FY24 Bureau of Land Management Eastern States (ES) Cultural and Paleontology Resource Management | L24AS00152

Opportunity Information: Apply for L24AS00152

The FY24 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Eastern States Cultural and Paleontology Resource Management opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L24AS00152; CFDA 15.224) is a discretionary federal funding program run by the Department of the Interior through BLM. The program supports work tied to BLM Eastern States cultural heritage and paleontology priorities, generally aimed at improving the stewardship, understanding, documentation, and management of cultural resources (such as archaeological sites, historic properties, and related cultural heritage assets) and paleontological resources on or connected to BLM-managed lands in the Eastern States jurisdiction. Awards are made as cooperative agreements, which typically means BLM expects substantial involvement during the project (for example, coordination on methods, access, review of deliverables, and alignment with federal standards and program needs).

Eligibility is limited to a specific set of public and nonprofit entities. Applicants may include state, county, and city/township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; and nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status). Individuals and for-profit organizations are explicitly not eligible to apply under this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), which is an important threshold requirement before investing time in proposal development.

A key restriction in the announcement is that this NOFO does not support entities that want to hire 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 only legislative authority that allows BLM to "hire" interns under that specific authority, so projects seeking to use Youth Conservation Corps-style internship or crew hiring mechanisms must be pursued under a different funding pathway. In particular, eligible Youth Conservation Corps applicants are directed to apply under NOFO 15.243, titled BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands, rather than under this cultural and paleontology resource management opportunity. In practical terms, this means an applicant should design proposed work around professional staffing, partner capacity, contracted services where allowed, or other eligible personnel approaches, but not around Public Lands Corps internship/crew hiring under this program.

The opportunity also highlights the role of Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESUs). CESUs are partnership networks intended to support research, technical assistance, education, and related services that help federal agencies manage natural and cultural resources. If an applicant is a CESU partner and the award is made under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement consistent with CESU purposes, then indirect costs are capped: indirect costs are limited to no more than 17.5 percent of the indirect cost base as recognized in the partner's federally approved Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA). Applicants are expected to state whether their proposal furthers CESU program purposes and, if it does, to indicate which CESU Network should be considered as the host. This is a meaningful budgeting and compliance point because it can change the allowable indirect cost recovery compared to what an organization might otherwise expect under its negotiated rate.

From a funding standpoint, the listed award ceiling is $100,000. The notice shows an expected awards field but does not specify a number in the provided source data, so applicants should not assume how many projects will be funded based on this excerpt alone. The original closing date was February 6, 2024, and the opportunity was created on November 7, 2023. Overall, the program is best understood as a BLM Eastern States cooperative agreement funding opportunity for eligible public, tribal, educational, and nonprofit partners to carry out cultural heritage and paleontology resource management work, with clear exclusions for individuals/for-profits and clear guidance that Youth Conservation Corps internship/crew hiring belongs under a separate BLM youth-focused NOFO.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY24 Bureau of Land Management Eastern States (ES) 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 2023-11-07.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-02-06. (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.

Apply for L24AS00152

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