[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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