Government Affairs Update
May 2003
From Congress
UPDATE: H.R. 1816 National Flood Insurance
Program Fairness Act
Title: To amend the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to ensure
homeowners are provided adequate notice of flood map changes and a fair opportunity
to appeal such changes.
Sponsor: Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13] (introduced 4/11/2003)
Latest Major Action: 4/11/2003
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
See
April’s Government Affairs Update for a summary of this bill.
Curt Sumner and Laurence Socci recently met with Andrea
Salinas from Rep. Pete Stark’s office to discuss this bill. Ms. Salinas gave us
a background of the bill, and we had questions about the bill, particularly
Section 3:
SEC. 3. REIMBURSEMENT
OF PROPERTY OWNERS FOR COSTS INCURRED IN REQUESTS TO REMOVE PROPERTY FROM BASE
FLOOD ELEVATIONS.
Section 1360 of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42
U.S.C. 4101) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
`(k) REIMBURSEMENT OF PROPERTY OWNERS FOR COSTS INCURRED IN
REQUESTS TO REMOVE PROPERTY FROM BASE FLOOD ELEVATIONS- If an owner of a real
property incurs expense in connection with the services of surveyors,
engineers, or similar services, but not including legal services, in effecting any
request to the Director to remove the property from inclusion within the base
flood elevations established under flood insurance map panels, and the Director
grants such request in whole or in part, the Director shall reimburse such
individual for such expense. The amount of such reimbursement shall be
determined by the Director, based on the ratio of the successful portion of the
request as compared to the entire request. The Director shall apply such ratio
to the average cost of such services in the community for jobs of a similar
size.'.
Ms.
Salinas noted that she was pleased to hear from us and told us that the
language of the bill was put together by herself and Legislative Counsel. She
also mentioned that FEMA is “partially opposed” to the language of the full
bill. We agreed that we need to have a
follow-up meeting with Ms. Salinas, however, we would like to get members’
views on the bill. The entire bill can be seen at http://thomas.loc.gov , in the Bills section,
type HR 1816. Please look it over and contact us with questions or comments, we
will discuss them with Ms. Salinas at our next meeting.
RESPA Meeting
Curt
Sumner, Laurence Socci and John Kohl once again met with representatives from
RESPA to discuss the possibility of including language advising buyers about
the need for a survey before closing on their property. In addition to Kenneth
Markison, Asst. General Counsel, Rhonda Daniels, Senior Attorney, and Dr.
William Reid, Economist who were at the last meeting, we also met with John
Weicher, Asst. Secretary for Housing, Federal Housing Commission. They told us
that they are still going over responses to the Notice which was published in
the Federal Register, but they wanted to get more information from us. The bulk
of the meeting was spent going over actual survey drawings prepared by John
Kohl which demonstrated the need for a survey prior to closing. All of the
RESPA participants seemed impressed with the demonstration because they were
able to see in black and white what we have been trying to tell them. All in
all it was a very good meeting.
COFPAES
Delegate Meeting
COFPAES
recently held its Spring Delegate meeting. Here are some highlights:
Sustaining
Membership
At
the previous delegate meeting, COFPAES voted to establish a new category of
“Sustaining Member” which would be open to any private firm in which a
principal was a member of one of the COFPAES member associations. The current
Sustaining Members are:
Brooks
& Brooks, Inc.
Construction
Plus
Alvord,
Burdick & Howson
Whitney
Bailey Cox & Magnani
HDR,
Inc.
If
you picked up a membership brochure at the Phoenix conference, please fill it
out and send it in as soon as you can.
GSA Schedule and Construction as a Commercial Item
GSA has taken some steps to clarify that the Federal Supply
Schedule should not be used for procurement of A/E services, as defined in FAR
Part 36. The Professional Engineering Services, IT and Environmental Services
schedules all now have disclaimers against use for FAR Part 36 services.
COFPAES will continue efforts to seek further reform of the schedules.
Water SRF Legislation
Water/wastewater state revolving fund legislation, HR 20, has
been introduced in the House by Rep. Kelly (R-NY) with QBS included. A similar
bill introduced by Rep. John Duncan (R-TN), does not contain the provision. It
is likely that the Duncan bill will be considered. COFPAES is working with
Duncan’s staff to get language similar to the language in Kelly’s bill
included.
TEA-21 Reauthorization
COFPAES staff has begun discussions with Congressional staff on
the COFPAES endorsed provisions for TEA-21. These provisions include QBS
clarification and an attempt to provide a balanced solution to the in-house vs.
contracting out issue, and clarification of the FAR design build process.
ACEC Value Based Delivery Proposal
ACEC has drafted a bill for introduction in Congress. The bill
is entitled the Infrastructure Delivery, Efficiency and Accountability Act of
2003. It would repeal the two phase design build procedures enacted in 1996 and
replace them with the more generic “project delivery system” authority for all
civilian and military agencies. It would, however, preserve the role of QBS in
the direct A/E contracting process.
ASCE has recommended that COFPAES oppose the proposed bill.
Tommy Brooks recommended that ACSM oppose the proposed bill, and Laurence Socci
agrees. Socci faxed a copy of the bill to John Matonich and Curt Sumner for
their review and comments.
Blacklisting Legislation
The contractor responsibility or “blacklisting” issue is back,
as a legislative proposal. Although the bill is not expected to be considered,
COFPAES will go on record in opposition to the legislation, consistent with
past opposition to the proposed, and later withdrawn, regulations. ACSM JGAC
discussed this bill, we agreed to monitor it as it stands in its present form.
SF 330 Training and Education
The new SF 330 to replace the 254 and 255 will take affect later
this year. COFPAES has previously agreed to consider offering training sessions
or education programs on the SF-330. Don Evick of the Corps of Engineers has
indicated some availability to help teach the course.
Agency Views on QBS
During the JAECFC meeting in the morning of April 30, Dell
Palmer monitored a focus groups session with agency officials to discuss the
importance of QBS in the procurement process. Laurence Socci did not attend the
morning session, however, the feeling of the other COFPAES delegates regarding
the session was that it was very productive and informative.
Services
Acquisition Reform Act (SARA) HR 1837
The
House Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), approved a
revised version of the Services Acquisition Reform Act (SARA). The committee
adopted an amendment that would expand to civilian agencies the authority that
Defense Department contracting officers already have to seek competition for
products offered by Federal Prison Industries (FPI) if they determine, based on
market research, that a better overall product is available in the private
sector. Among the other amendments adopted were an amendment requiring full
disclosure of noncompetitive contracting for reconstruction contracts in Iraq,
and an amendment that prohibits the use of numerical quotas or targets that are
not based on analysis associated with public-private competitions.
UPDATE
On Thursday,
May 23, Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) attached his Services Acquisition Reform
Act legislation to the Fiscal 2004 Defense Authorization bill, HR 1588 which
recently passed the House. When the House overwhelmingly passed the Defense
bill, SARA moved closer to changing the way the government buys services.
Most of the provisions of the acquisition bill were passed by the House Armed
Services Committee before the bill moved to debate in the full House of
Representatives.
The Defense bill also includes a provision that would prohibit the Office of
Management and Budget from setting goals for opening federal jobs to
competition with the private sector under Circular A-76 unless the goal is
based on “considered research and sound analysis” and is consistent with the
agency’s mission.
The Senate also passed its version of the Defense Authorization Act, S 1050,
98-1, but it did not include the SARA provisions. House and Senate members now
will negotiate the differences between the bills in conference committee.
Both Davis, the chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Susan
Collins (R-Maine), the chairwoman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, have
been named as conferees to the committee.
Federal Prison
Industries
The
Defense Department, on May 15, issued a proposed rule to implement the
statutory requirements that contracting officers do marketing research before
purchasing a product offered by FPI and to seek competition if an FPI product
is found to be “noncomparable” to products available from the private sector.
The statutory provisions regarding FPI came about because of pressure from the
private sector that FPI’s mandatory source status (the requirement that agencies
award FPI contracts for products it provides without competition) was putting
small businesses owned by law abiding citizens out of business and wasting
taxpayer money.
Under
the rule, an agency contracting officer may not require a contractor, or
subcontractor at any tier, to use FPI as a subcontractor for performance of a
contract by any means. Further, the rule prohibits a contracting officer from
entering into a contract with FPI that allows an inmate worker access to:
classified data; geographic data regarding the location of surface and
subsurface infrastructure providing communications or water or electrical power
distribution; pipelines for the distribution of natural gas or other
commodities; or personal/financial information about a private citizen, without
prior consent of the individual.
Pre-Disaster
Mitigation
The
coalition formally known as the Floodplain Coalition has been changed to the
Stafford Act Coalition, and unfortunately the purpose of the coalition has
changed as well. As the Floodplain Coalition, it was primarily concerned with
flood mitigation, as the Stafford Act Coalition, it is concerned with “hazard”
mitigation. In any event, Laurence Socci attended a recent coalition meeting.
Speakers at the last meeting included Anthony Lowe, Division Director for
Mitigation and Bob Shea, Deputy Director for Mitigation at the Emergency
Preparedness and Response Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security.
Lowe provided an update on the status of the predisaster mitigation program,
with more guidance coming soon. He anticipates a $3 million cap on projects and
a means to address repetitive loss with at least one project required in each
state. Coalition members shared information from individual Congressional
visits including updates on appropriations. It was noted that House and Senate
staff are ready to begin work on reauthorization of the predisaster mitigation
program. The coalition agreed to prepare and circulate a draft letter regarding
HMGP. The coalition also agreed to develop a one page document identifying the
participants in the coalition and the goals of the coalition.
Department of
Homeland Security
We
are continuing to work to make ACSM more involved with the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS). While everyone
can agree that the mapping industry needs to be a part of the work done by DHS,
there are still questions as to the best strategy for making that possible. To
help answer some of those questions, Curt Sumner and Laurence Socci will meet
with Jason Racette of BLM for some guidance and assistance in developing a
smart strategy to approach the Department. Look for more on this issue in
future updates.
Department of
Interior Take Pride in America Campaign
Are
you looking for some good community volunteer work? If so, the Department of
Interior has an opportunity for you. Laurence Socci recently attended a meeting
at the Department where Kit Kimball, Director, External and Intergovernmental
Affairs spoke about current Department of the Interior
initiatives, including Take Pride in America. The take Pride in America
Initiative is a national campaign to encourage Federal, state and local public
and private partnerships and volunteer service to protect public parks,
recreation areas and cultural resources. Its primary focus will be to encourage
citizen stewards to dedicate time and service to help protect and restore
resources and facilities in their area. Information about Take Pride in America
is available at www.takepride.gov.
SF330 Update
Many of our readers have asked for updates on the
status of the SF330. An article in the June 2003 edition of Engineering
Times, the newsletter by NSPE, notes that SF330 may go into effect as soon
as August 2003.
We have not received notification that this is the
case, but wanted to pass along this information. ACSM will follow up on this
matter for a more definite status report.
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS LINKS AND
INFORMATION
Federal Government Resources on the
Web:
United States Senate - http://www.senate.gov
U.S. House of Representatives (House
Web Server) - http://www.house.gov
Status of Legislation (Library of
Congress) - http://thomas.loc.gov
Who is my Representative in Congress? -
http://www.vote-smart.org
Email Your Member of Congress Today! http://www.MrSmith.com
Official U.S. Executive Branch Web
Sites:
http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/executive/fed.html
The White House - http://www.whitehouse.gov
Links to State Legislatures:
View the National Council of State
Legislatures Web site