Two Bureau of Land Management Teams Receive the Kelman Group Award for Achievements in Procurement

Two Bureau of Land Management (BLM) teams received the prestigious Kelman Group Award on Friday, April 20, 2001, at a ceremony in the Department of the Interior. The award was presented at 3:00 pm in the Rachael Carson Room, Main Interior Building.

The two teams are the BLM Acquisition Strategies Team located at the BLM National Business Center in Denver, CO, and an interagency Joint HAZMAT Emergency and Planned Response Services Team, which is made up of employees of the BLM, National Park Service, and the USDA Forest Service.

The BLM's Acquisition Strategies Team is being recognized for establishing Bureau, Department, and Government-wide contracts realizing hundreds of thousands of dollars in actual and potential savings. The BLM's HAZMAT Contracting Initiative Group, collaborating with the NPS and USFS, is being recognized for its innovation in cooperation and cost-savings in the Hazardous Response Contract applicable to all three organizations.

"With more than one-third of Interior's funding being used to procure goods and services and provide federal assistance, these teams perform a vital role in accomplishing the Department's mission and goals," said Bob Doyle, BLM Assistant Director for Budget and Fiscal Resources.

Established to recognize energy, inspiration and innovation in acquisition, the Kelman Award is the highest acquisition award bestowed by the Department of the Interior. The award was established in honor of Dr. Steven Kelman, former Administrator of OMB's Office of Federal Procurement Policy in the Office of Management and Budget, who championed procurement reform in the mid-1990s.

The recipients also will be recognized by their peers at the Department of the Interior's Acquisition and Assistance Conference on June 4 at the Hilton Alexandria Conference Center in Alexandria, VA.

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land – 264 million acres – than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western States, including Alaska. The BLM, with a budget of about $1.8 billion and a workforce of about 9,000 full-time, permanent employees, also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate through the nation. The BLM preserves open space by managing the public lands for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, and mining, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources found on the public lands.