25 U.S.C. § 5386 — General provisions

(a) Applicability. This section applies to compacts and funding agreements negotiated under this subchapter. A tribe may choose to include matching provisions in its compact or agreement.

(b) Conflicts of interest. A participating tribe must have internal measures to address conflicts of interest in administering self-governance^* programs, services, functions, and activities.

(c) Audits. (1) Single-agency audit. Chapter 75 of title 31’s requirement for a single-agency audit report applies to agreements under this subchapter. (2) Cost principles. A tribe must use the cost principles in the applicable Office of Management and Budget circular, except as changed by section 5325, other law, or a later OMB exemption. The Secretary^* may not require other audit or accounting standards. A Federal claim against the tribe concerning agreement funds and based on an audit under this subsection is subject to section 5325(f).

(d) Records. (1) Unless the tribe says otherwise in the compact or agreement, its records are not Federal records for chapter 5 of title 5. (2) The tribe must keep records. After 30 days’ advance notice, it must give the Secretary reasonable access so the Department of Health and Human Services can meet its minimum legal recordkeeping requirements under sections 3101 through 3106 of title 44.

(e) Redesign and consolidation. A tribe may redesign or combine programs, services, functions, and activities in its section 5385 agreement and reallocate or redirect their funds as it considers best for the served Indian community’s health and welfare. It may do so only if the change does not deny services to groups that Federal law otherwise makes eligible.

(f) Retrocession. A tribe may return all or part of an agreement’s programs, services, functions, or activities to the Secretary. Unless it withdraws the request, the return takes effect within the period stated in the compact or agreement. If no period is stated, it takes effect on the earlier of one year after the request or the agreement’s expiration, or on another date the Secretary and tribe mutually agree on.

(g) Withdrawal. (1) Process. (A) A tribe may fully or partly withdraw its share of a program, function, service, or activity from a participating inter-tribal consortium^* or tribal organization. (B) The withdrawal takes effect within the period stated in the resolution authorizing the transfer. If none is stated, it takes effect on the earlier of one year after the request or the agreement’s expiration, or on a date mutually agreed by the Secretary, withdrawing tribe, and the consortium or organization that signed for it. (2) Distribution of funds. When an eligible tribe or tribal organization withdraws fully or partly, it is entitled to its share of funds supporting the programs it will operate under its own contract or compact. The share is calculated on the same basis as the original allocation. Those funds must be transferred from the consortium’s or organization’s agreement, and sections 5321 and 5324(i) apply as appropriate. (3) Mature contract status. If a tribe chooses to operate agreement programs through a self-determination contract, that contract is a mature self-determination contract at the tribe’s option.

(h) Nonduplication. For the period and to the extent that this subchapter or an agreement provides funding, the tribe may not also contract with the Secretary for those funds under section 5321. It remains eligible for new programs on the same basis as other tribes.