OPA

Ross Swimmer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the Department of Interior, today announced revised guidelines for Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) review of tribal bingo management contracts and asked Indian tribes that are presently operating with unapproved contracts to submit them for review.

Previous guidelines provided that review and approval by the BIA would be at the option of the tribes

"It is now the Department's policy to exercise its authority to review tribal bingo management contracts in all cases,” Swimmer said. ''This fully implements the policy established in Interior Secretary Don Hodel's letter of August 6. 1985. to the Governor of the Pueblo of Santa Ana concerning the Pueblo's proposed pari-mutuel dog racing enterprise."

In a letter to all tribal chairmen with a copy of the new guidelines, Swimmer said that tribes conducting bingo under an unapproved bingo management contract were at risk that someone may file suit to have the contract nullified. He said that federal courts are continuing to hold that 25 U.S. Code. Section 81 makes tribal bingo management contracts null and void unless they are approved. He said the law also authorizes anyone to file suit in the name of the United States and, if successful to recover half of any money paid to any person by or on behalf of the tribe.

"For your own protection,” Swimmer continued, "you should submit your contract for review if you have not done so." He recommended that tribes review contracts under the new guidelines with the management companies and attempt to bring the contracts into conformity prior to submitting them for review by the Bureau.

Three new provisions of the guidelines cover possible conflicts of interest. One provides that “no elected member of the tribal government or relative in the immediate household of an elected member of the tribal government may be an employee of the contractor or of the bingo enterprise.” Another calls for contract language stating that no payments have been made (or will be made) to any elected member of the tribal government (or their relative[s]) for the purpose of obtaining or maintaining the contract or any other privilege for the contractor. A third provides that no party having an interest in the contract may be an elected member of the tribal government or a relative thereof.

Among the other contract provisions required by the revised guidelines are:

(1) An accompanying resolution setting forth the scope of authority of the tribal officials signing the contract on behalf of the tribe;

(2) A fixed limited time to run, which must be distinctly stated (usually not to exceed five years unless there is provision for renegotiation of the management fee);

(3) Amount or rate per centum of the contractor's fee and method of computation;

(4) That the tribe has the right to inspect the contractor's books and to secure an independent audit at any time;

(5) Specifically state whether assignments or subcontracts will be permitted;

(6) Prior to approval of any contract names of all members of the management firm must be submitted to the FBI for name and record checks;

(7) Require contractor to furnish monthly statements showing revenues and expenses and provide tribe with its portion of the proceeds;

(8) That the contract should be reviewed for legal sufficiency by the regional or field solicitor's office; and

(9) Require the establishment of a cash management system adequate to safeguard the funds of the operation with provisions that the tribe has the right to oversee the system.

Authority for approval or disapproval of contracts for bingo remains at the area office level while contracts for gambling other than bingo will be reviewed in Washington.

Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer said today he will initiate on June 2 a program to bring Bureau of Indian Affairs agency superintendents to Washington, D.C. for a three-week intensive orientation on the Bureau's headquarters operations

A priority will be given to selecting new and less experienced superintendents for enrollment in the program.

"As a part of my efforts to improve the management of the Bureau, I want to expose our frontline managers -- the agency superintendents who work directly with Indian tribal governments -- to the Washington headquarters operations so they can attain a greater understanding of the organizations’ missions, policies, programs and administrative processes from a Bureau-wide perspective," Swimmer said. "I would expect that the headquarters’ managers will likewise learn from the experience of the superintendents.”

Swimmer said the information learned during the orientation will enable superintendents to be more responsive to tribal governments. "I want the managers of the Bureau to make informed decisions at the lowest organizational level possible, and not merely pass forward the decision responsibility to the next higher organizational level." He said that in those instances where a higher authority is responsible for a decision, "I want sound analysis to come forward so that expeditious and responsible decisions can be made and responses given to tribal governments."

Three superintendents per month will be assigned to Washington. The orientation is designed to assure that participants Rain a basic knowledge and understanding of the Bureau's trust and service responsibilities, its administrative authorities and procedures and management practices.

During their assignments the superintendents will spend time with the Assistant Secretary and his Deputies for Trust and Economic Development, Tribal Services, Education and Operations.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) today issued requests for proposals for a model business development center to serve Indian tribes and individuals. The center would be expected to provide management and technical assistance, including help in obtaining private sector financing, for starting or expanding private businesses beneficial to Indian reservation economies.

"This initiative is an effort to shift the focus away from government projects to private ventures for building up reservation economies and providing needed jobs," Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ross Swimmer said. "We want to leverage available federal funds by combining them with tribal and private resources to further the growth of private, for-profit businesses. Past programs have been centered on tribal enterprises which too often have been run like governments rather than businesses."

Swimmer said that a pilot center could be expected to need federal start­up assistance but should be, in the long run, a viable, independent, revenue-sufficient alternative to government-sponsored business technical assistance programs.

Models proposed under the request may be for a national or regional center or for a demonstration center. The BIA has indicated that it might accept more than one proposal.

Evaluation of criteria will include how well a proposal deals with "identifying business opportunities, market-led growth opportunities, linkages with private sources of capital, business planning, restructuring of unprofitable business, equity participation and cost sharing."

Other factors will be personnel and organizational qualifications; replicability and adaptability of the proposal; budget and cost effectiveness and demonstrated experience in Indian business development.

Announcement of the request for proposals was published 1n the Commerce Business Daily on May 5, 1986.

For further information contact Peter Markey, BIA Contracts and Grants, Room 17, 1951 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20245.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ross swimmer departs Sunday on a 15- day trip to Indian Country that has him visiting 26 Indian reservations and meeting with more than 125 Indian tribes.

"Since I was sworn in about six months ago, I have spent most of my time in Washington involved in putting my ·staff together and working on administrative matters. This trip will be the first opportunity I have to get out and visit with many Indian tribal governments and talk with them about the issues in Indian Country," Swimmer said.

He will be visiting Indian reservations and tribes in the states of New Mexico, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska.

Swimmer's first meeting will be June 9 in Ruidoso, N.M., with the Mescalero tribal council. Later in the day he will meet in Albuquerque with the Colorado Utes, the All Indian Pueblo Council, Jicarilla Apache and Navajo Ramah tribes. The evening of June 9 he will be in San Diego, California for a dinner meeting with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agency superintendents from the Sacramento area office.

Following are the additional dates and places Swimmer will be visiting: June 10, San Diego and visits to the Indian reservations of Viejas, Barona, Mesa Grande, Santa Ysabel, La Jolla, Rincon, Pala and Pechanga and meetings with the Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association. Travel to Reno for meeting with the Western Nevada tribal leaders.

June 11, Visit the Pyramid Lake reservation, travel to Sacramento for meeting with BIA employees and meet with the Northern California Agency BIA employees in Arcata; meet with Northern California tribal leaders in Arcata. June 12, Travel to Portland, Oregon for meeting with BIA employees; meet with tribal leaders from Oregon, Washington and Idaho in the Portland area office and travel to Yakima reservation.

Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer today emphasized there will be no action by the federal government next month to forcibly remove Navajo families from land belonging to the Hopi Indian Tribe in Arizona.

"There will be no federal action to evict the Navajos remaining on the Hopi partitioned lands on July 6," Swimmer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, said. “Apparently, some people are unaware that Congress has recognized that we cannot meet a July 6 deadline for completing relocation in the Navajo-Hopi settlement. Yet we continue receiving calls from the media and from individuals who mistakenly believe there will be a confrontation on the issue next month."

Legislation enacted in 1974 to settle a land dispute between the Hopi and Navajo tribes required the relocation of many Indians. In 1981, a deadline of July 6, 1986, was set for completion of the relocation, but Congress last December recognized that it would take longer to complete the resettlement of Navajo families still remaining on Hopi partitioned lands.

"Congress has told us that none of the Navajo families now living on lands partitioned to the Hopi Tribe can be relocated until such time as replacement housing has been provided for them," Swimmer noted. "And Congress al located about $22 million for the BIA to construct housing for Navajos yet to be relocated."

Swimmer said the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is working closely with the Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation Commission under an agreement put into effect on February 25, 1986, to complete the relocation. The Commission was created by Congress as the primary agency for relocation.

"The BIA policy is to pool our expertise with that of the Commission to complete the job," Swimmer said. "We are not attempting to replace the Commission. We have a partnership in the commitment to see that the Navajo families are provided appropriate housing, useful counseling and other assistance necessary for an improved lifestyle in their new locations."

Congress specified that the BIA construct houses on what is known as "new lands" -- some 250,000 acres of land given the Navajo Tribe by the federal government and 150,000 acres of land purchased by the Tribe.

The Commission continues to have responsibility to construct relocation housing for those Navajos who choose to relocate on the previously existing Navajo Reservation lands or at an off-reservation site.

Swimmer, who visited the area where most Navajos awaiting relocation are residing said he believes that nearly all of them will agree to move when they are assured that appropriate housing and grazing lands will be available.

Interior Secretary Donald Hodel approved June 5 a proposal to move the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Northern California agency from Hoopa to Redding, 80 miles east. As part of the move new sub-agencies will be created at Klamath, near the mouth of the Klamath River, and at Willow Creek, approximately 11 miles of south of Hoopa.

The principal reasons for the move, a BIA spokesman said, are to improve accessibility of the staff to the tribal groups served and to reduce costs. Redding is a highway hub providing access to all parts of the northern California area served by the agency. There is also bus, rail and air transportation to Redding. The BIA expects the move to save more than $1 million over a five-year period.

The agency now serves 16 tribal groups and the new location would permit the assignment of seven additional groups in Modoc and Lassen counties to the agency. These seven groups are presently part of the Central California agency.

The agency's present allotment of 65 positions would be reduced by two in the change. The new organization will include 32 employees at Redding; 23 at Willow Creek and eight at Klamath.

The BIA's area director in Sacramento has been instructed to begin implementation of the move. It is expected to take several months to complete.

Interior Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer has announced the appointment of Joe M. Parker, a Chickasaw Indian, as director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' (BIA) Muskogee, Oklahoma area. The appointment was effective May 25.

Since 1976, Parker has been superintendent of the BIA' s Tahlequah, Oklahoma agency, one of seven agencies under the Muskogee area office.

A former Internal Revenue agent, Parker has a strong background in financial affairs and fiscal management. He was the Muskogee area accounting officer 1974-76. He was with the Internal Revenue Service thirteen years from 1960 to 1973. He also had a year's experience as a bookkeeper with the Great Western Oil and Gas Company.

Parker graduated from East Central State University in Oklahoma in 1960 and became a Licensed Public Accountant in 1977.

Born in Stonewall, Oklahoma in 1933, he served in the U.S. Navy 1952-56. He has completed numerous management training programs offered by the Department of the Interior and other agencies.

The BIA has a total of 12 area (regional) offices, most of them working with tribal groups in several states. The Muskogee area is geographically small, covering only the eastern half of Oklahoma. Tile area director is the line officer in charge of BIA programs and activities in the area.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA} and the Indian Health Service (IHS) have signed an agreement to join forces to combat drug abuse and other serious health problems among the nation's 1.4 million Native Americans Interior Assistant Secretary Ross Swimmer, who heads the BIA, joined IHS Director Everett Rhoades in Washington to sign the memorandum of agreement and discuss the ongoing relationship between their offices. IHS is an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.

"The BIA provides a variety of important social and economic services to Indian people while the IRS offers quality physical and mental health care," Swimmer said. "It is essential that we work together to help young Indians deal with some of the problems reservation life presents."

Although they were brought together by a need to combat rampant substance abuse among Indian youth, the two agencies also will coordinate efforts in the areas of nutrition, teenage suicide, child abuse and neglect, teenage pregnancy, fetal alcohol syndrome, parental effectiveness, special education the needs of elderly, injury control and immunization. In addition, health promotion curricula will be developed and community leaders trained to deal with these problems.

"Alcohol and drug abuse is the most serious social and health problem facing Indian people today," Swimmer said. "Our statistics show that the majority of BIA and tribal arrests involve alcohol and drug abuse. Many of those arrested are juveniles."

A BIA alcohol and drug abuse study indicated that 50 percent of its schools have substance abuse problems. Five BIA schools found that 75 percent of their students used alcohol or drugs, and six other schools said student use was as high as 50 percent.

"This coordination between two major federal agencies will enable us to provide better services to Indian people," said Dr. Henrietta Whiteman, the BIA's deputy to the assistant secretary in charge of Indian education. Whiteman and Hazel Elbert, deputy to the assistant secretary for tribal services, will manage the BIA's portion of the project.

Under the agreement, the BIA will work with Indian tribal governments and organizations to implement local action plans aimed at promoting health and preventing disease.

The BIA will develop materials and training programs that can help teachers, community health representatives, tribal judges and law enforcement officials in their work with troubled adolescents. The bureau also plans to study the extent and costs of social problems among young Indians; identify youths in need of immunization; create a preventative alcohol and drug abuse program in kindergarten, elementary and secondary schools; and encourage parental and tribal participation in identifying social and health problems.

The IHS agreed to determine the extent and costs of Indian health problems among youth. The agency also will develop comprehensive Indian youth alcohol and drug abuse treatment services, provide immunization services, assess the status of nutrition awareness training for health, education and legal professionals, develop curricula for a health promotion and disease prevention program, utilize its own maternal child health program to educate teenagers about child birth and develop local action plans.

The BIA and the IHS agreed to meet regularly to review activities and progress that result from their agreement.

The Department of the Interior announced today the opening of competitive bidding to contract for services to strengthen internal management and administration of more than $1.8 billion of Indian trust funds. Ross Swimmer, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, said the consultation process outlined in an April 15, 1987, Federal Register notice has been completed and it is time to move on to the competitive bidding to procure collection, accounting, advisory investment services and custodial services for funds held in trust for Indian tribes, individuals and others.

Swimmer said all activities and decisions required by law of the government as trustee will continue to be performed by the government, including control of investment decisions. "Since last March when we announced the reopening of competition for financial trust fund services, we have conducted a new full-scale procurement and management analysis of the services to be performed," Swimmer said. "We have spent more than three months consulting with Indian tribes to increase their understanding and address their concerns. I believe that all of the steps we have taken over the past several months will assure the best possible contract to provide these services."

The new proposal includes the same components that were in the original proposal --cash concentration, accounting and investment services. Swimmer said the extensive consultation process resulted in the compilation of 48 pages of 162 questions and answers about the contracting proposal. The questions and answers were included in an information packet sent to all tribal chairmen on February 8. Bidding will be open to all financial institutions for the single contract for a period of one year with four one-year renewable options. The successful bidder must be designated as a depositary and fiscal agent of the U.S. Department of Treasury.

Services in the contract; will be directed at streamlining the collection process through the Treasury's lock-box network, concentrating funds more quickly into the Treasury's accounts for investment, improving accountability and reporting to Indian beneficiaries and the government as trustee, and strengthening investment management. "This contracting for services with a financial institution will not restrict or negatively affect any existing tribal or individual Indian right, relationship or accessibility to funds," Swimmer said.

The Secretary of the Interior has been designated by Congress as the Government trustee on behalf of the beneficiaries of the trust funds. The Secretary has, in turn, designated the Assistant Secretary -Indian Affairs to manage the Indian trust funds. Collections are deposited through the banking system into Treasury accounts specified for Indian trust funds. Treasury maintains the trust fund cash accounts and disburses the funds upon Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) request. BIA manages investment of the funds in securities and maintains accounts to reflect tribal and individual Indian interests in funds invested and funds held by Treasury.

A copy of the RFP is being provided to each BIA Agency Superintendent. Upon receipt, the Agency Superintendent will advise the tribes of its availability and provide a copy to each tribe requesting it.

The more than $1.8 billion in trust funds --representing more than 300,000 accounts --are held in trust by the United States for the benefit of Indian tribes or individuals. The funds represent land claims or damage awards; and income from trust lands, oil and gas revenues, timber sales and the like.

Final date for delivery of the proposals to the Department of Interior will be April 29. 1988. More information, or a copy of the RFP, can be obtained by contacting Peter Markey, Chief, Branch of Contract and Grants Operation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Rm. 178, M8 24-8IB, Washington, D.C. 20245 (202) 343-3807.

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Ross Swimmer has informed Indian tribal leaders that almost $3 million could be saved over a five year period by using a private contractor for services to strengthen internal management and administration of more than $1.8 billion in Indian trust funds. The $3 million figure was arrived at in cost comparisons between the proposal of a selected bidder and an in-house Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) proposal. The study by an Interior Department interagency committee and three tribal consultants estimates that the cost over a five-year period would be $21.2 million if conducted by a selected bidder and estimated expenditures of $25.2 million by the BIA.A difference, or savings to the government, in the two proposals is $2,996,376 after a conversion differential of $980,000 is added to the contractor's cost.

Results of the comparison studies were announced in a July 25 letter from Swimmer to all Indian tribal governments. "This is an effort to continue our consultation process with tribal governments in every step that we are taking to improve the management of Indian trust funds," he said. BIA opened competitive bidding on proposals last February to procure collection, accounting, advisory investment services and custodial services for funds held in trust for Indian tribes, individuals and others. The more than 300,000 accounts represent land claims or damage awards, income from trust lands, oil and gas revenues, timber sales and the like. Bidding for the contract was open to all financial institutions for the single contract to run for one year with four one-year renewable options.

Final determination for the contract award will be made after completion of a 3D-day review of the cost comparison and the selected contractor's successful completion of the Operational Capabilities Demonstration site test. Swimmer told the tribal leaders that when this process has been completed, he would advise them of the selected contractor and provide them an opportunity to review the proposed terms of the contract which will include an implementation schedule for the trust services program.