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FACT SHEET PERTAINING TO NOAA'S HERITAGE ASSETS

Purpose: As a government agency, NOAA plays a significant role in preserving a portion of the nation's history. The purpose of this fact sheet is to give some background information on the efforts to record and track those assets that have been important and played a part in NOAA's historic contribution to our nation's growth and well-being.

References: Federal law requires proper care and preservation of items of significance to the nation's historical, educational, cultural or artistic endeavors. Property management in NOAA is governed, as it is in all federal agencies, by laws, regulations, and standards. These include the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended, the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987, the American Antiquities Act of 1906, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the Museum Properties Management Act of 1955, the National Historic Preservation act of 1966, as amended, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Executive Order 11593, “Protection and Enhancement of the cultural Environment” (1971), Executive Order 13287, “Preserve America” (2003), and the Standards issued by the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board including Statements of Federal Financial Accounting Standards 6, 8, 11, 14 and 16.

Guidelines: Records must be kept of this property in accordance with government-wide, and NOAA regulations. Any asset that is not being used, yet is being retained rather than being excessed because of its historical, cultural, educational or artistic value, is defined as an heritage asset. The property is tracked utilizing a database program called Lotus Approach and is maintained by the Personal Property Office in the Logistics Staff Office.

Audit Background: NOAA has been under the scrutiny of an audit of our Financial Statements since 1994, and has received an unqualified opinion on its Statements since 1998. NOAA has been reporting its Heritage Assets starting with the FY1998 end-of-year reports, increasing the total number of assets reported as these have been disclosed and reported to the Personal Property Office. We have also been required to report the deferred maintenance of our heritage assets. The frequency of these reports is now quarterly rather than annually. The auditors have expressed concerns over the fact that every report shows additional assets. This is not because NOAA is necessarily acquiring new heritage assets, but rather because we are finding and discovering the existence of more and more every year. In fact in FY2004 we received a Management Letter Comment from the auditors which recommended that “NOAA’s Personal Property Office should ensure that heritage property information provided to the Financial Reporting Division is complete and accurate; and the year-end reporting process is properly coordinated.” We are still working with the Line Offices to educate them on the importance of preserving and reporting their heritage assets in an effort to ensure that the records of NOAA's heritage assets are complete.

Annual Reviews: As the result of corrective action plans which were intended to address previous audit findings, the Property office for the past several years have requested all offices to participate in an annual review of their heritage assets. A memorandum to that effect is distributed each May.

Conclusion: Our goal is to strengthen NOAA’s overall management of the personal property program and prevent audit findings from occurring in the future.