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U.S. Forest Service Revised: January 27, 2019 -4:30 pm

Start-up Guide for Resumption of Services Following Shutdown

Overview

As a result of a “lapse in appropriations” the Federal Government experienced a shutdown since

December 22, 2018. A Continuing Resolution passed on January 25, 2019, provided funding to

immediately resume agency operations. In accordance with guidance from the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Office of Human Resource Management, (USDA/OHRM),

employees will begin returning to work on Monday, January 28, 2019.

This document provides general instructions for the orderly resumption of operations and duties

for the Forest Service. It also includes the Resumption Plan of Forest Service National Forests

and Grasslands. This guide includes activities for recall and start-up for all employees and offers

general direction for restart activities to manage and deliver services for the Forest Service. It

may be updated to respond to additional issues that may require attention as the agency resumes

full operations. Each employee will receive an Employee Checklist to facilitate resumption of

their duties and the resumption of overall agency operations.

Work place Safety

As you return to your office or unit, please be mindful of safety. Please check your work spaces,

vehicles and work environment to ensure they are safe and secure for resuming work. This

includes checking for loose wires, ensuring security of equipment and tools and ensuring trash

pickup is arranged.

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT (HRM) - HRM team members will be available to

help address your questions and issues. Please note -- most HRM team members were

furloughed and will be facing large backlogs of work and personnel actions. HRM staff will be

working diligently to focus on assisting all Forest Service employees so we ask you to be patient

and understanding during your interactions with your HRM colleagues. The HRM Customer

Helpdesk number is (1-877-372-7248 – Option 2).

HRM’s #1 priority is getting employees paid. To help make this happen, our HRM Customer

Helpdesk will primarily focus on Pay, Health Benefits, and Emergency matters during our first

week back. For other Human Resources (HR) questions, please submit a self-help ticket (guide

is located at Create HR Self-Help Ticket ) and these questions will be addressed after the Pay,

Health Benefits, and Emergency matters are handled.

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Time & Attendance (T&A): Payroll Processing for Pay Period 26 and Pay Period 1

HRM has already submitted time and attendance for all employees for Pay Periods 26 and 1 to

provide paychecks in the quickest possible way (Law Enforcement and Investigations employees

received separate instructions). This means employees do not need to enter time and submit

timesheets nor do their supervisors need to certify for Pay Periods 26 and 1. Additionally,

employees should stand by for further guidance from HRM prior to submitting time sheets for

Pay Period 2.

Future T&A Corrections – HRM will provide instructions in the coming days on how

and when to submit corrected T&As for these two pay periods.

Partial Paychecks for One or More Pay Periods

If you were an exempted employee for some periods of the shutdown and received less

than your salary for some period of the shutdown amended T&As will need to be

completed. Further guidance will be also provided in the coming days regarding this

category of corrections.

Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Pay and Benefits Fact Sheet (01/11/19)

Pay and Benefits Information for Employees Affected by the Lapse in Appropriations. This

information is posted on https://chcoc.gov/content/fact-sheet-pay-and-benefits-information-

employees-affected-lapse-appropriations

Benefits - As noted above, HRM’s #1 priority is getting employees paid. Ensuring that your

benefits are being delivered consistently with your personal preferences and situations is also a

priority for the HRM team. The best POC for Benefits questions will be the HRM Customer

Helpdesk.

Retirements that were pending at the time of shutdown will be completed once guidance

from OPM is received (i.e., how PP-26 is to be coded for time or any other nuances that

need to be addressed).

If you had been working with an assigned retirement counselor prior to the shutdown,

please contact your retirement counselor to determine whether any information is still

needed for submission.

Employees who separated, retired, or who had planned to retire just before or during the

shutdown:

HRM will resume processing annual leave lump sum payments.

Employees can expect to receive their lump sum payment within 30 days

after the shutdown ends but some employees may experience a delay.

Employees will need to coordinate with their former supervisors to

accomplish any out-processing items that could not be accomplished

during the shutdown.

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Employees former supervisors will need to coordinate with former

employees regarding any needed changes on timesheets.

Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) o Pending Open Season and Qualifying Life events for FEHB were completed during

the shutdown. Please check your Leave & Earnings Statements carefully to ensure

proper deductions are being withheld. If you submitted a FEHB change and

determine it has not been processed, please call the HRM Customer Help Desk for

assistance.

o Backdating for FEHB will be done in accordance with policy regarding effective

dates of qualifying events based upon OPM guidance.

o Case-by-case consideration will be afforded to employees that may have missed

enrollment periods, such as 60 days for a new dependent, based on OPM guidance.

Federal Employee Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) for initial enrollment or qualifying

life events, will be completed upon return to duty.

o Backdating for FEGLI will be done in accordance with policy regarding effective

dates of qualifying events based upon OPM guidance.

o Case-by-case consideration will be afforded to employees that may have missed

enrollment periods, such as 60 days for a new dependent, based on OPM guidance.

Employee Relations

If you have a pending performance or disciplinary action, please coordinate with your

supervisor(s) upon return to work.

Hiring/Staffing/Details/Personnel Actions - There are many pending staffing and personnel

actions that were on hold during the furlough, plus many actions coming due for processing

within the next few weeks. Please realize there may be delays in processing equivalent to the

period of the shutdown.

Hiring/Staffing/Details/Personnel Actions:

The length of the shutdown resulted in an extensive backlog of actions to be processed.

HRM must now prioritize the backlog to focus first on the most critical actions and work

through them to the least critical. As a result, processing of some actions will be delayed.

In general, the plan places a higher priority on pay affecting actions of current employees

over actions that do not impact pay, and for actions that impact those who are not current

Forest Service employees. Where possible, we will backdate and retroactively process

planned actions, such as changes to lower grade, promotions, etc., unless expressly

prohibited by the OPM. Retirements are not included in the below prioritization, and will

be worked in chronological effective date order (i.e., to newest effective dates).

Hiring Priorities:

Priority 1: Actions that if not completed will result in an employee not receiving back pay:

o Changes to lower grade from temporary promotion with expired not-to exceed (NTE)

dates;

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o Temporary promotion and appointment (term and temporary) extensions with expired

NTEs (note: managers may need to retroactively submit extension requests if not already

available);

o Pathways appointments extensions with expired NTE dates; and

o New accessions that on-boarded during the shutdown (should be rare).

Priority 2: Terminations, separations, leave-without-pay, and placement into pay/non-pay

status actions. Must be processed to ensure payment of lump sums and avoid employee debt.

Does not include retirement actions.

Priority 3: Actions which impact a current employee’s pay; however, if not processed

immediately they would still get back pay initially or employees impacted by TOS pre-

approved obligations:

o Promotions/reassignments to new positions during the shutdown;

o Career ladder promotions;

o New positions resulting in a promotion for which the employee was authorized to report

during the shutdown;

o Establish Entrance on Duty (EOD) dates for employees who relocated due to obligated

Transfer of Station (TOS) funds, begin on-boarding process to avoid a break in service, if

coming from a different agency; and

o New positions that do not result in a promotion, but have a change in locality, and for

which the employee was allowed to report during the shutdown.

Priority 4: Actions for which an employee’s/candidate’s pay will not change (e.g., lateral

reassignments/transfers), and actions for which reporting dates, as specified in a confirmation

letter, were delayed due to the shutdown. Many reporting dates must be renegotiated to

allow sufficient time for employee movement and TOS activities.

Priority 5: Pending hiring actions where selections and tentative offers were made prior to

the shutdown.

Priority 6: Hiring actions for which selections were made prior to the shutdown, but no

further action taken.

Priority 7: All other hiring actions for which certificates were issued. Many of these cannot

move forward until hiring managers return their selections.

Priority 8: New temporary promotions and details, to include those with effective dates on

or after December 23, 2018.

Priority 9: Conversion actions for which the deadline/mandatory conversion date occurred

on/or after December 23rd, 2018. (Note: hiring managers will be prompted to submit actions

if not done so already.)

Planned Next Steps for Hiring:

HRM assesses backlog of actions and plans the order of work for post shutdown HRM

activities.

We still need to close out selections in eRecruit by March 31, 2019, due to the transition

to USA Staffing. This means hiring managers must appropriately coordinate with their

HRM Service Team for next steps upon resumption of operations. HRM Service Teams

will be initiating coordination on pending actions as quickly as priorities are determined

based on the above assessment.

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Certificates will be extended through March 1, 2019. Selections must be made as soon as

possible as extensions will be limited. Please work with your Staffing case manager about

timelines for your actions.

Positions that are in the hiring tool will be assessed and we will begin posting those

actions after all of our priority actions are complete. With the delay of shutdown, those

positions will be delayed in being announced.

All fire hire activity was identified as excepted activity during the shutdown so the HR

Fire Service Team and the HR Temporary Employment Service Team have been working

through fire positions since eRecruit became available on January 7, 2019.

All non-fire temporary employee hiring activity resumed in the middle of the shutdown.

They are still working to try and meet current timelines however there will be delays and

may need to change previously identified EOD date.

Transfers - The effective date of a Transfer (i.e., termination in a federal agency and

appointment in another federal agency) is determined jointly by the losing and gaining

agencies. In cases where the transfer is between agencies that were both subject to the

shutdown, agencies were advised to consider delaying the EOD date and keep the

employee on the roles of the current agency until shutdown ended and a EOD date can

be confirmed.

LincPass o Expiring LincPass credentials: Please utilize the standard process by scheduling a

time at the closest station to renew.

o There are approximately 1,200 LincPass credentials due to expire in January

2019. HRM completed the reenrollment/reprint notification actions for each of these

cases in October 2018. This means each employee would have received an email

notification informing them of the requirement to make an appointment at the nearest

enrollment station for the purpose of completing actions to obtain a new LincPass

credential. Employees who indicate non-receipt of the email should first check their

Junk Folder to confirm receipt. If not received, please contact the HRM Customer

Helpdesk to create a help ticket to request the email be regenerated.

o Renewals: To address the potential volume of renewal appointments that may be

necessary after the shutdown ends, HRM will be coordinating to ensure maximum

appointments will be made available at every enrollment station so that affected

employees can get to a station as soon as possible. We have already communicated

with USAccess (USDA contractor managing the Lincpass program) to encourage

their coordination with other non-USDA managed enrollment stations to allow for

maximum enrollment appointments availability.

Pay

o Use or Lose Annual Leave Restoraton: If you were scheduled to take use or lose

annual leave during the shutdown, this scheduled leave was cancelled during the

shutdown. We will send instructions in the coming days detailing how and when to

begin submitting your requests for restoration. If you would like to see more

information about leave restoration, please see HRM’s leave restoration guidance

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which was sent in October 2018. Please hold on submitting requests until we have

sent the guidance. We appreciate your patience.

o Back Pay

Back pay was authorized by the Government Employee Fair Treatment

Act of 2019 effective at the end of the shutdown.

o W-2’s

W-2 forms for 2018 are available to you through Employee Personnel

Page (EPP). You will also be receiving a hard copy of your W-2 forms in

the mail.

Earnings and Leave Statements (ELS). Excepted and furloughed

employees who were not paid for pay periods (PP) 26 and 1, will not

receive an ELS for those pay periods. Instead, employees will receive an

ELS for pay period 2 that will show all earnings between PP26 through

PP2. Even though all three pay periods will show up together, it is

important to note, each pay period is calculated separately so receiving all

three pay periods at once will not increase the amount of taxes normally

taken out of your pay check.

Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) Loans - For information on the effect of the shutdown on

your TSP contributions, loans, and investments, please contact the Thrift Savings Plan

Organization or refer to http://www.tsp.gov/index.html as noted below.

o Contact Thrift Savings to discuss the requirements for loan repayment.

o Telephone: 1-TSP-YOU-FRST (1-877-968-3778)

o TDD: 1-TSP-THRIFT5 (1-877-847-4385)

(for hearing-impaired participants)

o International callers who cannot use the toll-free number should call (404)

233-4400 (not toll free)

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o Loans are not considered in default until the participant has missed more than

2½ payments. Please contact TSP directly for any questions on TSP loans.

TSP website. www.tsp.gov

Unemployment Benefits

o If you applied for and received Unemployment benefits during the shutdown, some

states require repayment of Unemployment benefits when Federal employees receive

back pay after the shutdown. If you received benefits from your state, please check

your state’s repayment requirements.

Worker’s Compensation (OWCP):

o Employees who have a pending workers’ compensation claim and may be entitled to

back pay due to the shutdown, will be contacted by their Workers’ Compensation

case manager for next steps.

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Employee Assistance Program (EAP):

o Employees are encouraged to use the EAP services. EAP can be helpful in

providing confidential counseling with experienced, licensed counselors and

many EAPs can provide access to legal and financial consultation services. EAP

is contracted locally from a variety of providers, so check your local unit

(Region/Station/Forest, etc.) website for the name and contact information of your

EAP provider, or ask your supervisor.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT: CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICE

(CIO): The CIO team is available to help resolve any of your technology needs. Please contact

the CIO helpdesk with any questions or issues that you may experience upon return to work.

CIO Customer Helpdesk: Is available 24 hours a day by calling: 1-866-945-1354

(TTY: 1-800-877-8339) or visit http://fsweb.chd.fs.fed.us

Below are some reminders and specific instructions to help resumption of work be as seamless as

possible.

From Monday January 28 through Friday, February 1, employees will be exempt from

exclusively using LincPass to log-in and may use their eAuthentication password to log-in.

Password expiration periods will be extended from 60 days to 90 days.

Passwords o If you have forgotten your password or have trouble resetting your password for

network, Windows Login, eAuthentication, and voicemail, please contact the CIO

Customer Helpdesk. Password resets are quick and can be completed while you are

on the phone with CIO Customer Helpdesk.

o Supervisors should for employee approval requests to access specific systems that

may have lapsed during the shutdown. An email notification for the request would be

automatically sent to employees if employee system approval is needed.

Logging Into Your Computer

o If you experience a problem with your LincPass, access your computer using your

Windows login name and password. You should then contact the CIO Customer

Helpdesk to get your LincPass problem resolved.

Voicemail

o Update your out-of-office reminder on your telephone and/or cell phone voicemail.

Microsoft Outlook

o Turn off your email auto-reply.

Click on the file tab and click Automatic Replies (out of office).

A pop up window opens. Click “Do not send automatic replies” then OK.

Click Home to return to your inbox.

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Suspicious Emails

o Do not open email or attachments from unknown sources, especially from non-FS

senders to avoid recently announced security vulnerabilities.

Logging Off Your Computer on First Day Back

o Please ensure to logoff your computer and leave it connected to the network upon

return from shutdown to ensure critical system updates and security patches can run

overnight. Reboot your computer once a day for the next two weeks as several

security updates will continue to be installed on your computer.

ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT (AQM): AQM will formally authorize contractors and

partners to resume work on contracts and grants and agreements (G&A) that were suspended

during the shutdown, subject to funding availability. AQM will work in partnership with

program staffs to address AQM needs for resumption of operations.

Work Orders, Contracts, and Grants and Agreements

o Assessment – Units should work with their AQM staff to review the status of open

actions to identify contracts and G&A requiring FY19 funding, overdue options,

changes to periods of performance and other modifications, Please remember that

you may need to complete the appropriate documentation prior to AQM proceeding

with actions in accordance with procurement and G&A procedures.

o Contracting and G&A staffs will cancel shutdown caused stop work and suspension

of work orders (i.e., no additional action is required from program offices).

o For contracts requiring FY19 funding, a requisition must be completed in the

Integrated Acquisition System (IAS) for each action (dependent on the type of action

needed and local requirements).

o Contracting Officers will follow the appropriate settlement procedures in FAR

Part 49 for contracts terminated in whole or partially for the convenience of the

government.

o For G&A actions requiring FY19 funding, budget approval must be completed in the

Natural Resource Management (NRM) G&A system for each action (dependent on

the type of action needed and local requirements).

o Reach out to your local AQM staff for specific questions on contracts or G&A.

BUDGET AND FINANCE (B&F): The Budget and Finance staff will be available to help

address your financial transaction questions and issues upon your return. Below is guidance to

help you resume work expeditiously.

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Transactions that were pending or in various stages of processing will proceed when the financial

systems interface and resume. If transactions are in reject status, please do NOT resubmit or

reprocess as B&F staff will process rejected transactions as quickly as possible. We anticipate

that it will take a few days to a full week for some payments to process through the system and

have funds deposited in the vendor’s or employee’s accounts.

New obligations using FY19 job codes cannot be processed and will reject until the financial

systems can be updated with the Continuing Resolution FY19 Funding. We anticipate having

that information in the system by COB Tuesday, January 29, 2019. This applies to all

obligations: Transfer of Station (TOS), Temporary Duty Travel (TDY), Grants, Agreements,

and Contracts. To ensure efficient processing and avoid delays, we recommend that new

obligations be processed or approved no earlier than January 30, 2019.

Budget &Finance Contact Center: 1-877-372-72478, Option 1 or visit

http://fsweb.asc.fs.fed.us/bfm/programs/customer-support/index.php. Due to the anticipated high

volume of calls which will result in a long wait, we recommend using the e-ticket process.

http://fsweb.asc.fs.fed.us/bfm/programs/technical-support/forms/ein.php

Note: The B&F Contact Center will open at 10:00 MST on January 29, 2019.

Temporary Duty Travel (TDY)

o Vouchers:

o All vouchers that were approved before December 21, 2018, were processed

as part of the orderly shutdown. If you did not receive payment for an open

voucher, you need to ensure that the voucher was approved by your

supervisor. Once approved, the system will interface and payment will be

made as usual.

o There were some vouchers that were held during the shutdown, those should

be paid the week of January 29, 2019. If you do not receive payment by

February 4, 2019, please contact the Travel Help Desk.

o New vouchers can be processed as usual in ETS2 and will process payments

once approved by your supervisor.

o New Authorizations:

o Prior Year: New travel authorizations using prior year job codes will process

once approved as usual.

o Current Year: New travel authorizations using FY19 Continuing Resolution

funds will reject until the system is updated with the FY19 funding. We

recommend that you wait until Wednesday, January 30 to approve new travel

authorizations. You can input your authorization; however, if your supervisor

approves it before January 30, 2019, it will more than likely reject.

o Immediate Travel: As usual, if you need to make reservations for travel within 72

hours, please contact BCD Travel, our agency travel agent, at (800) 877-6120.

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Transfer of Station (TOS) Travel: During the shutdown, B&F received hundreds of

TOS authorizations to process and has a large workload of pending vouchers and

authorizations. Due to workload, please call the Travel Help Desk rather than your TOS

counselor to have your request processed as quickly as possible.

o Vouchers:

o TOS Vouchers received prior to December 21, 2018, that have not been paid.

These vouchers are with NFC and are pending their review and processing.

We recommend calling B&F Travel Help Desk if you haven’t received

payment by February 6, 2019.

o New TOS Vouchers. Please submit these vouchers as normal. Processing

will be delayed due to workload issues. Please contact the Travel counselor to

get an accurate estimated payment date.

o New Authorizations:

o B&F will review all TOS authorization requests received and they will be

prioritized with respect to start date or other factors.

o Travel Card Balances:

o Outstanding travel card balances. US Travel cards were deactivated at the end

of December as previously scheduled before the shutdown. Employees

should pay old travel card bills. If you have not received a payment for your

travel card bill, please open a ticket with B&F Contact Center.

o New Cards. If you have not received a new travel card, please contact the

B&F Contact Center to have one ordered for you.

Contract Payments:

o If you need a payment made, please work with your contracting officer to ensure that

the required actions are taken in Integrated Acquisition System (IAS) so that the

payment can be made.

o If you need to know the status of a payment, please call the B&F Contact Center

(Option #1).

Employee Reimbursements:

o Prior to shutdown, B&F processed all outstanding reimbursements.

o New reimbursement requests will be processed as before the shutdown.

Purchase Card Transactions and Reconciliations:

o Do not reconcile or use FY19 job codes until after January 30, 2019, so as to

minimize rejected transactions.

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Accounting Adjustments:

o Accounting adjustments can be input into BVAS however, B&F will process

adjustments after rejected transactions and payments are resolved and processed.

Resumption Plan of Forest Service Operations and Services on National

Forests and Grasslands

This guide ensures the safe and orderly resumption of services and operations at Administrative

Units and Activities, subsequent direction has been enclosed. The aim is to ensure the safety of

the public, employees, volunteers, concessionaires, permittees, and contractors during

resumption of agency operations. Priority should be given to resuming operation of

concessioner-operated Forest Service recreation facilities and timber sale and stewardship (IRTC

and IRSC) contracts. This should be followed by resumption of other suspended contracts,

agreements and permits and opening of agency-operated recreation facilities. Prior to opening

any facilities and/or resuming operations, ensure that areas are inspected as needed and are safe

for operations to resume.

Management of Forest Service Operated Recreation Facilities, Concessionaire Sites,

Outfitter and Guide Permits, Recreation Special Use Permits

1. Special use activities not dependent on Forest Service facilities or day-to-day oversight

and presence were approved to continue operations during the shutdown, pursuant to the

National Forest System Deputy Chief letter of December 26, 2018. Any special uses that

were suspended should be allowed to resume as soon as possible.

a. Concessioner-operated Forest Service recreation facilities that were closed during

the shutdown should by be inspected by the holder as soon as possible.

Concessioners should document any damage that occurred to the facilities during

the closure in writing to the authorized officer promptly. The authorized officer

should make staff available for on-site review of damages identified by the holder

promptly. Facilities that are safe for public occupancy may resume operations.

Closure notices should be removed. Update any websites or other public notices if

applicable. Follow up with written notice to affected Concessioners that the

closure order has been lifted.

b. Other Permitted activities that were suspended during the shutdown may resume as

soon as practicable. Deliver written notices to affected permit holders as

appropriate. Remove any closure notices that were posted and update any

websites or other public notices.

c. Field units should ensure cross-agency consistency in resuming operations for

special use permits that cross federal agency jurisdictions or that involve

coordination with other governmental agencies.

2. Resume processing applications for new permits, re-issuance of permits, or modifications

of permits as soon as practicable.

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3. All Agency-operated recreation sites may be reopened as soon as practicable. Inspect

facilities as needed to ensure that conditions are safe to resume operations. Remove

closure notices and unlock gates, restrooms or other buildings.

4. Resume sales of recreation permits and passes as soon as practicable.

Recreation.gov

Recreation.gov remained fully operational during the shutdown. Facility managers should

access the management system, The Hub, to update the status of facilities as the

government resumes full operations. Also, reference the Recreation.gov letter of January

10, 2019, for procedures on refunds for reservations impacted by the lapse in funding.

Interpretive Associations

As soon as Forest Service offices and visitor centers are safe to operate and are re-opened,

Interpretive Associations that require access to these facilities can re-enter and resume

operations. Association activity not dependent on Forest Service facilities or presence

were approved to continue operations during the shutdown.

Volunteers

Volunteer activities can resume as soon as appropriate agency personnel are in place to

support the volunteers and agreements and/or the facilities/areas where they serve are safe

to open and operations have resumed.

Management of Timber Sale and Stewardship (IRTC) Contracts, and Special Forest

Product Permits

Timber Sales and Stewardship Contracts

Timber sale contracts and stewardship contracts (IRTC and IRSC) can resume operations

within contract requirements. Contracting Officers should notify purchasers verbally and

will send a letter to purchasers specifying the requirements that must be met for resuming

operations. An orderly startup of operations should occur in a manner that protects

public, employee, and contractor health and safety, and federal resource assets. Timber

contracting officers, contracting officer’s representatives, and sale administrators of active

contracts should be brought back on duty as soon as feasible so that an orderly startup of

operations can occur. Each contracting officer should assess what site specific measures

are necessary to resume operations in an orderly manner that meets contract

requirements. For stewardship agreements, timber sale administration personnel should

coordinate with the agreement administrator to carry out a similar orderly resumption of

operations and activities.

Special Forest Product Permits

The two most common forest products permits are for firewood and special forest

products.

Sale of these permits can resume as soon as practicable.

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The Natural Resource Manager (NRM) system, which includes applications under Infra,

TIM, FACTS and NRIS, supports the sale of forest products permits through the TIM

application. Due to the shutdown, some calendar year-end reporting processes will be

delayed and this may affect NRM system availability for several days. Completion

should occur sometime during week of January 28 or February 4. For information on

NRM’s status, please check http://fsweb.nrm.fs.fed.us/. Lands and Realty Management

Special use permits that were discontinued and/or suspended during the lapse of funding

can resume normal operations as long as permit requirements are being met and the

appropriate agency personnel are available for required permit administration. Pending

and new applications for special uses can be accepted as soon as the appropriate agency

personnel are available for processing.

Minerals Management

Minerals material permits that were discontinued and/or suspended during the lapse of

funding can resume normal operations as long as permit requirements are being met and

the appropriate agency personnel are available for required permit administration. Pending

and new applications for minerals materials permits and mining notices of intent,

operating plans or oil and gas lease operational requests can be accepted as soon as the

appropriate agency personnel are available for processing.

Grazing Permits

Administration of grazing permits should focus on normal operations for this time of

year. Permittees should be contacted to re-schedule any needed meetings for the 2019

grazing season.

NEPA and Land Management Planning Comment Periods; Administrative Appeals and

Objections

1. NEPA and Land Management Planning Comment Periods. Comment periods were at

various stages when the shutdown occurred. Generally, NEPA and Land Management

Planning comment periods can be extended or additional comment periods initiated if the

Responsible Official feels there was an interruption in the publics’ ability to file

comments or, requested information needed to submit comments could not be provided

because of shutdown. Generally, extensions and additions should be commensurate with

the amount of time affected by the shutdown. Guidance is provided below.

a. Comment periods initiated prior to the shutdown that ended during the

shutdown. Responsible officials can extend or establish an additional comment

period if the collection of comments was impacted due to websites or other

collections processes being interrupted. If a comment period is extended, it

should generally be for the amount of time remaining in the comment period or a

minimum of seven days if the amount of time remaining is less than seven days.

b. Comment periods that began during the shutdown. Responsible officials can

provide notice and extend or add an additional comment period commensurate

with the amount the time of the shutdown if the collection of comments was

impacted due to websites or other collections processes being interrupted. This

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guidance considers interested commenters that were unable to have questions or

verbal comments taken during the comment period.

2. Administrative Appeals and Objections.

a. Time periods should be extended if the processes associated with the

appeal/objection resolution or collection of information were impacted by the

shutdown. After giving appropriate notice, the extension should be

commensurate for the period of time remaining in the appeal or objection past

December 21, 2018 or a minimum of seven days if the period of time remaining is

less than seven days. Exceptions may be negotiated with the Deputy Chief’s

office on a case-by-case basis.