Document Retention

When a contract is closed out, the project documents should be securely stored by the LG and protected until the legal document retention requirements have been met as specified in the AFA. The project documents must be kept during the contract period and for the length of time after completion of project activities as specified in the AFA, in accordance with any applicable federal requirements, until completion of all audits or until any pending litigation has been completely and fully resolved, whichever occurs last. However, if the AFA includes right of way or surviving (permanent) maintenance provisions, the file must be retained indefinitely.
More information on the retention of documents is included in
Chapter 2
and
Chapter 9
of this Manual. In addition to the project documents retained by the LG, TxDOT may also retain project-related documents. The TxDOT documents need to be retained pursuant to the AFA and TxDOT’s document retention policy.
Federal Requirements
  1. 2 CFR §200.334
    – Requires all financial records, supporting documents, statistical records and all other LG records pertinent to a federally funded project be retained for a period of three years from the date of final submission of the final expenditure report, unless certain other exceptions arise such as litigation or ongoing audit.