NPS Outsourcing Declared Stupid	July 23, 2003
by Alyssa Fisher

In a victory for National Park Service archaeologists, the House of Representatives blocked the Bush administration's "competitive sourcing" initiative, which would have cost the government archaeologists their jobs, and the NPS experienced employees. Under the initiative, jobs at federal agencies are examined, and any position not found to be "inherently governmental" is marked for outsourcing to the private sector. The initiative's goal is to ensure that jobs are carried out in the most cost-efficient and effective manner, ultimately to benefit the taxpayer. The National Park Service, under the Department of the Interior, has recently been subjected to these competitive sourcing studies. The initiative targeted archaeologists at the Midwest Archeological Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the Southeast Archeological Center in Tallahassee, Florida, for outsourcing. But on July 17, the House of Representatives voted 362 to 57 to preserve language in the fiscal year 2004 Interior Appropriations bill that exempts NPS archaeologists from competitive sourcing studies. The amendment was a bipartisan effort sponsored by Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-Neb) and Rep. Allen Boyd Jr. (D-Fla), each representing districts that are home to the archaeological centers.

The bipartisan effort was sponsored by Representatives Allen Boyd, Jr. (left), and Doug Bereuter (right).

Critics of privatization claim that employees of the NPS have already learned to work efficiently through tight budgets. In a July 15 Washington Post report, the superintendent of the Southeast Archeological Center, John E. Ehrenhard, said that the centers "have been so underfunded and so understaffed for so long, that we've had to learn to be efficient. This whole idea is almost laughable, and it's an insult." Privatization, say the critics, would simply bring archaeologists with less experience and less knowledge to run the parks. In the same Washington Post report, Doug Scott of the Midwest Archeological Center called the threat of privatization "a bitter pill." Last September, Scott was awarded the Department of the Interior's highest decoration, and "two weeks later our outsourcing study begins and they're asking, 'Are you really necessary?'" In the past, the Midwest Archeological Center has conducted a range of projects--from investigating the Little Big Horn battlefield (under Scott's direction), to exploring a Hopewell mound, to teaching students the value of history and archaeology.

The decision by the House will allow archaeologists with the highest level of expertise and knowledge of the parks to continue to run the wide variety of programs that they undertake, as well as care for the thousands of sites studied and maintained by NPS archaeologists. "Here you have people doing an outstanding job, and all of a sudden you have bean counters trying to close them down," said Bereuter in a July 19 Washington Post article. "I've never used the word 'stupid' on the House floor before, but this was stupid."

© 2003 by the Archaeological Institute of America www.archaeology.org/online/news/nps.html

Share this page:   Share

Stay up-to-date on news and new features on our website. Click here to sign up.

Buy back issues: See what's available!