A variety of methods are used by Federal agencies to ensure that sufficient funds are available for adequate, long-term care and maintenance of collections. Those methods include, but are not limited to, the following:

(a) Federal agencies may fund a variety of curatorial activities using monies appropriated annually by the U.S. Congress, subject to any specific statutory authorities or limitations applicable to a particular agency. As appropriate, curatorial activities that may be funded by Federal agencies include, but are not limited to:

(1) Purchasing, constructing, leasing, renovating, upgrading, expanding, operating, and maintaining a repository that has the capability to provide adequate long-term curatorial services as set forth in §79.9 of this part;

(2) Entering into and maintaining on a cost-reimbursable or cost-sharing basis a contract, memorandum, agreement, or other appropriate written instrument with a repository that has the capability to provide adequate long-term curatorial services as set forth in §79.9 of this part;

(3) As authorized under section 110(g) of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470h-2), reimbursing a grantee for curatorial costs paid by the grantee as a part of the grant project;

(4) As authorized under section 110(g) of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470h-2), reimbursing a State agency for curatorial costs paid by the State agency to carry out the historic preservation responsibilities of the Federal agency;

(5) Conducting inspections and inventories in accordance with §79.11 of this part; and

(6) When a repository that is housing and maintaining a collection can no longer provide adequate long-term curatorial services, as set forth in §79.9 of this part, either:

(i) Providing such funds or services as may be agreed upon pursuant to §79.5(a)(1) of this part to assist the repository in eliminating the deficiencies; or

(ii) Removing the collection from the repository and depositing it in another repository that can provide curatorial services in accordance with the regulations in this part.

(b) As authorized under section 110(g) of the National Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 470h-2) and section 208(2) of the National Historic Preservation Act Amendments (16 U.S.C. 469c-2), for federally licensed or permitted projects or programs, Federal agencies may charge licensees and permittees reasonable costs for curatorial activities associated with identification, surveys, evaluation and data recovery as a condition to the issuance of a Federal license or permit.

(c) Federal agencies may deposit collections in a repository that agrees to provide curatorial services at no cost to the U.S. Government. This generally occurs when a collection is excavated or removed from public or Indian lands under a research permit issued pursuant to the Antiquities Act (16 U.S.C. 431-433) or the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 470aa-mm). A repository also may agree to provide curatorial services as a public service or as a means of ensuring direct access to a collection for long-term study and use. Federal agencies should ensure that a repository that agrees to provide curatorial services at no cost to the U.S. Government has sufficient financial resources to support its operations and any needed improvements.

(d) Funds provided to a repository for curatorial services should include costs for initially processing, cataloging and accessioning the collection as well as costs for storing, inspecting, inventorying, maintaining, and conserving the collection on a long-term basis.

(1) Funds to initially process, catalog and accession a collection to be generated during identification and evaluation surveys should be included in project planning budgets.

(2) Funds to initially process, catalog and accession a collection to be generated during data recovery operations should be included in project mitigation budgets.

(3) Funds to store, inspect, inventory, maintain and conserve a collection on a long-term basis should be included in annual operating budgets.

(e) When the Federal Agency Official determines that data recovery costs may exceed the one percent limitation contained in the Archeological and Historic Preservation Act (16 U.S.C. 469c), as authorized under section 208(3) of the National Historic Preservation Act Amendments (16 U.S.C. 469c-2), the limitation may be waived, in appropriate cases, after the Federal Agency Official has:

(1) Obtained the concurrence of the Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior by sending a written request to the Departmental Consulting Archeologist, National Park Service, P.O. Box 37127, Washington, DC 20013-7127; and

(2) Notified the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the U.S. Senate and the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives.

[55 FR 37630, Sept. 12, 1990; 55 FR 41639, Oct. 10, 1990]