FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management New Mexico (NM) Cultural and Paleontology Resource Management | L24AS00180

Opportunity Information: Apply for L24AS00180

The FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management New Mexico (NM) Cultural and Paleontology Resource Management opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L24AS00180) is a discretionary Bureau of Land Management (BLM) funding opportunity administered through the U.S. Department of the Interior. It is designed to support work tied to BLM New Mexico's Cultural Heritage and Paleontology Programs, meaning projects that help manage, protect, assess, study, monitor, or otherwise improve stewardship of cultural resources (such as archaeological sites, historic properties, traditional cultural places, and related heritage resources) and paleontological resources (such as fossils and fossil-bearing localities) on BLM-managed lands in New Mexico. Awards are issued as cooperative agreements, which typically indicates BLM expects to have substantial involvement in the project beyond simply providing pass-through funds, such as coordinating technical direction, reviewing deliverables, or partnering on implementation.

Eligibility is broad across public and nonprofit sectors, but with clear exclusions. Eligible applicants include state, county, city/township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Tribal governments; other Tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; and nonprofit organizations both with and without 501(c)(3) status. However, individuals and for-profit organizations are explicitly ineligible under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). That limitation is important for consultants or private companies that may want to participate; they would generally need to do so as subrecipients/subcontractors to an eligible lead applicant rather than applying directly, assuming the project design and the agreement terms allow that arrangement.

The NOFO also draws a firm line around youth internship or crew hiring under the Public Lands Corps framework. This specific program does not support entities hiring interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993. The notice explains that the Public Lands Corps Act (16 USC, Chapter 37, Subchapter II) is the legislative authority that allows BLM to "hire" interns under that mechanism, and that eligible Youth Conservation Corps groups should instead look to a different funding path: NOFO 15.243, titled BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands. In practical terms, applicants should not build proposals around Public Lands Corps internship hiring under this opportunity, and organizations whose primary approach is youth crews should use the referenced youth-focused NOFO instead.

A key administrative feature highlighted in the notice involves the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) program. CESUs are partnerships intended to promote and provide research, studies, assessments, monitoring, technical assistance, and education. If an award is made to a CESU partner under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement, and the project is consistent with CESU purposes, then the indirect cost limitation applies: indirect costs are capped at no more than 17.5 percent of the indirect cost base recognized in the partner's federally approved Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA). Applicants are encouraged to state explicitly whether their proposal furthers CESU purposes and, if it does, to identify which CESU Network should serve as the host. For universities and research partners that participate in CESUs, this can affect budgeting strategy and recoverable indirect costs, so it is something to decide and describe up front rather than leaving it ambiguous.

From the funding and timing information provided, the opportunity had an original closing date of March 27, 2024, and an award ceiling of $100,000 per award. The listing does not specify the number of expected awards in the supplied data, but the ceiling gives a sense of project scale: this is suited to discrete, well-scoped efforts like targeted inventories, condition assessments, monitoring protocols, research/analysis tied to management needs, site documentation, data synthesis, limited stabilization planning, public-facing educational components that fit within cultural/paleo resource management goals, or technical assistance and reporting that directly supports BLM program priorities in New Mexico. The assistance listing is associated with CFDA (now often referenced as Assistance Listing) number 15.224, and the activity category is Natural Resources, which aligns with the stewardship and management emphasis of the program.

In short, this NOFO is a BLM New Mexico cooperative agreement opportunity supporting cultural heritage and paleontology resource management work on public lands, open to a wide range of governmental, Tribal, educational, and nonprofit applicants, capped at $100,000, and structured with important restrictions: no individual or for-profit applicants, no Public Lands Corps intern/crew hiring under this program, and special indirect cost limits for CESU partners operating under a Master CESU agreement.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management New Mexico (NM) Cultural and Paleontology Resource Management" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.224.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-12-04.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-03-27. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $100,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

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