Secretary Bernhardt Signs Order Establishing Transparency of Costs Associated with Developing Interior’s Publications and Products

Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2020
Contact: Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt signed which directs the Department of the Interior to develop procedures to track the total costs associated with the preparation, review and issuance of publications, reports, studies, analyses and similar documents produced by the Department and improve public understanding of the costs associated with the Department's operations.

“This Order will provide greater transparency to the public regarding actions taken by the Department,” said Secretary Bernhardt. “The Department's decisions impact millions of people across the country, and we owe it to them to provide the full costs of each publication and product we create to carry out our mission.”

The Order directs all bureaus and offices to immediately take steps to identify and quantify the cost of publications and documents, tracking costs of full-time equivalent personnel hours, contractor costs and other costs associated with issuing covered documents. The production cost will be displayed on the front page of any covered document.

The Department often develops documents for use by third parties, including members of the general public. Some of these documents include analyses under the National Environmental Policy Act, audits, investigations, scientific and other reports and legislative branch requests. The cost of these activities is not always tracked and available to the public, causing the true cost of document production to be concealed.