces itself as it stood on the day of the action, with no dependence on any individual being available.

04today

Redaction is done on a copy, and the released version shows blank space where the withheld material was.

with the record

A withheld element is named as withheld with its basis cited, so a requester can appeal the restriction rather than the silence.

05today

A supplier that changes its name appears as a new party, or is matched back to the old one by hand.

with the record

One record carries both names with their dates, and the identifier does not change when the name does.

What you get

What the record guarantees government readers

The four guarantees, stated in the vocabulary of this sector. They are the same four everywhere; read them in general on the guarantees page, and see them applied to a live record on the demonstration.

  1. One record per supplier, person or facility, with every former name and identifier retained and resolvable.
  2. Every determination cites the document it rests on, retained as it was read, with the date of reading.
  3. A check that returned nothing is recorded as a check that returned nothing, naming the list and its version, never as a clearance.
  4. The file can be reproduced as it stood on the day of the action, for an inspector, a court or a requester.

Primary sources

The texts behind these obligations

Public bodies work under statutes, executive memoranda and procurement regulations that say what a record must contain and how long it must last. The texts below are the ones behind the obligations on this page. They are provided for reading, and our naming of them is not a claim of certification.

Reference pages that apply to this sector

Further reading in the articles

previous sectorFinancial servicesTwo companies share a director, a former trading name and a registered agent. The record keeps them separate, links them, and says on what basis.next sectorLegalA deal-room document and a public filing give different completion dates. The memorandum cites both, names the one it relies on, and states why.