II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1300 

To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 to provide for the 

conduct of stewardship end result contracting projects. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 16 (legislative day, JULY 15), 2013 

Mr. FLAKE (for himself, Mr. MCCAIN, Mr. CRAPO, Mr. RISCH, and Mr. 

HELLER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 

to provide for the conduct of stewardship end result 

contracting projects. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stewardship Con5 tracting Reauthorization and Improvement Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STEWARDSHIP END RESULT CONTRACTING 

2 PROJECTS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VI of the Healthy Forests 

4 Restoration Act of 2003 (16 U.S.C. 6591) is amended by 

5 adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 602. STEWARDSHIP END RESULT CONTRACTING 

7 PROJECTS. 

8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

9 ‘‘(1) CHIEF.—The term ‘Chief’ means the Chief 

10 of the Forest Service. 

11 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘Director’ means 

12 the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. 

13 ‘‘(b) PROJECTS.—Until September 30, 2023, the 

14 Chief and the Director, via agreement or contract as ap15 propriate, may enter into stewardship contracting projects 

16 with private persons or other public or private entities to 

17 perform services to achieve land management goals for the 

18 national forests and the public lands that meet local and 

19 rural community needs. 

20 ‘‘(c) LAND MANAGEMENT GOALS.—The land man21 agement goals of a project under subsection (b) may in22 clude— 

23 ‘‘(1) road and trail maintenance or obliteration 

24 to restore or maintain water quality; 

25 ‘‘(2) soil productivity, habitat for wildlife and 

26 fisheries, or other resource values; 


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1 ‘‘(3) setting of prescribed fires to improve the 

2 composition, structure, condition, and health of 

3 stands or to improve wildlife habitat; 

4 ‘‘(4) removing vegetation or other activities to 

5 promote healthy forest stands, reduce fire hazards, 

6 or achieve other land management objectives; 

7 ‘‘(5) watershed restoration and maintenance; 

8 ‘‘(6) restoration and maintenance of wildlife 

9 and fish; or 

10 ‘‘(7) control of noxious and exotic weeds and re11 establishing native plant species. 

12 ‘‘(d) AGREEMENTS OR CONTRACTS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE.—A source 

14 for performance of an agreement or contract under 

15 subsection (b) shall be selected on a best-value basis, 

16 including consideration of source under other public 

17 and private agreements or contracts. 

18 ‘‘(2) CONTRACT FOR SALE OF PROPERTY.—A 

19 contract entered into under this section may, at the 

20 discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture, be consid21 ered a contract for the sale of property under such 

22 terms as the Secretary may prescribe without regard 

23 to any other provision of law. 

24 ‘‘(3) TERM.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

2 subparagraph (B), the Chief and the Director 

3 may enter into a contract under subsection (b) 

4 in accordance with section 3903 of title 41, 

5 United States Code. 

6 ‘‘(B) MAXIMUM.—The period of the con7 tract under subsection (b) may exceed 5 years 

8 but may not exceed 10 years. 

9 ‘‘(4) OFFSETS.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Chief and the Di11 rector may apply the value of timber or other 

12 forest products removed as an offset against the 

13 cost of services received under the agreement or 

14 contract described in subsection (b). 

15 ‘‘(B) METHODS OF APPRAISAL.—The value 

16 of timber or other forest products used as an 

17 offset under subparagraph (A)— 

18 ‘‘(i) shall be determined using appro19 priate methods of appraisal commensurate 

20 with the quantity of products to be re21 moved; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) may— 

23 ‘‘(I) be determined using a unit 

24 of measure appropriate to the con25 tracts; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) may include valuing prod2 ucts on a per-acre basis. 

3 ‘‘(5) CANCELLATION CEILINGS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Chief and the Di5 rector may obligate funds to cover any potential 

6 cancellation or termination costs for an agree7 ment or contract under subsection (b) in stages 

8 that are economically or programmatically via9 ble. 

10 ‘‘(B) NOTICE.— 

11 ‘‘(i) SUBMISSION TO CONGRESS.—Not 

12 later than 30 days before entering into a 

13 multiyear agreement or contract under 

14 subsection (b) that includes a cancellation 

15 ceiling in excess of $25,000,000, but does 

16 not include proposed funding for the costs 

17 of cancelling the agreement or contract up 

18 to the cancellation ceiling established in 

19 the agreement or contract, the Chief and 

20 the Director shall submit to the Committee 

21 on Energy and Natural Resources of the 

22 Senate and the Committee on Natural Re23 sources of the House of Representatives a 

24 written notice that includes— 


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1 ‘‘(I)(aa) the cancellation ceiling 

2 amounts proposed for each program 

3 year in the agreement or contract; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(bb) the reasons for the can6 cellation ceiling amounts proposed 

7 under item (aa); 

8 ‘‘(II) the extent to which the 

9 costs of contract cancellation are not 

10 included in the budget for the agree11 ment or contract; and 

12 ‘‘(III) a financial risk assessment 

13 of not including budgeting for the 

14 costs of agreement or contract can15 cellation. 

16 ‘‘(ii) TRANSMITTAL TO OMB.—At least 

17 14 days before the date on which the Chief 

18 and Director enter into an agreement or 

19 contract under subsection (b), the Chief 

20 and Director shall transmit to the Director 

21 of the Office of Management and Budget 

22 a copy of the written notice submitted 

23 under clause (i). 

24 ‘‘(6) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.—Notwith25 standing subsections (d) and (g) of section 14 of the 


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1 National Forest Management Act of 1976 (16 

2 U.S.C. 472a), the Chief may enter into an agree3 ment or contract under subsection (b). 

4 ‘‘(7) CONTRACTING OFFICER.—Notwithstanding 

5 any other provision of law, the Secretary or the Sec6 retary of the Interior may determine the appropriate 

7 contracting officer to enter into and administer an 

8 agreement or contract under subsection (b). 

9 ‘‘(8) FIRE LIABILITY PROVISIONS.—Not later 

10 than 90 days after the date of enactment of this sec11 tion, the Chief and the Director shall issue for use 

12 in all contracts and agreements under subsection (b) 

13 fire liability provisions that are in substantially the 

14 same form as the fire liability provisions contained 

15 in— 

16 ‘‘(A) integrated resource timber contracts, 

17 as described in the Forest Service contract 

18 numbered 2400–13, part H, section H.4; and 

19 ‘‘(B) timber sale contracts conducted pur20 suant to section 14 of the National Forest 

21 Management Act of 1976 (16 U.S.C. 472a). 

22 ‘‘(e) RECEIPTS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief and the Director 

24 may collect monies from an agreement or contract 

25 under subsection (b) if the collection is a secondary 


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1 objective of negotiating the contract that will best 

2 achieve the purposes of this section. 

3 ‘‘(2) USE.—Monies from an agreement or con4 tract under subsection (b)— 

5 ‘‘(A) may be retained by the Chief and the 

6 Director; and 

7 ‘‘(B) shall be available for expenditure 

8 without further appropriation at the project site 

9 from which the monies are collected or at an10 other project site. 

11 ‘‘(3) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

13 other provision of law, the value of services re14 ceived by the Chief or the Director under a 

15 stewardship contract project conducted under 

16 this section, and any payments made or re17 sources provided by the contractor, Chief, or 

18 Director shall not be considered monies received 

19 from the National Forest System or the public 

20 lands. 

21 ‘‘(B) KNUTSON-VANDERBERG ACT.—The 

22 Act of June 9, 1930 (commonly known as the 

23 ‘Knutson-Vanderberg Act’) (16 U.S.C. 576 et 

24 seq.) shall not apply to any agreement or con25 tract under subsection (b). 


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1 ‘‘(f) COSTS OF REMOVAL.—Notwithstanding the fact 

2 that a contractor did not harvest the timber, the Chief 

3 may collect deposits from a contractor covering the costs 

4 of removal of timber or other forest products under— 

5 ‘‘(1) the Act of August 11, 1916 (16 U.S.C. 

6 490); and 

7 ‘‘(2) the Act of June 30, 1914 (16 U.S.C. 498). 

8 ‘‘(g) PERFORMANCE AND PAYMENT GUARANTEES.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief and the Director 

10 may require performance and payment bonds under 

11 sections 28.103–2 and 28.103–3 of the Federal Ac12 quisition Regulation, in an amount that the con13 tracting officer considers sufficient to protect the in14 vestment in receipts by the Federal Government 

15 generated by the contractor from the estimated 

16 value of the forest products to be removed under a 

17 contract under subsection (b). 

18 ‘‘(2) EXCESS OFFSET VALUE.—If the offset 

19 value of the forest products exceeds the value of the 

20 resource improvement treatments, the Chief and the 

21 Director shall— 

22 ‘‘(A) use the excess to satisfy any out23 standing liabilities for cancelled agreements or 

24 contracts; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) if there are no outstanding liabilities 

2 under subparagraph (A), apply the excess to 

3 other authorized stewardship projects. 

4 ‘‘(h) MONITORING AND EVALUATION.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief and the Director 

6 shall establish a multiparty monitoring and evalua7 tion process that accesses the stewardship con8 tracting projects conducted under this section. 

9 ‘‘(2) PARTICIPANTS.—Other than the Chief and 

10 Director, participants in the process described in 

11 paragraph (1) may include— 

12 ‘‘(A) any cooperating governmental agen13 cies, including tribal governments; and 

14 ‘‘(B) any other interested groups or indi15 viduals. 

16 ‘‘(i) REPORTING.—Not later than 1 year after the 

17 date of enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, 

18 the Chief and the Director shall report to the Committee 

19 on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate and the 

20 Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Rep21 resentatives on— 

22 ‘‘(1) the status of development, execution, and 

23 administration of agreements or contracts under 

24 subsection (b); 


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1 ‘‘(2) the specific accomplishments that have re2 sulted; and 

3 ‘‘(3) the role of local communities in the devel4 opment of agreements or contract plans.’’. 

5 (b) OFFSET.—To the extent necessary, the Chief and 

6 the Director shall offset any direct spending authorized 

7 under section 602 of the Healthy Forests Restoration Act 

8 of 2003 (as added by subsection (a)) using any additional 

9 amounts that may be made available to the Chief or the 

10 Director for the applicable fiscal year. 

11 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 347 of the 

12 Department of the Interior and Related Agencies Appro13 priations Act, 1999 (16 U.S.C. 2104 note; Public Law 

14 105–277) is repealed. 

Æ 


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