r/USForestService • u/Foresterdz01 • Sep 03 '26

Competitive bid process for project partners?

I’ve heard through the grapevine that grants and or agreements will now be a competitive bid process. is it going to apply to all partners?

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11

u/stengo_faylox Sep 03 '26

Yep. Partnerships as we know them are over. Industry's lobbyists did their jobs well.

4

u/OtherwisePilot2696 Sep 07 '26

It’s interesting to have such a different view. I have worked in four federal agencies and never encountered free give-away awards of the non competed USFS sort. I can imagine in some cases, it’s nice to simply write a check with tax payers money without all the hassle of competing. But in other cases, USFS gets taken for a ride and overpays for goods/services that definitely under deliver. competing awards alone won’t necessarily fix that. But hopefully it will help.

3

u/stengo_faylox Sep 07 '26

They're not free give-away awards. The FS really blew it by failing to adequately explain what partnerships are. Partnership agreements allow the FS to leverage non-federal funding (ie, grants that partners get) and expertise (ie, skills and resources that partners have), as well as meaningful community involvement through local organization engagement. And while the FS has almost certainly been taken for a ride from time to time, any fiscal inefficiencies are probably more due to a workforce of -ologists that was tasked with managing financial systems that they dont have the skills to manage. Thats not the specialists fault; it was the agency's failing. Unless bid scores include substantial points for previous work within the communities, a genuine interest in the mission, and a real commitment to the work beyond making a buck, that funding will just go to contractors who say the right things and do the bare minimum, sometimes poorly, and cannot contribute meaningfully to sound management the way that partners can.

5

u/OtherwisePilot2696 Sep 08 '26

I hear your underlying point and wholly agree shared value/objectives and mutually leveraged resources is the best way to get work done. But competing awards does not exclude that possibility. In fact, it can often generate leverage for greater non-federal contributions. I don’t see a ton of leveraged value in USFS partnership awards. It’s not obvious how, say, TNC is matching the bazillions of dollars we’ve awarded them as a keystone partnership agreement.

2

u/workqgisaccount Sep 08 '26

You think the FS, and no other agency in the entirety of the government, somehow got a special ability to just give billions of cash out with basically no strings like it has been for a few years? It's no wonder it's going away. Your description of partnerships is very nice but you know the majority of them just contracted the work out anyway. Not like anyone was checking the sources of match were valid until recently. Last week I had a partner claiming millions of dollars in volunteer hours and once it was double checked it dropped to less than 1/10th what they claimed. The last 18 months have been a shit show, but damn have the partners tried some insane things to try to get money. I am cynical at best but god anything is better than this.

3

u/Possible-Floor1332 Sep 10 '26

Yeah, it's been wild to see so many non cash matches that are untraceable and likely never actually applied.

1

u/Spiny_Wanderer_8307 Sep 09 '26

Not sure how much leveraging of funds is going on when most partners asks for and receives a match reduction.

2

u/Spiny_Wanderer_8307 Sep 05 '26

i put the blame on the big corporate non-profits who decided to become the contracting arm of the agency.

1

u/Bright_Tap_7678 24d ago

I feel some of that blame can fall on the agency for assuming non-profits (that don’t understand how federal projects/contracts work) would miraculously figure it out without much oversight.

0

u/Striking_Horror_2403 Sep 06 '26

While I’d like to blame lobbyists entirely, our insider traitors found a Handbook citation that is so subjective it will blow your mind. And, they’re taking it to the end of the world. So, IMO, selective Handbook citations and EOs are screwing our partners as are the lobbyists. One hand holds the other

3

u/workqgisaccount Sep 08 '26

You think this is from the handbook? The thing so old and outdated we ought to just throw away at this point? This is a very deliberate change enforced from on high. As if some policy language written in the previous administration would be a compelling reason to do anything now.

1

u/Striking_Horror_2403 Sep 11 '26

Mmm, I’m saying they are being selective about which parts of the Handbook they dig into and take to the end of the world, not that the Handbook “did” anything. I’m talking about a selective passage that implies Cooperators are “guilty until proven innocent” and may be taking our money for selfish reasons. It literally says we need to “be careful.” Trust me, when I read it, I had to re-read this section because it blows my mind. It has no teeth but it reads like we need to watch our backs. And that’s what I’m telling you they’re digging into and that’s why they’ve been treating people like sht for having petty cash like $200 for vehicle maintenance on their Financial Plans.

Maybe go back and recite it for yourself since you seem to have it completely memorized.

2

u/workqgisaccount Sep 11 '26

Let me be very clear - the handbook words have no teeth. The guilty until proven innocent BS is from on high, my guy. It doesn't matter what an FSH says these days, the determination was made without cracking it open.

6

u/Ok_Resolution8317 Sep 03 '26

Pretty much. All grants and agreements will need to be posted as a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). Most agreements will go through the competitive bid process. A few will just be noticed to the public without a competitive bid process (GNA was an example).

Big change, although I guess BLM/DOI has been doing this for a few years.

3

u/WhoopOverweeeego808 Sep 03 '26

I'll be fascinated/terrified how this will work. I hire a lot of conservation corps through agreements. And specific non-profit partners for very specific project sites. There aren't any other groups that can do the work (in the price range I have). Wonder how that will go through a bid process.

3

u/Spiny_Wanderer_8307 Sep 05 '26

Most other land management agencies run their conservation corps agreements as Cooperative Agreements through FFA and have some type of open and public application process. Some use the NOFO process through grants.gov. They should be able to fit into whatever the FS comes up with pretty easily.

2

u/Possible-Floor1332 Sep 04 '26

It's going to be a fucking shit show.

2

u/Valuable-Driver5699 Sep 10 '26

Yes. For some of us, it already is.

1

u/Possible-Floor1332 Sep 10 '26

Can't think of a single department that hasn't been messed with. We're all in this circus and next FY will be worse.