OVERSIGHT STATEMENT OF DONALD W. MURPHY, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PARKS OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES, ON THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE BACKLOG IN DEFERRED MAINTENANCE AND RELATED ISSUES
JULY 8, 2003
Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before your subcommittee to discuss the National Park Service (NPS) backlog of deferred maintenance and related issues.
We are pleased to have the chance to bring the subcommittee up to date on our efforts to address the deferred maintenance backlog, which, as you know, is a priority for President Bush. As the President said in his first address to a joint session of Congress in 2001, “Our national parks have a special place in our country’s life. Our parks are places of great national beauty and history. As good stewards, we must leave them better than we found them.”
Just last week, Interior Secretary Gale Norton and NPS Director Fran Mainella issued a report entitled “National Park Service: Partnering and Managing for Excellence” that highlights the accomplishments toward fulfilling the goals of President Bush’s National Parks Legacy Project. A major focus of report are the accomplishments NPS has made toward addressing the deferred maintenance backlog, as the President pledged to do from the start of his presidency.
The President has committed significant funding to address both the repair and management aspects of the deferred maintenance backlog. He is proposing more than $760 million annually over a five-year period, for a total of $3.84 billion, to pay for non-road deferred maintenance projects, and nearly $1.26 billion during the same period for road maintenance. In addition, for the first time, NPS will have a state-of-the-art system to monitor and prioritize ongoing maintenance needs and to prevent a recurrence of maintenance backlogs in the future.
A May 1998 General Accounting Office report (“Efforts to Identify and Manage the Maintenance Backlog” GAO/RCED-98-143) stated that the NPS deferred maintenance backlog had more than doubled between 1987 and 1997, to an estimated $4.9 billion.
Based on the $4.9 billion figure, President Bush committed to provide at least that level of funding for the NPS to address the deferred maintenance backlog. The Administration is on a path to surpass the $4.9 billion goal by the end of FY 06. To put the funding increases in perspective, the more than $1 billion requested for FY 04 is nearly 50 percent more than was provided in FY 00.
Funds provided to date are achieving tangible results, and the NPS has begun to improve the condition of hundreds of park assets using the increased funding Congress has appropriated at President Bush’s request. For example:
In the past two years, NPS has tackled approximately 900 repair and rehabilitation projects in just two years. These projects, including 60 fire suppression and safety projects, have enhanced visitor and employee safety. They have improved health protection by upgrading and repairing 186 water, wastewater, and sewer facilities. They have made buildings better and safer for visitors through over 325 general building and safety rehabilitation projects. Another 500 projects are underway in 2003 and approximately 400 more are programmed for 2004.
As part of the President Bush’s National Parks Legacy Project, park roads, too, will be brought into good condition. In 2001, just 35 percent of park roads were in good condition. Under the proposed highway transportation bill, which would provide $1.89 billion over six years for the Park Roads and Parkways Program, over 80 percent of park roads would be brought into good or excellent condition, and virtually no road would be in poor condition.
An essential component of the National Parks Legacy Project is a vigorous effort to bring state-of-the-art facilities management to the parks. The first step is to understand the condition of the facilities at each park, Accordingly, NPS is accelerating its efforts to complete facility condition assessments at all 388 park units to provide, for the first time, a complete inventory maintenance needs.
The infrastructure of the National Park System has evolved over time in response to the Service’s mandate to preserve resources unimpaired and provide for visitor enjoyment. It includes more than 26,000 historic structures and other buildings, an estimated 8,500 monuments, over 12,000 miles of trails, some 1,200 water systems, about 1,400 wastewater treatment plants, and more than 5,000 employee housing units. Our road network consists of nearly 5,500 paved miles of road, an estimated 6,000+ miles of unpaved roads, and some 1,700 bridges.
An investment in a state-of-the-art facility management software system has allowed NPS to develop a facility management strategy for the 21st century and provided us with the capacity to generate information about our assets on a servicewide basis. Initiated in 1999, this system will be fully implemented by 2006. Further system investments are anticipated through FY 2006 to move NPS towards a complete lifecycle approach to our asset management. NPS has developed a CD-ROM that explains the facility management software system. We have provided a copy to this subcommittee and hope that you will have an opportunity to view it.
In addition to software investments, NPS has established a process for development of a systemwide inventory of our assets, and cyclic evaluation of the condition of those assets. Parks are able to identify any deficiencies that need to be addressed in order to bring a facility to a satisfactory condition and extend the useful life of the asset. The software links to an industry-standard cost-estimating tool so that the cost to repair the asset is determined immediately. We will be able to evaluate the impact of particular funding levels on asset performance and condition. Similarly, we will be able to quantify the consequences of delaying or not accomplishing lifecycle treatments.
This information will allow NPS to measure progress against the industry-standard measure of a facility condition index (FCI) for buildings and the pavement condition rating (PCR) for roads. NPS will now be able to gauge the results of investments in our assets. It is conceivable that we may make a management decision not to invest in a particular asset because it is not of sufficient importance to justify the financial investment identified. This information will influence our priorities in making funding decisions.
Future funding decisions will not be driven solely by the information generated through the FCI process. It will be important for NPS to articulate clearly and consistently the priority of our assets, the investment needed to sustain them, and the rate of deterioration over time. There may be other important reasons to invest in one facility versus another, such as critical resource protection needs, partnerships, and visitor services requirements. Likewise, it may be appropriate to demolish structures for which the costs to improve the condition are prohibitive.
Professional facility management also requires regular maintenance to prevent facilities from gradually falling into disrepair. In FY 03, funding for cyclic maintenance increased from $22 million to $42 million, and in FY 04 is slated to increase to $56 million under the President’s budget. By ensuring cyclic and preventative maintenance at regular intervals, this investment will help prevent a maintenance backlog recurrence.
While new park facility maintenance needs will continue to emerge, the combination of increased funding and management reforms will allow the Service to find the point where sustainable funding levels will cover an asset’s life cycle maintenance and capital replacement costs.
Having described the process we are using, what do we know about our deferred maintenance backlog so far? The process for conducting the inventory and determining the condition of our assets was phased in over two years – FY 02-FY 03 – for all but four large park units. Because parks and regions are still determining the deficiencies of our assets and the cost of the repairs needed to bring facilities into good condition, NPS is not yet in a position to discuss the total costs of the deferred maintenance backlog. What the NPS is trying to do is to focus concurrently on making strategic decisions about what assets are most important, and what is needed to bring them into acceptable condition.
In the meantime, we can share what we do know about our major categories of assets. For example, based on work completed through the end of May, we know that NPS has some 31 million square feet of building space; 1,400 wastewater treatment systems; and 89 million linear feet of trails.
Using information about an asset’s condition, identified deficiencies, and costs to repair, it is possible to quantify a facility condition index to make comparisons across the Service and measure improved condition when investments are made. NPS is in the process of identifying what performance goals (FCI target ranges) will be established for the various assets in the NPS inventory. Some asset types, such as buildings and water treatment plants, will be able to be compared to industry standard benchmarks. Other asset types, such as monuments and cultural landscapes, will be more difficult to compare.
In summary, by implementing management reforms, deploying new technologies, and educating our employees, NPS is fostering a change in course that will facilitate a better managed set of facilities well into the future.
The National Park System consists of 388 units and nearly 85 million acres of land. Congress created most of the first national parks, in the west, from public domain land already in Federal ownership. In recent years, when Congress added new units to the National Park System or expanded existing units, the boundaries often included private, state and county lands. Today there are almost 5.5 million acres of land not in Federal ownership within these 388 units - 3.5 million acres within NPS units in Alaska, and two million in units in the rest of the United States.
Although there are 5.5 million acres of non-federal land within boundaries of park units, NPS does not plan to acquire all that land. Park units have individual land protection plans that identify the land that needs to be protected either by fee ownership, less than fee ownership (scenic/conservation easement), zoning, or cooperative agreement. The amount of land that these plans call for protecting by either fee or easement ownership totals about 1.8 million acres, with an estimated acquisition cost of $1.7 billion.
Of this 1.8 million-acre backlog, 1.4 million acres consist of land in units of the National Park System in Alaska. For the rest of the United States, the land acquisition backlog totals 400,000 acres, and would cost an estimated $1.3 billion to acquire today.
All of the acreage in the land acquisition backlog is within the authorized boundaries of units of the National Park System or within limitations established by Congress. While Congress has given NPS the authority to make minor boundary adjustments, all large or significant boundary expansions or new areas require an act of Congress. Presidential proclamations have created some new units and expanded the boundaries of existing units, but those additions do not add to the land acquisition backlog since those are formed from land already in Federal ownership.
The land acquisition backlog may represent a scattered “checker board” pattern of private holdings in older parks like Rocky Mountain National Park and Yosemite National Park. In new additions to the National Park System, such as Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, no land was in Federal ownership when it was authorized so the entire park represented an addition to the backlog.
The land acquisition backlog continues to grow as Congress adds new units to the System or expands the boundaries of existing units in the System without appropriating the necessary funds for acquiring land for the new additions. Since the beginning of 1999, the new units and boundary expansions authorized by Congress have added an estimated $175 million worth of land to the acquisition backlog. Congress during this same time period appropriated $546 million for NPS land acquisition, of which $102 million went towards the purchase of tracts in the new additions. Thus, the net contribution of new units and boundary expansions to the backlog in the last four years was about $73 million.
The land acquisition backlog, after anticipated FY 03 actions, distributed by region is as follows:
Region Acreage Est. cost
Alaska 1,400,035 acres $ 365,148,000
Intermountain 63,444 acres 122,829,600
Midwest 19,864 acres 56,512,000
National Capital 3,498 acres 68,825,000
Northeast 9,019 acres 228,458,000
Pacific West 39,508 acres 529,423,000
Southeast 34,034 acres 297,495,300
TOTAL 1,789,402 acres $ 1,668,690,900
The backlog of vacant positions within the NPS varies throughout the year, on a park-by-park and region-by-region basis. At the present time there are approximately 22,000 full time equivalent (FTE) positions authorized within the NPS, of which approximately 16,000 are filled. The remaining 6,000 FTE are vacant for a number of reasons, including lack of funding. Of the 16,000 filled positions, a substantial number of them will become vacant during the year and the NPS will fill them based on critical park needs and the availability of funding.
Non-law enforcement positions may be lapsed for six months or more, based on issues such as limited funding in order to pay for a move; health, life and safety emergencies; wildland fires; or the need to hire additional law enforcement rangers.
The Department recently requested that the Service fill all vacant law enforcement positions, before any others, for reasons of national security. There is a critical need for hiring more law enforcement rangers to meet all the law enforcement needs servicewide, including enhanced security at “icon” parks, yet these positions cost the NPS more money than other positions at the same grade due to the enhanced retirement requirement. It is important these employees be compensated appropriately, yet hiring one law enforcement ranger can lead to the potential elimination of one or more other positions when funding is not available.
The NPS has benefited in the past from increases in the funding provided by the Congress, but these increases have not fully addressed the needs of the Service. Many parks spend between 85–90 percent of their park operating budget on personnel services and benefits, which leaves little room for overhead expenses such as utilities, vehicles, required training and supplies. When overhead expenses rise beyond the small increase each park receives each year as an across-the-board increase, one way park managers have to balance the park budget is by lapsing vacant positions or not hiring temporary employees.
Even when managers are trying to fill jobs, positions may remain vacant for a long time because the process for hiring can be very time consuming. Positions are classified as Senior Executive Service (SES), General Service (GS), Wage Grade (WG), or Special Pay (SP) in the case of U.S. Park Police, and may be advertised at the Washington, regional or park level, depending on the position. For SES positions, of which there are currently 29, the NPS Director must first get Departmental approval for advertising the position, and then Secretarial approval for the selection. For GS-15 supervisory positions, the NPS Director must get the concurrence of the Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks on the selection. GS positions below the GS-15 grade and all WG positions may be advertised and selected at the regional and/or park level, and do not require concurrence at the Washington office.
Because of the President’s emphasis on taking better care of the parks already under our stewardship, the Department of the Interior has been asking Congress to defer action on bills that would establish new units of the National Park System, despite the fact that most of these proposals otherwise merit our support. We have taken this position because we are concerned about the demands each new unit could create on the NPS budget.
During the last five years (1998-2002), 11 new units of the National Park System have been established by Congress, and three more have been established by Presidential Proclamation under the previous Administration. For FY 04, the proposed operating budgets of those new units total $4,502,000, and include a total of 10 full-time equivalent positions, or FTE’s. Because these units are so new, most are not yet fully operational. Their costs and staff size would be expected to increase in coming years. In addition to operating costs, most of these units have land acquisition and facility needs.
Flight 93 NM Northeast 2002 $200k/0
Cedar Creek and Belle Grove NHP Northeast 2002 $225k/0
*Established by Presidential Proclamation
While it would be desirable to eliminate all of the backlogs the NPS has, the reality is that in the current fiscal climate it is unlikely that the Service will ever have enough funding to accomplish that. We are trying to slow the growth of the National Park System so that we can focus our resources for the time being on reducing our backlogs, particularly the deferred maintenance backlog. We are also taking steps to be the most effective and efficient agency possible with the financial resources we have at our disposal. We will continue to work with this subcommittee to address the issues and concerns you have regarding the maintenance, land acquisition and personnel backlogs and to work toward solutions.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes my statement. I would be pleased to answer any questions you may have.