Fifteen federal agencies that use aircraft have signed a Safety Standards Agreement, developed by GSA and the Interagency Committee for Aviation Policy (ICAP). Through this agreement, the agencies consent to adopt the ICAP's Safety Standards Guidelines, write agency-specific standards based on the guidelines, and provide for independent enforcement of the agency standards.
Following is a listing of the agencies that have signed the ICAP Safety Standards Agreement and copy of the document:
Safety Standards Agreement among the Agencies of the Interagency Committee for Aviation Policy (ICAP)
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Justice
Department of State
Department of the Interior
Department of the Treasury
Department of Transportation/FAA (signed a modified version)
Department of Veterans' Affairs
Environmental Protection Agency
General Services Administration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Transportation Safety Board
Tennessee Valley Authority
1. BACKGROUND: The Aircraft Management Policy Advisory Board (AMPAB), chartered by GSA, issued its final report in June 1998. That report recommends that public aircraft should set the nation's standard for safe and efficient operations. The members of the Interagency Committee for Aviation Policy (ICAP) and the committee's sponsor, GSA, have determined that this agreement is an important step in meeting the board's recommendation .
Concurrent with the AMPAB's review, the ICAP's Safety Standards and Training Subcommittee developed the "ICAP Safety Standards Guidelines for Federal Flight Programs" (Safety Standards Guidelines), which the ICAP ratified at their meeting on December 16, 1998, and which they revised on December 22, 1999. The guidelines serve as a common framework for each agency to use to develop its own agency-specific flight program standards for aviation management/administration, operations, maintenance, training, and safety.
2. PURPOSE: The agencies listed above enter into this agreement among themselves with the objective of setting the nation's standard for safe and efficient aviation operations.
3. BASIC TERMS AND AGREEMENTS: Each agency, by signing this agreement, agrees to:
(a) Adopt the ICAP Safety Standards Guidelines.
(b) Write and publish, as appropriate, agency-specific standards, based on the Safety Standards Guidelines, for aircraft that the agencies own, borrow, bail, or hire (i.e., lease, charter, rent, or otherwise contract for commercially or under inter-service support agreements).
(c) Assist each other in implementing the guidelines, and particularly to help those agencies who hire (but do not own) aircraft to tailor the requirements in the guidelines to the agency's special circumstances.
(d) Establish a plan and schedule for self-oversight, using independent agents such as, but not limited to --
(i) Inspectors general;
(ii) Contractors;
(iii) Internal review organizations;
(iv) Other bureaus;
(v) Other Federal agencies; or
(vi) The Federal Aviation Administration.
Each agency is solely responsible for managing its own flight program, for writing its own standards (for both owned and hired aircraft) based on the Safety Standards Guidelines, and for instituting a self-oversight program that includes independent inspection services, which are obtained and managed by the agency.
(e) Continue to facilitate the Aircraft Resources Management Survey (ARMS) program.
(f) Assist each other in obtaining support for inspections and other aviation services.
(g) Share best practices.
4. DURATION OF AGREEMENT:
This agreement goes into effect for any party on the date that the party signs the agreement and will remain in effect until that party terminates its participation in the agreement.
5. TERMINATION/AMENDMENT:
a. Any party may terminate its participation in this agreement, in whole or part, upon written notice to all other parties.
b. Any party may request to modify this agreement by written amendment, and the modification will take effect when the amended agreement is signed by all parties.
6. AUTHORITY: The parties listed above enter into this agreement pursuant to authority contained in OMB Circular A-126, dated May 22, 1992.
7. POINT OF CONTACT:
8. SIGNED:
________________________________________
[NAME AND TITLE] DATE
