May 2011 ACSM Government Affairs Update
IN THIS ISSUE…
1. 3% Withholding Tax Update
2. LightSquared GPS Fight Continues
3. STEM Ed Coalition Update
4. COFPAES Delegate Meeting
3% Withholding Tax Update --- Recently, a Final Rule by the IRS was posted in the Federal Register which would extend the effective date of Section 511 of the tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 to January 1, 2013, thus extending the date by one year.
As you may recall, Section 511 required government entities with budgets of $100 million or more that makes payments to any person providing any property or services shall deduct and withhold from such payment a tax in an amount equal to 3% of such payment.
The Final Regulations provide that the withholding and reporting requirements under these regulations apply to payments made after December 31, 2012, subject to an existing contract exception. Thus, under the regulations, payments made under written binding contracts in effect on December 31, 2012, are not subject to section 3402(t) withholding, while payments made after December 31, 2012, under contracts entered into after December 31, 2012, are subject to section 3402(t) withholding unless otherwise excepted.
In addition, if an existing contract is materially modified after December 31, 2012, the contract ceases to be an existing contract and payments under the contract become subject to section 3402(t) withholding. With respect to payments before January 1, 2013, government entities are not required to apply section 3402(t) withholding and the related reporting, and accordingly will not be subject to any liability, penalties or interest for failure to do so.
LightSquared GPS Fight Continues --- ACSM is continuing to fight for the integrity of nationwide GPS as LightSquared (a private company that recently received a waiver from the FCC to develop its 4G wireless network next to the GPS spectrum) continues to move forward with its planned activities; which could disrupt GPS usage throughout the country.
Curt Sumner, Laurence Socci and David Holland met recently with staff from the offices of Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) and Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) as well as Representative Eric Cantor (R-VA) to discuss the effect the FCC waiver for LightSquared will have on the surveying community nationwide. It was clear from the meetings with staff of Senators Warner and Webb that they are on LightSquared’s side of the issue and went so far as to suggest that GPS users should upgrade their GPS units to make them work alongside LightSquared’s proposed network.
The meeting with staff of Majority Leader Eric Cantor went better than the meeting with the Senate staff. Cantor’s staffperson understood the issue and was sympathetic to our concerns.
Laurence Socci and Curt Sumner will meet soon with Marty Dannenfelser, Senior Policy Advisor for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The Energy and Commerce Committee has jurisdiction over the LightSquared GPS issue. We are hoping to have a hearing on the issue and to have an ACSM representative testify at that hearing.
A report on the effects of LightSquared’s proposed network on nationwide GPS is due to the FCC on June 15. In the meantime, continue to write to your Members of Congress and voice your concern regarding this issue. For more information on this issue, go to http://www.saveourgps.org
STEM Ed Coalition Update -- On May 15 the Department of Education released the FY 2011 budget table reflecting the final program funding levels as per the FY 2011 Continuing Resolution. The long term continuing resolution that will fund the federal government through the end of Fiscal Year 2011 (September 30, 2011) that was agreed to last month between the President and Congressional leaders (and which avoided a government shut down) cut $38.5 billion from current spending levels. A number of education programs were cut from the final budget, however, STEM education programs at NSF and the Department of Education fared well in the final CR agreement. Final funding for the FY2011 Dept. of Education Math and Science Partnership was $175 million.
The link to the Department of Education table and budget information can be found at http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/news.html
The National Science Foundation has not yet issued final budget figures for FY2011 programs as of yet.
May 2011 ACSM Government Affairs Update PAge II
The post was too large, so here is the rest of it.
COFPAES Delegate Meeting – COFPAES recently held its Delegate Meeting. ACSM’s own Joe Dolan is the COFPAES Chairman this year. During the morning session, Delegates heard from three speakers on subjects affecting the A/E community. The first speaker was Bret Manley, Legislative Director for Rep. Jeff Denham. He discussed H.R. 1734, the Civilian Property Realignment Act (CPRA).
Introduced May 4, 2011, the purposes of the legislation are to:
(1) consolidate the footprint of Federal buildings and facilities;
(2) maximize the utilization rate of Federal buildings and facilities;
(3) reduce the reliance on costly leased space;
(4) sell or redevelop high value assets that are underutilized to obtain the highest and best value for the taxpayer;
(5) reduce the operating and maintenance costs of Federal civilian real properties through the realignment of other real properties through consolidating, co-locating, and reconfiguring space, and other operational efficiencies;
(6) reduce redundancy, overlap, and costs associated with field offices;
(7) create incentives for federal agencies to achieve greater efficiency in their inventories of civilian real property by enabling agencies to retain and reinvest savings and sale proceeds;
(8) facilitate and expedite the sale or disposal of unneeded civilian properties; and
(9) assist federal agencies in achieving the Government's sustainability goals by reducing excess space, inventory, and energy consumption, as well as by leveraging new technologies.
The second speaker was Dr. Winslow Sargeant, Chief Counsel for Advocacy for the Small Business Administration. Dr. Sargeant discussed issues affecting small business and contracting with the federal government. Among the topics in the discussion were the recently released proposals for the Small Business Size Standards and the Small Business Jobs Act.
The third speaker of the morning was Jeff Lovin, PS. CP of Woolpert, Inc. and MAPPS President, who discussed “New Mobile Mapping Systems Technology for Design, Planning, Facilities Management, and Asset Inventories.”
The afternoon session was the COFPAES Delegate meeting. ACSM Executive Director, Curt Sumner, attended the meeting in place of ACSM’s Alternate Delegate, John Matonich, who was unable to attend the meeting. Here are the highlights of the Delegate Meeting:
GSA Schedule– At a previous COFPAES meeting, Delegates met with representatives from the law firm of Crowell and Moring to discuss a strategy for recinding or reforming the GSA Schedules affecting A/E services in violation of the Brooks Act and voted to engage Crowell and Moring to write a memo for federal agencies documenting how current GSA Schedule contracts and the use thereof by Federal agencies is a violation of Federal law. Crowell and Moring recently provided the brief and it was distributed to the Delegates for review. The next step in the process is for COFPAES staff to review the brief and meet with the GSA and Members of Congress on the issue and share the brief with them.
SBA Size Standards– A proposal to increase the architecture, engineering and surveying (and mapping, individually) size standard from $4.5 million to $19 million in gross annual receipts as a 3 year average has been announced and the comment period has been extended. At a previous COFPAES Delegate meeting, it was determined that there was no unanimous COFPAES position, and as a result, COFPAES would not comment. Individual member organizations may comment if they wish.
NRCS Landowner Contracts– The Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture sent a Scope of Services document to landowners involved in Wetlands Reserve Program Boundary Surveys. Under the Scope of Services, and at the request of NRCS, landowners must submit a statement of survey cost (a quote) to the NRCS Agency Liaison. NRCS will review the quote and, if it is found to be acceptable; it will be incorporated into the Survey Cooperative Agreement. If the quote is not acceptable, NRCS will ask the landowner to obtain two additional quotes. The NRCS must approve the survey cost for the landowner to be eligible for reimbursement.
ACSM is concerned that this procedure violates the Brooks Act, which requires that surveying services be procured by the federal government using Qualifications Based Selection procedures. In this case, it appears NRCS is circumventing the Brooks Act process. It is the landowner who is hiring the surveyor; but NRCS must approve the surveyor --- and that approval is based on the price for the surveyor’s services.
NRCS provided its written rule on the issue, which ACSM is reviewing now.
Executive Order on Political Contribution Disclosure in Bids and Proposals– A draft Executive Order has been leaked from the Obama Administration (and confirmed) that would require all firms competing for federal contracts to include in their bids or proposals the disclosure of certain political contributions. This proposal has been met with bipartisan concern and opposition. A bi-partisan, bicameral letter was sent to President Obama expressing concern of the Congress regarding the Executive Order’s implicit political nature. COFPAES is concerned that the Executive Order is not consistent with the selection of A/E firms using a Qualifications Based Selection process.
COFPAES Federal Markets Conference– COFPAES has previously agreed to host a Federal Markets Conference to provide practitioners insight into federal contracting opportunities and to generate revenue for COFPAES. This is a conference COFPAES hosted for many years through 1990s. A conference is proposed for September 2011 at the AIA. The intent is to start with a small conference in 2011 and based on the success, build a larger conference in a hotel in the future. COFPAES staff is working on the program.
LightSquared GPS Issue– ACSM added the issue of LightSquared (see discussion, above) to the COFPAES agenda for discussion. Curt Sumner laid out the issue and discussed the many reasons ACSM is concerned with the issue and LightSquared’s proposal’s affect on GPS. MAPPS was concerned about the issue and was open to discussion of the issue. The other members of COFPAES --- ASCE, AIA, and NSPE did not show any concern about the issue.
American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, 6 Montgomery Village Avenue, Ste 403, Gaithersburg, MD 20879
Ph. 240-632-9716; Fax: 240-632-1321. www.acsm.net
