November 26, 2006

Dear Sirs and Madam:

We are writing to you today regarding your ongoing efforts to shed light on the secret contract between the Smithsonian Institution and Showtime to create a joint venture with some exclusive rights over access to the Smithsonian archives and staff. It is our understanding that the Smithsonian has taken the position that the Showtime contract “has to date created no problems” and “there is no further opposition.”

There is still great public concern and many questions over this exclusive 30-year cloud on our nation's attic:

• The contract is still secret, and indeed was even initially withheld from members of Congress. What we know about the contract however is disturbing, including an unprecedented 30-year term, a non-competitive procurement, the declaration that organizations such as PBS are “competitive” with the new venture, and limitations this arrangement places on Smithsonian public web sites.
• The contract was negotiated in secret without input from the talented staff of the Smithsonian museums and without any involvement from members of the public. Since the public uproar over the announcement, the Smithsonian Institution has failed to involve the public in a meaningful dialogue, calling critics of the deal misguided, misinformed and dismissing the entire affair as a “tremendous hullaballoo.”
• The Congress has requested a study of the contract by the Government Accountability Office. This study has only recently been delivered in draft form to the Congress and is as yet unavailable to the public.
• A series of questions sent by the Senate Finance Committee, the House Appropriations Committee, and the House Committee on Administration has not been adequately addressed by the Smithsonian. Answers to Questions for the Record posed by the House Committee on Administration have yet to be formally released to the public.
• The Showtime contract is emblematic of a raft of other issues that have arisen over the management of the Institution, such as a lack of an adequate plan to address significant budget shortfalls that was requested by the GAO in their April 2005 study, the furor over the delisting of Smithsonian Books as a reputable historical publisher, and continuing investigations into accounting and management problems at the Institution's Smithsonian Business Ventures (SBV) unit.

To declare this matter to be resolved is premature at best. The GAO report has yet to be made public, Congress has not received answers to their questions, the public and Smithsonian staff has yet to be consulted adequately, and no fundamental or even token reforms have been put in place by the Institution. At a minimum, the Institution should release the contract for public examination as befits an instrumentality of the United States and should put in place a formal program for consultation with Smithsonian staff and the general public before undertaking major strategic changes of this nature.

We thank you in advance for your consideration of our views on this matter and thank you for your continuing leadership in preserving and expanding public access to the Smithsonian Institution.

Sincerely Yours,

This document is located at https://public.resource.org/smithsonian_congress.html
Last Updated: Sun Nov 26 10:53:38 PST 2006