September 2005
Government Affairs Update
In this
issue …
Lobby Day 2005 is a SUCCESS
ACSM Mapping Exhibit at Library of Congress Opens
USGS Coalition News
The PAC Needs Your Help
OFPP Shakeup
USGS News
Lobby Day 2005 is a SUCCESS. ACSM recently had its Lobby day on
Capitol Hill, and it was a success. We had 12 participants and we met with 27
Members of Congress. We discussed a number of important issues, including:
legislation regarding Federal Prison Industries reform, Association Health
Plans, Surveying on the GSA Schedule, FEMA Map Modernization, Appropriations
for Trig-Star, the Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform Act and our proposed
legislation to Congressionally recognize National
Surveyor’s Week. Most of the people we met with were receptive to our issues
and were helpful in moving our agenda forward. We are in the process now of
following up on our meetings.
ACSM Mapping Exhibit at Library of Congress Opens. The
Library of Congress and ACSM recently opened Maps in Our Lives a map
exhibit touted as “recognition of a thirty-year partnership between the Library’s
Geography and Map Division and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.”
The exhibits represent surveying, cartography, geodesy and geographic
information systems and draws on both the Library’s historic map collection and
the ACSM collection in the Library of Congress. The exhibit also features a
video that provides a historical and spatial comparison of George Washington’s
maps of his Virginia property from the original drawings to the layout of the
property today. The exhibit is located in the foyer of the Geography and Map
Division, which is in the Madison Building, Room LM B01. The exhibit will be
open until January 2007, so stop to see it the next time you’re in Washington.
USGS Coalition News. The USGS Coalition met recently with Acting USGS
Director Patrick Leahy to get an update on USGS issues. Leahy talked about the
role of the USGS in the recovery of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina. He
called the events of Katrina a “failure of science” because it could have been
prevented if science was properly used. He said that in the days after the
flood in New Orleans, the USGS provided topographic maps with detailed imagery
that changed daily to reflect the changing conditions of the city. He also said
that LIDAR was used to determine the condition of the failing levees.
As a result of what happened in New Orleans, Leahy said,
other flood prone cities and localities are pushing the USGS for topographic
maps. To respond top the increased need for topographic maps, the USGS will
start contracting with state and local governments, as well as the private
sector for the development of the new maps.
In other news, the USGS Coalition recently had its annual
reception on Capitol Hill for Congressional staff. The reception was used to
educate Congressional staff on the disciplines of the USGS. Approximately 140
people attended the reception, with about 35 people coming from the USGS.
The PAC Needs Your Help. If you attended the PAC Auction this year in Las Vegas,
you know that it was a huge success and a good amount of money was raised for
the PAC. It’s time to start thinking about donations for next year’s PAC
Auction in Orlando. Just take a look at the issues we talked about at the last
Lobby Day and you’ll see that we have a lot of work ahead of us. Getting the
attention of Members of Congress to help us with our issues takes PAC support.
Our PAC contributions go to support and help Members of Congress who support
and help us. Your donations to the PAC Auction and your participation in the
auction, and your support of the PAC will go a long way in helping us get our
issues before the right people in Congress. Please consider your PAC donations
now. For more information, contact Trish Milburn at Trisha.Milburn@acsm.net.
OFPP Shakeup. The Office of Management and Budget’s head of the Office of Federal
Procurement Policy, David Safavian,
was arrested recently on charges of making false statements and obstructing a
federal investigation. Safavian was charged with
making false statements to a General Services Administration ethics officer and
the GSA inspector general's office. Safavian served
as chief of staff at GSA before moving to OMB. Safavian
resigned from his post days before his arrest.
The Justice Department announced that Safavian
"allegedly aided a Washington, D.C., lobbyist in the lobbyist's attempts
to acquire GSA-controlled property in and around Washington, D.C.," and
that Safavian joined the lobbyist on a Scotland golf
trip.
Safavian allegedly misled GSA officials when he
said the lobbyist "had no business" with GSA prior to the golf trip,
when in fact Safavian had helped the lobbyist
"in his attempts to do business with GSA," Justice said.
ACSM, along with the other members of COFPAES approached Safavian several times to request his help in getting
surveying removed from the GSA Schedule. Safavian
continually refused to help.
USGS News. The USGS announced recently the
start of the public-private competition that will determine current and future
functions; and the number of personnel required by the National Geospatial
Technical Operations Center (NGTOC) at the Denver Federal Center, an all
government campus, located in Lakewood, Colo.
Official
notification has been posted in Fed Biz Opps. The
study will be completed within 12 months.
The study
was informally announced, Sept. 15 when the USGS communicated intentions to
consolidate the functions and operations currently performed at its mapping
centers and other distributed sites to the Denver Federal Center, in Lakewood,
Colo.
We will
have more information about this in future updates.