Projects on Historic Buildings do not always require approval from your DOE Contracting or Project Officer to begin work.

DOE has instituted process improvements to expedite grantee applications and obligate funds as quickly as possible. As communicated to grantees in recent letters from Acting Program Manager Claire Broido Johnson, DOE Contracting or Project Officer approval is NOT REQUIRED for Historic Preservation as outlined below:

  1. The recipient’s State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) must be notified in writing alerting them of any project involving a building covered under Historic Preservation
  2. Grantees can begin individual consultation with SHPO immediately to get approval from SHPO for work. Grantees should follow the consultation protocols provided by their SHPOs
  3. If the Grantee has determined that the activity would not adversely affect the historic property and submits documentation to SHPO and SHPO does NOT respond within 30 days, that constitutes approval (i.e., Grantee submits documentation to SHPO – then Grantee can start work AFTER 30 days). However, if the grantee receives receipt of a letter from SHPO within 30 days, then the grantee cannot start work per SHPO’s determination
  4. If the Grantee determines that the activity would adversely affect the historic property then, work cannot proceed regardless of whether a SHPO has responded
  5. The recipient or sub-recipient shall make the documentation available to DOE only on DOE’s request
  6. Grantees can locate their SHPO at http://www.ncshpo.org/find/index.htm

Although not mandatory for each state, please check and confirm if your state already has a signed programmatic agreement with their SHPO office that could also have an impact on your project. That is, not all programmatic agreements are alike and they are not required to follow the SHPO procedures in their respective states. Please share your experience with us.