IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Utah Invasive and Noxious Plant Management Program | L24AS00274

Opportunity Information: Apply for L24AS00274

The IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Utah Invasive and Noxious Plant Management Program is a discretionary federal funding opportunity that supports work to manage invasive and noxious plants in Utah as part of BLM natural resource priorities. Awards are issued as cooperative agreements, which typically means BLM expects to remain substantially involved during the project (for example, through coordination on workplans, methods, schedules, reporting, or field priorities). The program is tied to the broader goals of protecting and restoring public lands by preventing the spread of invasive species, reducing existing infestations, and supporting the science and on-the-ground actions needed to sustain healthy ecosystems.

This opportunity is identified as Funding Opportunity Number L24AS00274 under CFDA 15.230, with an original application closing date of April 19, 2024. The maximum award amount (ceiling) is $350,000. While the posting does not state a specific number of anticipated awards, applicants should treat the ceiling as an upper bound and propose a scope and budget that are realistic, defensible, and aligned with BLM Utah priorities for invasive and noxious plant management.

Eligibility is limited to public and nonprofit or educational entities. 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 Native American tribal governments; other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; and nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education, which are listed separately). Individuals and for-profit organizations are explicitly ineligible to apply under this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), so proposals must come from an eligible organization type.

There are also clear limitations related to youth crews and internships. This NOFO 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 only legislative authority that allows BLM to "hire" interns under that framework, and because of that, Youth Conservation Corps applicants should only pursue projects through a different funding channel: NOFO 15.243, BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands. In practice, this means applicants should not build their proposed approach around Public Lands Corps intern hiring mechanisms within this particular opportunity, and any youth-focused staffing strategy needs to align with the correct, separate NOFO if that is central to the project.

The opportunity also references the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) program. CESUs are partnership networks designed to support research, studies, assessments, monitoring, technical assistance, and educational services that help federal land managers make informed decisions. If a cooperative agreement is awarded to a CESU partner under a formally negotiated Master CESU agreement and the project is consistent with 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). Applicants are instructed to state whether their proposal furthers the CESU program purpose and, if so, to identify which CESU Network should serve as the host. This matters for both administrative processing and budgeting, especially for organizations that are part of a CESU and would otherwise apply a higher negotiated indirect rate.

Overall, the program is aimed at enabling qualified public, tribal, academic, and nonprofit partners to collaborate with BLM Utah on invasive and noxious plant management projects, with a cooperative-agreement structure, a defined funding ceiling, specific eligibility boundaries (no individuals or for-profits), a restriction against using this NOFO to support Public Lands Corps intern/crew hiring, and special indirect cost rules for eligible CESU awards.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management Utah Invasive and Noxious Plant Management Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.230.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-02-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-04-19. (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 $350,000.00 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 L24AS00274

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