REMINDER: TAPP RULE COMMENTS DUE 2/27 REMINDER: TAPP RULE COMMENTS DUE 2/27

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>]

 ***** DEADLINE REMINDER ******

This message is to serve as a reminder that comments on DOD's Proposed 
Rule on Technical Assistance for Public Participation (TAPP) are due 
February 27, 1997.

We posted the Proposed Rule in its' entirety on January 8, 1997. Below 
is Lenny Siegel's summary that was posted the following day. For an 
electronic version of the rule, please email me at aimeeh@igc.org and I 
will forward a copy. As always, we encourage those of you commenting 
to post your comments on this newsgroup.

Aimee Houghton
-----------------

TAPP RULE SUMMARY

The following is my summary of the Department of Defense's Proposed 
Rule on Technical Assistance for Public Participation (TAPP) in Defense 
Environmental Restrain Activities. The entire proposed rule was 
published in the Federal Register on December 27, 1996 (68184-68197), 
and we posted an electronic version on the careerpro newsgroup on 
January 8, 1997. If the rule is implemented as proposed - or in a 
similar form - community members of restoration advisory boards will 
soon be able to call upon their own technical consultants for advice 
and other technical services.

The Defense Department Environmental Security/Cleanup office is seeking 
comments on or before February 25, 1997. We suggest that stakeholders 
not only submit comments directly to the Environmental Security office, 
but that they post them on this newsgroup for consideration by other 
potential commenters. Comments to the Defense Department should be 
mailed to the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary for Environmental 
Security/Cleanup, 3400 Defense, Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-3400. 
They may also be submitted electronically to ferrebpl@acq.osd.mil. For 
further information from that office, contact Patricia Ferrebee or 
Marcia Read at 703/697-5372 or 703/697-7475.

The TAPP Rule is the outgrowth of the February, 1993 recommendations of 
the Federal Facilities Environmental Restoration Dialogue Committee and 
the Underwood-Kohl amendment in the fiscal year 1995 Defense 
Authorization Act. That amendment provided the authority to for the 
Defense Department to fund technical assistance for members of 
Restoration Advisory Boards (RABs) and Technical Review Committees 
(TRCs) at current or past Department of Defense installations. (Since 
most Technical Review Committees have by now been converted into RABs, 
I often refer below to RABs as a shorthand for both RABs and TRCs.) On 
May 24, 1995, the Defense Cleanup office published a Notice of Request 
for Comments on three options for implementing the legislation. 

However, in the fiscal year 1996 Defense Authorization Act, the Senate 
Armed Services Committee put forward language which would have severely 
limited the Defense Department's ability to provide such technical 
assistance. Fortunately, however, by the time the law was enacted, 
compromise language was devised to balance the requirement that 
assistance only be provided where it is needed with communities' 
ability to seek that assistance. The principal impact of the new 
language was to delay the process, as the Defense Department 
re-reviewed the statutory constraints on the TAPP program.

In response to the May, 1995 Notice, the Cleanup office received 43 
comments, about two thirds of which were from RAB members. A clear 
majority of the commenters preferred the third option described in the 
Notice, and the Defense Department has adopted that approach. This 
option "proposes the issuance of purchase orders to technical and 
public participation assistance providers up to the allowable limit per 
purchase order. Under this option, community members of the TRC or RAB 
would provide a description of the service they are requesting and the 
names of one or more proposed technical assistance providers to a 
[Department of Defense] contracting office. A minimum set of 
organizational qualifications for receiving assistance would be 
specified by the Department of Defense under this option."

In general, TAPP funding for a particular RAB will be limited to 
$100,000. In any given fiscal year, the amount will be limited to the 
lesser of $25,000 or 1% of the projected cost to complete cleanup at 
the covered facility or facilities. However, the Deputy Under Secretary 
of Defense may waive either the annual or multi-year limitations "to 
reflect the complexity of response action, the nature and extent of 
contamination at the installation, the level of activity at the 
installation, projected total needs as identified by the TAPP 
recipient, the size and diversity of the affected population, and the 
ability of the TAPP recipient to identify and raise funds from other 
sources."

TAPP funding will initially be provided on a first come, first serve 
basis for eligible applicants. However, "In the event that TAPP 
requests exceed available resources, the Department of Defense 
Component [that is, armed service, Defense Logistics Agency, or Army 
Corps of Engineers] will consider factors such as closure status, the 
installation's restoration program status, and alternate sources of 
assistance in determining funding priorities."

Funding under this program will be used for "technical support, 
including short-term training, attendance at workshops, and procurement 
of technical consultants." RAB administrative support and broader 
community relations functions will continue to be funded directly by 
installations or other responsibly entities.

Like EPA Technical Assistance Grants, TAPP money may not be used for 
technical assistance in support of litigation, nor may it be used to 
support political activity. Like EPA funds, TAPP funds may not be used 
to conduct sampling or epidemiological studies. (At the designated 
funding levels, TAPP money couldn't do much in these more expensive 
areas of work.)

RAB community co-chairs will transmit TAPP applications to installation 
commanders (or their counterparts at closed bases) and to the 
appropriate Defense Department contracting office. The applicants are 
to specify the type of assistance, suggest possible service providers, 
and indicate specific criteria or qualifications.

A majority of the community members of a RAB must endorse the request 
by roll call vote. The installation commander must determine that the 
project is eligible for support, including compliance with the 
statutory requirement: 
"(1) The TRC or RAB demonstrates that the Federal, State, and local 
agencies responsible for overseeing environmental restoration at the 
installation do not have the technical expertise necessary for 
achieving the objective for which the technical assistance is to be 
obtained; 
or
2) The technical assistance - 
(a) Is likely to contribute to the efficiency, effectiveness, or 
timeliness of environmental restoration activities at the installation; and
(b) Is likely to contribute to community acceptance of environmental 
restoration activities at the installation."

Then, as required under federal procurement regulations, the Defense 
Department will put the job out for competitive bid. This is the 
trickiest part of the process. It is impossible, under the current 
legal framework, for the community members of RABs - who don't even 
have a bank account, let alone an incorporated entity - to award a 
federal contract. The Defense Department hopes that community RAB 
members, by specifying tasks and qualifications, will adequately 
influence the selection of the service provider to feel satisfied with 
the result. Once selection is made, the Defense Department will award a 
purchase order.

Corporations (unless incorporated for the purpose of representing 
affected individuals at a Defense installation), academic institutions, 
and local governments may not receive TAPP assistance, but they may 
qualify as TAPP service providers. Under federal procurement 
regulations for contracts of this size, service providers generally 
must qualify as small businesses.

In addition, service providers must have the following minimum 
qualifications:
* Demonstrated knowledge of hazardous or toxic waste issues 
and/or laws.
* Academic training in a relevant discipline (e.g., biochemistry, 
toxicology, environmental sciences, engineering, law).
* Ability to translate technical information into terms 
understandable to lay persons.
* Experience working on hazardous or toxic waste problems.
* Experience in making technical presentations.
* Demonstrated writing skills.
* Previous experience working with affected individuals or 
community groups or other groups of individuals.

Providers may not be also doing work for the military, regulatory 
agencies, at other responsible parties at the same installation, and 
they must disclose all relationships with the installation or other 
responsible parties.

I will develop my own comments on the proposed TAPP rule over the next 
month. At first glance, the proposal appears to respond reasonably to a 
widely felt need and a rather difficult governing set of statutes and 
procurement regulations. Both RAB members and potential service 
providers should closely evaluate the proposed rule to determine 
whether it will be possible to obtain or provide technical assistance 
and training under this rule in a practical, cost effective manner.

Lenny Siegel