A partnership should include the following:

• A written agreement between parties.
  
  
• A mutually common objective that is related to the Forest Service mission.
  
  
• Appropriate legal authority.
  
  
• Voluntary participation.
  
  
• Consistency with agency plans, policies, and priorities.
  
  
• Evident public benefit.
  
  
• A realistic timeframe.

A partnership should not:

• Establish a conflict of interest or appearance of conflict of interest.
  
  
• Show preferential treatment of one entity over another.
  
  
• Endorse commercial products, services, or entities.
  
  
• Circumvent legal requirements in areas such as procurement, personnel, labor laws, printing, publishing, audiovisual production, and issuance of special use permits.
  
  
• Be used to transfer federal funding to third parties for purposes that are not authorized for the Forest Service to do directly.
  
  
• Market or promote any of the partners in any way, except in matters factually related to the partnership agreement.