FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management New Mexico (NM) Environmental Quality Protection Program | L24AS00063

Opportunity Information: Apply for L24AS00063

The FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management (BLM) New Mexico Environmental Quality Protection Program (Funding Opportunity Number L24AS00063) is a discretionary federal grant opportunity administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. It is offered as a cooperative agreement, which typically means BLM expects to have substantial involvement during the project (for example, coordinating on work plans, methods, deliverables, or implementation details). The program falls under the Natural Resources funding activity category and is associated with CFDA 15.236. As framed in the notice, the overall focus is environmental quality and protection work connected to BLM-managed lands and priorities in New Mexico, with funding tied to the broader IIJA/IRA federal investment context.

Eligibility is limited to public and nonprofit or educational entities, not private commercial applicants. 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; tribal organizations other than federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; and nonprofit organizations both with and without 501(c)(3) status (so long as they are not institutions of higher education in the nonprofit category listing). Individuals and for-profit organizations are explicitly ineligible to apply under this notice, so proposals submitted by companies, sole proprietors, or individual consultants would not be considered for award.

A key restriction in this particular NOFO is that it does not support projects where the applicant plans 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 authority, and as a result, youth or crew-based proposals must be routed through a separate funding opportunity. Specifically, eligible Youth Conservation Corps entities are directed to apply through NOFO 15.243, titled BLM Youth Conservation Opportunities on Public Lands, rather than through this Environmental Quality Protection Program announcement. In practical terms, applicants should avoid building their proposed scope of work around PLC-style internship or crew hiring models under this NOFO and should instead focus on eligible technical, programmatic, or implementation activities aligned with environmental quality and protection outcomes.

The notice also highlights the role of Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESUs). CESUs are described as partnerships 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 is consistent with the CESU purpose, then a specific indirect cost limitation applies: indirect costs are capped at no more than 17.5 percent of the indirect cost base recognized in the partner's federal agency-approved Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA). Applicants are instructed to state clearly whether their proposal furthers CESU program purposes, and if it does, to identify which CESU Network should be considered as the host. This matters for both administrative routing and budgeting, since the CESU indirect cost cap can affect the total allowable budget structure compared with standard NICRA-based indirect rates.

From a funding perspective, the opportunity lists an award ceiling of $500,000 per award. The notice shows the original closing date as March 27, 2024, with a creation date of January 9, 2024. While the expected number of awards is not specified in the provided source text, the ceiling indicates the maximum size of an individual award, and applicants would typically tailor their scopes and budgets to be realistic and defensible within that limit. Overall, the opportunity is best suited for governmental entities, tribes and tribal organizations, nonprofits, and higher education institutions proposing environmental quality and protection projects in New Mexico that align with BLM priorities, are structured for cooperative agreement management, and do not rely on Public Lands Corps internship or crew hiring mechanisms under this particular NOFO.

• The Bureau of Land Management in the natural resources sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY24 IIJA/IRA Bureau of Land Management New Mexico (NM) Environmental Quality Protection Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 15.236.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-01-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-03-27. (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 $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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