June 22, 2021

Department of Defense Funding Opportunity: Collection and Development of Tribal Protocols Guidebook

REQUEST FOR STATEMENT OF INTEREST
Number W9126G-21-2-SOI-4607
Project to be initiated in 2021
Applicants must be member in one of the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Regions: Any CESU Region nationwide
Project Title: Collection and Development of Tribal Protocols Guidebook

Due date no later than 5:00 P.M. Central Time on July 19, 2021

Responses to this Request for Statements of Interest will be used to identify potential investigators for a project to be funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) Legacy Resource Management Program which assists DoD in protecting and enhancing natural and cultural resources while enabling military readiness. Approximately $125,000 is expected to be available to support this project for the base period. There are no additional option periods.

The intent of this agreement is to collect extant tribal protocols from other Federal agencies for Federally recognized tribes as well as creating a guidebook to aid installations in the development of tribal consultation protocols. Personnel often lack references and examples to assist in creating consultation protocols with tribes. This collection of protocols and its accompanying guidebook will provide these references to improve and ease the development of consultation protocols. These are the tribal rules for communicating with agencies, including such things as proper titles of tribal leaders, appropriate gifts between leaders, appropriate seasons for consulting (many tribes have ceremonial seasons in which they cannot consult; these are often in fall and mid-winter associated with Winter Solstice ceremonies, but can also be related to spring planting and early fall harvesting), election cycles, Tribal Historic Preservation Office (THPO) representation of the leaders or tribal council, appropriate times to visit tribal lands, other tribes with which tribes refuse to meet, etc. The project will work with entities recognized by tribes and may lead to follow-on work to further develop regional aspects of the collection and guidebook.