[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1300 Reported in Senate (RS)]
Calendar No. 406
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 1300
[Report No. 113-179]
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to provide for the
conduct of stewardship end result contracting projects.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 16 (legislative day, July 15), 2013
Mr. Flake (for himself, Mr. McCain, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Risch, Mr. Heller,
Mr. Baucus, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. Enzi, Mr. Tester, and Mr.
Udall of New Mexico) introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
June 2, 2014
Reported by Ms. Landrieu, with amendments
[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to provide for the
conduct of stewardship end result contracting projects.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stewardship Contracting
Reauthorization and Improvement Act''.
SEC. 2. STEWARDSHIP END RESULT CONTRACTING PROJECTS.
(a) In General.--Title VI of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of
2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``SEC. 602. STEWARDSHIP END RESULT CONTRACTING PROJECTS.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) Chief.--The term `Chief' means the Chief of the
Forest Service.
``(2) Director.--The term `Director' means the Director of
the Bureau of Land Management.
``(b) Projects.--<DELETED>Until September 30, 2023, the</DELETED>
The Chief and the Director, via agreement or contract as appropriate,
may enter into stewardship contracting projects with private persons or
other public or private entities to perform services to achieve land
management goals for the national forests and the public lands that
meet local and rural community needs.
``(c) Land Management Goals.--The land management goals of a
project under subsection (b) may include--
``(1) road and trail maintenance or obliteration to restore
or maintain water quality;
``(2) soil productivity, habitat for wildlife and
fisheries, or other resource values;
``(3) setting of prescribed fires to improve the
composition, structure, condition, and health of stands or to
improve wildlife habitat;
``(4) removing vegetation or other activities to promote
healthy forest stands, reduce fire hazards, or achieve other
land management objectives;
``(5) watershed restoration and maintenance;
``(6) restoration and maintenance of wildlife and fish; or
``(7) control of noxious and exotic weeds and
reestablishing native plant species.
``(d) Agreements or Contracts.--
``(1) Procurement procedure.--A source for performance of
an agreement or contract under subsection (b) shall be selected
on a best-value basis, including consideration of source under
other public and private agreements or contracts.
``(2) Contract for sale of property.--A contract entered
into under this section may, at the discretion of the Secretary
of Agriculture, be considered a contract for the sale of
property under such terms as the Secretary may prescribe
without regard to any other provision of law.
``(3) Term.--
``(A) In general.--Except as provided in
subparagraph (B), the Chief and the Director may enter
into a contract under subsection (b) in accordance with
section 3903 of title 41, United States Code.
``(B) Maximum.--The period of the contract under
subsection (b) may exceed 5 years but may not exceed 10
years.
``(4) Offsets.--
``(A) In general.--The Chief and the Director may
apply the value of timber or other forest products
removed as an offset against the cost of services
received under the agreement or contract described in
subsection (b).
``(B) Methods of appraisal.--The value of timber or
other forest products used as an offset under
subparagraph (A)--
``(i) shall be determined using appropriate
methods of appraisal commensurate with the
quantity of products to be removed; and
``(ii) may--
``(I) be determined using a unit of
measure appropriate to the contracts;
and
``(II) may include valuing products
on a per-acre basis.
``(5) Cancellation ceilings.--
``(A) In general.--The Chief and the Director may
obligate funds to cover any potential cancellation or
termination costs for an agreement or contract under
subsection (b) in stages that are economically or
programmatically viable.
``(B) Notice.--
``(i) Submission to congress.--Not later
than 30 days before entering into a multiyear
agreement or contract under subsection (b) that
includes a cancellation ceiling in excess of
$25,000,000, but does not include proposed
funding for the costs of cancelling the
agreement or contract up to the cancellation
ceiling established in the agreement or
contract, the Chief and the Director shall
submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources of the Senate and the Committee on
Natural Resources of the House of
Representatives a written notice that
includes--
``(I)(aa) the cancellation ceiling
amounts proposed for each program year
in the agreement or contract; and
``(bb) the reasons for the
cancellation ceiling amounts proposed
under item (aa);
``(II) the extent to which the
costs of contract cancellation are not
included in the budget for the
agreement or contract; and
``(III) a financial risk assessment
of not including budgeting for the
costs of agreement or contract
cancellation.
``(ii) Transmittal to omb.--At least 14
days before the date on which the Chief and
Director enter into an agreement or contract
under subsection (b), the Chief and Director
shall transmit to the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget a copy of the written
notice submitted under clause (i).
``(6) Relation to other laws.--Notwithstanding subsections
(d) and (g) of section 14 of the National Forest Management Act
of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a) and section 2(a)(1) of the Act of July
31, 1947 (commonly known as the `Materials Act of 1947') (30
U.S.C. 602(a)(1)), the Chief and the Director may enter into an
agreement or contract under subsection (b).
``(7) Contracting officer.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the Secretary or the Secretary of the
Interior may determine the appropriate contracting officer to
enter into and administer an agreement or contract under
subsection (b).
``(8) Fire liability provisions.--Not later than 90 days
after the date of enactment of this section, the Chief and the
Director shall issue for use in all contracts and agreements
under subsection (b) fire liability provisions that are in
substantially the same form as the fire liability provisions
contained in--
``(A) integrated resource timber contracts, as
described in the Forest Service contract numbered 2400-
13, part H, section H.4; and
``(B) timber sale contracts conducted pursuant to
section 14 of the National Forest Management Act of
1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a).
``(e) Receipts.--
``(1) In general.--The Chief and the Director may collect
monies from an agreement or contract under subsection (b) if
the collection is a secondary objective of negotiating the
contract that will best achieve the purposes of this section.
``(2) Use.--Monies from an agreement or contract under
subsection (b)--
``(A) may be retained by the Chief and the
Director; and
``(B) shall be available for expenditure without
further appropriation at the project site from which
the monies are collected or at another project site.
``(3) Relation to other laws.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, the value of services received by the
Chief or the Director under a stewardship contract
project conducted under this section, and any payments
made or resources provided by the contractor, Chief, or
Director shall not be considered monies received from
the National Forest System or the public lands.
``(B) Knutson-vanderberg act.--The Act of June 9,
1930 (commonly known as the `Knutson-Vanderberg Act')
(16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.) shall not apply to any
agreement or contract under subsection (b).
``(f) Costs of Removal.--Notwithstanding the fact that a contractor
did not harvest the timber, the Chief may collect deposits from a
contractor covering the costs of removal of timber or other forest
products under--
``(1) the Act of August 11, 1916 (16 U.S.C. 490); and
``(2) the Act of June 30, 1914 (16 U.S.C. 498).
``(g) Performance and Payment Guarantees.--
``(1) In general.--The Chief and the Director may require
performance and payment bonds under sections 28.103-2 and
28.103-3 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, in an amount
that the contracting officer considers sufficient to protect
the investment in receipts by the Federal Government generated
by the contractor from the estimated value of the forest
products to be removed under a contract under subsection (b).
``(2) Excess offset value.--If the offset value of the
forest products exceeds the value of the resource improvement
treatments, the Chief and the Director shall--
``(A) use the excess to satisfy any outstanding
liabilities for cancelled agreements or contracts; or
``(B) if there are no outstanding liabilities under
subparagraph (A), apply the excess to other authorized
stewardship projects.
``(h) Monitoring and Evaluation.--
``(1) In general.--The Chief and the Director shall
establish a multiparty monitoring and evaluation process that
accesses the stewardship contracting projects conducted under
this section.
``(2) Participants.--Other than the Chief and Director,
participants in the process described in paragraph (1) may
include--
``(A) any cooperating governmental agencies,
including tribal governments; and
``(B) any other interested groups or individuals.
``(i) Reporting.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment
of this section, and annually thereafter, the Chief and the Director
shall report to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the
Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of
Representatives on--
``(1) the status of development, execution, and
administration of agreements or contracts under subsection (b);
``(2) the specific accomplishments that have resulted; and
``(3) the role of local communities in the development of
agreements or contract plans.''.
(b) Offset.--To the extent necessary, the Chief and the Director
shall offset any direct spending authorized under section 602 of the
Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 (as added by subsection (a))
using any additional amounts that may be made available to the Chief or
the Director for the applicable fiscal year.
<DELETED> (c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 347 of the Department
of the Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (16
U.S.C. 2104 note; Public Law 105-277) is repealed.</DELETED>
(c) Conforming Amendment.--
(1) In general.--Section 347 of the Department of the
Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (16
U.S.C. 2104 note; Public Law 105-277) is repealed.
(2) Effect of repeal.--Notwithstanding the amendment made
by paragraph (1), nothing in this Act or an amendment made by
this Act invalidates or otherwise affects any stewardship
contract entered into by the Chief of the Forest Service or the
Director of the Bureau of Land Management that is in effect on
the date of enactment of this Act.
Calendar No. 406
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 1300
[Report No. 113-179]
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to provide for the
conduct of stewardship end result contracting projects.
_______________________________________________________________________
June 2, 2014
Reported with amendments