Current Projects
National Park Service Historic Preservation Program (posted 7/19/2007)

Client/Funder:

National Park Service

Purpose and Scope:

The goal of the National Historic Preservation Program is to preserve and protect historic properties and cultural resources nationwide.  The National Park Service (NPS) achieves this goal by working in partnership with a variety of government agencies and private-sector organizations to implement a series of tools enacted through the National Historic Preservation Act and related legislation, including grants, tax credits, designation of historic properties, and technical assistance.  In 2003 the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) review judged the National Historic Preservation Program “Moderately Effective.” This PART review noted that this program has never been independently reviewed and suggested the need to strengthen performance assessment and link budgeting more closely to performance.   

The National Park Service has asked the Academy to examine performance-based management issues relating to the National Historic Preservation Program.  This assessment will cover the range of activities that NPS carries out with State and Tribal Historical Preservation Offices through block grants, technical assistance, tax credits, and national designations.  The Academy Panel will review NPS’s management improvement plan and assess whether the National Historic Preservation Program is using appropriate performance measures to ensure that the program is accomplishing its mission and meeting its goals. 

This assessment will be conducted from July 2007 to December 2007. 

Center:

Academy Studies

Project Director:

Don Ryan

Panel:

Francis S. M. Hodsoll,* Chair – Consultant, Logistics Management Institute.  Former Deputy Director, U.S. Office of Management and Budget; Chairman, National Endowment of the Arts, National Council on the Arts and Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities; Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy to Chief of Staff James A. Baker, III; Deputy U.S. Representative for Non-Proliferation and Director, Office of the Law of the Sea Negotiations, U.S. Department of State. 

William H. Leighty* – Chief of Staff to the Governor, Commonwealth of Virginia.  Former positions with Commonwealth of Virginia:  Chief of Staff, Governor Mark Warner; Director, Virginia Retirement System; Assistant Director, Governor’s Commission on Government Reform; Deputy Secretary of Transportation; Senior Economist and Analyst, Senate Finance Committee. 

David L. Morgan, – Retired Executive Director of the Kentucky Heritage Council and State Preservation Officer for Kentucky with more than 25 years experience in historic preservation; created the first statewide Main Street Program and the first statewide rural preservation program; recognized as a leader in building innovative partnerships; recipient of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s President’s Award. 

*Academy Fellow

Meetings:

Meeting 1: Wednesday, July 25, 2007, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm (open) (posted 7/19/07)
Meeting 2: Friday, October 12, 2007, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
(open 9:00 - 12:00 - closed 12:00 - 3:00) (posted 9/11/07)

For further information, please contact Marty Ditmeyer at (202) 347-3190 or mditmeyer@napawash.org.