F7767 (2501)

June 10, 2004

Memorandum

To: National Leadership Council

From: Director /s/ Fran P. Mainella

Subject: Building Better Partnership Projects

In an increasingly complex world, the National Park Service (NPS)
cannot, and should not, accomplish our work in isolation. Partner
organizations and other interested governments and private groups are
integral to our success in achieving our organizational goals. Many of
you, and our superintendents, have been fostering and developing
excellent partnerships and partnership projects for years. Others are
newer to the role partnerships can play in helping us to protect
resources and provide quality visitor experiences. Together, it is my
desire that we learn from our successes, as well as from our challenges,
in moving forward to sustain the power of partnerships. That, at its
core, was one of the primary objectives of the Joint Ventures: Partners
in Stewardship conference last fall.

In recent weeks, considerable attention has been focused on how NPS
manages partnerships and partnership construction projects. Some
specific projects have received significant media coverage and interest
by Congress. Other projects have been questioned with regard to their
compliance to stated NPS policy. Still other projects have been
scrutinized because of their capital cost and/or potential impact to the
NPS operating budget. Some questions have been raised regarding the
likelihood of non-Federal sources achieving the fundraising goals
associated with individual projects.

These issues build on concerns that have been raised over the course of
the last several years in the Congressional report language accompanying
our annual appropriations bill. Specific bill language was enacted in FY
2003. Further changes could be imposed with the FY 2005 appropriations
bill. If NPS is to retain our existing authorities to work with
governments and private groups in promoting and realizing our mission,
we must take seriously these issues and establish for ourselves a new
standard of excellence in the project formulation, communication, and
decision-making used in partnerships.

On April 1, 2004, I shared with you a memorandum transmitting emerging
expectations regarding compliance with Director's Order 21 (Donations
and Fundraising), an internal process for identifying partnership
construction projects, and an evaluation and analysis of implementation
issues associated with partnership construction projects. This
memorandum builds on that earlier direction.

Included in your reading materials from the April, 2004 National
Leadership Council meeting was a draft process for review of partnership
projects, incorporating the established Development Advisory Board
process. The objective of this effort is to achieve greater alignment of
review of both the partnership agreements and the capital investment
aspects of proposed projects. Neither review can happen in isolation.
The draft process was not developed with the intention of adding more
time and complexity to achieving successful partnership projects.
Rather, the objective is to assure ourselves, our partners, and other
interested parties (e.g., the Department of the Interior, the Office of
Management and Budget, Congress, the public) that a consistent approach
has been applied to pursuing partnership agreements. We must be able to
explain, with absolute transparency, the evaluative assessments
conducted to assure that the interests of the taxpayers are being
protected. The goal of the draft process is to engender confidence, to
assure that the right questions are being asked about projects at the
right time in the project's timeline, and to assure that commitments are
being made at the appropriate level of the organization -- not to impose
burdensome process or reviews. Another goal of the proposed process is
to engage more proactively in expectation management, so that there are
no significant surprises to NPS or our partners in the course of
bringing a project to completion. At the same time, we recognize that
each partnership and project has its own characteristics and issues, and
that some flexibility is needed if we are to achieve the success that is
mutually desired.

In addition to comments provided regarding the draft process, other
input has been received following discussions with officials in the
Department of the Interior, the Office of Management and Budget, and
Congress. The Development Advisory Board reviewed the draft process at
its April, 2004 meeting and further comments were offered. Preliminary
work on the process was presented to the Friends Alliance as well as the
National Park Foundation's Superintendents Council.

Based on early reaction and input, some further changes have been made
to the draft process since the April National Leadership Council
meeting. It is my direction that the process developed to date under the
leadership of Associate Directors Jarvi and Masica be followed as
interim guidance while further refinements are made in the context of
the ongoing review and update of Director's Order 21. Thus, parks,
regions, and program offices will have further opportunity to comment
and offer suggestions to improve the Service's management of
partnerships and partnership construction projects.

For partnership construction projects still in the early (pre-agreement)
stages, the draft process provides a framework for superintendents and
regions to follow. For projects that are already underway, we will have
to work collaboratively to determine where each of the projects is in
the process, what agreements have already been executed, what steps were
followed to assure that the types of issues identified in the process
were addressed, and what steps need to be taken, if any, to bring the
projects into compliance with this process.

As we have discussed previously, I need your direct involvement in
communicating this message to our superintendents and program managers.
A core team has been assembled under the direction of Associate
Directors Jarvi and Masica to assist with communication and outreach, as
well as to gather the further information needed for NPS to respond to
Congress about the status of our partnership efforts. They will be in
touch with you to answer any questions and provide additional
information.

Thank you for your support and cooperation.

Attachments

Flow Chart (Interim Guidance, 6/1/04 draft)

Checklist (Interim Guidance, 6/3/04 draft)