[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3440 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3440

     To remove a restriction on the authority of the Secretary of 
  Agriculture to enter into agreements with other Federal agencies to 
 acquire goods and services directly related to improving or utilizing 
  the firefighting capability of the Forest Service and to require a 
  report regarding the firefighting procedures of the Forest Service.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 3, 1993

  Mr. Gallegly (for himself, Mr. Beilenson, Mr. Calvert, Mr. Cox, Mr. 
     Dornan, Mr. Doolittle, Mr. Dreier, Mr. Herger, Mr. Horn, Mr. 
Huffington, Mr. Kim, Mr. McKeon, Mr. Moorhead, Mr. Pombo, Mr. Packard, 
 Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Royce, Mr. Lewis of California, Mr. McCandless, 
 and Mr. Weldon) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                      the Committee on Agriculture

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                                 A BILL


 
     To remove a restriction on the authority of the Secretary of 
  Agriculture to enter into agreements with other Federal agencies to 
 acquire goods and services directly related to improving or utilizing 
  the firefighting capability of the Forest Service and to require a 
  report regarding the firefighting procedures of the Forest Service.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. ACQUISITION OF GOODS AND SERVICES RELATED TO FIREFIGHTING.

    The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Chief of the 
Forest Service, may place an order with a major organizational unit 
within the Department of Agriculture or another Federal agency for 
goods or services directly related to firefighting without regard to 
the restriction contained in section 1535(a)(4) of title 31, United 
States Code, that the Secretary determine that the goods or services 
cannot be provided by contract as conveniently or cheaply by a 
commercial enterprise.

SEC. 2. REPORT ON FOREST SERVICE FIREFIGHTING CAPABILITY AND METHODS.

    Not later than six months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of Agriculture shall submit to Congress a report 
describing the decisionmaking process used by the Forest Service and 
the Department of Agriculture to deploy firefighting assets of the 
Forest Service and the Department for fighting forest fires and other 
wildfires. The report shall include--
            (1) a description of the procedures used to alert 
        officials, including officials of the Air National Guard, that 
        the potential for fires exists;
            (2) an evaluation of the feasibility of establishing a 
        formal, graduated alert system in the Forest Service similar to 
        the alert system used by the Armed Forces that would allow the 
        Air National Guard to anticipate a firefighting crisis and 
        mobilize in a timely fashion to carry out their airborne 
        firefighting mission in cooperation with the Forest Service;
            (3) such recommendations as the Secretary considers to be 
        appropriate regarding the measures that can be taken, both 
        administratively and legislatively, to streamline the 
        decisionmaking process and ensure timely responses to wildfires 
        that threaten natural resources, private property, and human 
        and animal lives; and
            (4) a description of the additional resources that would be 
        required to allow the Forest Service to respond adequately to 
        future fires or implement the recommendation provided pursuant 
        to paragraph (3).

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