Non-Suppression, Non-Emergency Aviation Acquisition and Dispatch Procedures for 2013 Field Season

United States Department of the Interior
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
Alaska State Office
222 West Seventh Avenue, #13
Anchorage, Alaska 99513-7504
https://www.blm.gov

In Reply Refer To:
9400 (LLAK9F000) P

June 5, 2013

Information Bulletin No. AK-2013-002

To: Alaska Aviation Users and Managers

From: State Director

Subject: Non-Suppression, Non-Emergency Aviation Acquisition and Dispatch Procedures for 2013 Field Season

The BLM Alaska Fire Service (AFS) has implemented changes to the non-suppression, non-emergency aviation acquisition and dispatching services it provides to BLM Alaska for the 2013 field season. These changes have been implemented in order to provide consistent service across BLM Alaska and consolidate those services in one office in an effort to achieve efficiency. The changes to the non-suppression, non-emergency aviation dispatching will be formally evaluated at the end of the field season by users and AFS personnel.

For the 2013 field season all non-suppression, non-emergency aviation dispatching will be performed by the Southern Zone Dispatch, located at Campbell Tract. This office has been organizationally moved under the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center (AICC), with technical direction provided by the AICC Logistics Coordinator. The consolidation was driven by a variety of factors including turn-over in the AICC Aircraft positions and a need to provide better staffing for non-suppression, non-emergency aviation dispatching. Rather than having two offices provide weekend and evening staffing for aviation dispatching, this consolidation will move the work to a single office and should reduce the amount of project funds needed for this required service. As part of the project planning process, a determination can be made to have another agency dispatch office provide the actual flight following services with the concurrence of the Southern Zone Dispatch Office.

Additional changes in flight ordering and procurement have been implemented to bring aviation acquisition into compliance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations. Those changes are documented in IM AK-2013-009. A principle change has been the adoption of the Electronic Flight Request and Scheduling System (e-FRSS). The BLM Alaska State Aviation Plan requires that flight requests be submitted a minimum of three days prior to the planned flight; however, it is recommended that flight requests be submitted a minimum of five
working days prior to the planned flight in order to ensure that all steps to process the flight request, including supervisor and budget approval of the Purchase Request (PR), can occur. Aviation users are responsible to ensure that a PR has been submitted and approved and that a task order has been generated prior to the flight. It is strongly suggested that users follow-up their flight request submission with emails or phone calls ensuring that the PR has been generated and approved in a timely manner.

Questions or requests for clarification should be directed to Ray Crowe, AICC Center Manager, at (907) 356-5677 or r5crowe@blm.gov.

Signed by:
Bud Cribley
State Director

Authenticated by
Anita R. Jette
Alaska Records Specialist