25 U.S.C. § 47 — Employment of Indian labor and purchase of products of Indian industry; participation in Mentor-Protege Program

(a) Definitions. This subsection defines key terms. "Indian economic enterprise" has the meaning given in a specific federal regulation (title 48, section 1480.201, or its successor). "Mentor firm" and "protege firm" have the meanings given in section 4902(c) of title 10. "Secretaries" means the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Health and Human Services, together. (b) Enterprise Development. Unless one of the Secretaries decides it is impracticable and unreasonable, Indian labor must be employed, and the Secretaries may purchase Indian industry products — including printing and building construction — in the open market, no matter what other laws say. On the Mentor-Protege Program: taking part in the Mentor-Protege Program (created by a 1991 defense law) does not make a person or business ineligible for help under this section, even if they receive developmental assistance through that program. Also, no one can find that a protege firm and a mentor firm are "affiliated" or that one "controls" the other just because the mentor firm gave, or agreed to give, developmental assistance under a mentor-protege agreement. (c) Implementation. In carrying out this section, the Secretaries must: reach out to Indian industrial businesses; provide training; write regulations that match this section and existing federal procurement rules, to make the Interior Department's and Health and Human Services' procurement procedures work together as much as possible; require regional offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service to gather data on compliance; require that procurement reviews within their departments include a check on how well this section is being followed; and consult with Indian Tribes, Indian businesses, and other stakeholders on how to meet this section's goals and other small-business or procurement goals. (d) Report. Within 1 year after December 30, 2020, and at least once every 2 years after that, each Secretary must send a report to two congressional committees — the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the House Committee on Natural Resources — describing how this section has been carried out. Each report must include, for each fiscal year covered: which agencies used this section, and what other agencies did to try to use it; a summary of purchases and contracts given to Indian economic enterprises, by region; how much purchase and award totals rose or fell compared to the year before, by region; how contracting staff search for qualified Indian economic enterprises; a summary of any approved exceptions ("deviations") to normal procurement rules, including what alternative methods were used and how much money was involved; a summary of decisions to award contracts to Indian economic enterprises, including the dollar amounts; the total number and value of purchases and contracts for supplies, services, and construction, comparing Indian economic enterprises to non-Indian ones, and showing the year-over-year change; any legal, administrative, or other obstacles to meeting this section's goals, along with recommendations to fix them; and, for each region, the total amount spent with Indian economic enterprises, compared to what the same purchases would likely have cost with a non-Indian business. (e) Goals. Each agency must set its own yearly minimum percentage goal for following this section.