Strategic Plan

U.S. Department of the Interior STRATEGIC PLAN FOR FISCAL YEARS 2018 - 2022

Analysis

Competitive Environment

Competitors

Direction

Vision

The Department of the Interior strives to fulfill a vision to: * Promote energy dominance and critical minerals development to create jobs for Americans, insulate our nation from volatile political developments overseas, provide additional energy security to allies via surplus domestic supply, and generate revenue for all levels of government so they in turn have the resources to better serve the American people. * Increase access to outdoor recreation opportunities for all Americans so that our people can be healthier, more fully enjoy the wonderful features of their federal lands, and take advantage of hunting, fishing, and other outdoor recreation pursuits that are the roots of the conservation movement. * Enhance conservation stewardship whereby all levels of government and private landowners work cooperatively together in an atmosphere of mutual respect to achieve shared natural resource management goals across landscapes. * Improve management of species and their habitats by focusing our financial and staff resources on improving the status of our nation’s fish and wildlife and the healthy habitats that support them, and by streamlining bureaucracy to help us spend relatively more of our funding productively on the ground to better meet societal needs and our own natural resource management responsibilities. * Uphold trust and related responsibilities, recognizing the importance of government-to-government relationships with Indian tribes, Alaska Natives, and insular areas, and respecting self-determination and sovereignty.

Mission

The Department of the Interior (DOI) conserves and manages the Nation's natural resources and cultural heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of the American people, provides scientific and other information about natural resources and natural hazards to address societal challenges and create opportunities for the American people, and honors the Nation's trust responsibilities or special commitments to American Indians, Alaska Natives, and affiliated island communities to help them prosper.

Values

Transparency

Helpfulness

While many of our employees have important law enforcement responsibilities as part of their jobs, more generally we want the public to primarily view our employees as helpful and friendly technical experts, not as law enforcement.

Fairness

Regulatory Balance

Striking a Regulatory Balance - In accordance with the Executive Order on Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda, the DOI will identify regulations for repeal, replacement, or modification that eliminate jobs, inhibit job creation, are outdated, unnecessary, ineffective, impose costs that exceed benefits, or rely on data or methods that are not publicly available or insufficiently transparent to meet the standard for reproducibility. The DOI will continue to protect human health and the environment in a responsible, cost-effective manner but in a way that avoids imposing an undue process or economic burden on the public.

Education

When we do need to perform our law enforcement responsibilities, our preference is to achieve compliance through education and demonstrating a sincere desire to create win-win situations with the public we serve. The DOI embodies this principle, follows the law and holds people accountable.

Expertise

Innovation

Jobs

Trust

Restoring Trust - It is critical that the DOI can be trusted to operate in the best interest of the American public. Key to maintaining public trust and confidence in the integrity of government is the adherence to high ethical standards and ensuring that government business is conducted with impartiality, transparency, accountability, and integrity.

Leadership

A critical role for DOI's senior executives is providing the necessary leadership to guide the efforts of DOI's offices, bureaus, and field locations in effectively achieving Presidential and Secretarial goals especially through:

Reporting

The DOI is committed to effective and efficient financial operations and accountability characterized by high quality and timely reporting, robust internal controls, clean audits, and effective follow-up on audit and internal control findings. The DOI utilizes the enterprise Financial and Business Management System for the integration of business functions including budget execution, finance, acquisition, improved internal controls, a secure information technology environment, and a community of business innovation, efficiency, and transparency.

Empowerment

Empowering the Field - Accomplishing the multi-faceted missions of the DOI involves the skills of 10 bureaus and spans 2,400 locations across the U.S. These locations are often remote and present managers with unique challenges. Managers and experts in the field organization must be allowed to exercise informed judgement and discretion, and must have a skilled workforce to address the issues and manage their operations. The DOI's agency reform plan, developed in response to the President's Executive Order "Comprehensive Plan for Reorganizing the Executive Branch," provides a strategy for better enabling our managers and workforce in the field through regional realignment and executive empowerment, increased colocation, and shifting workforce resources closer to the DOI's field locations.

Integrity

Engagement

Engaging the Nation in Cooperative Stewardship - In managing such a broad range of resources for the benefit of the public, the DOI works closely with other federal agencies, state, tribal, territorial, and local governments, and the public. The DOI’s reform plan calls for increased coordination across agency lines and levels of government to achieve common goals and resolve differences without expensive and time-consuming litigation. DOI is working to increase its collaborations and partnerships across all levels of government.

Collaboration

Cooperation

Facilitating cooperation and collaboration across organizations within the DOI and its federal and nonfederal partners;

Partnership

Economic Activity

Generating Revenue, Jobs, and Economic Activity - The DOI grants access to public lands and offshore areas for all forms of energy development -- representing roughly a quarter of the Nation’s domestic supplies of oil and natural gas -- while ensuring safety, environmental protection and revenue generation for the American public. It is important to the Nation's future that these natural resources are managed wisely and -- as appropriate -- made accessible for public use to help generate revenues, enhance national security, create jobs, and grow the U.S. economy.

Efficiency

Sovereignty

Respect for Tribal Sovereignty -- As a steward of tribal trust assets, the DOI plays a critical role for the United States in fulfilling the trust responsibility to Indian tribes. The DOI is committed to effectively meeting that responsibility by assisting tribes and Indian individual land owners to create greater economic opportunities, build safer and healthier communities, and effectively consulting with tribal governments.

Productivity

Infrastructure

Improving Infrastructure - The DOI manages an infrastructure asset portfolio with a replacement value exceeding $300 billion. Most well-known are the DOI's iconic and unique national treasures, which have priceless historical significance. More broadly, the DOI owns approximately 43,000 buildings, 100,000 miles of roads, and 80,000 structures; including dams, laboratories, employee housing, Indian schools, visitor facilities, historic structures and hydropower infrastructure. The related deferred maintenance backlog has grown to over $15 billion in 2016, of which over $11 billion belongs to the National Park Service. DOI is committed to determining how to best address this backlog and maintain its facilities for the safety and productivity of its workforce, and the continued high quality experience and enjoyment by the American public.

Science

Decisions are based on sound science and the best interest of the public.

Public Service

Cost-Effectiveness

Ensuring cost effective operations and quality customer-centric service to the public;

Customer Centricity

Impartiality

Quality

Accountability

Holding individuals at all levels accountable for their actions.

Stewardship

Effective and Accountable Leadership - The DOI is committed to being an outstanding steward of approximately 500 million acres of public lands, 700 million onshore subsurface acres, and 1.7 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) including magnificent vistas, valuable energy and mineral resources, unique ecosystems, range, and treasured natural, cultural, and heritage assets. The management and oversight of these resources require a dedicated cadre of employees, the contributions of volunteers, and the input of stakeholders to inform decision-making. The challenges of managing for a diverse constituency while meeting national goals for energy development and sustaining high levels of recreation and access require technical expertise, the best available science, and an understanding of the balance of development and conservation.

Principles

CROSS-CUTTING PRINCIPLES -- As the Department of the Interior (DOI) advances through FY 2018-2022, the following principles guide our leadership, management, and workforce.

Safety

Ensuring a workplace environment that is safe, fair, and conducive to employee productivity; resolving conflicts as needed; and

Goals

Land & Water

Goal Statement: Conserve Our Land and Water

The DOI ensures that America's natural endowment -- the lands and waters of the United States -- is conserved for the benefit, use, and enjoyment of current and future generations. The DOI's bureaus use the best available science, modern natural resource management techniques, technology and engineering, efficient decision-making processes, robust partnerships, and improved land use planning to ensure balanced stewardship and use of the public lands and its resources, including wildlife and fish species.

Objectives:

• Science
• Partnerships
• Land, Water & Species
• Water Storage & Delivery
• Water Resources & Delivery
• Processes
• Programs
• Species
• Land, Surface Water, Streams & Shorelines
• Land Use Planning
• Mapping & Imaging

Natural Resources

Goal Statement: Generate Revenue and Utilizing Our Natural Resources

The DOI provides access to and manages energy and other resources including oil, gas, coal, timber, grazing, and non-energy minerals on public lands and oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The DOI is committed to achieve and maintain American energy dominance through responsible productivity of the public lands for the multiple use and economic benefit of present and future generations.

Objectives:

• Value & Costs
• Grazing
• Sales
• Hydropower
• Sustainability
• Oil, Gas, Coal & Renewable Energy
• Minerals
• Energy Revenues
• Timber Programs
• Non-Energy Minerals
• Recreation Fees
• Energy & Economic Security

Recreation

Goal Statement: Expand Outdoor Recreation and Access

Outdoor recreation is integral to a healthy lifestyle for millions of Americans. Visitors to the DOI's public lands and waters take advantage of the physical, mental, and social benefits that outdoor recreational experiences provide. Americans have the opportunity to hunt and fish on public lands managed by the DOI as part of its multiple-use policy that also includes hiking, camping, climbing, boating, wildlife viewing, and other outdoor pursuits.

Objectives:

• DOI Sites
• Promotion
• Natural & Cultural Heritage
• Hunting, Fishing & Other Recreation

Trust & Insular Responsibilities

Goal Statement: Fulfill Our Trust and Insular Responsibilities

Objectives:

• Asset Management
• Healthcare
• Fiduciary Trust
• Indian Education
• Self-Governance
• Compacts
• Self-Determination, Self-Governance & Sovereignty
• Island Economies
• Territories & Freely Associated States
• Self-Determination

Protection

Goal Statement: Protect Our People and the Border

Inherent in DOI's management responsibilities of the public lands is the requirement to protect employees and visitors. Ensuring employee and public safety is complex and requires the resources of multiple bureaus and offices covering four disciplines -- law enforcement, emergency management, wildland fire, and natural hazards science.

Objectives:

• Monitoring, Assessment & Planning
• Emergencies & Incidents
• Southern Border
• Mitigation
• Natural Hazards
• Public Safety
• Emergency Preparedness & Law Enforcement Staffing
• Southern Border
• Wildland Fires

Modernization

Goal Statement: Modernize Our Organization and Infrastructure for the Next 100 Years

The DOI is looking to better ensure effective operations and service delivery through coordinated organizational alignments in the field across bureaus and with other federal and nonfederal partners, and through putting a relatively larger fraction of our employees into the field to serve the public. Expediting environmental analysis and compliance, reducing the cost of space, collocating offices for more convenient public service and improved interagency coordination, and common regional boundaries are all being explored to help improve the DOI's infrastructure and related effectiveness.

Objectives:

• Regulatory Reform
• IT
• Infrastructure Permits
• Burden Reduction
• Organizational Structure
• Infrastructure & Facilities
• Hiring, Placement, Retention & Engagement
• Infrastructure & Deferred Maintenance
• Alignment