(a) Definitions

In this section:

(1) Chief

The term “Chief” means the Chief of the Forest Service.

(2) Director

The term “Director” means the Director of the Bureau of Land Management.

(b) Projects

The Chief and the Director, via agreement or contract as appropriate, may enter into stewardship contracting projects with private persons or other public or private entities to perform services to achieve land management goals for the national forests and the public lands that meet local and rural community needs.

(c) Land management goals

The land management goals of a project under subsection (b) may include any of the following:

(1) Road and trail maintenance or obliteration to restore or maintain water quality.

(2) Soil productivity, habitat for wildlife and fisheries, or other resource values.

(3) Setting of prescribed fires to improve the composition, structure, condition, and health of stands or to improve wildlife habitat.

(4) Removing vegetation or other activities to promote healthy forest stands, reduce fire hazards, or achieve other land management objectives.

(5) Watershed restoration and maintenance.

(6) Restoration and maintenance of wildlife and fish.

(7) Control of noxious and exotic weeds and reestablishing native plant species.

(d) Agreements or contracts

(1) Procurement procedure

A source for performance of an agreement or contract under subsection (b) shall be selected on a best-value basis, including consideration of source under other public and private agreements or contracts.

(2) Contract for sale of property

A contract entered into under this section may, at the discretion of the Secretary of Agriculture, be considered a contract for the sale of property under such terms as the Secretary may prescribe without regard to any other provision of law.

(3) Term

(A) In general

Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the Chief and the Director may enter into a contract under subsection (b) in accordance with section 3903 of title 41.

(B) Maximum

The period of the contract under subsection (b) may exceed 5 years but may not exceed 10 years.

(4) Offsets

(A) In general

The Chief and the Director may apply the value of timber or other forest products removed as an offset against the cost of services received under the agreement or contract described in subsection (b).

(B) Methods of appraisal

The value of timber or other forest products used as an offset under subparagraph (A)—

(i) shall be determined using appropriate methods of appraisal commensurate with the quantity of products to be removed; and

(ii) may—

(I) be determined using a unit of measure appropriate to the contracts; and

(II) may include valuing products on a per-acre basis.

(5) Relation to other laws

Notwithstanding subsections (d) and (g) of section 472a of this title, the Chief may enter into an agreement or contract under subsection (b). Notwithstanding the Materials Act of 1947 (30 U.S.C. 602(a)),¹ the Director may enter into an agreement or contract under subsection (b).

(6) Contracting officer

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary or the Secretary of the Interior may determine the appropriate contracting officer to enter into and administer an agreement or contract under subsection (b).

(7) Fire liability provisions

Not later than 90 days after February 7, 2014, the Chief shall issue for use in all contracts and agreements under this section fire liability provisions that are in substantially the same form as the fire liability provisions contained in—

(A) integrated resource timber contracts, as described in the Forest Service contract numbered 2400-13, part H, section H.4; and

(B) timber sale contracts conducted pursuant to section 472a of this title.

(e) Receipts

(1) In general

The Chief and the Director may collect monies from an agreement or contract under subsection (b) if the collection is a secondary objective of negotiating the contract that will best achieve the purposes of this section.

(2) Use

Monies from an agreement or contract under subsection (b)—

(A) may be retained by the Chief and the Director; and

(B) shall be available for expenditure without further appropriation at the project site from which the monies are collected or at another project site.

(3) Relation to other laws

(A) In general

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the value of services received by the Chief or the Director under a stewardship contract project conducted under this section, and any payments made or resources provided by the contractor, Chief, or Director shall not be considered monies received from the National Forest System or the public lands.

(B) Knutson-Vanderberg ² Act

The Act of June 9, 1930 (commonly known as the “Knutson-Vanderberg ² Act”) (16 U.S.C. 576 et seq.) shall not apply to any agreement or contract under subsection (b).

(f) Costs of removal

Notwithstanding the fact that a contractor did not harvest the timber, the Chief may collect deposits from a contractor covering the costs of removal of timber or other forest products under—

(1) section 490 of this title; and

(2) section 498 of this title.

(g) Performance and payment guarantees

(1) In general

The Chief and the Director may require performance and payment bonds under sections 28.103-2 and 28.103-3 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation, in an amount that the contracting officer considers sufficient to protect the investment in receipts by the Federal Government generated by the contractor from the estimated value of the forest products to be removed under a contract under subsection (b).

(2) Excess offset value

If the offset value of the forest products exceeds the value of the resource improvement treatments, the Chief and the Director may—

(A) use the excess to satisfy any outstanding liabilities for cancelled agreements or contracts; or

(B) if there are no outstanding liabilities described in subparagraph (A), apply the excess to other authorized stewardship projects.

(h) Cancellation ceilings

(1) In general

Notwithstanding section 3903(b)(1) of title 41, the Chief and the Director may obligate funds in stages that are economically or programmatically viable to cover any potential cancellation or termination costs for an agreement or contract under subsection (b).

(2) Advance notice to Congress of cancellation ceiling in excess of $25,000,000

Not later than 30 days before entering into a multiyear agreement or contract under subsection (b) that includes a cancellation ceiling in excess of $25,000,000, but does not include proposed funding for the costs of cancelling the agreement or contract up to that cancellation ceiling, the Chief or the Director, as applicable, shall submit to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives a written notice that includes—

(A) a description of the cancellation ceiling amounts proposed for each program year in the agreement or contract;

(B) the reasons why the cancellation ceiling amounts described under subparagraph (A) were selected;

(C) a description of the extent to which the costs of contract cancellation are not included in the budget for the agreement or contract; and

(D) an assessment of the financial risk of not including budgeting for the costs of agreement or contract cancellation.

(3) Transmittal of notice to OMB

Not later than 14 days after the date on which written notice is provided under paragraph (2), the Chief or the Director, as appropriate, shall transmit a copy of the notice to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

(i) Monitoring and evaluation

(1) In general

The Chief and the Director shall establish a multiparty monitoring and evaluation process that accesses the stewardship contracting projects conducted under this section.

(2) Participants

Other than the Chief and Director, participants in the process described in paragraph (1) may include—

(A) any cooperating governmental agencies, including tribal governments; and

(B) any other interested groups or individuals.

(j) Reporting

Not later than 1 year after February 7, 2014, and annually thereafter, the Chief and the Director shall submit to the congressional committees described in subsection (h)(2) a report on—

(1) the status of development, execution, and administration of agreements or contracts under subsection (b);

(2) the specific accomplishments that have resulted; and

(3) the role of local communities in the development of agreements or contract plans.