NEZ Perce Tribe

NEZ Perce Tribe, a federally recognized sovereign Native American nation headquartered in Lapwai, Idaho, operates as a federal grant recipient and prime contractor delivering environmental stewardship, cultural resource management, human services, and natural resource programs across 1,056 federal awards spanning multiple agencies. The Tribe operates entirely outside federal procurement set-asides available to commercial vendors; as a federally recognized Indian tribe, it contracts directly with federal agencies under authorities including Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act provisions, tribal sovereignty frameworks, and dedicated tribal grant programs. The Tribe's corporate structure includes the NEZ Perce Tribal Health Authority as a subsidiary entity.

The Tribe's federal award portfolio is dominated by grant work rather than contracts. Of 1,056 total awards across all sources, 96 percent are prime grants and federal cooperative agreements; the remaining 4 percent are sub-awards delivered under state, university, and nonprofit prime recipients. The combined potential value across all awards stands at $67.7 million, though obligated dollars ($496.2 million) significantly exceed that ceiling, indicating substantial multi-year funding vehicles and sustained implementation. The Tribe has received an average of 54 new awards annually over the past five years, with peak activity in 2024 (65 awards) and trailing activity in 2026 (15 awards through October 2026).

Capability framing emerges from the award portfolio rather than a vendor product catalog. The Tribe delivers fish hatchery operations and salmon restoration (spawning, incubation, rearing, and release of chinook, coho, steelhead, and sockeye juveniles across Dworshak and Kooskia National Fish Hatcheries; partnership roles managing over 2 million fish annually); cultural resource management and historic preservation (archaeological surveys, traditional cultural property monitoring, historic context statements, tribal historic preservation office grants under National Historic Preservation Act section 106 compliance); environmental monitoring and water quality assessment (mercury, pharmaceuticals, PFAS monitoring in Snake and Clearwater river basins; pesticide and toxics tracking; wildfire smoke air quality monitoring); forest restoration and fuels reduction (road reconstruction, timber harvesting facilitation, prescribed burning, habitat restoration across 35–40 miles of road work and 90–115 million board feet of timber sales under Good Neighbor Authority); and tribal social services including child welfare, TANF administration, child support enforcement, elder services, domestic violence victim services, housing assistance, and emergency preparedness. Recent representative work includes a $3.14 million cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service for forest restoration in the Lower Salmon Landscape (awarded September 2025, running through September 2035); an $8.7 million EPA Climate Pollution Reduction Grants award for greenhouse gas reduction across tribal facilities and residential weatherization (December 2024); a $37.3 million cooperative agreement for climate action implementation including energy audits and upgrades for 650 tribal residences (October 2024); and a $1.478 million NOAA cooperative agreement to restore fish passage through culvert replacement on the Wallowa River (October 2026).

Customer concentration reflects tribal grant funding structures and federal natural resource stewardship mandates. The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families leads by award count (82 awards) but carries modest individual dollar values, reflecting formula allocations for child care, child support, TANF, and elder services. The Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Education delivered 64 awards. The Department of the Army Corps of Engineers accounts for 49 awards with $3.6 million combined potential value — the highest-value single agency customer — driven by a large indefinite delivery contract (GS10B05798, a Basic Ordering Agreement) carrying 117 task orders and $40.2 million in potential value for cultural resource assessment, archaeological surveys, traditional knowledge consultation, and fish passage work across Northwest Division Wawaweewi and Federal Columbia River Power System programs in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. The Environmental Protection Agency provided 38 awards spanning air quality monitoring, brownfields assessment, water quality monitoring, solid waste and recycling infrastructure, and climate planning. The Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 1 delivered 37 awards supporting fish hatchery operations, fish passage restoration, and salmon reintroduction research. These five agencies account for 270 awards (26 percent of the total) but the source material groups awards by multiple customer entities, indicating institutional breadth rather than concentration risk.

Award portfolio activity has remained relatively stable year-over-year (52–65 awards annually since 2022), with recompete exposure of $445 thousand across 52 awards completing within the next twenty-four months (October 2026–October 2028). The Tribe operates under the Basic Ordering Agreement GS10B05798 as the primary vehicle for recurring Army Corps of Engineers task orders; this vehicle alone carries 117 task orders and $40.2 million in combined potential value, reflecting the Tribe's established role as a direct-service provider for federal cultural resource and environmental stewardship work in the Pacific Northwest.

Sub-award engagement is limited (38 awards, 4 percent of total). The Tribe receives sub-grants as recipient under cooperative agreements led by state agencies (Idaho Department of Health & Welfare for WIC services, crime victim services, tobacco prevention, and recovery services), universities (University of Idaho for food systems development and agricultural management; Oregon State University for climate-smart potatoes), and nonprofits (National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for habitat restoration, environmental justice work, and condor recovery; Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission for fish passage restoration). These sub-awards represent capacity expansion rather than core reliance; the Tribe holds primary federal relationships across its service portfolio.

The Tribe's federal grant profile spans human services, environmental protection, natural resource management, and cultural preservation with no federal contracting set-aside posture—federal agencies contract directly with the Tribe by virtue of its sovereign status and Indian Self-Determination Act authority. Top award categories by NAICS include All Other Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (40 awards), Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (28 awards), and Human Rights Organizations (23 awards), reflecting the breadth of social services and research delivery. Top PSC codes include Social–Direct Aid to Tribal Governments (57 awards), Lease/Rental of Office Buildings (53 awards), and Special Studies/Analysis–Archeological/Paleontological (33 awards). The Tribe's activity spans 99 distinct federal agencies, indicating both administrative diversity and programmatic depth across civilian, defense, and Indian affairs portfolios.