ACES-Agriculture Conservation Experienced Services Program

Overview: ACES Program is a cost effective human capital tool designed to obtain the services of experienced workers age 55 and older on a temporary basis through an agreement with nonprofit organizations. The objective of ACES is to obtain experienced older workers to support NRCS employees to meet very high conservation workload demands. NRCS initiated a 3-year demonstration project to develop procedures and policies to guide the ACES program and enable the agency to further its mission to help people to help the land. Patterned after the Senior Environmental Employment (SEE) Program of the EPA. NRCS will enter into cooperative agreements with private, nonprofit organizations to utilize the temporary part-time services of older workers. The organization has the responsibility for recruiting, screening, placing, and paying participants based on an approved work description and cost amount. Selection of qualified applicants is done in cooperation with the designated NRCS monitor (the term monitor refers to the NRCS civil servant who oversees the work activities of one or more participant and verifies the participant time sheet) but the organization notified the participant of their acceptance. The organization provides payroll, time record maintenance, record keeping, and administrative support to participants. NRCS will develop position descriptions for approval by the nonprofit organization. The nonprofit organization screens the applicants and forward qualified ones to NRCS for interviews. NRCS conducts the interview and recommends the applicant for placement. Applicants are expected to report within one week of the recommendation. ACES positions cannot displace NRCS employees and participants enrolled in the program are not considered a federal employee. Participants work between 16-40 hours a week assisting a NRCS employee and do not perform inherently governmental functions. They earn benefits (leave, unemployment, wage increases, etc) and if retired, their retirement annuity is not impacted by the stipend they receive. Participants may be authorized to use government owned vehicles to conduct official government business. Complete applications will be evaluated by a review panel and scored based on the Criteria for Application Evaluation identified in this document. Applicants that meet or exceed the cut-off will be considered for participation. NRCS intends to award one or more cooperative agreements from this announcement.