PROGRAMS AND PLANS--Fiscal Year 1995 Priority Activities and Changes in Reimbursements for the Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility

In Reply Refer To:                              December 14, 1994
Mail Stop 405

WATER RESOURCES DIVISION MEMORANDUM NO. 95.10

Subject:  PROGRAMS AND PLANS--Fiscal Year 1995 Priority Activities and
          Changes in Reimbursements for the Hydrologic Instrumentation
          Facility

This memorandum outlines priority activities and reimbursement policy 
changes for some services provided by the Water Resources Division's (WRD) 
Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF).  The changes are the result of 
the loss of instrumentation funds from the Federal budget which translates 
to more than a million dollars, or 14 percent, cut to the HIF budget in fiscal 
year (FY) 1995.  The shortfall will be accommodated by a combination of 
personnel and service reductions, rate increases for repair, and the provision 
that lower priority services be funded on a reimbursable basis.

In August 1994, the Instrumentation Committee (ICOM) and the Instrumentation 
Technical Advisory Subcommittee (ITAS) met at the request of the Acting 
Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Operations to evaluate essential HIF 
services and make recommendations on cost-cutting procedures needed as a 
result of the reduced Federal funding.  The following priority activities 
and changes in HIF charges and operations were recommended by the 
committees, approved by the Chief Hydrologist for FY 1995, and take effect 
January 30, 1995.

a.  Federal funds provided to the HIF and reimbursements to HIF from the 
sale or rental of instruments and equipment will be used to support the 
following priority activities:

(1) Warehouse sales and rental (2)  Test and evaluation of instruments (3)  
Instrument technology awareness (4)  Instrument specification development 
and contracting (5)  WRD instrument consulting assistance up to 2 hours (6)  
Industry liaison for instrument improvements.

b.  Reimbursable hourly charges for repair, fabrication, and trouble-shooting-
type work requests will be raised from $60 to $70 per hour.

c.  The following customer-requested activities will be totally reimbursable 
(includes salaries, travel, per diem, materials, rental charges for the 
equipment used for the period, copying, etc.):

(1)  In-house development of equipment (2)  Special systems application 
support (3)  Software development and maintenance (4)  Fabrication for 
system integration (5)  Hydrometeorological equipment and program support 
(6)  Consulting and user assistance that exceeds 2 hours per task

d.  Training will be totally reimbursable.  Training costs will include 
salaries for preparation and instruction plus travel.  The HIF will make 
personnel available, on a reimbursable basis, to:

(1)  Teach one 1-week course per quarter (district location). (2)  Have two 
HIF persons assist in any training course held by the National Training Center 
or other WRD offices. (3)  Teach Basic Electronics and Troubleshooting 
Hydrologic Instrumentation,  and Operation and Calibration of Water-Quality-
Monitoring Instrumentation at the HIF.

If you have any questions regarding these changes, please contact Vito 
Latkovich at (601) 688-3631, or send electronic mail to VJLATKOV.

                                     Catherine L. Hill
                                     Acting Assistant Chief Hydrologist
                                     for Operations

This memorandum does not supersede any previous WRD memorandum.

Distribution:  A, B, S, FO, PO