External Administrative Costs

What this funds

The External Administrative Costs activity includes funding support necessary to provide and maintain services that represent key administrative support functions where costs are largely determined by organizations outside the NPS and funding requirements are less flexible. The requirements for these services are mandated in accordance with applicable laws. To ensure the efficient performance of the NPS, these costs are most effectively managed on a centralized basis. As described in the "Compliance with Section 403" special exhibit, a portion of costs that were typically charged to External Administrative Costs will be reallocated to other benefitting accounts. Funding provides for charges billed to the NPS to operate service-wide IT systems, including centralized software license purchases and portions of the financial and property systems. Another major IT component is the NPS Website. Consolidated billings create efficiencies in bill payment and provide service, and telephone service through the Federal Telecommunication System (FTS) network and commercial telephone service. The costs of these services are dictated by rates established by Government Services Administration (GSA) and telecommunications companies. Funding supports critical mission related activities in every park. The program is vital to ensuring that the NPS maintains the ability to effectively communicate with external partners and manage the hundreds of millions of annual visitors to the NPS website. Funding supports service-wide postage costs. Postage metering is managed through a central contract, Funding provides for the office space and related services leased through the GSA and other private owners by the NPS. In addition to general office space, GSA leases may include storage, food service, conference, and training spaces; light industrial facilities; and parking space where necessary. Rental space includes Federally owned buildings operated by GSA, and buildings owned by the private sector, some of which the GSA leases and makes available for use by Federal agents. The standard level user charges paid by NPS are determined by GSA and are billed on a quarterly basis. GSA Space changes include rate increases which are considered a fixed cost. Funding provides the NPS contribution to the costs of Department-wide programs and activities conducted on behalf of its bureaus, such as shared services and the Interior Business Center. This includes costs associated with the support of the Federal Personnel Payroll System (FPPS). It also provides funding for cross-bureau information technology planning, infrastructure and communications

Extracted from National Park Service, p. 20. Verbatim; nothing here is paraphrased.

Ask this budget line

Answers come from the figures on this page and nothing else. These dollars are parsed from Interior's Congressional Justification and are approximate — confirm anything that matters against the cited page.