FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Plant Conservation and Restoration Management | L24AS00081

Opportunity Information: Apply for L24AS00081

The FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) Plant Conservation and Restoration Management opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L24AS00081, CFDA 15.245) is a discretionary federal funding program administered by the Bureau of Land Management. It will be awarded as a cooperative agreement, which generally means BLM expects to have substantial involvement in the project during performance (for example, coordination, shared planning, or technical input), rather than simply issuing a pass-through grant with minimal federal engagement. The program sits in the natural resources category and is aimed at supporting plant conservation and restoration management activities tied to BLM priorities under FY24 funding associated with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

The applicant eligibility list is broad but clearly focused on public and mission-driven entities rather than private business. Eligible applicants 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; Native American tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; and nonprofit organizations both with and without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education in that nonprofit category listing). Individuals and for-profit organizations are explicitly ineligible, so proposals coming from private companies or a person applying on their own will not be considered for award under this notice of funding opportunity.

A major 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 (16 USC, Chapter 37, Subchapter II) is the specific legislative authority that allows BLM to "hire" interns under that framework, and this particular funding opportunity is not the mechanism being used for those youth internship or crew-style efforts. As a result, organizations that want to propose work centered on youth crews or internship hiring through that authority are directed instead to a different BLM funding opportunity: NOFO 15.243, titled BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands. In practical terms, applicants to L24AS00081 should frame projects around plant conservation and restoration management outcomes themselves, not around staffing models that rely on Public Lands Corps hiring authorities.

The NOFO also addresses projects that may be implemented through the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) network. CESUs are described here as partnership frameworks designed to promote and provide research, studies, assessments, monitoring, technical assistance, and educational services. If an award is made to a CESU partner under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement and the proposed work aligns with the CESU purpose, then indirect costs are capped. Specifically, indirect costs are limited to 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 instructed to state whether their proposal furthers the purpose of the CESU program and, if it does, to identify which CESU Network should be considered as the host. This matters for budgeting and administration because the CESU indirect cost limitation can affect the total recoverable overhead compared to a typical NICRA rate.

In terms of timing and scale, the original closing date listed for applications was March 11, 2024, and the award ceiling is shown as $10,000,000. The posting indicates an expected awards field but does not provide a number in the excerpted data, so applicants would need to consult the full announcement for the anticipated number of awards, typical award size ranges, and any target funding allocations. The opportunity was created on January 9, 2024, signaling it is a FY24 cycle funding notice. Overall, the key takeaways are that this is a BLM HQ-led cooperative agreement opportunity focused on plant conservation and restoration management, open to governmental, tribal, educational, and nonprofit entities, with firm exclusions for individuals and for-profits, and with clear guardrails around youth intern/crew hiring under the Public Lands Corps Act and indirect cost treatment for CESU-based cooperative agreements.

• 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) Plant Conservation and Restoration Management" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.245.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-01-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-03-11. (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 $10,000,000.00 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 L24AS00081

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