Coeur D'alene Tribe

Coeur D'alene Tribe, a federally recognized Native American tribal government headquartered in Plummer, Idaho, serves as a prime recipient of federal grants across a broad portfolio spanning social services, environmental protection, transit operations, healthcare, education, and community development, with a secondary prime contracting presence focused on tribal employment rights office services.

The tribe operates as a sovereign nation receiving federal grant funding rather than competing for contracts under set-asides; its federal engagement is structured through direct grant awards and formula allocations to Indian tribes by the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of the Interior, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Transportation, Department of Agriculture, Department of Justice, and smaller allocations from the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and other agencies. Coeur D'alene Tribe also operates subsidiaries including Red-Spectrum Communications LLC, a tribally owned Indian economic enterprise and minority-owned business. The tribe's primary contract work comprises five consecutive years of small fixed-price definitive contracts with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for Tribal Employment Rights Office (TERO) services—$30,000 to $33,000 annually through fiscal 2026—with no set-aside designations, performing employment rights monitoring, workplace discrimination prevention, and equal employment opportunity compliance within the tribal community in Plummer.

The tribe's customer concentration is driven overwhelmingly by federal social services and housing grants. The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families leads by award count with 74 awards, covering child care development block grants and fund discretionary programs, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), child support enforcement, Native Employment Works programs, and family violence prevention services. The General Services Administration Public Buildings Service places 49 lease-related awards worth $3.6 million combined potential value, while the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission delivers 32 awards worth $476 thousand (the tribe's largest contract-based customer). The Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Service (44 awards), Department of the Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs (36 awards), and Administration on Aging formula grants round out the top-five customer agencies. The 72 distinct customer agencies served reflect the tribe's role as a direct beneficiary of federal Indian programs across multiple agency missions; the concentrated dollar value sits with HHS and GSA, while award volume spreads across social services, tribal administration, environmental compliance, and justice programs.

The tribe holds two Basic Ordering Agreements with GSA: GS10B06524 (86 task orders, $2 million combined potential value) and GS10B07182 (41 task orders, $3.1 million combined potential value). These appear to support the TERO contracts and other minor services to federal agencies, but GSA vehicle volume does not anchor the tribe's primary federal footprint, which centers on direct grant awards to tribal governments.

Grant work dominates the award portfolio. Representative recent prime recipients include a $2 million five-year Brownfields Multipurpose Cooperative Agreement from EPA Region 10 (CFDA 66.818) to conduct environmental site assessments and cleanup planning on the reservation through 2030; a $925,000 Treatment Court Discretionary Grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (CFDA 16.585) for an Adult Healing to Wellness Court program integrating evidence-based substance use treatment with traditional healing practices, running through 2030; a $1.4 million Pacific Salmon Treaty Program award from NOAA (CFDA 11.438) for salmon reintroduction feasibility studies above Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee Dams, with total project cost of $6 million and multiple partners including the Department of Interior and State of Washington; a $765,000 continuation grant from the Office on Violence Against Women (CFDA 16.587) for victim advocacy and support services; and a $700,000 Public Safety Partnership Community Policing Grant from the Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (CFDA 16.710) for law enforcement equipment and training. Additionally, the tribe receives formula grants for Older Americans Act programs (Title VI Parts A and C, nutrition services), LIHEAP energy assistance, child care development, historic preservation (Tribal Historic Preservation Office awards from the National Park Service), pesticide enforcement, transit operations (Federal Transit Administration formula grants for the CityLink system), and education initiatives including Native American library services and Indian education formula grants. The tribe also received a $600,000 Cooperative Forestry Assistance award from USDA Forest Service (CFDA 10.664) for forest restoration and hazardous fuels reduction on 34,602 acres of fee lands through 2030.

The tribe acts as a subrecipient on university-led research and educational grants. Named sub-awards include work with the University of Idaho on "Cultivating Relationships: Partnering Teachers, Tribes, and Landscapes for Sustaining STEM Education" (co-PI role for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe Department of Education), climate-smart commodities research through the University of Idaho, participation in NSF EPSCoR funding, and a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation sub-award for Chinook salmon habitat restoration analysis. The tribe also receives sub-allocations for transit operations from Kootenai County (Federal Transit Administration funds) and nutrition programs from the Idaho State Board of Education.

Activity is steady: 31 awards in 2022 and 2023, 32 in 2024, 34 in 2025, with 6 recorded so far in 2026. Thirty awards reach completion within the next twenty-four months with combined potential value of $33,000, representing primarily small administrative grant rollovers and transit maintenance contracts. The combined potential value across all awards is $7.6 million, but the tribe has obligated $224.5 million across the portfolio—a ratio reflecting the formula-grant and block-grant structure, where annual allocations often exceed the stated potential (ceiling) value on individual award records.

The tribe's primary NAICS concentration is 6798 (Lessors of Nonresidential Buildings except Miniwarehouses) with 129 awards, driven by GSA lease arrangements, and 8110 (Human Rights Organizations) with 26 awards, reflecting its social services and tribal government functions. Top PSC codes include Lease/Rental of Office Buildings (51 awards), Medical-Managed Healthcare (44 awards tied to HHS Public Health), Support–Professional Legal (39 awards), and Social-Direct Aid to Tribal Governments under Public Law 93-638 (31 awards). The tribe operates as a prime grant recipient across federal agencies without significant reliance on set-aside contracting vehicles; its federal presence is characterized by direct tribal government awards and formula-based allocations rather than competitive procurement.