USE OF APPROVED FIRE-SAFE ACCOMMODATIONS BY GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES ON OFFICIAL BUSINESS This information applies to the hotel/motel lodging industry and to all Federal agencies. The General Services Administration (GSA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are in partnership to ensure all Federal travelers stay in fire-safe accommodations. State and local Governments, corporations, and institutions are encouraged to also adopt similiar policies. The United States Fire Administration (USFA), under FEMA, maintains and publishes a National Master List (may be viewed at www.usfa.fema.gov) of lodging properties that comply with the Hotel and Motel Fire Safety Act. The Office of Governmentwide Policy, GSA, is responsible for the Federal Travel Regulation which, among other things, governs travel and transportation allowances for Federal civilian employees. The law requires hotels/motels to meet two basic requirements to be approved as fire-safe and compliant: (1) every guestroom must be equipped with a smoke detector permanently connected to AC power, and (2) if the building is more than three stories high, it must have a full automatic sprinkler system. Also by law, (1) GSA can only survey fire-safe properties to establish CONUS per diem rates for Federal travelers, (2) it is required that all Federally-sponsored conferences and meetings be held in fire-safe properties, and (3) Federal agencies (by using, for example, the National Master List, travel agents, travel management systems, and Government contractor-issued travel charge cards) are to ensure that their employees are booked in approved places of public accommodation. In addition, GSA is starting a program to contract for lodging accommodations in major metropolitan areas, and participation in the contracting process will be limited to properties on the National Master List. It is, therefore, in the best interest of each hotel and motel property to be listed on FEMA's National Master List. A free-of-charge, self-certified form to be completed by the property is required. All properties are urged to participate by returning a completed form to FEMA no later than December 31, 1998, to be involved in GSA's next rate setting process. Properties that re-flag (change their brand name), change ownership, or go through renovation, must re-register. Many chains, to remove any liability, automatically cancel approved listings for dropped properties. While a prior approved listing number may be kept, the property must update the filing. The form and additional information are available on the Internet, www.usfa.fema.gov. OFFICIAL ADDRESS: U.S. FIRE ADMINSTRATION, FEMA, 16825 SOUTH SETON AVENUE, EMMITSBURG, MD 21727. POC: FEMA, JOHN OTTOSON, 301-447-1272 (FAX, 301-447-1270). E-MAIL: hotel/motel forms, hotel.motel@fema.gov. Posted 11/23/98 (W-SN274161).

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