Attendees: Tim Murphy, Kevin Erickson, Jane Haker, Debby Wesselius,
Kathy Elzig, Ken Homick, Gail Schultz, Rick Grady,
Jeff Williams, Mary Clark, Velvet Cummins, Julie Polutnik, Jim Reuter, Doug
Bollinger, Debbie Parish, Ron White and Matt Hedrick
VIPR Update (Jane):
The status of the non competitive templates is that they have dropped all but three of the
9 proposed. The 3 categories that are going to go this year are Chippers, Modular Office
Buildings and Drivers w/ Vehicles. All others can be signed up on EERA’s on an as needed base.
We will have a standard template and specifications that we will share with our partners so we start having consistency established.
National competitive schedule : There was a decision for Non-Aviation Fuel Tenders,
EMT kits, Helicopter Trailers and Crash Rescue Trucks to be deferred or dropped.
Standard specifications may not happen for 2010 for Fuel Tenders. If there is a need in our region we could do a skeleton test to see if it works to see if it will be adopted as a national standard.
Crash Rescue Trucks have been dropped, because they are similar to engines with foam.
At the FS ( Fire, AQM) meeting next week Jane will ask how much Masticators, Feller
Bunchers, Skidders, Backhoes, and logging trucks with self loaders are needed and if these should be pre awarded and inspected.
In regards to the communication trailers, Jeff from the DNRC brought up that Command
Trailers, Helicopter support Trailers and Communication trailers should be all part of one template instead of having three different ones since they are all very similar. Action
Item; Kevin will look into this and report back at April NR SAC.
Next week is the NR BOD meeting conference call and Tim will run the revision by them.
Rollover for water handling equipment:
From Jane’s conference call last week on VIPR there has been a staggered implementation of the rollovers. The first wave of the rollover of water handling equipment will take place on March 16 th
in R3 and R4. The second rollover is scheduled to take place on March 30 th for R1. It may move up a week to the 23 rd
if they don’t encounter too many bugs from the first wave.
Action Item; Jane has asked about the possibility of Debby sending out an email to
Debby’s vendor mailing list to share with the vendors the established time frames for the
VIPR rollovers for the water handling equipment, etc. for our region on March 30 th sharing with them also where everything will be posted as well. There have been a lot of phone calls with concerned vendors since this is a new system. This would eliminate a lot of the questions for now. Email will also cover opening of agreements for bid

considerations.
VIPR 1.1 scheduled for March 4 th
. Doug B. will not be able to present for this but will provide a PTAC representative to be there.
Looking at the tools needed to make the training as compact as possible. We are starting as early as March 11 th
for the training.
Action Item; Jane will meet with Laurie & Shane (FESSA) to talk about our wave being the last week of March. Once we feel comfortable about the date for the rollover, Debby will submit an email to the vendors sharing the information so they are informed of what is taking place.
Components of PTAC training:
A power point presentation of a general overview of what has been taking place with the solicitations for the Northern Rockies. Action Item; Jane will update the
NR power point so it’s current & get it to Doug B.
CPS registration. How to register.
Discuss eAuthentication Level 2.
Rick Grady, will introduce vendors to the process for verifying water handling personnel for 2009 & replacement water handling equipment inspections by our 4
MOU holders. ( Same process as last year)
VIPR training. The vendors will be using the online tutorial.
Provide vendors the roll over instructions and a tentative timeline for the roll over.
The first PTAC training is scheduled for March 16 th
in Coeur d’Alene. NWSA is going to incorporate Workman’s Comp information and DOT regulations at the Kalispell and
Coeur d’Alene presentations. The following is a list of tentative PTAC training:
• Coeur d’Alene 3/16/09 – IDL Office
• Kalispell 3/17/09 Mt. FWPs Regional Office
• Dillon 3/19/09 – Dillon Search & Rescue Building
• Miles City 3/20/09
• Missoula 3/23/09 – Missoula PTAC Center
• Great Falls 3/25/09 – L&C Interpretive Center
• Billings 3/26/09 – War Bonnet
• Bozeman - PENDING
• ON-Line Tutorial Training Tool
Doug will also let the vendors know about the preference components for 2010. There won’t be just service disabled. There will be 8a, Hub zone, Service disabled and Small business for all federal solicitations. This will only affect the cascade on the priority list.
The time frame for the evaluations to be entered into CPS is hopefully by the end of June.
Action Item; Kelly - PTAC VIPR Training tentative schedule will be posted to the
NRCG website.
Mongoose Update (Tim & Julie)
Julie has compiled an Access Database that has different reports available to pull by

dispatch Center for easy access.
The main report with the vendor names and personnel qualifications will be posted to the
NRCG website. The plan was to do this so the non FS individuals had access to the website. There were issues of the report being posted to the NRCG website. There is a risk of having personnel information posted to the website. It may need to be an Intranet posting because of propriety issues. There also could be the option of doing a password protective posting on the NRCG website or on a FTP site. We need to make it available for all individuals involved to have access.
This year, water handling company individuals will need to bring their verification and red card showing that they have been verified and passed by the approved MOU holder on dispatches. This will be checked with the Mongoose report.
Tim has asked Patty Welch to come in twice (+/-) a week to help keep the new Mongoose database updated. The mail / fax of the approval folks will come to Debby at the RO for filing and Patty will work from there to post the information.
Action Item; Julie will look into the possibility of having the site password protective.
The issue is who will be the one to keep everyone informed of the log in information.
Debby will check with Jennifer OGC about internet/intranet personnel information posting.
Julie will also add a filter to filter by agreement number along with also being able to query by the company’s name.
Inspection / Verification MOU Update (Tim)
For 2009 there are four MOU’s. There has been a question raised on why R1 is able to have MOU’s while other regions do not. R1 AQM & OGC legal council believes that we are following the rules for our MOU holders. Northern Rockies will continue to use the four MOU holders for inspection and verifications. Action Item; Tim will update
NRCG BOD on 2/24 & get green light to proceed with MOU holder inspections & verifications for 09.
The only equipment to be inspected is replacement equipment for this season. Mainly this year’s workload will be qualification verification of personnel. The MOU holders will verify the vendors and fax / mail the form into Debby. The information will then be entered into Mongoose. All vendor personnel will need to bring there red cards and signed verification forms on every dispatch.
Jane will meet with Doug to have the information needed for dispatches added to the
PTAC training.
BLM Solicitation Update (Velvet & Mary)
Potable Water is still in place with 2009 being the 3 rd
year of a 3 year agreement.
The first week of March is planned for putting together the solicitation for the Grey
Water Trucks. There is currently a national template for the Grey Water Trucks.
Inspections will be pre awarded for Grey Water Trucks.
Action Item; Kevin will work with Ann Vogt on a time frame for inspections.

Debby will still continue to sign the agreements with BLM. The awards will be done on a 1449 form in order to be posted into Fed Biz Ops.
DNRC Solicitation Update (Jeff)
Potable toilets and hand washing stations: Comment period is closed. Solicitation opens on March 17 th
and closes on April 26 th
.
Sack lunches: Comment period is closed. Solicitation opens on March 23 rd
and closes on
May 4 th
.
Rental vehicles: comment period is closed. There will be an additional form added for check out at incidents for tracking purposes. The solicitation will be out on March 25 th and will close on May 12 th
.
Communication Trailers: The solicitation will be out on April 1 st
and will close on April
30 th
. The comment period will end on April 15 th
.
Mt. Worker’s Comp. (Tracy G.)
The plan for ICCU is to monitor fire activity on the NRCC website to track when T1 or
T2 Teams are assigned to an incident.
They will then coordinate with Tim to determine site and timing of compliance checks.
This year we will establish a back up contact for ICCU to contact. It could be another person off the NRCG Business Committee ( eg Jane Haker).
The Host Unit Rep will then introduce the ICCU team to the IC.
If a fire is over 16 days old and over, ICCU would like to pick up current IAPs. They could request copies for 10-12 days if available.
ICCU main contact at fires will be the Finance Section Chief. Jane will be talking with other Finance Section Chiefs in our area about the guidelines we will be following with
ICCU and what can be provided. We can not share the TIN, EIN or SSN.
Jane had suggested the possibility of compiling a report at the end of the incident from
ISUITE if available to ICCU. This would possibly make it so ICCU would not have to go to fire camps. Action Item; Jane will work together with Tracy from Mt. WC on compiling a standardization of information needed. Tracy will get together with other individuals from the Mt. WC to see if this will work.
For Extra Territorial Agreements or for contractors going out of the state of Montana, it will be their responsibility to contact their office about the regulations in other states for
Work Comp Coverage.
USFS Solicitation Update - Debby
Acquisition Policy Updates/Incident Only EERA’s :
The OF-294 EERA is incident specific and the agreement ends at the end of the incident.
If a double shift is needed there will need to be an agreement needed. This will need to be done for our BV equipment as well because their contract is not written for double shift.
The SF-1449 is to be used for all preseason agreements and for agreements that are to be effective for longer than one incident. The EERA and IBPA form are both primarily payment forms.

E-Verify/Level 2 eAuthentication: This provides contractors with a secure electronic signature. So far there have been very little problems said about eAuthentication.
CCR Revisions: CCR will change to individual accounts (User ID and Password) for log-in, replacing the current Trading Partner identification number (TPIN). Passwords will need to be updated every 60 days.
Debby will not award to a vendor who is not in CCR.
Novation/Transfer of IBPAs: If a determination is made by the CO, in accordance with
FAR 42.1203 (c) that it is in the government’s best interest to recognize the proposed successor in interest, the contractor provides the required documentation, and legal review is obtained. A novation agreement can be executed. Debby needs to be part of any changes made to a novation. A novation is the entire business. The entire portion of the assets involved must be transferred.
Water handling pricing updates in VIPR: Annually we need to reconsider pricing.
Debby did it on the 2 nd
year of the solicitations and will do it again for the 3 rd
year because of the current market conditions. Action Item; Debby will send an email to vendors with the rollover information & pricing updates.
Non VIPR Agreements: Looking at establishing regional protocols. We need to look at what we want signed up for preseason. All Forest Service agreements will be done on a
SF-1449. Non VIPR Agreements will be managed as described in the handout Decision
Tree: Mitigation of Preseason Agreements into VIPR.
This handout is also posted to the
NRCG website.
National Solicitation Templates
Status 2010, (Non –competed): A lot of the templates for 2010 will just have minor changes done. The major changes will be done on the engines and water tenders attributes.
NRCG has changed the typing categories for engines & water tenders, but this will not take effect until 2010 for contractors, when the three year agreements are up.
Right now the 2007, 2008, and 2009 templates are posted at www.fs.fed.us/buisness/incident/publications.php
to view. All these templates have been reviewed by the Fire Equipment Working Team (FEWT).
Dispatch Issues: There is specific information needed to enter into ROSS that is different than the priority lists.
Dispatch priority lists will be posted on Geographic area websites. For Northern
Rockies, it will be posted on the NRCG website in the yellow box with a link to the
Northern Rockies Coordination Center.
Faller/Mechanics: Awards for Fallers and Mechanics are based on the names submitted.
There is no adding after the solicitation is awarded. You can replace people, but it has to be approved by Kevin Erickson. This will not affect the priority list if a mechanic or a

faller is replaced. It has to be like for like or better if they are replacing.
Deviating from the Template: If a deviation needs to be made to a template, a Deviation
Request Form needs to be submitted. This is then brought to the CETT group that provides comments and arguments for or against and present to Tory for a final decision.
Next year since the Northern Rockies will be re solicitating for our BV equipment, we should be looking at the national templates and determining any deviations to the templates we will need to submit.
CPS:
A blank form from CPS with the company’s name at top with the summarization of the company’s performance evaluations from the 2008 season have been compiled onto one
CPS form by Kevin & Tim. Debby will enter the 08 evaluation into CPS by 6/30/09.
The CPS forms will be filed in the contracting officers files. Company’s that have not yet registered in CPS, Debby is printing off a copy of the CPS form with the company’s name at top with the date that she had checked to see if they were registered.
The FESSA team wants to know the process of the evaluations into CPS. Right now there is no real process established, we are just testing a process & will evaluate as completed in June.
Busses:
Busses third year agreement will be sent out for review and will need to be back to
Debby by April 3rd. The agreements will be done on EERA’s and Debby will anticipate having copies to Kathy by April 24th.
Business Committee Update:
The committee is in the final stages of finalizing Chapter 20. This year the rates will be validated and there will be documentation added. The goal is to get Chapter 20 out by
March 1 st
. This date might not be met, but it will be very close.
Equipment Update :
The non competitive templates are posted for chippers, modular office buildings and vehicles with drivers.
Currently the committee is going through the 2010 templates for water handling equipment. The only changes to the water handling equipment will be made to the attributes. These will be posted to Fed Biz Ops for review. The agency review templates will be sent to Jim Reuter to submit to the Equipment Committee for review.
The high level review is done by the Fire Equipment Working Team (FEWT) by March
6 th
. CETT will then review by May 20 th
.
It was proposed to have FESA add timelines to the website showing the dates and process for solicitation review. Also proposed was to have Kevin send out an email with time frames for the 2010 proposal information.
Workshop Dates:
Basic Equipment Inspector Workshop
Coeur d’Alene April 21-23

Helena April 28-30
Advanced Equipment Inspector Workshop
Missoula (Ruby’s Inn) May 12 th
-14 th
ICPI (Incident Contract Project Inspector Workshop)
Missoula (Missouri Room - AFD) May 19 th
.-21st
The dates will be posted on the NRCG website in the yellow box. They will also be advertised on the NRTC website.
Dispatch Update
At the National Coordinator meeting in December it was recognized that dispatch centers need to standardize how equipment are being entered into ROSS.
A few questions were raised in regards of being able to look at the dispatch priority lists before they are posted to make sure that all equipment is placed where they should be.
But for now, it is not known if we will be able to access the DPL’s before they are posted. Also for GACC priority lists for water handling equipment, is there a possibility both lists to be established for local and GACC priority. This question is still being looked into too.
Two questions to be brought forward to Judy D. are:
When VIPR generates DPL’s, what is the process?
If there are changes to the DPL, how will we notice the changes made?
Next Meeting
Friday, April 24 th
at 0800-1700hrs.
This will be another scheduled video conference.