Northern Rockies Strategic Action Committee Meeting
April 1-2, 2008
Attendees: Tim Murphy, Nancy Gibson, Kevin Erickson, Kathy Elzig,
Martin Schmidt, Jane Haker, Dan Cassidy, Jim Newton, Jeff Williams,
Matt Hedrick, Dave Jones (4/1 only) and Peg Geiger Ann Vogt attended the
4/2 meeting.
R1 AQM/FAA Support Plan Update:
This has not changed. The SOP’s are in place. The letter from the 4 Zones
with procedures are on the NRCG website.
IIBMHB 2008 updates per last SAC
Final draft for chapter 20 has been posted on March 31st. The land use
agreement in chapter 20 is the old version. The new land use agreement will
be sent out in an email and also posted on the website. The fuel rates are also
posted in Chapter 20, but they may need to be negotiated. Chapter 10 2008
EFF rates are posted. In Chapter 80, the cost estimate worksheet has been
updated for I-SUITE, and the NRC cost share agreement is also posted in
this chapter.
Letters for all zones are finalized for EERA’s & posted on the NRCG
website. They all need to be in by May 1st, after May 1st, resources will go
on a resource availability list.
NRCG Committee Meeting/ MOU Updates
All 4 water handling inspection / verification MOU companies are up and
running and have submitted their Annual Operating Plans for the 2008
season. Personnel verifications are ongoing. They will start the replacement
water handling equipment inspections on April 1st. For fiscal year 2008, the
only equipment they have to inspect is replacement equipment. If they are
upgrading or replacing equipment, the contractors will need to go to one of
the 4 MOU holders. If they have brand new people, they will have to go
through the WCT, training records, PTB, etc. For people used last year with
no promation, they will only have to look at the currency, medicals, WCT
and RT130 - fire refresher completion.
IS-700 Training Requirement:
National direction for IS-700 requirement not received to date. NRCG’s
position is that any water handling equipment & equipment going on all risk
incidents needs to take IS-700. The contractors need to have this done and
submitted with their annual training verifications to the MOU inspectors /
verifiers holders.
AIG & Chubb Insurance Programs
This has been taken to the National Operations level for guidance direction.
In regard to structure protection, they are not under a federal contract. If
contractors go to work for the insurance company’s they will be unavailable
in ROSS. They cannot be performing two jobs.
Still looking on how we are going to define the AIG / Chubb insurance
program. Hopefully we will have more direction on this by the next SAC
meeting.
Montana Legislative Fire Committee
How could we police Workman’s Comp? It has been mentioned to be
bumped to the NRCG committee to address. Rep. Keene wants Workman’s
Comp, NRCG and Montana Legislative to work together. We could submit
all the EERA’s on contract to workman’s comp and they could further
investigate. There will be a meeting on April 14th with Ed Dawes discussing
the workman’s comp issue. The meeting will be at the DNRC office. Tim &
Pam will attend.
BLM Grey Water Solicitation For 2008
The closing on the Solicitations will be April 4th. All the vendors are using
the Chapter 20 for pricing and they are all tied in rating. There may be a
new amendment that needs to be posted for this issue, but if not, the awards
will be submitted on May 1st. Currently there are 7 companies with 7 pieces
of equipment expressing interest. Peg is positive that there will be at least
10 Grey Water companies awarded by May 1st. Currently have 4 zones
right now, 1 in Dillon, 1 in Grangeville, 3 in Billings and 2 in Missoula.
There has been an issue with grey water trucks not being licensed to dispose
of weed washer waste. If the Grey water trucks have a license by the state
they are able to dispose the waste water.
GSA Rental Update
For Northern Rcokies this year, we will still use the DNRC rental program
for rental vehicles. Marty is still looking into the BOAC number through
ASC for paying and reconciling the bill. They will test as a pilot program
for the SE and SW areas.
Missoula zone rental agreement: Nancy G. will address to the Incident
Management Team meetings next week about ideas to better track rental
vehicles on incidents. There needs to be a release inspection done after each
incident before that vehicle is assigned to the next incident. There also
needs to be discussion on who has the authority to authorize rental vehicles
on resource orders. Also it would be good if we could provide IMT’s a list
of what vehicles are available from the Rental agencies signed up on the
State Rental Agreement. Nancy will give an update at the next SAC
meeting about what ideas and suggestions were brought forward at the IMT
meeting.
The NR SAC committee would request that each agency look at all their
surplus vehicles, such as 6 packs and crew carriers they have, and possibly
use those vehicles in lieu of rentals.
Tim would like Nancy to draft up a plan of rental vehicles procedures and
submit it to him before the next SAC meeting.
Type 3 Caterer Task Group Update
The quotes for the type 3 caterers need to be in by April 11. The awards
will go out on May 1st. One quote has been received as of April 1st. 2-3
companies have been inquiring about the contract. Vendors have some
questions. 1 National Caterer has inquired. That is okay because a lot of
National caterers have smaller units available. Peg will make a list of names
and submit them to Mary for review. Peg & Ann will set up the inspection
times with Mary Fields.
DNRC Commo. Unit, Sinks, etc 2008 update
All the solicitations are out. In regards to the 2 sink units. This year it will
go back to the old amendment. The camp will be responsible for potable
and grey water trucks for 2 sink units on an incident. An amendment was
sent out addressing this.
There have been a lot of calls on all the Solicitations, even the Commo
Units. In regards to the Commo Units, they will be inspected at the time of
dispatch. During the equipment inspection workshop, Kevin will have
someone come and address the inspectors and give them some insight on
inspecting this type of equipment & radios. Kevin & Tim will look in to
having Sean Gallagher there.
There has been a lot of interest in the solicitation for the sack lunches.
Vendors have been calling and wanting to be added to the list. Last year
there were about 80 venders interested and this year there has been about
360.
Some changes to the porta pottie solicitation. The 75 mile radius has been
changed to a 50 mile radius. The units carried have been changed from a
minimum of 5, to a minimum of 10 units.
The EERA’s will all be posted on the internet in a PDF file. These will not
be good for use in incident payment packages though.
Resource Availability List: (EERA Equipment for Fire Hire List)
By June 1st, a compiled list of specialized equipment will be sent in to Kathy
from all the dispatch centers. Kathy will send out a reminder notice to all
the zones to have the compiled lists into her by June 1st. The Equipment
desk at NRCC can compile all the equipment and put them all on a master
list. The master list will then be distributed to all the dispatch center.
Debbie brought up that there should be a definition for each list of
equipment listed on the NRCG website, so contractors can determine the
difference and the importance of each.
Nancy and Jane had an idea in having a cheat sheet or give a reference to the
glossary sent out with each EERA providing the vendors the information
about the different equipment lists and programs used so they can determine
the importance of each program or list. This situation was kind of resolved
by not posting the EERA Equipment for Fire Hire list on the web.
Debbie will ask Kathy Oelke for the FOIA direction for requests from the
public.
Dispatching Procedures for the 2008 Solicitations
All the solicitations for the water handling equipment is all spelled out in the
guidelines and followed. For the porta potties and other equipment on
solicitations, some other guidelines are followed. Dispatch offices take in
consideration closest forces and other measures to determine what vendor
they will use. We need to make sure to document the reasons for choosing
another company over the other. Nancy will be putting together a one page
document for dispatching EERA equipment. The document will identify
protocols that are standard and some that are variable. Nancy and Kathy
hope that most of the dispatch offices will be proactive towards this
document. Some issues that will be addressed are if we will place resource
orders with the host dispatch center for the specified piece of equipment, or
go directly to the vendor and look at a standard on what types of equipment
will be entered into ROSS. For future SAC committee meetings, someone
from the dispatch steering committee could attend the meetings to help
address the dispatching issues brought up. Kathy and Nancy will look into
this and let Tim know.
CANR/Inspector/HETS
PD Updates: SAC group will look over the PD’s for the Lead Equipment
Inspector, Equipment Inspector, Contract Administrative Technical
Specialist and the Heavy Equipment Technical Specialist and give their feed
back to Tim and Kevin. Tim and Kevin will then let Jane know their
feedback. Jane will then finalize the PD’s and post them to the NRCG
website by the week of April 7-12th.
Workshop Updates
Inspector Workshops
There will be 2 equipment inspector workshops this year. The 1st workshop
will begin at 0800 on Tuesday, May 6th in Billings at the Best Western Inn,
and end at 1300 on Thursday the 8th. The 2nd workshop will begin at 0800
on May 20th in Frenchtown, and end at 1300 on Thursday the 22nd. The
CANR workshop training will be incorporated into these two work shops as
well.
Dozer Boss Course
There are currently 35 people signed up. Most of the nominations are from
out of region. Dates are the 14th through the 18th of April in Helena. S-232,
Dozer Boss will be offered during the work shop. There will be night
operations with excavators and dozers. There will also be daily inspections
on the equipment. Approximate 6 hours of inspections at each workshop.
There are a lot of good applicants applying, some contracting officers, a few
retirees and some RO engineers, etc. Looks like there will be good
leadership in those positions.
Critical shortage positions
No new information at this time.
Radio Issues: A lot of confusion with radios. The radios that are adopted
nationally are not really meeting our needs. Hoping NIFC will let us know
what direction we need to go. Kevin will have Sean or Steve come speak at
the inspector’s workshop to look at the contractors radios, to see what they
are operating with, so as an agency we don’t make the same problems year
after year.
USFS Bus Plan
Closes on April 4.
Water Handling Year 2
EaTIS closed on Monday, April 1st. Debbie will start running reports.
Debbie will look over the renewals and get the second year updates in.
Debbie will inform dispatch centers where to look, for changes made to each
EERA agreement.
Fire Staffing Proposal
Fire Staffing Solutions Company has proposed operating as a subcontractor
to BV engine companies. Based on the Montana Supreme Court ruling on
workman’s comp, we can not allow subcontractors on engines. Debbie is
going with this decision of the Montana Supreme Court ruling & will notify
FSS. It has been pushed up to the national level, not sure yet what their
input is, may require OGC input.
DOL Health and Welfare Increase
DOL Health and Welfare has increased by .15 cents for 2008. It was $3.01.
Now it is $3.16. Debbie sent out a notification to the vendors giving them a
heads up of the increase.
Level 2 Vendor eAthentication
With VIPER in 2009 it has been determined that all vendors need to have
level 2 vendor eAthentication security in order for their signatures to be
accepted. Debbie will be forwarding Tim an email with the links of sites
and locations available to vendors to get signed up for level 2 vendor
eAuthentication. Tim will get to NR SAC, PTAC & Contractor community.
The eAuthentication help desk will also be available to address contractor
questions too.
Novations
They are all approved. Debbie has three as of April 2nd. Not sure when she
will have time to get to them, as of now.
Faller Module
Each dispatch center will have a priority list that they will follow. When
Fallers or Faller modules are dispatched, they must give the dispatch centers
the names of the individuals who are going on the assignment. It is up to the
dispatch centers to make sure the individuals are listed on the roster on the
award. If a name is not on there, then they are unavailable to be dispatched.
The names on the award rosters will indicate whether the individuals are
approved as professional fallers, or as “C” fallers. The awards for the faller
modules will be good for 3 years.
GIS Unit, Mobile Laundry, Tents/Yurts, Truck Service/Shop Mechanic:
Refer to handout that Tim and Debbie handed out with the close or renewal
dates and award dates for equipment. By June 1st, dispatch will hopefully
have the finalized awards.
Refrigeration Units
Some discussion was brought up on how the cache was dispatching
refrigeration units. Bonnie has an EERA set up with Watkins and
Sheppard’s for refrigeration units. Marty was going to look for the EERA
that was setup for Watkins & Shepard and get it to Tim. Marty believes that
the EERA could be good through 10/31/2008, since that is how most of the
contracts were written. No matter what the situation, once the BV contracts
for refer trucks take place that will super cede the EERA. Tim or Marty will
meet with Bonnie to discuss the new solicitation for refrigeration units.
2009 Solicitation
The first draft of the 2009 solicitation has been sent out. Please get your
comments back to Tim by the next SAC meeting.
DEQ Recycling
Jeff has been approached by the DEQ about setting up recycling bins at fire
camps. The committee agreed this would be a great idea. Jane will send out
the letter she has about recycling to the SAC committee.
Concerns/Discussion
Debbie has expressed some concerns about the new workloads being added
with the faller modules and service truck solicitations. She is not sure they
will have enough time to properly administrate the solicitations and have a
dedicated COR available. She may need to drop these solicitations, due to
workload & no designated COR.
Tim brought forward to the SAC committee an organization chart with some
changes that could help with the recent changes in workloads and the more
work to come with the heavy equipment, hand washing station, etc
solicitations through 2010. He also discussed the division of duties between
himself, Debby & Kevin. Debby, Kevin & Tim would like to change
Kevin’s position to a full time COR in 2008. For 2009 add a procurement
tech. Then for 2010, add 2 more procurement techs. The procurement techs
will be assistants to the COR.
The SAC committee to endorsed the proposal about the concerns with the
increasing workload that Debby, Kevin & Tim currently have, and what
more duties they will have in the years to come with hand-weed washing
stations and heavy equipment solicitations for 2009-2010. As of right now
we are just getting by with the new solicitations we currently have, we need
to stay ahead, so we can be successful and not make mistakes.
Tim , Jane & Kathy will take the proposal to Bob and George once it is
complete. From there it will be discussed with NRCG BOD.
Public Input
No comments received.
Next SAC Meeting
The next SAC meeting will be June 9th at 10:00 am. The place DNRC 2705
Spurgin Road Fire & Aviation Conference room .