PART IN-501 AUTHORIZATIONS

SUBPART A -- REVIEW AND APPROVAL

**[IN-501.01 Scope.]{.underline}**

Indiana NRCS employees and Conservation Partnerships employees will be
given job approval for practices or systems, according to Exhibit A,
based on demonstrated knowledge, skills, and abilities to plan, design,
and install that practice or system. In the case of employees of the
Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Soil Conservation,
this job approval will be assigned in cooperation with the Program
Director(s) and Division Engineer. In the case of soil and water
conservation district employees, this job approval will be assigned in
cooperation with the soil and water district board. In either case,
assignment of this job approval authority denotes acceptance of the
Field Office Technical Guide as the quality assurance and design
standard. Assignment also denotes acceptance of individual and agency
responsibility for work performed or approved under this delegation of
authority.

**[IN-501.03 Compliance of engineering work with laws and
regulations.]{.underline}**

[IN-501.03(b) Sealing of engineering plans.]{.underline}

Generally, engineering plans prepared by NRCS personnel will not be
sealed.

[IN-501.03(c) Policy and procedure for approving and sealing engineering
plans]{.underline}

\(1\) All engineering work designed by NRCS, other than plans requiring
the approval by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of
Water, shall, before being furnished to the user, be approved by the
qualified person closest to the job, whether an NRCS employee or not,
see NEM 501.01(b)(3).

\(2\) All plans requiring approval by the Indiana Department of
Resources, Division of Water, shall be approved by the state
conservation engineer before the plans are furnished to the producer.
The producer will submit the plans to the Indiana Department of Natural
Resources with a request for approval and/or permit issuance.

\(3\) When a producer, a conservancy district, a drainage board, a
regulatory agency, or other governmental agency requires that
engineering plans prepared be signed or sealed by a registered engineer,
the engineer who prepared or approved the plans may seal the plans if
registered in the State of Indiana. If the engineer is not registered in
Indiana, the plans shall be sent to the state conservation engineer for
sealing.

**[IN-501.04 Engineering job approval authority.]{.underline}**

[IN-501.04(a) Engineering job approval authority.]{.underline}

All engineering work by the Indiana Conservation Partnership agencies
shall be reviewed and approved by the qualified person closest to the
job, whether an NRCS employee or not (See NEM 501.01(b)(3). All
individuals having inventory and evaluation (I&E), design or
construction responsibility for engineering work will be assigned a job
approval authority.

[IN-501.04(b)(2) Policy and procedure for approval of engineering
work]{.underline}

\(i\) The person approving the I&E report, plan, or construction is
responsible to assure that it is complete and in accordance with policy
and procedures.

\(ii\) All projects involving engineering assistance must have approved
plans prior to beginning construction. Plans may be simple fill-in data
sheets or be detailed drawings and specifications, as appropriate, to
satisfactorily construct the work.

\(iii\) The responsible individual shall indicate approval by signature,
title, and date on the engineering design report, drawings and
specifications.

\(iv\) Each engineering plan should be checked by a person who has
knowledge of the design and construction procedure for the practice
prior to approval. The checker is responsible for the correctness of the
plan details. (See NEM 511.05). It is the checker's responsibility to
determine if calculations, dimensions, bill of materials, etc, are
correct. The checker will indicate that the plan has been checked by
placing his/her name and date in the appropriate space in the title
block on each sheet of the plan. If qualified personnel are available,
the person checking the plan should be someone other than the designer.
All class II or higher level jobs prepared by personnel will be checked
prior to approval by an individual who has an equal or higher approval
authority for the job and is not the designer.

\(v\) When Service approval is required, plans prepared by private
engineers and contractors shall be approved by an individual with proper
approval authority. All conservation practices requiring assistance
under state or federal cost-share programs are in this category. Part
IN-501 and Part 505 shall be followed when working with private
engineers and contractors.

\(vi\) Significant changes in the drawings or specifications shall be
approved by a person with job approval authority for the original plan.
Preferably, this should be the person who approved the original plan.
When changes must be approved without delay, verbal approval may be
obtained to expedite the work. However, the completed record must
include written approval of the changes.

\(vii\) It is not the intent of this policy to limit the activity of any
person with respect to gathering basic data, preparing I&E reports,
preparing engineering plans, or providing construction assistance that
may be beyond his/her approval authority. An individual with proper job
approval authority must approve reports and plans and certify
construction.

\(viii\) It is not the intent that job approval authority to restrict an
individual from requesting assistance on jobs within his/her approval
authority. There may be complicating features or situations where it is
highly desirable to have advice from someone with more experience.

\(ix\) Personnel will not provide final cost estimates, commit
assistance, or stake out any work of improvement until all required
approvals, including any required local, state, or federal government
approvals and permits, have been secured.

[IN-501.04 (b)(3) Delegation of job approval authority based on employee
skill and experience.]{.underline}

\(i\) Qualified persons are to be given engineering job approval
authority for engineering work they can approve in accordance with the
limitations shown for each practice on form IN-ENG-43 (see IN-501.10
Exhibit). An engineering job shall be approved only when limiting
factors of the engineering practice are within that individual's
approval authority.

\(ii\) Form IN-ENG-43 has been developed for recording the maximum
approval authority assigned to an individual. IN-ENG-43 contains all the
engineering practices normally installed in the state and will be used
for all employees. These forms have been distributed in electronic form
to the field and area engineers and may be tailored to individual needs.
The maximum approval authority assigned to an individual will be entered
for each category.

[IN-501.04 (b)(4) Delegation of job approval authority (Classes IV and
V).]{.underline}

Care should be taken in assigning approval authority. Approval for class
IV I&E and design work will generally be limited to GS-11 and above
engineers. Approval for class V I&E and design work will generally be
assigned by the state conservation engineer. Recommendations for
delegation class V job approval authority for construction must have the
concurrence of the state conservation engineer.

[IN-501.04 (b)(5) Process and review for delegating job approval
authority.]{.underline}

\(i\) Engineering job approval authority for qualified individuals shall
be requested by the individual's supervisor or the employee. The
responsible engineer giving engineering support to the supervisor shall
prepare form IN-ENG-43 electronically showing the individual's approval
authority by class for each factor in each practice. The engineer may
not recommend a class in any limiting factor above the class he or she
is authorized to approve. The responsible engineer shall electronically
sign and date the cover sheet of the form IN-ENG-43 and email the entire
form to the appropriate supervisor for electronic signature and date.
The supervisor will then email the electronically signed form back to
the engineer. For Partnership employees (SWCD & IDNR), the ASTC-FO
within the appropriate area will be emailed the form to provide an
electronic signature for concurrence once the district or agency
supervisor has electronically signed. The engineer will then forward the
electronically signed copy of the form to the employee who must
acknowledge acceptance of their official job approval via a return email
to the engineer. The area engineer will be responsible for keeping the
official copies of the IN-ENG-43 form for each employee who performs
engineering within their area as well as the acceptance emails from the
employees. These forms may be kept electronically.

\(ii\) A copy of the electronically signed form shall be emailed to the
employee with a carbon copy to the supervisor. The supervisor will also
receive a copy of the email acceptance by the employee. For Partnership
employees (SWCD & IDNR), the ASTC-FO will also receive a carbon copy.
For engineers and civil engineering technicians, a copy shall be emailed
to the state conservation engineer. For those individuals authorized to
supervise construction for class V jobs, a copy shall be emailed to the
state conservation engineer.

\(iii\) As a part of any engineering related quality control review, the
responsible engineer shall review the individual engineering job
approval authority for all personnel doing engineering work. Individual
engineering job approval authority is to be reviewed annually for those
in their present position for less than three years and updated as
necessary, but at least every three years for all others. The
responsible engineer shall either concur in continuing the current job
approval authority by initialing and dating the individual's original
form IN-ENG-43, or recommending revisions to the job approval authority
by updating the electronic form and distributing using the process
outlined above.

\(iv\) A supervisor may request that the responsible engineer make a
reevaluation of the engineering approval authority for an employee at
any time. Concurrence or revision of the engineering approval authority
shall be carried out as stated above.

\(v\) An individual may request a reevaluation of his or her engineering
approval authority at any time by making a written request to his or her
supervisor. The supervisor, if he or she concurs in the need for a
revaluation, will request the responsible engineer to make a
reevaluation. Concurrence or revision of the engineering approval
authority shall be carried out as stated above.

\(vi\) The state conservation engineer will have the authority to remove
or revise job approval authority for any employee. Disputes over
assignment of job approval classes for an employee will ultimately be
decided by the state conservation engineer.

[IN-501.04 (c)(3) Delegation of job approval authority (Classes
VI-VIII)]{.underline}

Class VI-VIII engineering jobs require the attention of various
engineering specialists. The intensity of attention required of each
specialist must be determined specially for each job based on the
complexities of the job and of the site. The state conservation engineer
shall prepare a work outline, identifying the involvement of each
engineering specialist, at the beginning of work for each class VI -
VIII job. This work outline shall be updated as the work progresses and
a need for revision of the current work outline is indicated.

[IN-501.10 Exhibits]{.underline}

Exhibit A - IN-ENG-43 (For all personnel)

Exhibit A -- IN-ENG-43 will be pages IN501-5 to IN501-9