Yakama Nation Technical Services

THIS IS A SPECIAL NOTICE PREPARED IN ACCORDANCE WITH FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) SUBPART 5.2 “SYNOPSES OF PROPOSED CONTRACT ACTIONS” The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Portland District (NWP) intends to negotiate/award a firm-fixed price service procurement to the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation (Yakama Nation) for techinal services to support the Federal Columbia River Power System Cultural Resources Program, Wana Pa Koot Koot.

Background: The Corps and the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) (Agencies) are jointly responsible for compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) under the terms of the 2009 Systemwide Programmatic Agreement for management of historic properties affected by operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS). The Corps manages the Bonneville, The Dalles, and John Day Projects, which are part of the FCRPS. The FCRPS Cultural Resource Program works closely with interested and affected tribes, state historic preservation offices, and other agencies for cultural resource management in compliance with Section 106 of the NHPA.

Justification: The Yakama Nation possesses unique knowledge of its ancestral artifacts, village sites, prehistoric burial areas, and areas of traditional cultural properties and resources that exist within and overlap the project area.

Impact: Failure to utilize the Yakama Nation’s knowledge of its archeological sites and traditional resources would delay the Corps in being able to make required long term management strategies for the area and impact compliance with Section 106 of NHPA under the terms of the 2009 Systemwide Programmatic Agreement for management of historic properties affected by operation and maintenance of the FCRPS. Furthermore, the government-to-government relations with the Yakama Nation would be negatively impacted.

Alternatives: There are no known alternatives for these services that possess the knowledge of the Yakama Nation tribal history or could speak on the Yakama Nation’s behalf.