I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4309 

To amend the Sikes Act to make certain improvements to the administration 

of cooperative agreements for land management related to Department 

of Defense readiness activities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2014 

Ms. BORDALLO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Armed 

Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Sikes Act to make certain improvements to 

the administration of cooperative agreements for land 

management related to Department of Defense readiness 

activities, and for other purposes. 

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


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1 SECTION 1. COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS UNDER SIKES 

2 ACT FOR LAND MANAGEMENT RELATED TO 

3 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE READINESS AC4 TIVITIES. 

5 (a) MULTIYEAR AGREEMENTS TO FUND LONG-TERM

6 MANAGEMENT.—Subsection (b) of section 103A of the 

7 Sikes Act (16 U.S.C. 670c–1) is amended— 

8 (1) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘Funds’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

10 paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(2) In the case of a cooperative agreement under 

12 subsection (a)(2), funds referred to in paragraph (1)— 

13 ‘‘(A) may be paid in a lump sum and include 

14 an amount intended to cover the future costs of the 

15 natural resource maintenance and improvement ac16 tivities provided for under the agreement; 

17 ‘‘(B) may be invested by the recipient in ac18 cordance with the recipient’s own guidelines for the 

19 management and investment of financial assets, and 

20 any interest or income derived from such investment 

21 may be applied for the same purposes as the prin22 cipal; and 

23 ‘‘(C) may be used only for payment of— 

24 ‘‘(i) direct costs of maintenance and im25 provement of natural resources on the lands 

26 within the scope of the agreement; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) indirect and administrative costs, as 

2 determined in accordance with official guidance 

3 issued by the Office of Management and Budg4 et, but not to exceed 10 percent of the total 

5 cost of the project.’’. 

6 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AND RELATION TO

7 OTHER LAWS.—Subsection (c) of such section is amended 

8 to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS AND RELATION TO

10 OTHER LAWS.—(1) Cooperative agreements and inter11 agency agreements entered into under this section shall 

12 be subject to the availability of funds. 

13 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding chapter 63 of title 31, United 

14 States Code, a cooperative agreement under this section 

15 may be used to acquire property or services for the direct 

16 benefit or use of the United States Government. 

17 ‘‘(3) Amounts available to the Department of Defense 

18 may not be used under this Act to acquire fee title interest 

19 in real property for natural resources projects that are not 

20 on a military installation.’’. 

21 (c) AUDIT.—The Inspector General of the Depart22 ment of Defense shall conduct an audit of the natural re23 sources projects funded with amounts available to the De24 partment of Defense under the Sikes Act, as amended by 

25 this section, that is not on a military installation. Not later 


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1 than October 1, 2018, the Inspector General shall submit 

2 to Congress a report on the audit conducted under this 

3 subsection. 

4 (d) SUNSET.—This section and the provisions of law 

5 enacted by the amendments made by this section shall ex6 pire on October 1, 2019, except that any cooperative 

7 agreement referred to in such provisions that is entered 

8 into on or before September 30, 2019, shall continue ac9 cording to its terms and conditions as if this section has 

10 not expired. 

Æ 


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