Meeting Notes

Heritage Assets Partnership Meeting

# 9:00 AM \-- 11:00 PM, Tuesday, February 7, 2006; Room 2603A, Main Interior Building

The **next meeting** is scheduled for **Tuesday, March 7, 2006**, in
Room 2603A.

Participants in the February 7 meeting were:

BIA *No Representative*

BLM Michael C. Thomas mike_thomas@blm.gov 202-452-5192

FWS Eugene Marino eugene_marino@fws.gov 703-358-2173

NBC David McKinney david_d_mckinney@nbc.gov 202-208-7017

NPS Terry Childs terry_childs@nps.gov 202-354-2125

OSM Vernell Davis gvdavis@osmre.gov 202-208-2802

OS/PAM Bob Jarcho robert_jarcho@ios.doi.gov 202-208-3329

Michael Kastle michael_kastle@ios.doi.gov 202-208-3798

Ronald C. Wilson rowilson@os.doi.gov 202-208-3438

OS/PFM *No Representative*

Reclamation Tom Lincoln tlincoln@do.usbr.gov 303-445-3311

USGS (via phone) Allan Montgomery amontgom@usgs.gov 703-648-7321

Robert Eng reng@usgs.gov 703-638-4655

Following introductions, the Partnership discussed the following topics.

**HAP Governance**

A final draft of the HAP Charter was approved, and will be forwarded to
the Director, Office of Acquisition and Property Management for
signature.

Eugene Marino (FWS) was selected as the HAP Chair for 2006. Eugene
agreed to lead development of a formal briefing for the DOI Asset
Management Partnership. Chris Pfaff, Terry Childs, and Tom Lincoln
agreed to assist Eugene.

**Condition Index Standard for Heritage Assets**

Terry Childs (NPS) led discussion of a document titled "Determining a
Condition Index Standard for Heritage Assets." The group concurred with
the content, and recommended that she edit it to be more concise and
generic, obtain formal concurrence of each bureau's HAP representative,
and then recommend its adoption by the DOI Asset Management Partnership.

One key strategy recommended is to assign numerical ratings to the
condition designators "good, fair, and poor" used for financial
reporting of heritage assets, and to substitute these numbers for
"current replacement value" when calculating the facility condition
index.

**FBMS data elements re: Heritage Assets**

Prior to the meeting, Chris Pfaff (USBR) distributed a discussion draft
on "Historic Indicator Codes for FBMS." It summarizes the inconsistent
historic designator requirements of Executive Order 13327, GSA's Federal
Real Property Database (FRPP), Executive Order 13287 (Preserve America),
Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standards #29, and DOI's
Financial and Business Management System (FBMS). Though Chris was not
available to lead the discussion, the group found the summary to be
useful, and recommended that historic designators used in Maximo be
added to the matrix.

**Recommendations re: DOI Standard Definitions for HA**

The group concurred with statute-based definitions for archeological
site, paleontological site, and historic trails provided by Eugene
Marino (FWS) in an e-mail on 1/26/2006. The definition for "historic
building" cannot be used because "historic" is an attribute rather than
a noun requiring a definition, however it is included below as a means
to underscore that this concept will continue to be visited by the HAP
and commented on to the Asset Management Partnership. Mike Kastle agreed
to pass our recommendation to the workgroup that maintains the DOI list.

> 1\. Paleontological Site \--A site that includes any remains, traces,
> or imprints of organisms, preserved in or on the Earth\'s crust, which
> are of paleontological interest. A paleontological site does not
> include any materials associated with an archeological resource.
>
> 2\. Archeological site \--A site that includes any material remains of
> past human life or activities that are of archeological interest,
> including, but not limited to: *pottery, basketry, bottles, weapons,
> projectiles, tools, structures or portions of structures, pit houses,
> rock paintings, rock carvings, intaglios, graves, human skeletal
> materials, or any portion or piece of any of these items.* An
> archeological site can consist of prehistoric and/or historic remains,
> both underground and above ground.
>
> 3\. Trails - Historic \-- trails that identify and protect a historic
> route, which is significant in American history and culture, and any
> remnants and artifacts from that route for public use and enjoyment.
>
> \*Historic Building---m partial or complete, used or vacant structures
> that are significant in American history, architecture, archeology,
> engineering, and culture AND that are listed in the National Register
> of Historic Places, or have been determined eligible to the National
> Register of Historic Places. The property could be designated a
> National Historic Landmark or of \'archaeological interest\' according
> to the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.

The group stated that definitions used in the context of asset
management should be consistent the definitions used in the Performance
and Accountability Report.

**Recommendations re: Auditor Site Visit Protocol**

The group concurred with the "Suggested KPMG Site Visit Protocol"
drafted by Eugene Marino (with additions by Terry Childs), and asked
Eugene to share it with the Office of Financial Management.

**Quick-Facts Heritage Assets Statistics**

In response to a question from the Office of Planning and Performance
Management (PPP), the group recommended that PPP rely on data officially
reported in the annual Performance and Accountability Report. This will
assist in avoiding conflicting numbers.

**Next Steps**

The group will continue to develop an action plan. Now that the HAP
exists as a standing committee, we have a voice in the Department's
asset management structure. We need to identify priorities and ensure
that the needs of heritage assets are better integrated into the next
revision of the Department's Asset Management Plan. We need to identify
which heritage assets data are appropriate for which databases and
initiatives, and clearly articulate which are included and which are
excluded.

Bob Jarcho noted that one objective of the Executive Order requiring the
Asset Management Plan is to "right-size" agency portfolios and make some
current federal facilities available to the private sector. Tom Lincoln
provided this link to a recent GAO report on Excess and underutilized
property illustrating this point:

[http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06248t.pdf]{.underline}

Note: DOI Asset Management documents are posted at
\<http://www.doi.gov/pam/assetmanage.html\>