March 2003 Government Affairs Update

 

From Capitol Hill

                Getting An ACSM Member in the Dept. of Homeland Security. On Friday, March 14, Laurence Socci, Curt Sumner and David Holland met with staff from the offices of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator Ted Stevens and Senator Wayne Allard to discuss the possible introduction of legislation similar to the Allard GIS amendment which was introduced last year. At the same time, we introduced the staff to David Holland, ACSM member and surveyor for Henrico County VA as the person to fill the position discussed in the Allard GIS amendment. On March 19, Laurence Socci and David Holland met with staff from the offices of Rep. Christopher Cox, the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Eric Cantor, who represents Henrico County, VA, and Rep. Tom Davis, Chairman of the House Government Reform committee. The meetings went well and all Congressional staffers were receptive and understood our need for the meetings. We are going to continue to work on this issue. 

               

                Congressional Bills.

 H.R. 1218, introduced by Rep. Albert Wynn on March 11, 2003. The bill is entitled the Subcontractor Protection Act. The purpose of the bill is to amend the Small Business Act to provide a penalty for the failure of a federal contractor to subcontract with small businesses as described in its subcontracting plan. The bill provides that the federal agency awarding a contract shall include in the contract a clause providing for the withholding of not less than (1) $5,000 in the case of a contract in the amount of $100,000 or less, (2) 3% of the contract amount in the case of a contract in the amount of  more than $100,000 and less than $5million, (3) 5% of the contract amount in the case of a contract in the amount of $5 million or more if the contractor does not achieve the percentage goal for the utilization of small business concerns owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals as set forth in the subcontracting plan.

H.R. 958, introduced by Rep. Don Young of Alaska on February 27, 2003. This bill is entitled the Hydrographic Services Amendments of 2003. The purpose of the bill is to authorize certain hydrographic services. The bill provides that not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of the Act, the administrator of NOAA shall submit to the Congress a plan for increasing contracting with the private sector for photogrammetric, remote sensing, and other geospatial reference services related to hydrographic data acquisition or hydrographic services activities performed by the National Ocean Service. In preparing the plan, the administrator shall consult with private sector entities knowledgeable in photogrammetry and remote sensing. The plan will also include an assessment of which geospatial reference services are necessary; evaluation of the relative cost-effectiveness of the federal government and private sector entities in performing those activities; and a strategy for the utilization of the private sector in carrying out the plan.

S. 237, introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on January 29, 2003. The bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to clarify the exemption from the minimum wage and overtime compensation requirements of that Act for certain construction, engineering and design professionals. It will add to the list of professions not subject to the minimum wage and overtime compensation requirements, people who perform consulting services that relate to the preliminary or conceptual design and development, design, bidding, construction, and post construction phases of engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, land and hydrographic surveying, land use planning, natural, environmental, and earth sciences and construction technology.

 

Federal Agencies

FEMA Flood Map Modernization

There was a recent FEMA Flood Map Modernization Coalition meeting with Bob Shea and other FEMA personnel. Here are some highlights from that meeting.

--- FEMA will announce the RFP for flood map modernization soon, they don't know exact date.

--- They have not resolved which maps will get done. (This tells me that they don't plan on doing ALL maps).

--- Factors to be considered when deciding which maps will be done are: population of community, growth projection, repetitive loss and cost sharing.

--- There was discussion about FEMA's integration into the Dept. of Homeland Security. It won't be business as usual for FEMA because DHS has an entirely different mission than FEMA. FEMA will need to be more proactive.

--- Discussion of FY 04 budget, now FEMA is under a completely different Congressional subcommittee. This means that the flood map coalition will have to reeducate a new group of Members of Congress.

--- On Tuesday, April 1 there will be a Financial Services Committee Hearing on flood maps. Also, the GAO is doing a repetitive loss study, which we should hear about soon.

 

 

USGS Coalition

The USGS Coalition had another meeting recently. ACSM is not an “official” member of the coalition yet, but Laurence Socci has been attending organizing meetings to get a feel for what the coalition hopes to accomplish in the future. During the last meeting, the first order of business was to discuss the letter of invitation that will go out to prospective charter members of the coalition.

Another goal of the last meeting was to establish a prioritized list of coalition activities. Drawing from the list developed at previous meetings and adding some new items, we established the following priorities:

Dear Colleague Letter. The organizing committee will seek to identify potential co-sponsors of a Dear Colleague letter in the House and Senate to appropriators regarding USGS. Possible leaders include those with major USGS facilities in their district, key oversight committee assignments, those who have circulated previous Dear Colleague letters those with a longstanding interest in the Survey.

One-pager describing coalition and the challenges faced by USGS, including graphs showing budgetary erosion. Draft due at late-March meeting so available to accompany Hill introduction letter and other coalition activities.

 

The coalition will work on a press statement announcing the coalition; to be distributed either through development of master list or through individual releases by coalition members.

In conjunction with the coalition rollout, small groups will meet with key congressional staff and federal officials in the White House and Interior then report back to the group on their visits. To influence the FY 2005 budget process, executive-branch visits need to take place by mid-May.

The coalition will seek to establish a regular monthly time for future meetings where Washington staff of coalition member organizations can share information and plan future coalition activities.

COFPAES

Laurence Socci attended that latest COFPAES meeting. Highlights of the meeting include:

Focus Group Session on QBS

                A proposal was raised to have a COFPAES sponsored focus group session on QBS. The format would consist of a question and answer session with several contracting representatives from federal agencies. The session should last no more than four hours.

The discussion will be moderated by Dell Palmer, a person selected by John Palatiello because of his experience in the federal contracting business and his neutrality in not being associated with any members of COFPAES.

                The goal of the focus group will be to assess the effectiveness of the current A/E selection and contracting process and develop ideas for improvements where they are needed.

 

                In other news, dues notices went out for dues already. COFPAES members are still working on bringing in new members. Brochures will be sent to ACSM, hopefully we can distribute them at the Phoenix meeting. The Spring COFPAES Meeting is set for April 30. We are trying to get speakers to attend. Any suggestions?

 

 

 

ACSM PAC Auction

                The Phoenix conference is just about here. There is still time to make contributions to the auction and your help is appreciated. Our contributions from last year are starting to pay off, as we were recently granted meeting with the staff of Senator Ted Stevens, Senator Wayne Allard and Representative Tom Davis. ACSM contributed to all of their campaigns. See you in Phoenix.