FY24 Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) National Conservation Lands-Management Studies Support Program | L24AS00142

Opportunity Information: Apply for L24AS00142

The FY24 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Headquarters National Conservation Lands (NCL) Management Studies Support Program is a discretionary federal funding opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number L24AS00142; CFDA 15.248) that will be awarded as a cooperative agreement. The program sits in the natural resources funding category and is intended to support work aligned with the management needs of BLMs National Conservation Lands through studies and related technical efforts. While the notice text provided focuses more on eligibility and administrative conditions than on a detailed scope of work, the framing makes clear that BLM is looking to fund management-oriented studies and support activities that can include research, assessments, monitoring, technical assistance, and educational services, especially where those outputs inform stewardship and decision-making for NCL units.

Funding under this opportunity is relatively small and project-scaled, with an award ceiling of $40,000. The original application deadline listed is February 1, 2024, and the notice indicates an expectation of making awards, though the exact number of expected awards is not specified in the excerpt. Because the instrument type is a cooperative agreement, applicants should anticipate that BLM will likely have substantial involvement during the project period (for example, collaborating on study design, review of deliverables, coordination with field or program staff, or alignment with BLM protocols), which is a common distinguishing feature of cooperative agreements versus grants.

Eligibility is broad across public and nonprofit sectors but explicitly excludes certain applicant types. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; and nonprofits both with and without 501(c)(3) status. Individuals and for-profit organizations are specifically ineligible to apply under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), which is an important screen for applicants that might otherwise participate as consultants or subcontractors rather than as prime recipients.

A key restriction in the NOFO is that it does not support entities hiring interns or crews under the Public Lands Corps Act of 1993. The notice emphasizes 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 authority, and as a result this particular NOFO is not the correct pathway for youth internship or conservation crew proposals. Youth Conservation Corps or similar eligible youth-focused entities are directed instead to pursue projects under a different funding opportunity, NOFO 15.243, titled BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands. Practically, that means proposals for this HQ NCL Management Studies Support Program should focus on management studies and technical deliverables rather than staffing models centered on interns, youth crews, or internship hiring mechanisms.

The NOFO also highlights the role of Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESUs). CESUs are partnerships designed to promote and provide research, studies, assessments, monitoring, technical assistance, and educational services, which closely matches the kinds of outputs this program supports. If an award is made to a CESU partner under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement and the project is consistent with the CESU purpose, 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 instructed to state whether their proposal furthers the purpose of the CESU program and, if it does, to specify which CESU Network should be considered as the host. This is a meaningful budgeting and administrative consideration, since the CESU indirect cost limitation can affect total project costs and the way applicants structure budgets and recover overhead.

In short, this opportunity is best suited for eligible government entities, tribes, universities, and nonprofits that can deliver targeted management studies and related technical products supporting BLM National Conservation Lands, within a modest budget cap and under a cooperative agreement framework. Applicants should avoid proposing youth internship or crew hiring components under the Public Lands Corps authority and should pay close attention to CESU-related requirements and the 17.5 percent indirect cost cap if applying as a CESU partner or proposing work intended to be hosted through a CESU Network.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY24 Bureau of Land Management Headquarters (HQ) National Conservation Lands-Management Studies Support Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.248.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-11-06.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-02-01. (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 $40,000.00 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 L24AS00142

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