Effective NEPA implementation: The facilitated approach

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) allows applicants, states, and contractors to prepare environmental assessments (EAs) and environmental impact statements (EISs). However, under all circumstances, the federal official is held fully accountable for the scope, objectivity, content, and accuracy of the NEPA analyses and documents prepared for the agency by others. The commonly used paradigm for contracting requires contractors to conduct the analyses and prepare the documents, with federal involvement primarily limited to review and comment of partially completed deliverables. This approach results in contractors fulfilling inherently governmental responsibilities and often causing conflict, frustration, higher costs, longer execution time, and alternatives which may not meet mission objectives.