Trust and Program Operations

What this funds

The 2027 President's budget for the Bureau of Trust Administration (BTFA) is $90.1 million in current appropriations. This budget request allows BTFA to continue to support core program objectives for the management of Federal Trust Responsibilities to Native American Tribes, individual Indians, and Alaska The mission of the BTFA is to manage the Trust Beneficiaries' financial assets. BTFA provides fiduciary guidance, management, and leadership for Tribal Trust and Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts. The 2027 budget includes $90.1 million in current funding to support the execution of Federal Trust Responsibilities to Native American Tribes, individuals Indians, and Alaska Natives. BTFA estimates that staffing will total 335 Full Time Equivalents (FTE). The request reflects program funding totals based on an evaluation of program needs and priorities, aligned with the Administration's objectives and focused Executive Direction: The 2027 budget includes $1.6 million for Executive Direction to fund executive leadership activities within BTFA. Staff within Executive Direction will provide guidance that affects performance at all levels of BTFA and develops closer working relationships with Indian Affairs to identify opportunities for the most cost-effective delivery of services. Executive Direction functions specifically include strategic planning for improving beneficiary service delivery improvements as required by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) related to BTFA's status as a High Impact Service Provider (HISP), as directed by the Government Service Delivery Improvement (GSDI) Act (P.L. Trust and Program Operations: The 2027 budget request includes $88.5 million for Trust and Program Operations. This request includes current appropriations to support the execution of Federal Trust Responsibilities to Native American Tribes, individual Indians, and Alaska Natives. Trust Operations - Field: The 2027 budget request includes $23.6 million for Trust Operations - Field (TO-F). Trust Operations - Field staff are the primary point of contact for trust beneficiaries - Native American Tribes, individual Indians, and Alaska Natives - seeking information and services in conjunction with their trust assets. Trust Operations - Field includes the Trust Beneficiary Call Center and the Trust Service Center that are critical to providing information to beneficiaries. Trust Operations - Accounting: The 2027 budget request includes $18.6 million for Trust Operations - Accounting (TO-A) which is responsible for all fiduciary accounting activities, estate processing of monetary assets, liquidity investments, and reconciliations related to individual Indians, Alaska Natives, and Tribal trust funds under management by the Department. BTFA manages more than $8.8 billion in funds held in trust for federally recognized Tribes, individual Indian, and Alaska Native beneficiaries in more than 4,300 Tribal accounts and more than 414,000 Individual Indian Monies (IIM) accounts. The accumulated balances in the Tribal Trust are a result of claims and judgment awards, investment income, and revenues from 56 million acres of trust lands and 59 million acres of subsurface mineral estates. Trust Operations - Settlement Support: The 2027 budget request includes $7.8 million to fund Trust Operations - Settlement Support (TO-SS), which provides, for example, litigation and settlement support for cases involving Indian trust assets or trust-related issues, addresses historical accounting and other issues pertaining to Tribal Trust and IIM accounts, addresses beneficiary objections to BTFA Statements of Performance (SOP) that are filed through the administrative appeals process, and fulfills requests for documents and data submitted through the Freedom of Information Act. TO-SS performs research and analysis to support BTFA and other offices within the Department that help fulfill the trust relationship with Tribes and individual Native Americans, such as responding to requests for documents or information. As of March 2026, there were 28 pending cases filed in various Federal courts, by Indian Tribes or individual Indians, that involve or could involve BTFA regarding the Federal Government's fiduciary trust duties. The Office of Trust Analysis and Research (OTAR) provides litigation support for these cases in coordination with the Department's Office of the Solicitor and the Department of Justice. Trust Operations - Information Resources & Office of Trust Records: The 2027 budget request includes $20.9 million for Trust Operations - Information Resources & Office of Trust Records. Within that, the 2027 budget request includes $8.8 million for Trust Operations - Information Resources (TO-IR) to support and continue to equip BTFA with Information Technology (IT) improvement leveraging integration of emerging technologies. TO-IR will strategically support continual advancement in technologies, upgrading the capabilities of our field offices and shared services. TO-IR will continue to support statutory and regulatory compliance of Federal Information Resources, Capital Planning and Investment Control and IT acquisition oversight. The 2027 budget provides $12.0 for Trust Records. Trust Records operates the American Indian Records Repository and provides records management training and services to BTFA, Tribes, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Indian Education, and Office of the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs (AS-IA). In compliance with OMB policy guidance and subject to availability of funds, the Office of Trust Records will continue digitization efforts of paper records for electronic transfer to the National Archives and Program Operations - Business Management: The 2027 budget includes $10.4 million for Business Management, which includes BTFA's Chief of Staff; Communication, Policy, and Training (CPT); and the budget, finance, and administration entities. Program Operations - Office of Strategic Oversight & Performance: The budget provides $7.1 million for the Office of Strategic Oversight and Performance (OSOP), which oversees and evaluates the Indian fiduciary trust programs and manages a comprehensive system of internal controls of BTFA operations, and the BTFA Strategic Planning and Project Management Office. OSOP provides funding for the congressionally mandated annual financial audit of Tribal and IIM trust funds by an independent auditor. It also provides funding to support data management and sharing, in addition to the management of financial risk to proactively uphold BTFA's trust obligations to Indians and Indian Tribes. The funding provides a fully staffed trust funds compliance program and mitigates the risk of non-compliance with Bureau of Trust Fund Administration Request from

Extracted from BTFA, p. 9. Verbatim; nothing here is paraphrased.

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