FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Wildlife Program | L24AS00140

Opportunity Information: Apply for L24AS00140

The FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Wildlife Program (Funding Opportunity Number L24AS00140; CFDA 15.247) is a discretionary federal funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Awards are made as cooperative agreements, which generally means BLM expects to have substantial involvement in the funded work (for example, coordination on technical approaches, data, priorities, or implementation), rather than simply issuing a grant with minimal federal participation. The program sits in the Natural Resources funding activity area and is positioned to support wildlife-related work aligned with BLM priorities under the FY24 IIJA/IRA context.

Eligibility is limited to public and mission-driven entities rather than private commercial applicants. Eligible applicants include state, county, and local governments (including cities/townships), special district governments, and independent school districts, as well as public and state-controlled institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education. Tribal eligibility includes federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other tribal organizations that are not federally recognized as governments. Housing authorities (including Indian housing authorities) are also eligible. Nonprofits may apply whether or not they hold 501(c)(3) status, as long as they are not applying as an individual or for-profit business. Individuals and for-profit organizations are explicitly ineligible under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), so proposals must come from one of the listed organizational categories.

A key restriction in this NOFO is that it 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 is the legislative authority that allows BLM to "hire" interns under that framework, and that this HQ Wildlife Program NOFO is not the vehicle for that kind of youth/intern crew activity. As a result, eligible Youth Conservation Corps applicants are directed to a different opportunity specifically designed for that purpose: NOFO 15.243, BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands. Practically, this means applicants should avoid proposing project structures that depend on Public Lands Corps-style internship or crew hiring under this NOFO, and instead focus on wildlife program work that can be carried out through other staffing and partnership arrangements permitted under the cooperative agreement.

The NOFO also highlights the role of Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESUs). CESUs are described as partnerships organized to promote and provide research, studies, assessments, monitoring, technical assistance, and educational services. If the applicant is a CESU partner and the award is issued under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement that fits the CESU purpose, then 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). The NOFO asks applicants to state whether their proposal furthers the CESU program purpose and, if so, to identify which CESU Network should be considered as the host. In other words, applicants that are part of a CESU should be prepared to (1) connect the proposed work clearly to CESU objectives and (2) budget indirect costs consistent with the CESU limitation, rather than assuming they can charge their full negotiated rate without restriction.

In terms of funding scale and timing, the opportunity lists an award ceiling of $1,500,000. The original closing date shown is January 19, 2024, and the opportunity was created on November 6, 2023. The listing does not provide a clear number of expected awards in the provided text, so applicants typically would need to review the full NOFO for any details about typical award sizes, program totals, anticipated period of performance, and selection criteria. Overall, this opportunity is best suited for governments, tribes, universities, and nonprofits proposing wildlife-focused natural resource work that aligns with BLM HQ priorities, structured as a collaborative cooperative agreement, and not reliant on Public Lands Corps internship/crew hiring mechanisms.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Wildlife Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.247.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-11-06.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-01-19. (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 $1,500,000.00 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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