ACSM.NET - Government Affairs Update

Government Affairs Update

July 2007

IN THIS ISSUE …

1. COFPAES Semi Annual Delegates Meeting

2. COFPAES Federal Markets Conference

3. Federal Prison Industries Legislation Introduced

4. ACSM Provides Input to Senate Floodmap Legislation

5. Funding for Floodmap Modernization Update

COFPAES Semi Annual Delegates Meeting.

On June 26, COFPAES held its Semi-Annual Delegates Meeting. The morning Federal A/E Forum consisted of a number of interesting speakers and subjects. Lawrence Roth, Deputy Executive Director of ASCE spoke about what went wrong with the New Orleans levees during Katrina. A panel spoke the new concept of “Building Green in the Federal Government,” a discussion of environmental friendly practices in the construction of federal buildings. The third speaker was Laura Auletta, Management Analyst from the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. She spoke about Acquisition Advisory Panel Recommendations and Implementation.

In the afternoon, the COFPAES Delegates had their meeting. ACSM’s COFPAES Delegate, Rick Allen, could not attend the meeting; so Curt Sumner attended in his place.

There were many items on the agenda. Among the items discussed was the MAPPS/COFPAES lawsuit regarding FAR Part 36. The attorney representing MAPPS and COFPAES spoke about the judge’s decision and offered options to move forward. If the plaintiffs choose to appeal the case, they have 60 days from the date of the decision to do so. The other option is to file a new lawsuit. The delegates agreed to discuss this issue with their respective organizations and come to a decision in the future.

Another important topic was the removal of A/E services from the GSA Schedule. Under the law, A/E services, including surveying and mapping, must by procured pursuant to the Brooks Act and FAR part 36 and should not be on the GSA Schedule. The reason for this is the Brooks Act requires A/E services be purchased through Qualifications Based Selection where price is not a deciding factor. Under the GSA Schedule, price can be a deciding factor. It was agreed that the COFPAES members would ask their respective state licensing boards to send letters to GSA on the issue.

The Delegates also discussed several important pieces of legislation recently introduced in Congress, including legislation relating to the Federal Prison Industries and sending A/E work offshore.

COFPAES Federal Markets Conference.

COFPAES is proposing a Federal Markets Conference to take place in October, 2007. Each of the COFPAES member organizations (ACSM, ASCE, MAPPS, AIA and NSPE) will bring in speakers from federal associations with whom we work. ACSM’s topic is “natural resources” and we will work on getting representatives from the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the USGS, the USDA natural Resources Conservation Services, the U.S. Forest Service and NOAA to speak about how each agency procures A/E services. The event is still in the early planning stages and a date has not been finalized.

Federal Prison Industries Legislation Introduced.

The Senate recently introduced legislation relating to purchases from Federal Prison Industries. The legislation (which is similar to legislation introduced in the Senate last year) contains language proposed and supported by ACSM specifically protecting classified and private geographic data. The language, in Section 43 (f) of the legislation reads as follows:

(f) Protection of Classified and Sensitive Information- The head of an executive agency may not enter into any contract with Federal Prison Industries under which an inmate worker would have access to--

(1) any data that is classified or will become classified after being merged with other data;

(2) any geographic data regarding the location of--

(A) surface or subsurface infrastructure providing communications or water or electrical power distribution;

(B) pipelines for the distribution of natural gas, bulk petroleum products, or other commodities; or

(3) any personal or financial information about any individual private citizen, including information relating to such person's real property however described, without the prior consent of the individual.'.

ACSM will continue to monitor this legislation and will propose similar language in any similar legislation introduced in the House.

ACSM Provides Input to Senate Floodmap Legislation.

ACSM was recently asked to review and provide input to a soon to be introduced bill regarding floodmap modernization in the Senate. The bill will be introduced by Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who introduced a similar bill in the 109th Congress. ACSM contributed relevant language to that bill as well.

Funding for Floodmap Modernization Update.

Congress is currently considering FY 08 funding for the FEMA Floodmap Modernization Program. The House of Representatives passed its Department of Homeland Security Appropriations bill with funding for map modernization set at $230 million. The Senate Appropriations Committee passed its version of the bill with approximately $200 million for map modernization. The Senate bill still needs to pass the full Senate and both versions of the bill need to go through the conference committee before a final version goes to the President. Both of these figures are higher than the President’s proposed budget. The Floodmap Modernization Coalition will send a letter to the Conference Committee thanking them for restoring floodmap modernization funding.