DIGNITY STANDARDS.docx
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- Solicitation number
- 36C78626B0003
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This is a Dignity Standards guidance document for the National Cemetery Administration that establishes mandatory protocols for contractor personnel performing work at national cemeteries. The document emphasizes that all contractor activities must be executed with special care, reverence, dignity, and respect, acknowledging the cemetery as a final resting place for service members, Veterans, and their families.
The standards specify detailed requirements for handling headstones and markers, including prohibitions against walking, standing, leaning, sitting, jumping, or driving on them. Contractors must use only COR-approved tools such as shovels, pry bars, or pinch bars for marker removal; pickaxes are explicitly prohibited. Headstones must be extracted using wooden and/or metal clamps with protective rigid fabric to prevent damage and marking. Once removed, headstones shall be carefully placed on their associated gravesites, laid inscription-side up, and protected from direct ground contact using approved methods such as wood 4x4 supports—cardboard is not permitted. Contractors are responsible for replacing any damaged headstones or markers and restoring turf damaged during work. Should any activity expose or damage remains, containers, or outer burial containers, contractors must immediately contact the Contracting Officer Representative, Director/Assistant Director, and Contracting Officer for guidance. The document requires contractors to discuss these standards with all employees and obtain signed statements of compliance from each employee before work commences.
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?.## NATIONAL CEMETERY ADMINISTRATION DIGNITY STANDARDS
NATIONAL CEMETERY ADMINISTRATION DIGNITY STANDARDS
Every action by contractor personnel at a National Cemetery must be performed with the special care, reverence, dignity, and respect that acknowledge the cemetery as the final resting place that commemorates the service and sacrifice those service members, Veterans, and their families made for our Nation. Critically important is the awareness, required of the contractor employees, of the remains buried in the grounds where the work is performed. The utmost care must be given to these remains and the headstones and flat grave markers that mark those gravesites and memorialize the service of individuals.
a. Contractors cannot walk, stand, lean, sit or jump on headstones or markers. Nor can they drive over them. Contractor personnel should use tools approved by the Contracting Officer Representative (COR), such as shovels, pry bars or pinch bars to lift flat markers out of the ground; pickaxes are not an acceptable tool.
b. No tools, equipment or other items will be placed or leaned on headstones or markers. Once headstones/markers are removed from the socket, do not place on dirt piles or mud; they should be carefully placed on each associated gravesite and protected in such a way as to prevent any soiling and be out of the way of any other work.
c. Headstones shall be removed from their sockets using wooden and/or metal clamps. If metal clamps are used, the area that contacts the headstone must be protected with a rigid fabric that will prevent damage to and marking of the headstone. Clamps may be attached to a skid steer loader (i.e., Bobcat®) or similar machine to extract the headstone from the socket. When headstones are removed from their sockets, they shall be carefully stored on each associated gravesite; do not lean headstones against each other. Use care not to scratch or damage headstones in any manner. The headstones shall be laid with front inscription side up while the headstone is lying horizontally on the ground. The headstone shall be protected from direct ground contact while lying horizontally. The protection method shall be as approved by the COR and shall be free of deterioration in weather. An approved method is to support each headstone with two wood 4X4’s. Alternate methods can be approved. Cardboard shall not be used.
d. Wood or other suitable appropriate and attractive material shall be used to keep the headstones from contact with the soil while lying horizontally during the construction period. This also shows respect towards the families visiting the gravesites and the remains that are buried.
e. Contractor shall be responsible for replacing damaged headstones and markers and for restoring turf damaged during performance of this work.
f. Additionally, should any activity result in the exposure and/or damage to any remains, container for remains (i.e., casket or urn), or outer burial container, the Contractor must contact the COR, Director/Assistant Director, and Contracting Officer (CO) for guidance.
2. Any doubts as to proper procedures shall be brought to the attention of the COR, Director/Assistant Director, and CO for guidance or resolution.
3. The Contractor is required to discuss the guidance with their employees and have each employee sign a statement of compliance and deliver the signed statement to the COR before work may begin.
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