16 U.S.C. § 6591c: Stewardship end result contracting projects

The term “Chief” means the Chief of the Forest Service. The term “Director” means the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. 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. Road and trail maintenance or obliteration to restore or maintain water quality. Soil productivity, habitat for wildlife and fisheries, or other resource values. Setting of prescribed fires to improve the composition, structure, condition, and health of stands or to improve wildlife habitat. Removing vegetation or other activities to promote healthy forest stands, reduce fire hazards, or achieve other land management objectives. Watershed restoration and maintenance. Restoration and maintenance of wildlife and fish. Control of noxious and exotic weeds and reestablishing native plant species. 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. 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. 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 . The period of the contract under subsection (b) may exceed 5 years but may not exceed 10 years. 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). shall be determined using appropriate methods of appraisal commensurate with the quantity of products to be removed; and be determined using a unit of measure appropriate to the contracts; and may include valuing products on a per-acre basis. Notwithstanding subsections (d) and (g) of section 472a of this title , the Chief may enter into an agreement or contract under subsection (b). Notwithstanding the Materials Act of 1947 ( 30 U.S.C. 602(a) ), 1 the Director may enter into an agreement or contract under subsection (b). 1 See References in Text note below. 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). integrated resource timber contracts, as described in the Forest Service contract numbered 2400–13, part H, section H.4; and timber sale contracts conducted pursuant to section 472a of this title . 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. may be retained by the Chief and the Director; and shall be available for expenditure without further appropriation at the project site from which the monies are collected or at another project site. 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. The Act of June 9, 1930 (commonly known as the “Knutson-Vanderberg 2 Act”) ( 16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.) shall not apply to any agreement or contract under subsection (b). section 490 of this title ; and section 498 of this title . 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). use the excess to satisfy any outstanding liabilities for cancelled agreements or contracts; or if there are no outstanding liabilities described in subparagraph (A), apply the excess to other authorized stewardship projects. Notwithstanding section 3903(b)(1) of title 41 , the Chief and the Director may obligate funds in stages that are economically or programmatically viable to cover any potential cancellation or termination costs for an agreement or contract under subsection (b). a description of the cancellation ceiling amounts proposed for each program year in the agreement or contract; the reasons why the cancellation ceiling amounts described under subparagraph (A) were selected; a description of the extent to which the costs of contract cancellation are not included in the budget for the agreement or contract; and an assessment of the financial risk of not including budgeting for the costs of agreement or contract cancellation. Not later than 14 days after the date on which written notice is provided under paragraph (2), the Chief or the Director, as appropriate, shall transmit a copy of the notice to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. The Chief and the Director shall establish a multiparty monitoring and evaluation process that accesses the stewardship contracting projects conducted under this section. any cooperating governmental agencies, including tribal governments; and any other interested groups or individuals. the status of development, execution, and administration of agreements or contracts under subsection (b); the specific accomplishments that have resulted; and the role of local communities in the development of agreements or contract plans. The Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior may award contracts or agreements under section 604 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 ( 16 U.S.C. 6511 [6591c]), for terms not to exceed 20 years on areas where the majority of Federal lands are in Fire Regime Groups I, II, or III. In awarding a contract under this section, the Secretary concerned [see Definitions note below] may, notwithstanding the Federal Acquisition Regulations, give a procurement preference to a contractor that would, as part of the contract, promote an innovative use of forest products, including cross-laminated timber.” The term ‘National Forest System’ has the meaning given the term in section 11(a) of the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 ( 16 U.S.C. 1609(a) ). The term ‘public land’ has the meaning given the term ‘public lands’ in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ( 43 U.S.C. 1702 ). the Secretary of Agriculture, with respect to National Forest System land; and the Secretary of the Interior, with respect to public land.”