Stewardship Contracting Reporting, Guidance, and Directives
Stewardship Contracting Direction
The USDA Forest Service and the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received new authority to implement stewardship contracting and agreements in Section 8205 of Public Law 113-79, the Agricultural Act of 2014 (PDF, 75 KB). The Agricultural Act of 2014 grants the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management authority to enter into stewardship contracting projects for up to 10 years with private persons or public or private entities, by contract or by agreement, to perform services to achieve land management goals for the national forests or public lands that meet local and rural community needs. Section 8205 supersedes the authority granted to the Forest Service in section 347.
Forest Service
- FSH 2409.19 Renewable Resources Handbook, Chapter 60 Stewardship Contracting, June 13, 2016 (Microsoft Word document, 223 kb)
This chapter of the Forest Service Handbook provides the agency direction to implement stewardship contracting authority. The guidance and procedures in this direction include appropriate use of the authority, stewardship contracting project development and implementation, and monitoring the use of the stewardship contracting authority. - Forest Service Manual FSM 2400 - Timber Management (Microsoft Word document, 388 kb)
Amendment to the Forest Service Timber Management Manual including updates for Stewardship Contracting. - Forest Service Stewardship Contracting Questions & Answers (PDF, 25 kb)
Questions and answers about Stewardship Contracting as it affects the Forest Service. - Forest Service Stewardship Contracting Fact Sheet (PDF, 13 kb)
Fact sheet about Stewardship Contracting as it affects the Forest Service, including goal, authority, and definitions.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
- BLM Stewardship Contracting
A link to the Bureau of Land Management's Stewardship Contracting web page with information and links to their guidance.
Authority
- Section 604 (16 USC 6591c) of Public Law 108-148 as amended by Section 8205 of Public Law 113-79, the Agricultural Act of 2014 - grants the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management permanent authority to enter into stewardship contracting projects for up to 10 years, by contract or by agreement, to perform services to achieve land management goals for the National Forests or public lands that meet local and rural community needs. Section 8205 supersedes the temporary authority granted to the Forest Service in section 347 of Public Law 105-277, the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Appropriations Act, 1999.
- 36 CFR § 223 Subpart I Stewardship End Result Contracting Projects - Federal regulation established to implement stewardship authority in 16 USC 6591c.
- Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 (PDF) - authorizes the Secretaries of Agriculture and Interior to give special consideration to tribally-proposed stewardship contracting projects on agency lands bordering or adjacent to trust land.
Integrated Resource Contracts and Agreements for use with Stewardship End Result Contracting Legislation
Integrated resource contracts are used in stewardship contracting. These contracts allow the agency to exchange goods for services.
Integrated Resource Service Contracts
Integrated resource service contracts are to be used when the cost of the services exceeds the value of the timber. These templates are provided as examples only and may be updated without notice and must be tailored for each project. Forest Service personnel should go to the Acquisition Management, Stewardship Contracting internal website to locate the current versions of the templates for use in developing new IRSCs. The first template is for those contracts involving construction/reconstruction whether or not additional land management activities are included. The second template is for all land management activities other than construction. One Appendix B will be included with either template to address the activities of the timber harvest.
- Integrated Resource Service Contract (IRSC) - Construction (PDF, 673 KB)
- Integrated Resource Service Contract (IRSC) - Commercial Services (PDF, 644 KB)
- Appendix B: Stewardship Contract Timber Removal Specifications - Tree Measurement (PDF, 159 KB)
- Appendix B: Stewardship Contract Timber Removal Specifications - Scaled (PDF, 201 KB)
Agency direction for use of the integrated resource service contracts is found in Forest Service Handbook 6309.32, the Federal Acquisition Regulation Handbook, including chapter 4G37.
Integrated Resource Timber Contracts
The following two integrated resource timber contracts are to be used when the value of timber exceeds the cost of the services. The first contract is for timber measured after harvest (scaled), and the second contract is for timber measured before removal (tree measurement).
FS-2400-13 Scaled
- FS-2400-13 Division A (10-19) (.docx, 74 KB)
- FS-2400-13 Division B (10-19) (.pdf, 1.97 MB)
- FS-2400-13 Division C (07-22) (.docx, 131 KB)
FS-2400-13T Tree Measurement
- FS-2400-13T Division AT (10-19) (.docx, 52 KB)
- FS-2400-13T Division BT (10-19) (.pdf, 444 KB)
- FS-2400-13T Division CT (07-22) (.doc, 302 KB)
Bid for Integrated Resource Contract
- FS-2400-0014BV (07/14), Best Value Offer (.docx, 58 KB)
- FS-2400-0014BVU (07/14), Best Value Unit Rate Offer (.docx, 142 KB)
Agency direction for use of the integrated resource timber contracts is found in chapter 60 of Forest Service Handbook 2409.19, Renewable Resources Handbook.
Agreements
Agreements may be used for stewardship contracting. The agreements templates below have been provided as an example of how Forest Service stewardship agreements are constructed. There may have been updates to the official stewardship agreements templates since these examples were posted. Forest Service personnel should go to the Grants and Agreements internal website, Templates (Forest Service employees only) to locate the current version of the template for use in developing a new stewardship agreement.
Direction
- FSM 1500 - External Relations: Chapter 1580 - Grants, Cooperative Agreements, and Other Agreements (.doc, 209 KB)
- FSH 1509.11 - Grants, Cooperative Agreements, And Other Agreements Handbook Chapter 70 – Partnership Agreements (.doc, 610 KB)
Templates
- Master Stewardship Agreement, FS-1500-21 (.docx, 77 KB)
- Stewardship Agreement SPA, FS-1500-21A (.docx, 334 KB)
- Stewardship Agreement SPA (Non-timber), FS-1500-21A (.docx, 67 KB)
- Stewardship Agreement Financial Plan, FS-1500-21B (.xlsx, 68 KB)
- Stewardship Agreement, FS-1500-21C (.docx, 334 KB)
- Stewardship Agreement (Short form), FS-1500-21D (.docx, 83 KB)