Yakama Curation

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 Yakama Nation Museum and Cultural Center (Yakama Museum) for cultural resource curation services.

Background: Antiquities Act, the Reservoir Salvage Act, section 110 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and 36 CFR 79: Curation of Federally-Owned and Administered Archaeological Collections. As part of its responsibilities under various cultural resources laws and regulations, the Corps must curate and administer archaeological collections to certain standard.

Yakama Museum is uniquely qualified to continue to curate the Portland District collections because of their knowledge of cultural requirements and ability to meet curation standards. Yakama Museum houses Native American artifacts from their anscestal lands, including other than Corps found artifacts, in a special constant humidity temperature room that meets specific federal standards for the curation of archeological artifacts.

Oregon Tribes want all Native American artifacts to stay within the state where they are found for cultural and religious reasons Justification: Yakama Museum is uniquely qualified to continue to curate the Portland District collections because of their knowledge of cultural requirements and their sensitivity to the needs of the Tribes. The collection at Yakama Museum is from an ancestral Yakama village.

Impact: Failure to utilize Yakama Museum would be a substantial duplication of cost to the Government that is not expected to be recovered through competition. The Government would incur additional expenses to remove the collection from Yakama Museum and transfer to another facility.

Alternatives: There are no known alternative sources for these services which possess the knowledge of the Yakama Museum.