UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
http://www.blm.gov/

February 20, 2007

In Reply Refer To:
1340 (FA-107) I

EMS TRANSMISSION 03/02/2007
Instruction Memorandum No. 2007-069
Expires: 09/30/2008

Program Area: Non-Fire Emergency

Purpose: The purpose of this Instruction Memorandum (IM) is to provide administrative direction (base 8, overtime, accountable property, charge card purchases and documentation) to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) employees assigned to all-hazard incidents in support of the National Response Plan (NRP) Emergency Support Function No. 4 (ESF#4).

This IM does not apply to other emergency support functions and to those employees deployed directly to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Policy/Action: The following instructions and guidance apply to BLM employees deployed under ESF#4.

State Point of Contact (POC) – Each state has designated a State Point of Contact (State POC), (see Attachment 1). The role of the State POC is significant to the facilitation and submission of proper documentation to the Office of Fire and Aviation (OF&A), Budget & Evaluation Office (FA-107). Kris King is the national lead for billing FEMA. The roles and responsibilities of the State POC, as well as specific guidance for processing requests, are outlined in Attachment 2.

Coding Base 8 and Overtime – FEMA policy will not reimburse agencies for base hours for employees who are normally working at the time of the incident. This includes all permanent full time (PFT) employees and may include some career seasonal and temporary employees (depending on their normal period of funding).
BLM employees who are normally working at the time of the incident and are assigned to or in support of ESF#4 will code base hours to their home office and program. BLM career seasonal employees, who are extended beyond their normal period of funding in support of ESF#4, will code base hours to the appropriate reimbursable code (see your State POC for code).

State offices, field offices and dispatch centers are required to provide names of these employees and the normal period of funding to the State POC to substantiate base hours for reimbursement as it occurs. Failure to do so will result in hours being charged back to the home office or program.

All employees will code overtime, premium pay and travel expenses to the appropriate reimbursable code identified on the resource order (e.g. FA-340-2830-NY-xxxx).

The overtime provisions of Public Law 106-558 (Wildland Fire Overtime) apply only to those assigned to emergency wildland fire activities whose overtime work is exempt from coverage under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This provision does not apply to employees dispatched in support of all-hazard incidents (hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, oil spills, and other non fire emergencies). Do not use time and attendance (T&A) hours code 113 for any all-hazard incident. Use regular overtime codes (110, 121, 120, etc.) when recording overtime in support of ESF#4 incident.

Exempt employees assigned in support of ESF#4 and assigned to a nonexempt position for more than 20 percent of their work hours in any weekly tour of duty, are entitled to be paid under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 5 CFR 551.208 (d). Incident position titles shall be indicated on the Emergency Firefighter Time Report, OF-288, to assist home units in documenting nonexempt status for pay purposes. Reference the Interagency Incident Business Management Handbook (IIBMH), Chapter 10, Section 12.11a and the Office of Fire and Aviation (OF&A) IM No. 2006-040, Emergency Incident Related Payroll Operations. Nonexempt individuals retain their nonexempt status regardless of the emergency work performed.

Hazard Pay - Refer to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 5, Chapter 1, Part 550 to determine if hazard pay is applicable for general schedule employees. Refer to CFR, Title 5, Chapter 1, Part 532 for information on environmental differential for wage grade employees.

The reason for hazard pay/environmental differential should be indicated on the OF-288 to assist home units in applying pay regulations.

Biweekly Maximum Earnings Limitation - All employees working on or in support of all non-wildland fire incidents or activities are subject to the biweekly maximum earnings limitation. In certain circumstances, the Department of the Interior (DOI) may waive the limitation upon request from the BLM. The Assistant Director, OF&A has been authorized to: (a) determine emergency situations for the purpose of lifting the biweekly maximum earnings limitation; (b) determine emergency situations for FLSA purposes; and (c) coordinate the application of these new authorities with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the National Park Service and the US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. When the biweekly limitation is waived, written direction will be issued from the Assistant Director of Fire and Aviation. In such situations, the annual maximum earnings limitation remains in place.

The annual maximum earnings limitation rule limits an employee’s basic and premium pay to the annual salary of the greater of the maximum step of a GS-15 grade level, including locality and/or special salary rate pay or Level V of the Executive Schedule (5 CFR 550.106(c)(1)).

Emergency Workers (Casuals/Administratively Determined (AD) – To assist with ESF#4 support, the BLM is authorized to utilize, hire and pay emergency workers (casuals/ADs) in accordance with the 2007 AD Pay Plan for Emergency Workers. All casual time and travel will be charged to the reimbursable project code assigned to the mission assignment on the resource order. Please reference the most current FA IM in regards to hiring and payment procedures for casuals.

Work/Rest, Length of Assignment, and Days Off – BLM personnel assigned in support of ESF#4 will follow directions in the Interagency Incident Business Management Handbook, Chapter 10, Section 12.7 for Work/Rest, Length of Assignment, and Days Off Requirements.

Cache Items – All accountable/durable property such as tents, sleeping bags, cots, chaps, Nomex, flight suits/helmets, lighting kits, ridge poles, chainsaws, radios, radio kits, generators, pumps, etc. must be returned through the normal return process to the servicing incident support cache. FEMA will not reimburse the BLM for accountable property, therefore the home unit will be charged for items not returned.

Purchase of Accountable/Sensitive Property – Accountable and or sensitive property purchases must be done by a contracting officer operating within their warranted authority. These items would include: office equipment, digital cameras, computer software, etc.

Charge Card Purchases (Micro-Purchasing) – Every effort should be made to utilize a buying team or contracting officer for all hazard incidents purchases. Consumable needs (miscellaneous office supplies or incidentals for personal use) may be purchased by individuals who hold micro-purchasing authority. All charges must be supported by an incident order, request number (resource order number), and valid legible receipt copy. FEMA will consider charge card reimbursement only if the necessary supporting documentation is provided.

Charge card adjustments for all-hazard incident charges will be made by the home organization (State Office, District Office, field office). In order to pull the information needed from the Management Information System (MIS), the following format is required on the description line in CARD Table in the Federal Financial System (FFS): home office code, first four letters of the last name, and the request number as indicated on the resource order in block 12 (e.g. a supply order would read AK340 HARP S140 or for overhead, AZ140 JONE O235).

Field offices must ensure that individuals who have made charges on their government charge card in support of an all-hazard incident forward copies of their signed/approved credit card statements along with copies of supporting receipts/documentation to the assigned State POC within five days of card adjustment in FFS (reference BLM Charge Card Manual, Release 1512). When adjusting the default charge code on the credit card, please ensure the associated airfare agent fee is also adjusted.

The default code for charge cards must not be changed in Electronic Accounting Government Ledger System (EAGLS) to the reimbursable charge code.

Documentation
In order for the BLM to receive reimbursement, FEMA requires all documentation charged to the incident be included in the billing. Attachment 3 is a checklist designed to assist the employee in providing the required documentation needed for billing purposes.

The following documentation must be forwarded to your State POC as applicable:

• Resource order.
• All receipts (100%) to include those not required in the Federal Travel Regulations.
• List of names of employees who are not on a resource order but were deployed in support of ESF#4.
• List of names and normal period of funding of career seasonal employees extended in support of ESF#4. Failure to do so will result in hours being charged back to the home office or program.
• Copies of credit card statements. Statements must be signed by the individual and their supervisor. Statements must reflect the appropriate charge code, budget object class, a brief description of charges and legible copies of all receipts associated with the incident.
• Contractual documents (contracts, purchase orders, blanket purchase agreements, etc.).
• Government Bill of Lading.

The State POC will submit the requested documentation to the national lead (FA107) as requested in the POC Guide (Attachment 2). All documentation requested must be organized in the format outlined in this guide. If documentation is received in a format other than what is outlined in this guide, the State Fire Management Officer will be contacted to determine if a correction to the documentation will be made by the State POC, or a charge code for the requested transactions provided to the national lead to charge back the items to the home office unit.

FEMA may require additional clarification on documents previously submitted. The national office will work with the State POC as needed for clarification or further documentation.

Please do not forward:

• Copies of CARD table or a printout of an Electronic Accounting Government Ledger (EAGLS) in lieu of the credit card statement.
• Copies of travel vouchers (travel documents will be provided by the National Business Center Travel Desk).
• Copies of OF-288’s (Emergency Firefighter Time Report).

Time Frame: This IM is effective immediately.

Budget Impact: The total budget impact is unknown, due to ongoing discussions with FEMA regarding reimbursement of costs. However, it could be significant if documentation is not provided in a timely manner. In addition, the workload to compile required documentation is significant.

Background: In a major disaster or emergency, as defined in the Stafford Act, the President “may direct any Federal agency, with or without reimbursement, to utilize its authorities and the resources granted to it under Federal law (including personnel, equipment, supplies, facilities, and managerial, technical, and advisory services) in support of State and local assistance efforts…” (Sections 402 (a)(1) and 502(a)(1) of the Stafford Act, 42 U.S.C. 5170a(1) and 5192(a)(1).

Homeland Security Presidential Directive-5 (HSPD-5) directed the development of a NRP to align Federal coordination structures, capabilities, and resources into a unified, all-discipline, and all-hazards approach to domestic incident management. Under the NRP, the DOI is a supporting agency to ESF#4. The primary agency and coordinator for ESF#4 is the USDA Forest Service. When ESF#4 is activated in support of other ESFs, DOI agencies are sub-tasked by the USDA Forest Service to assist with responsibilities tasked to ESF#4. ESF#4 uses established firefighting and support organizations, processes and procedures as outlined in the National Mobilization Guide. Because of the unique skills and experiences of the wildland fire agencies, most sub-tasks under ESF#4 involve logistical and managerial support to other ESFs. The ultimate goal of the NRP and the ESFs is to save lives, minimize damage, and provide the basis for long-term community recovery and mitigation activities.

Manual/Handbook Sections Affected: No manuals or handbooks are affected by this IM.

Contact: Questions on the FEMA billing process should be referred to Kris King, Budget Technician at 208-387-5357 (primary), or Cindy Callaham, Budget Analyst, at 208-387-5355 (secondary). Policy questions should be referred to Hallie Locklear, National Incident Business Lead at 208-387-5166.

Union: Offices with a union must follow negotiated procedures.

3 Attachments

1 – State Point of Contact List (1 p)
2 – State POC Guide (25 pp)
       - Part One
       - Part Two
       - Part Three
3 – Employee Checklist (1 p)