[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 849 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 849

To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to provide for the 
  conduct of stewardship contracting projects, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 25, 2013

    Mr. Bennet (for himself, Mr. Baucus, and Mr. Udall of Colorado) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
           Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to provide for the 
  conduct of stewardship contracting projects, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Permanent Stewardship Contracting 
Authority Act of 2013''.

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.--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 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) 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), the Chief may enter into an agreement 
        or contract under subsection (b).
            ``(6) 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).
    ``(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) and 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 may--
                    ``(A) collect any residual receipts under the Act 
                of June 9, 1930 (commonly known as the `Knutson-
                Vanderberg Act') (16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.); and
                    ``(B) 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 Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 
of the Senate and the Committee on Agriculture 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) 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.
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