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Procedures for Obtaining Commercial Aviation Services (CAS) using the Reimbursable Interagency Agreement between NOAA and the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) Interior Business Center, Acquisition Services Directorate (IBC-AQD)

Please read the “Aircraft Rental Agreement Instructions” at: http://oas.doi.gov/fc/ara_order.htm.

The Reimbursable Interagency Agreement between NOAA and DOI allows NOAA to use the DOI IBC-AQD Aircraft Rental Agreement (ARA) System, which is similar to a "blanket purchase agreement" list of vendors that have been evaluated by the Department of Interior for Federal agency use. The list of vendors can be viewed on their Aircraft Source List web page where you can input various search criteria to find aircraft in your project area. The ARA system is set up for aircraft charters up to $25,000 per mission. NOAA offices using a DOI IBC-AQD “Aircraft Rental Agreement” for aircraft services up to $25,000 per mission, will be charged a DOI administrative overhead fee equal to 14% of the actual amount paid to the aircraft vendor for services rendered.

The DOI IBC AQD contracting officers will also work with NOAA to facilitate aircraft charters in excess of $25,000; and the administrative overhead fees associated with these contracts will be paid by the NOAA program requesting services at the rates below:

In addition to the fees described above, DOI IBC-AQD will charge the NOAA office requesting contracting services for reimbursement of any travel or per diem costs incurred for site visits to vendors not currently on the DOI IBC-AQD Aircraft Source List, or for other travel incurred specifically on behalf of that NOAA office.

All NOAA business with DOI IBC-AQD shall be coordinated through your Line Office liaison for submission to Jim Kelley (NOAA’s liaison with DOI). Chartering with a vendor on the source list “outside the scope” of the instructions outlined below is in violation of the Reimbursable Interagency Agreement.

Procedures to request Commercial Aviation Services through DOI IBC-AQD:

Submit Request

Send these to Jim Kelley, Aviation Safety Program Manager (fax 301-713-1541).

Jim Kelley will contact you to discuss your project needs and fax back your NOAA Form 57-11-51 with an "OMAO assigned clearance number" annotated to authorize the procurement. The clearance number is also required for follow-up reporting of your flight(s).

NOAA Forms: Complete and send or fax NOAA Form 57-11-50 (5-12), Monthly Charter Report (Excel)

NOAA Form 57-11-51 (5-12), Aircraft Support Request.  Use this form to request aircraft support.

NOAA Form 57-11-52 (5-12), Charter Aircraft Services Report .  Use this form to report details of a completed project using charter aircraft.  If the project is greater than 90 days, this form is due to OMAO on a quarterly basis.  If the project is less than 90 days, this form is due to OMAO within 30 days after the completion of the project.  This requirement is in addition to the Monthly Charter Report.

NOAA Form 57-11-53 (5-12), Flights of Opportunity Report.  Use this form to report aircraft services provided to NOAA at no cost.

NOAA Form 57-11-55 (6-12), Aviation Operations Customer Survey.  Use this form to evaluate the performance of the platform, crew, and scientists of projects completed aboard NOAA aircraft.  The information will be used to improve performance of personnel and maintenance of equipment.  Submit surveys to OMAO.Customer.Satisfaction@noaa.gov.


Safety forms

NOAA Form 57-17-137 (5-12), Report of Work Related Illness, Injury or Incident
The immediate supervisor of any scientist, contractor, volunteer, or Teacher at Sea must use this form to report any incident that occurs aboard any NOAA platform.  The supervisor will need to work in conjunction with the aircraft commander, ship commanding officer, or the incident investigator to complete this form.

Acquire Billee Code from DOI IBC-AQD

Determine if your office has a “billee code” set up with DOI. This code is used to track your flight activity. To determine if your office already has a code in place, go to: http://oas.doi.gov/billee/index.html.

If you do not have a billee code, obtain one by sending the following information to Jim.Kelley@noaa.gov via email in order to receive one:

1. Point of Contact (telephone and email)
2. Office Code
3. Address

Requesting Flight Services from IBC-AQD

Once you have an approved Interagency Agreement with DOI IBC-AQD in place, and you determine that an existing ARA aircraft vendor can support your project, you can contact the vendor to request a cost estimate for your project. When you contact the vendor please tell them you are a customer of DOI OAS using the Aircraft Rental Agreement System so they can give you an accurate cost estimate using the ARA flight rate. Be sure to include an estimate of the DOI administrative overhead fees in your cost estimate.

If there are currently no aircraft on the ARA source list that can support your project, Jim Kelley will submit a request to DOI IBC-AQD to search for additional vendors to fulfill your needs. Jim Kelley will also look at the requested flight profiles and determine if there are "special use" needs such as low-level surveillance flights or extended over-water flights, etc. These types of requests require a higher level of safety evaluation of the vendors including a flight evaluation of the pilots’ flying skills, and require additional time to set up as an on-site inspection by OAS is required.

Schedule Flight

As soon as you have an approved Interagency Agreement in place, and have submitted an AQD-91 to request the flight via email to the email address listed on the form, and the cost estimate is less than $25,000, you may contact the DOI Aircraft Rental Agreement vendor and schedule your flight(s).  DOI IBC-AQD will respond with receipt of your AQD-91 request and process it against the IAA listed on the AQD-91.  Once it has been obligated and processed by a Contracting Officer at DOI IBC-AQD you and the Vendor will receive a Task Order.  Important: VENDORS ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO FLY WITHOUT A TASK ORDER. Please submit your AQD-91 request to IBC-AQD a minimum of 5 days prior to your scheduled flight. Additionally, please ensure you have an IAA in place prior to making or scheduling any flights, you MUST have one in place in order for DOI IBC-AQD Boise to process your AQD-91 flight request.

Download and read the “Aircraft Rental Agreement” from the DOI OAS Website: http://oas.doi.gov/fc/ara_order.htm.

The “Aircraft Rental Agreement” has detailed information regarding the responsibilities of NOAA employees acting on behalf of the government as well as vendor responsibilities. NOAA employees flying on ARA aircraft are required to visually inspect the DOI OAS-issued Aircraft Qualification Card and Pilot Qualification Card, authorizing them to perform the flight prior to embarking on the aircraft to ensure the vendor is complying with the ARA agreement, as detailed in the ARA.

If your cost estimate is greater than $25,000, communicate your needs to Jim Kelley to request assistance from the DOI IBC-AQD Office to proceed with the procurement.

Fly With Vendor

When you fly with the ARA vendor, please ensure that the vendor fills out the DOI AMD-23E form using your billee code to ensure accurate tracking for your flights. Each AMD-23E has a block for listing the Task Order number you were assigned by IBC-AQD Contracting Officer for this flight. This Task Order number is what the Vendor will use to enter their billing information into the Aviation Management System (AMS) which in turn gives them a total dollar amount to enter their invoice into the Treasury owned system called IPP (Invoice Processing Platform). Once those are entered and approved, payment is made to the Vendor from the IBC Financial Management Directorate in Denver.

IMPORTANT: If you made any changes to your flight after you received the Task Order from IBC-AQD, such as date changes, aircraft changes or # of hours flown, you MUST submit a modified AQD-91 to have those changes made to the Task Order, if you do not, the Vendor will not be able to enter them into AMS or IPP.
 
You must enter your NOAA Purchase Order or Requisition Number and CAMS accounting codes in the “User Organization and Charge Codes” section on the AMD-23E form documenting the flight activity.  This will assist NOAA Finance in correctly billing your office for the flight activity.

Follow-Up Reporting

For information on the AMD-23E and the Aviation Management System, please visit: https://www.iat.gov/ams/download.asp.

After the project is flown, the vendor will ask you to validate and sign the AMD-23E form (Aircraft Use Report) so they can submit it to DOI IBC-AQD for reimbursement. Please review the AMD-23E instructions available here: https://www.iat.gov/ams/download/AMD-23E%20Instructions.pdf.

You will not be paying the vendor directly. DOI IBC-Finance pays the vendor after the vendor submits their AMD-23Es into AMS and IPP. DOI IBC-Finance then bills NOAA for reimbursement using the IAA number listed on the original AQD-91 flight request via IPAC. Do not pay the vendor directly!

NOAA requires submission of a NOAA Form 57-11-55 (6-12), Aviation Operations Customer Survey.  Use this form to evaluate the performance of the platform, crew, and scientists of projects completed aboard NOAA aircraft.  The information will be used to improve performance of personnel and maintenance of equipment. Also, NOAA Form 57-11-52 (5-12), Charter Aircraft Services Report.  Use this form to report details of a completed project using charter aircraft.  If the project is greater than 90 days, this form is due to OMAO on a quarterly basis.  If the project is less than 90 days, this form is due to OMAO within 30 days after the completion of the project.  This requirement is in addition to the Monthly Charter Report.  Submit surveys to OMAO.Customer.Satisfaction@noaa.gov.  These forms can be found on the OMAO web site: http://www.OMAO.noaa.gov/fleettimereq.html. You will need your "OMAO Assigned Clearance Number” to complete these forms.

Aviation Safety Training

DOI OAS offers online Interagency Aviation Training. You will find online courses in Aviation Safety, Aircraft Capabilities and Limitations, Aviation Life Support Equipment, Crash Survival, and others. Any NOAA employee or contractor may log in and take these safety courses online. You will receive credit for taking the training only if you complete the test at the end of each module. It is strongly recommended that employees and contractors take advantage of this opportunity to learn about aviation safety.