contract support costs – Page 3

D.C. Circuit Rules against Menominee Tribe in Equitable Tolling Appeal

September 2, 2014September 2, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Here is the opinion in Menominee Tribe v. United States.

An excerpt:

Delays caused by a party’s inauspicious legal judgments are not “extraordinary circumstance[s]” sufficient to justify equitable tolling. Faced with a variety of reasonable litigation options, the Menominee Tribe chose to wait and see if more favorable law would appear. In so doing, the Tribe allowed its claims to expire. Because we find that no obstacle stood in the Menominee Tribe’s way of bringing the claims within the limitations period, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.

Briefs and lower court materials here.

D.C. Circuit Rules against Menominee Tribe in Equitable Tolling Appeal

September 2, 2014September 2, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the opinion in Menominee Tribe v. United States.

An excerpt:

Delays caused by a party’s inauspicious legal judgments are not “extraordinary circumstance[s]” sufficient to justify equitable tolling. Faced with a variety of reasonable litigation options, the Menominee Tribe chose to wait and see if more favorable law would appear. In so doing, the Tribe allowed its claims to expire. Because we find that no obstacle stood in the Menominee Tribe’s way of bringing the claims within the limitations period, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.

Briefs and lower court materials here.

NCAI: Feds to Pay Contract Support Costs

February 14, 2014Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here:

Contract Support Costs To Be Paid IN FULL By Federal Government

WASHINGTON, DC – For the first time in decades, tribal nations will receive full payment on contracts signed with the federal government. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Indian Health Service (IHS) have submitted plans to pay their 2014 contracts with tribes in full.

Many issues face Indian Country but one of the most far-reaching is the fiduciary relationship between tribal nations and the federal government. In setting out plans to pay their contract support cost requirements in full, the federal government will begin to treat tribal nations with the respect and honor due to them.

Under the Indian Self-Determination Act, the United States enters into inter-governmental contracts with tribes under which tribes administer federal programs for the benefit of tribal members. The Indian Self-Determination Act represents the cornerstone of this nation’s federal policy toward tribes for more than a third of a century and represents one of the most successful policy eras for tribes in US history.

Yet, time and time again, BIA and IHS have failed to pay the contract support costs in full while expecting the programs to be fulfilled completely. This cycle of negotiating contracts and then refusing to pay the agreed upon amount has prevented tribes from achieving self-determination and progress towards self-sufficiency. When Indian contract and self-governance compact contract support costs are short funded, tribes are actually penalized for exercising their self-determination rights, by being compelled to reduce program operations to cover these unavoidable costs.

While this recent development is a positive step for future contracts, federal agencies must also speed up the settlement of past claims. Agencies owe tribal nations millions of dollars in unpaid contract support costs – money that is critical for tribes to achieve full self-determination.

The National Congress of American Indians is committed to working with tribal nations and the federal government to ensure full payment of future contracts and to resolve the millions of dollars of debt owed to tribes.

For additional background information on Contract Support Costs, please read NCAI’s full report on Contract Support Costs or the summary briefing document.

WaPo: BIA/IHS Fail to Pay Contract Support Costs

December 23, 2013December 23, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

An excerpt:

At issue are contract support costs that are spelled out in the agreements, under which the government pays tribes to run education, public safety and health programs on reservations. The support costs — which include items like travel expenses, legal and accounting fees, insurance costs and worker’s compensation fees — typically account for 20 percent of the value of the contract, according to Lloyd Miller, a lawyer who represented the tribes at the Supreme Court.

Federal Court Rejects Alturas Effort to Force US to Pay Contract Support Costs

December 4, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here are the materials in Alturas Indian Rancheria v. Salazar (E.D. Cal.):

129 Alturas Motion for Contempt

137 US Opposition

139 Alturas Reply

140 US Supplemental Brief

142 DCT Order Denying Motion

An excerpt:

This is a proceeding brought by plaintiff Indian tribe to determine whether the government is in contempt of the court’s January 13, 2012 order in this case (ECF No 126). Plaintiff asserts that the following portion of the court’s order required the government to pay “contract support costs” associated with the “self-determination” contracts it entered into with plaintiff:

The BIA has approved the Tribe’s selfdetermination contract requests for the fiscal years 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012, and shall transfer the amounts provided in those requests to the Tribe’s bank account … in accordance with the terms contained in the contract award documents.

Order of January 13, 2012, ECF No. 126 ¶ 2 (“Settlement Agreement and Stipulation for Entry of Judgment and Order”).

For the reasons that follow, plaintiff’s request to enforce the judgment or for a contempt order will be denied.

Our prior post on this case includes materials on the court’s original denial of the government’s motion to dismiss.