contracts by the secretary of health, education, and welfare

contracts by the secretary of health, education, and welfare Sec. 103. (a) The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare is directed, upon the request of any Indian tribe, to enter into a contract or contracts with any tribal organization of any such Indian tribe to carry out any or all of his functions, authorities, and responsibilities 88 Stat. 2207 under the Act of August 5, 1954 (68 Stat. 674), as amended: Provided, however, That the Secretary may initially decline to enter into any contract requested by an Indian tribe if he finds that: (1) the service to be rendered to the Indian beneficiaries of the particular program or function to be contracted for will not be satisfactory; (2) adequate protection of trust resources is not assured; or (3) the proposed project or function to be contracted for cannot be properly completed or maintained by the proposed contract: Provided further, That the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, in arriving at his finding, shall consider whether the tribe or tribal organization would be deficient in performance under the contract with respect to (A) equipment, (B) bookkeeping and accounting procedures, (C) substantive knowledge of the program to be contracted for, (D) community support for the contract, (E) adequately trained personnel, or (F) other necessary components of contract performance. (b) Whenever the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare declines to enter into a contract or contracts pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, he shall (1) state his objections in writing to the tribe within sixty days; (2) provide, to the extent practicable, assistance to the tribe or tribal organization to overcome his stated objections; and (3) provide the tribe with a hearing, under such rules and regulations as he shall promulgate, and the opportunity for appeal on the objections raised. (c) The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare is authorized to require any tribe requesting that he enter into a contract pursuant to the provisions of this title to obtain adequate liability insurance: Provided, however, That each such policy of insurance shall contain a provision that the insurance carrier shall waive any right it may have to raise as a defense the tribe’s sovereign immunity from suit, but that such waiver shall extend only to claims the amount and nature of which are within the coverage and limits of the policy and shall not authorize or empower such insurance carrier to waive or otherwise limit the tribe’s sovereign immunity outside or beyond the coverage and limits of the policy of insurance.