U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT NEWS RELEASE
Alaska State Office
Alaska State Office
| Contacts: | Erin Curtis, BLM 907-271-4418 |
Federal Agencies in Alaska to Improve Payment Process for Aircraft Leasing
The Department of the Interior (DOI) is changing its procurement and payment process for leasing operational support aircraft in Alaska. The Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey are participating in a 2013 field season trial program designed to test and evaluate a new process to resolve delayed payments to vendors.
The new procedures are expected to speed up payments from DOI agencies to vendors who provide critical aviation services to Alaska. The trial process will also give vendors access to local contract representatives who can address and resolve issues.
Pat Pourchot, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Alaska Affairs, welcomed the change. “Payment delays for contracted air services aren’t fair for our suppliers and hurt our Departmental missions,” he said. “This new trial business process was initiated by our Alaska agencies in response to vendor concerns—as echoed by Alaska’s Congressional Delegation--. I believe this approach will effectively address the issue of delinquent payments and better serve all who work with essential contract air services in Alaska.”
Currently, Interior’s Business Center Acquisition Services Division provides aviation acquisition and vendor payment services on behalf of all DOI Bureaus, after which the Bureaus reimburse the Acquisition Division for the flights. Under the trial program Bureaus will issue their own task orders for non-fire, non-emergency requirements. This substantial change to the business process will enable the Alaska Bureaus the ability to acquire vendor services, and assume responsibility for vendor payment after services are delivered. This eliminates redundancies in the internal process.
Alaska bureaus, Interior’s Business Center, and other partners joined together to support the implementation of the trial program and eagerly await its successful outcome. The Department continues to pursue other improvements while the trial program gets underway.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
Alaska State Office 222 W. 7th Ave., #13 Anchorage, AK 99517