Cramer -- Unreasonable Expectations by Misery Whip 1/9/05

SERVICE FIRST
OREGON/WASHINGTON BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT &
USDA FOREST SERVICE

January 2006

In 2005, the BLM and the USDA Forest Service were successful with many profound Service First accomplishments and there are a number of other areas that we are exploring in the Oregon/Washington BLM and USDA Forest Service Region 6. While some of these concepts are “homespun”, many of them would not be possible without the assistance from our respective Washington Offices.

We believe in the power of Service First, not just in coping with tightening budgets, but also in the efficient and timely execution of service to the public.

In particular, in the acquisition management arena, there have been ongoing discussions with the BLM National Office, and Al Smith, USDA Forest Service National AQM Director, concerning the idea of instituting "blended" contracting warrants, between the BLM and the USDA Forest Service contracting officers. The Washington Office has been very helpful in defining this issue and working through the various implementation obstacles.

For 2006 the Service First areas that we are looking to include: interagency radio system compatibility, uncoordinated IT development, and space guidelines for collocated operations.

Some of the Service First items that we plan on looking to in the future include: acquisition management, single administrative reviews for blended organizations, reimbursable agreements for the transfer of funds between agencies, disparities between the way the agencies process special recreation permits, and disparities in issuing administrative leave.

To establish one IT system for collocated offices. Work with the National IRM Office to become a part of the VPN pilot with Colorado so alternative solutions can be studied and implemented as national policy.

Space Guidelines

Charter a national team consisting of members from both USDA Forest Service and BLM to develop joint national space policy by April 2006. The team would consist of property and leasing staff from Washington, Field Offices, USDA Forest Service Regional Offices (particularly Region 6), and BLM’s National Business Center. The joint national space policy would be used for all leases, new construction, remodels and retrofits.

Alternatively, we would approve the draft joint policy that has been developed between the Region 6 USDA Forest Service and BLM in Oregon and Washington. The draft joint policy needs to receive final approval by USDA Forest Service, and would then be distributed by joint memo to all Districts and Forests. The joint policy will include all leases, new construction, remodel and retrofits.

Radio Systems

Move forward with options to migrate to a single “backbone” system for radio communications in Oregon/Washington to resolve issues involving Radio Control Over IP, and review uses of Radio Control Over IP performance before the next fire season. Complete the interagency review and assess the short-term risks by March 2006 and implement any workarounds necessary by May 1, 2006.

FUTURE SERVICE FIRST ITEMS

Acquisition Management

Instituting "blended" contracting warrants between the BLM and the USDA Forest Service contracting officers to improve efficiencies and enhance cost-effectiveness.

Single Administrative Reviews for Blended Organizations

Move toward coordinated national reviews of blended organizations and programs. Once a unit or program is determined to be interagency, one review will be sufficient to stand for both agencies. This is especially important within the fire management program.

Transfer of Funds between Agencies

Establish a small interagency team, which includes both field and Regional/State Office representation, to examine the reimbursable agreement process in Oregon and Washington to see if there are ways to improve and speed up the process. The goal will be to reduce the overall agency cost in delivery accountability by reducing time consuming and repetitive tasks at the field/forest level. Examine expanding the reimbursable agreements to include more than one project using the transfer of funds as our authority. Work with Washington budget offices to determine if in fact a new process will be more cumbersome than the current reimbursable process.

Administrative Leave

Administrative discretion should be delegated to the appropriate level (e.g. Regional Forester or State Director) to implement consistent administrative actions "on the ground" when operating in a collocated and Service First setting.

We look forward to continuing the Service First journey and developing an approach that is effective, efficient, and productive.

Elaine Brong

Oregon/Washington State Director

Linda Goodman

USDA Forest Service Region 6, Regional Forester

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Shared Computer Services

Why it is Important in a Service First Environment

Uncoordinated policy development, infrastructure deployment, and the Cobell lawsuits have resulted in two separate IT systems in collocated facilities. Employees that provide services and support in an interagency environment are required to have two PC’s on their desk to provide interoperability and access to the other agency’s network and infrastructure. The separate IT systems create inefficiencies and increased costs in accomplishing day-to-day work and an extra knowledge requirement to know two systems, rather than one. The joint solution will be designed to meet Cobell security requirements

Background discussion

In 2001, Colorado BLM and Region 2 USDA Forest Service prepared an issue paper describing the need and justification of establishing a Wide Area Network between BLM and USDA Forest Service collocated offices. The result of that effort was a Forest Service server being accessed by BLM employees for greater ease of file transfers and access to each other’s Intranet. With the Cobell lawsuit restrictions, the NIRMC was forced to remove the server from BLM network.

Since 2004, Colorado BLM and FS R2 have been working with the FS new Information Service Organization (ISO) established after the competitive sourcing competition and the BLM NIRMC to develop a national solution to the dual PC and radio communication issue. The team is currently focused on solving the IT and telecommunications issues between the BLM and FS fire organizations.

Secondarily, they are drafting a national interconnection agreement to work toward a more seamless IT solution where each agency can use the other as an Internet Service Provider (i.e., be able to access each other’s network). With the Cobell restrictions, the focus of the team is on establishing a Virtual Personal Network (VPN) between FS and BLM computers. Unfortunately, the VPN will not eliminate the need for two separate computers for dual agency personnel, and will continue many of the duplicative support costs.

Options

The national offices of both agencies are working on the optimal solution based on the security constraints of both agencies and are using Colorado as the pilot. To get to one system would require addressing Cobell restraints and coordinating agency efforts at a high level. Higher level involvement from Congress or OMB could also support a solution.

-OR-

Work with the National IRM Office to become a part of the VPN pilot with Colorado so alternative solutions can be studied and implemented as national policy.

Need for Joint USDA Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Uniform Space Guidelines

Why it is Important in a Service First Environment

In order to be more efficient in developing requirements for USDA Forest Service and BLM collocations and to insure that each collocation effort is consistent and fair in developing space standards.

Background

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have individual space standards that must be met when planning space for collocation. The BLM standard will apply where the agencies are collocating in OR/WA, as it is the most restrictive on space assignments.

The difficulty in this is that there is no policy in place to back informal agreements. The Forest Supervisors have the delegated authority to determine the amount and type of space for their local unit, whereas the BLM authority to determine space rests with the National Business Center with input from the State Office and affected District Office.

The lack of standard joint space policy could result in inequity between offices that are collocating. While each District/Forest has unique programs, this should be acknowledged, but not allow space to be procured beyond what is actually needed to meet mission requirements for both agencies.

Project scheduling can be greatly impacted and be difficult to establish and maintain due to the differences in space policy between the USDA Forest Service and BLM. There can be many permutations that affect scheduling during the development of space requirements for a collocation.

Some of these permutations include union negotiations, differences of opinion on interpretation of USDA Forest Service BLM policy at all levels of the organization, project priorities, limited staff resources at both the National Business Center and Region 6 leasing staff, different funding streams, etc. In some cases schedules have been delayed as much as two years developing space requirements for collocation projects.

Obtaining an accurate Full Time Equivalent (FTE) count reflected on a Table of Organization from the BLM Districts is exacerbated by the uncertainty involved in projecting reduced staffs (up to 30 percent) for future organizations (e.g., into the year 2010). This also potentially skews the payment allocations in Interagency Agreements.

Options

-OR-

Approve the draft Oregon/Washington joint policy that has been developed between the USDA Forest Service and BLM. The draft joint policy needs to receive final approval by USDA Forest Service, and then be distributed by joint memo to all Districts and Forests. The joint policy will include all leases, new construction, remodel and retrofits.

Due to the sensitivity of space allotments, the BLM’s National Business Center and Washington Office will need to provide concurrence with any policy developed for the region.

Issues that will need to be Addressed in Developing Joint Standards

In Oregon/Washington the BLM and the USDA Forest Service are currently using two sets of standards to develop space requirements in collocations:

Gross square footage of the office building.
The Oregon/Washington BLM and USDA Forest Service Region 6 Offices have agreed to 200 gross square feet for each Permanent Full Time employee and 100 gross square feet for all other types of appointments.

Individual Space Allotments

Formulas have been developed to ensure a uniform allotment of individual space within the buildings and between offices. (i.e., breakrooms, private offices, mail rooms, warehouses, etc.)

In working through the individual space allotments, we find that this square footage is significantly less than the gross square footage per person. It is very difficult to negotiate a median with the Districts/Forests.

Warehouse Space

In keeping with the most restrictive space assignment, the warehouses should be at 35% of the office space. It is typical for the Districts/Forests to request additional space, including office space, in these areas, thereby increasing their utilization rate. Policies need to be clear concerning the type of finishes that constitute office space.

Special space requests have been to add to the warehouse space to accommodate radio shops and other activities that could be contracted.

Fire Management

There is very little funding (from BLM Federal Building Fund) when leasing space to accommodate fire management staff and programs. If construction funding is available, this is not an issue.

We must provide the space for programs. It would be beneficial for the Washington Office to work with the Fire Management Office to develop consistent funding sources for Fire programs as well as consistent space requirements.

Office space for supervisors, other than management, is generally not paid through the Federal Building Fund.

Fire Dispatch requirements are always contested, at the local, State, Regional, and National levels.

There is a local/regional expectation that exercise rooms should be built large enough to accommodate non fire employees. In most cases there are commercial facilities available in the area.

Interagency Radio System Compatibility

Why it is Important in a Service First Environment

We must have a reliable and stable telecommunications system to support multiple-resource missions in an interagency environment, which includes not only the BLM and USDA Forest Service, but extends to our partners in a true interagency fire program (National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the State of Oregon Department of Forestry). To be successful, the radio system must be simple in design, cost effective in obtaining best value procurement, demonstrate ease of training users in all agencies, and provide reliable maintenance systems.

All agencies want to see timely solutions prior to the next fire season, an orderly solution, documented in a Radio Plan, that secures agreement among all involved agencies and reflects coordinated actions that extend to line officers as well as technical functions they support -- fire and law enforcement.

Background Discussion

On December 16, 2005, leadership from the BLM and USDA Forest Service at the State Office/Regional Office level, line managers from the Lakeview/Fremont/Winema and Klamath Falls Offices, WO national leadership in IT from both the FS and BLM, and technical telecom program representatives from the FS IRM Support Organization (ISO) and Continuing Government Activity (CGA), and BLM OR/WA’s IT staff met in Portland to share lessons learned from past problems with radio compatibility and associated risks and develop a plan to resolve issues before the FY 06 fire season.

Issues were grouped into four categories: system architecture, technical support, radio compatibility, and interagency decision protocol (national, state, local, contracting units), and the process boiled down to four tasks:

1.         tactical interagency actions to be taken this season
2.         long term interagency systems/solutions
3.         review operational practices
4.         establish the next meeting date in Jan. 2006

The group agreed to form a team consisting of Forest Service ISO, CGA and BLM representatives to review radio communications performance, including Radio Control Over IP, before the next fire season, and develop a game plan by March 15, 2006 for implementation by May 1, 2006. The team agreed to review network performance, assess the need for redundant systems and identify systems solutions to mitigate potential risks.

Options

The agencies will design an interagency radio communications approach that best meets service requirements, safety needs, and mission support goals. Both agencies are open to designs that are not strictly compatible within individual agency policy. For example, in 2005, the USDA Forest Service has implemented Radio Control Over IP in some locations, with significant problems. Whereas the Department of the Interior decided it was not ready to launch into Radio Control Over IP until such time as industry standards for Radio Control Over IP have demonstrated reliability.

-OR-

Complete Oregon/Washington interagency review and assess the short-term risks by March 2006 and implement any workarounds necessary by May 1, 2006. Ensure that this is a corporate, statewide approach – not just a south-central Oregon solution. Keep all the partners at the table, including Federal agencies and State/private groups to ensure that radio telecommunication strategies are viable and shared. The process for resolution at this level includes a short term tactical piece as well as long term strategic plans for implementation.

Oregon/Washington Bureau of Land Management and Region 6, USDA Forest Service

2006 Service First Accomplishments

“…a joint leadership team commitment met”

Service First was one recipe for success in Oregon/Washington in 2005. By teaming up, BLM and USDA Forest Service units saved more than $500,000. They did work better and faster by working to use agency regulations to reduce obstacles. There were a number of outstanding work units that showed deliberate planning, reduced costs, and reproducible results. Some of the truly outstanding efforts included:

The Deschutes and Ochoco Forests and the Prineville District improving Central Oregon OHV operations.
The Okanogan and Wenatchee Forests and the BLM Wenatchee Resource Area for the Entiat and Chelan collaborations efforts.
The BLM Vale District and the Wallowa-Whitman Forest for stewardship projects in northeast Oregon.
Centralized printing services for the BLM and USDA Forest Service at the Region 6 Headquarters and BLM Oregon/Washington State Office.
The BLM Lakeview District and the Fremont-Winema Forest riparian management in south central Oregon.

In addition to these efforts, there were also a number of other outstanding accomplishments in the areas of wildfire management, forestry, collocation, planning, recreation, and data collection.

FIRE AND SERVICE FIRST

Wildfire Protection

In southwestern Oregon, interagency coordination is being provided for community wildfire protection plan in Coos, Curry, Douglas, Josephine, and Jackson Counties. Most of the community wildfire protection plans are complete or nearing completion.

Fire Planning in Southeast Oregon

In southeastern and central Oregon, joint fire planning, for fire use and fuels treatments, is being done to pre-position work prior to the 2006 fire season. Planning has been accomplished in the Central Oregon management area but vacancies have limited Lakeview BLM and Fremont-Winema National Forest progress on this project.

Fire Operations in Southwest Oregon

Evaluated operations between Coos Bay BLM District, Powers Ranger District, Gold Beach Ranger District, and the Chetco Ranger District for opportunities to improve relationships and efficiencies. The BLM Fire Management Officer represented the Powers Ranger District at community fire planning meetings, provided input to USDA Forest Service projects including the Coastal Healthy Forest Project, and provided hazardous fuels analysis for the Blossom Fire.

Fuels Treatment

Evaluated the feasibility of interagency Indefinite Quantity Indefinite Delivery contracts for fuels treatment that would include the BLM, USDA Forest Service, State of Oregon Department of Forestry, and local fire districts.

Eastern Washington Fire Training

Hosted Interagency fire training involving the Bureau of Land Management (Spokane), National Park Service (Lake Roosevelt), US Fish and Wildlife Service (Little Pend Oreille and Turnbull National Wildlife Refuges), and the Colville National Forest.

Wildland Urban Interface

Through an agreement, the Colville National Forest used a wildlife biologist from USFW to perform the inventory and subsequent specialist report for a Wildland Urban Interface project.

Prescribed Burning

The National Park Service and USDA Forest Service helped each other with implementing prescribed burning projects.

Initial Attack

Colville National Forest handled initial attack dispatching for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Little Pend Oreille Wildlife Refuge) as well as both agencies participate in weekly fire season conference calls.

Eastern Washington Fire Work

BLM, Colville National Forest, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service rotated crew boss assignments for local interagency fire crew.

FORESTRY AND SERVICE FIRST

Biomass

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have established a Service First biomass team to approach biomass coordination in an interagency manner.

Tribal Forest Protection Act

On the Colville National Forest, a joint approach was recommended to respond to tribal petitions submitted pursuant to the Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004. The National Office of the BLM has provided implementing policy under the act, while the National Office of the Forest Service is in the process of formulating policy. A recommendation will be finalized when once Forest Service regulations are published.

Special Forest Product Permits

BLM in Spokane sold Colville National Forest special forest product permits.

COLLOCATION AND SERVICE FIRST

Collocation Opportunities in the Roseburg Area

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have been working on the long range feasibility of collocating units in Roseburg, Oregon. While the initial cost estimate has been prohibitive, alternatives are currently being explored with the Roseburg BLM and Umpqua National Forest.

Collocation in Grants Pass

Continued collocation activities in Grants Pass have resulted in a new leased building constructed using BLM leasing authority. The building keys were turned over to the BLM on September 1, 2005. The building houses BLM employees from the Glendale and Grants Pass Resource Areas and USDA Forest employees from the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest Two Rivers Fire Zone, the Information Resource Management Most Efficient Organization, the Regional Geographic Information System organization, and the Rogue-Siskiyou National Forest Supervisor’s Office.

Collocation in Medford

The continued collocation in Medford saw a number of new activities. Specifically, a new interagency radio shop was completed and occupied. Also, modifications have been made to the warehouse including a new racking system that allows for the use of a new space efficient forklift.

These changes have greatly increased the usable space in the warehouse and should be able to accommodate both USDA Forest and BLM needs. The USDA Forest Service has relocated their warehouse items from the McAndrews Service Center to the BLM warehouse, and a three-sided open building was enclosed and finished to relocate the BLM fire cache from the warehouse in March 2005.

In the spring, USDA Forest Service employees performing road maintenance, fleet maintenance, survey, telecommunications, and law enforcement moved onto the BLM site to conduct their operations. The USDA Forest Service administrative site known as the McAndrews Service Center has been the home for road maintenance, fleet maintenance, survey, telecommunications, and law enforcement. It was advertised and auctioned on-line using the General Services Administration real property auction process. On-line bidding began on March 21 and was concluded on May 5, 2005. There was a single bid for $3.5 million and the USDA Forest Service is continuing to work with that bidder to close on the property. A contract for developing the design of the office addition was advertised by the USDA Forest Service and will be finalized by the BLM.

In Medford, a USDA Forest Service employee was detailed to the BLM Front Desk as a Public Contact Representative to provide sharing of not only BLM information but also USDA Forest Service information. In addition, a USDA Forest Service employee spends 50 percent of his time working for the BLM Law Enforcement division keeping the BLM reporting system (LawNet) entries current.

Finally, a study was initiated to identify opportunities for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of program leadership and technical skill distribution in advance of anticipated budget declines over the next five years. Public affairs work was coordinated including interagency press releases, joint congressional briefings, media on the "Tour de Fronds", a joint 2005 county fair display, and communications on the move to the Grants Pass Interagency Office.

PLANNING AND SERVICE FIRST

Planning Efforts

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have jointly developed the social and economic sustainability framework for the land and resource planning processes.

Eastern Oregon Projects

In eastern Oregon three new projects were completed related to Sage-grouse habitat management and off-highway vehicle planning coordination. In addition, an interagency/Tri-Forest meeting was held in September 2005 to explore ways to begin work together. Another Service First success story involved a joint stewardship contacting project that the Vale District and Wallowa National Forest completed.

Endangered Species Act Consultation in Coastal Oregon

In the Willamette and coastal valleys, Aquatic Programmatic Consultation for five units is nearly completed. This consultation will provide Endangered Species Act coverage for many of the commercial and density management thinning timber sales for the Willamette and Coast provinces.

A Level 1 Team was tasked with developing the programmatic consultation. Their parameters limited the scope to Not Likely to Adversely Affect actions, using project design criteria that encompass projects the team has reviewed, starting with a temporal scale of two years – with the assumption that full biological opinions would not be prepared for each action. As currently proposed, a short project summary would be prepared to document that projects comply with the programmatic design criteria. Lastly, the programmatic consultation will likely be completed in the spring of 2006.

RECREATION AND SERVICE FIRST

Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act

In our Portland-based offices the BLM and USDA Forest Service have worked to implement FY 2005 Omnibus Appropriations language on permanent Recreation Fee Authority. This work has emphasized a coordinated transition from each agency’s current recreation fee programs to the new legislated fee program. The BLM and USDA Forest Service have implemented the BLM’s Washington Office interim guidance from the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act (FLREA). All BLM fee sites are in compliance with FLREA. The USDA Forest Service is working to evaluate and transition existing USDA Forest Service fee board to an interagency working recreation fee board and is currently waiting for Washington Office guidance on fee board.

River Management

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have reviewed the concept of potential joint management of Rogue River in southwest Oregon. Specifically, the BLM and USDA Forest Service examined the question “Can a single interagency river management organization utilizing the Service First concept effectively administer and manage the entire 84 miles of the Rogue National Wild and Scenic River?” The outcome of the review showed limited opportunities to “…achieve dramatic increases in customer service, operational efficiency, and quality of resource stewardship” with a single interagency river management organization.

Off-Highway Vehicles

The Colville National Forest has worked to coordinate the implementation of the USDA Forest Service National off-highway vehicle policy with BLM’s existing off-highway vehicle management. This implementation includes USDA Forest Service development of a designation system that meshes with BLM’s system. The USDA Forest Service has not yet released their final rule.

DATA COLLECTION AND SERVICE FIRST

Data Sharing

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have coordinated efforts with the State of Oregon Department of Forestry to collect and share a variety of social and economic data by agreeing to a social and economic indicators framework, determining spatial and temporal scale components, and prioritizing the data and information needed to populate the framework.

Social and Economic Data

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have worked with communities to build social and economic sustainability indicators for the development of Eastern Oregon Resource Management Plans. The BLM and USDA Forest Service have collaborated and jointly funded initiatives to identify community-level and multi-county sustainability models in order to minimize duplication of work by the agencies. Finally, we have developed a working prototype for sustainability indicators usable at both the National Forest and BLM District levels. The prototype is currently being reviewed by the BLM and USDA Forest Service at the state and national levels.

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have improved methods of data collection. The BLM continues to work with the Sonoran Institute in employing their Economic Profiling System. The USDA Forest Service is continuing its contracts in support of efforts to build a community-level input-output analysis program. Oregon State has developed community-level models throughout the State. The BLM is planning to expand this set of Oregon community models during the Western Oregon Plan Revision process.

OTHER SERVICE FIRST WORK

Heritage and Cultural Resources

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have implemented the transition to a Service First position for heritage and cultural resources at the Regional/State Office level, and also developed a transition and monitoring plan for this workload.

Native American Liaison

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have implemented the transition to a Service First position for Native Americans at the Regional/State Office level, and also developed a transition and monitoring plan for this workload.

Rights-of-Way Cost Recovery

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have agreed to jointly implement cost recovery regulations for rights-of-way applications. We are waiting for USDA Forest Service cost recovery regulations to be published and the public comment period to close.

The BLM and USDA Forest Service have developed coordinated training on new cost recovery regulations. Part of the BLM’s state-wide Lands and Realty Workshop focused on the new cost recovery regulations. The USDA Forest Service is planning on conducting cost recovery training this fall throughout Region 6. All Forest Supervisors and Rangers will be required to attend the introductory session.