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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 171 / Wednesday, September 8, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
meet certain additional requirements set out in 1187.3:
Tribes;
Tribal colleges and universities;
Institutions of higher education;
and Tribal or private nonprofit organizations that provide business and financial technical assistance.
Subpart BApplying for a Grant:
Describes how an eligible applicant applies for a grant, adding the specificity that applications must be submitted through www.grants.gov. This subpart also includes the statutory requirements for what must be included in an application and written site proposal, and how to submit a joint application. The regulations add that joint applications must identify which of the entities submitting the joint application will be the lead contact for the purposes of grant management.
Subpart CEvaluation of Grant Applications: Describes the criteria OIED will use to evaluate each IBIP
grant application, adding the specific time period of three months to the statutory requirement that the grantee must commence services within a minimum period of time to be determined by the Secretary. This subpart also adds a new criterion to the statutory criteria for evaluation: The extent to which a grant award will enable an entity that is already providing business incubation services to appreciably enhance those services.
OIED added this criterion in order to ensure that the grant is funding new incubation services, such that there is a return for the investment made in the incubator, rather than merely paying existing incubators for services they would have otherwise provided.
Subpart DGrant Awards:
Describes how OIED will disburse grant funds to awardees according to the statute. This subpart also includes the statutory prohibition on awarding an IBIP grant that duplicates other Federal funding, but adds a clarification that duplicative funding means any funding from other Federal grants that would overlap with the IBIP grant for the same activities described in the applicants IBIP proposal.
Subpart EGrant Term and Conditions: Establishes an initial grant term of three years, with the opportunity to renew for one additional three-year term if certain conditions are met, in accordance with the statute.
This subpart also lists the purposes for which awardees may use the grant funds, requires awardees to provide non-Federal contributions in an amount at least 25 percent of the grant unless the conditions for waiver of that
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requirement are met, lists the minimum requirements awardees must meet in providing incubation services, and requires the awardee to submit a report at the end of the grant year that provides, among other things, a detailed breakdown of the Native businesses and Native entrepreneurs the incubator helped establish or serve. These items are all statutory but are included in the regulation to assist readers in finding all relevant IBIP grant information in one location.
Subpart FOIED Grant Administration: Provides that OIED will conduct an annual evaluation of each IBIP awardees success, facilitate relationships between awardees and educational institutions serving Native American communities, and collaborate with other Federal agencies that administer business and entrepreneurial programs. These items are also all statutory but are included in the regulation to assist readers in finding all relevant IBIP grant information in one location.
Note: The final rule replaces references to the Office of Indian Energy and Economic Development IEED with the Office of Indian Economic Development OIED to reflect the organizational change that moved the Division of Energy and Minerals Development from OIED to the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Trust Services.
IV. Responses to Comments on the Proposed Rule On April 13, 2021, OIED published a proposed rule to implement the IBIP.
See 86 FR 19162. During the public comment period, OIED hosted two Tribal consultation sessions by webinar on May 12, 2021, and May 13, 2021, to discuss the proposed rule. On May 12, 2021, representatives of 33 Tribes participated and on May 13, 2021, representatives of 14 Tribes participated. Comments on the proposed rule were accepted until June 14, 2021. OIED received a total of 11
written comment submissions on the proposed rule, including three from Tribes, two from Tribal and Indian organizations, five from organizations including four financial organizations, and one from an individual. Several commenters expressed support for both the legislation and regulation. No changes to the proposed regulatory text were made as a result of the consultation or public comments, but OIED responds to the comments as follows.

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A. Comments on Subpart A General Provisions and Eligibility 1. Objective of IBIP
One Tribe and one economic development organization stated that the provision at 1187.1b, providing that the incubator will assist businesses to offer products and services to reservation communities, is too narrow because the objective of the IBIP should be to mentor and grow Native-owned businesses regardless of their potential market.
Response: The Act establishes the IBIP for the establishment and operation of business incubators that serve reservation communities by providing business incubation and other business services to Native businesses and Native entrepreneurs. See 25 U.S.C. 5803a.
The Act also requires an applicant incubator to describe one or more reservation communities it will serve.
See 25 U.S.C. 5803c1B. For these reasons, the regulation reflects that the incubator will offer products and services to reservation communities.
Incubators must serve businesses in reservation communities, but those businesses may have markets that extend beyond reservation communities and the benefits of the IBIP will be broader than reservation communities.
2. Eligibility One organization commented on the requirement at 1187.3b4i for a nonprofit to have been operational for not less than one year before receiving a grant. This commenter stated one year is insufficient and recommended at least three years.
Response: The one-year requirement is statutory and cannot be changed by regulation. See 25 U.S.C. 5803b1C.
A privately held corporation commented that it should be eligible for the IBIP, but that the regulation limits eligibility of organizations to Tribal or private nonprofit organizations.
Response: Eligibility for the IBIP is established by statute and cannot be changed by regulation. See 25 U.S.C.
5803b limiting eligible entities to the following four categories: i An Indian Tribe; ii a Tribal college or university;
iii an institution of higher education;
or iv a private nonprofit organization or Tribal nonprofit organization.
Two commenters requested the regulation specifically list as eligible entities Native Community Development Financial Institutions CDFIs and Tribally chartered nonprofit organizations authorized by Internal Revenue Code 7871. One commenter stated that Native CDFIs fit the category of Tribal or private nonprofit
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