Federal grant programs / Environmental Protection Agency

Direct Implementation Tribal Cooperative Agreements (66.473)

Also known as DITCA

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$7.3 million
• Grant awards38
• Typical award$99,250
• Awarded in FY 2025$1.8 million
• Size rank1,554 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceProject grants

Key findings

• Annual funding rose from $1.6 million in fiscal 2021 to $1.8 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 1554th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 14 largest recipients received 100% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 7 states and territories.

What the program funds

Direct Implementation Tribal Cooperative Agreements (DITCAs) enable EPA to award cooperative agreements to federally recognized Indian tribes and eligible intertribal consortia to help carry out the Agency's function to directly implement Federal environmental programs required or authorized by law in the absence of an authorized or delegated tribal program, notwithstanding the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act. DITCAs are an increasingly important avenue for EPA and the tribes to realize meaningful environmental protection in Indian Country. DITCAs enable EPA to partner with tribes to help fulfill EPA's direct implementation authorities, yield environmental results, and assist the Agency in meeting its Strategic Plan goals and targets. DITCAs also provide tribes with flexibility and opportunity by allowing tribes, through a workplan with EPA and under federal authority, to choose aspects of a program that address their tribal environmental needs and priorities, to determine the scope and pace of tribal involvement, and to build tribal capacity to implement environmental programs. EPA is committed to work on a government-to-government basis to build tribal capacity to implement federal programs through delegations, authorizations, and primacy designations to enable tribes to meaningfully participate in the Agency’s policy making, standard setting, and direct implementation activities under federal environmental statutes. EPA will work with individual tribes to develop and implement an EPA-Tribal Environmental Plan (ETEP), a joint planning document for achieving stronger environmental and human health protection in Indian country. ETEPs identify tribal, EPA, and shared priorities, and the roles and responsibilities for addressing those priorities. EPA will focus its direct implementation efforts on areas of high need for human health or environmental protection, including programs identified in the ETEP for which tribes are not eligible, as well as those for which tribes do not currently anticipate seeking delegation, authorization, or primacy. In carrying out its direct implementation activities, EPA will work closely with tribes to develop tribal capacity to meaningfully participate in programs for which they do not anticipate seeking delegation, authorization, or primacy. EPA will also encourage tribes to participate in policy making and to assume appropriate partial roles in the implementation of programs, including through the use of DITCAs or other agreements, as available. DITCAs provide an avenue for tribes and EPA to partner in implementing meaningful environmental protection programs in Indian country. Because DITCAs can address a wide range of activities, and the need for implementation of these activities in Indian country is great, the funding priority is for any eligible activity that addresses a tribal environmental need or priority and yields meaningful environmental and/or public health results for the tribe and the Agency.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

DITCAs may be awarded to: (1) Federally Recognized Indian Tribal Government, and (2) intertribal consortia consistent with applicable provisions. In order for an intertribal consortium to be eligible to receive cooperative agreements under this authority, an intertribal consortium should be consistent with the provisions in 40 C.F.R. Part 35 Subpart B (Tribal Grants). See "EPA’s Direct Implementation of Federal Environmental Programs in Indian Country", which can be found at: https://www.epa.gov/tribal/epas-direct-implementation-federal-environmental-programs-indian-country.

What the money can and cannot pay for

DITCAs assist Tribes in helping EPA directly implement Federal environmental programs required or authorized by law in the absence of an acceptable Tribal program and may only be awarded to Tribes to assist the Administrator in directly implementing Federal environmental programs for Indian Tribes required or authorized by law. For example, activities under the following programs may be eligible for DITCA funding: 1) the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program under the Clean Water Act. 2) Implementation plan development and the Title V permit program under the Clean Air Act. 3) The Public Water System program and the Underground Injection Control program under the Safe Drinking Water Act. 4) The Underground Storage Tank program and the Subtitle C permit program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. 5) The Certification and Training program for pesticide applicators under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. 6) The Lead-Based Paint program under the Toxic Substances Control Act.?? Assistance agreement awards under this program may involve or relate to geospatial information. Further information regarding geospatial information may be obtained by viewing the following website: Geospatial Resources at EPA (https://www.epa.gov/geospatial). Limitations on DITCA awards include: (1) The statutory authority for DITCA is found in appropriations acts.

Continue reading on SAM.gov

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Matching requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing. MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

Contact the headquarters or regional location, as appropriate for application deadlines

Award range and average, in the agency's words

Cooperative agreement amounts range between $10,000 and $100,000/fiscal year; Average: $55,000/fiscal year.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Almost all of the money went to tribes.

By state

4 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards. They are Washington, Oklahoma, Michigan and Minnesota.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.