[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 101 (Tuesday, July 16, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5710-S5711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. FLAKE (for himself, Mr. McCain, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Risch, and
Mr. Heller):
S. 1300. A bill to amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003
to provide for the conduct of stewardship end result contracting
projects; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Mr. FLAKE. Mr. President, on behalf of Senators McCain, Crapo, Risch,
Heller, and myself I am pleased to introduce the Stewardship
Contracting Reauthorization and Improvement Act.
As we continue to search for ways to prevent future wildland fire
tragedies, it is worth noting that the U.S. Forest Service and the
Bureau of Land Management, BLM, are about to lose one of their most
valuable tools in that ongoing fight.
The tool, known as stewardship contracting, allows the Forest Service
and BLM--in collaboration with State and local governments, tribal
agencies, and non-governmental organizations--to enter into contracts
with public or private entities to carry out a variety of land-
management projects, including those that can reduce the risk of
wildland fire.
Stewardship contracts have been particularly useful in Arizona. The
Forest Service awarded the first such 10-year contract to the White
Mountain Stewardship Project in 2004, and the largest contract, the
Four Forest Restoration Initiative, began in 2012. Unless Congress
acts, the authority to enter into these agreements will expire at the
end of September. Our legislation would not only extend the authority
for Federal agencies to enter into these agreements, but it builds on
past experiences to make commonsense improvements.
For example, it would give the Forest Service and BLM flexibility
when establishing cancellation ceilings. A cancellation ceiling
represents the amount of money the government would have to pay its
contracting partner if the contract were cancelled. Typically, the
government has to obligate the full amount at the inception of the
contract. As noted in a 2008 GAO report, cancellation ceilings that
require agencies to obligate large sums can serve as an impediment to
long-term landscape-scale contracts, precisely the types of agreements
that most significantly reduce wildfire risks.
Using Defense Department acquisition regulations as a model, our bill
solves this problem by allowing Federal agencies to obligate funds in
stages that are economically or programmatically viable. It would also
require those agencies to notify the House and Senate natural resource
committees, as well as the Office of Management and Budget, if the
agencies propose contracts that do not fully cover the cancellation
ceiling amount. Any extra value from a contract would be dedicated to
first satisfying outstanding cancellation-related liabilities before
being used to fund other stewardship projects. Finally, our bill
incorporates key fire-liability provisions from timber sale contracts
into the stewardship model, establishing parity between the two
instruments.
Stewardship contracting and the resulting partnerships have helped
restore forests, reduce the risk of out-of-control wildfires, and
protect rural communities. I thank Senators McCain, Crapo, Risch, and
Heller for their support and leadership. It is my hope that our
colleagues will act quickly to extend and improve this important land-
management tool.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 1300
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.--Until September 30, 2023, 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
[[Page S5711]]
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), the Chief 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.
(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.
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