October 2003 Mid-Month Government Affairs Update

 

At the fall ACSM/NSPS meeting, it was decided that future Government Affairs Updates with come out twice a month, instead of only once a month. The new updates will only have 3 or 4 issues, but they will be just as informative as they’ve always been

 

1.     S. 1230 Update.

S. 1230, the geospatial related bill sponsored by Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO), is scheduled to come up for consideration during the week of October 20. Curt Sumner and Laurence Socci are scheduled to meet with staffers from the offices of Senator Susan Collins and Senator Joe Lieberman, the Chair and Ranking Member of the Government Affairs Committee, to discuss the bill and work to push it forward.

Our members can help the effort by writing to Senator Collins and asking her to give the bill full consideration. Members will receive an e-mail with sample letters that they can use to write to the Senator.

 

2.                 USGS Coalition

Laurence Socci, along with four other USGS Coalition members, met with Janet Irwin, Chief of the Interior Branch at the Office of Management and Budget and with Jason Freihage, USGS Budget Examiner to discuss USGS budgetary issues. Of the 50 members of the USGS Coalition, ACSM was the sole representative of the mapping and geospatial community at the meeting.

 

Although several federal programs were discussed at the meeting, Irwin and Freihage mostly talked about the USGS mapping programs, including the National Map. Irwin noted that with regard to the National Map, there was no clear plan of how to proceed with the project; it had the same goals for the last 10 years. OMB made several recommendations on how to have a clear and well defined plan, which were enacted. OMB is now pleased with the progress. Freihage noted that there is a large federal investment in geospatial data, but not enough standardization and interoperability. He cited the floodplain mapping project as an example, noting a concern that the project was not going to have data that could be fully shared. Socci noted that even with the concerns that OMB has with the various mapping and geospatial projects, it still wants to see the projects go forward and still funds them.

 

3.                 ACSM and other members of COFPAES meet with GSA representatives.

ACSM joined other members of COFPAES in a meeting with Neal I. Fox and Patricia Mead, Assistant Commissioners with the Office of Commercial Acquisition, GSA. Robert Burton, acting head of OFPP for acquisition policy facilitated the meeting.

 

COFPAES requested the meeting to discuss GSA’s policy of having engineering and surveying services on the GSA schedule, which is in violation of the Brooks Act.

GSA does not require firms on the Schedule to have licensed engineers or surveyors.

Therefore, the problem is that by placing engineering and surveying on the Schedule, GSA is permitting firms without licensed engineers and surveyors to offer services.

As a result of the meeting, GSA to take the following actions:

(1) change the title of the section from “Engineering” to something more suitable;

(2) move the disclaimer which is currently on the last page of the section to the front of the section;

(3) work on improving their training, both internal and externally;

(4) improve the transparency of the selection process;

(5) review the firms on the schedule to make sure that any firm currently on the Schedule should be there;

(6) improve enforcement when there are violations of the process.

 

4.                 SF-330 Training Seminar

COFPAES will host a special workshop on the new SF 330. COFPAES will cosponsor the workshop with the Federal Facilities Council of the National Research Council/National Academy of Science & National Academy of Engineering.

The new SF330, which will replace the SF 254-255, will be released on or about November 1.  The effective date will be six (6) months after its release, or on or about May 1.

The workshop will be on Tuesday, December 9 in the Auditorium of the National Academy, 2100 C St., NW, Washington, DC. The capacity of the NAS Auditorium is 600 persons.

 

Admission will be FREE for Federal employees.  A registration fee will be charged to all nonfederal employees (State and local government, private sector).  COFPAES will collect the fee.  Advance registration will be a requirement.

We will have on-line registration via the COFPAES web site available, along with an ability to receive credit card payment.  Our goal is to have that up by the end of the week.  We have not yet established the registration fee, but my initial guess is it will be $49.

The workshop will be from 9:00 AM to 12:00 noon.  It will be taught by Don Evick, PE of the Corps of Engineers, who was the primary author of the new form.  Also speaking will be Dell Palmer PE, a private practice engineer (You will recall Dell facilitated COFPAES’s QBS focus group session at the April JAECFC meeting).  Mr. Palmer has been a successful A/E services marketing executive for more than 30 years, and formed a
company several years ago that marketed 254-255 software.  A workbook, with the forms and speakers' presentations, will be provided to all attendees.

You can get more information about the seminar at:  www.cofpaes.org/sf330workshop.asp.