Records Management: Executive Office of the President E-mail System

This report focuses on problems that the White House electronic mail (e-mail) system experienced during the period of October 1996 through May 1999. GAO found that two malfunctions occurred in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) e-mail system that prevented incoming Internet e-mail from being properly archived by the Automated Records Management System. GAO determined that the costs to repair the two malfunctions increased by $372,000 because the repairs were not made immediately. EOP's computer services contract may have included fixed costs for data recovery that minimized the government's repair costs.