Civic Academy
The Navajo Business Opportunity Act (NBOA) 101
≈ 5 min read · or listen, or skim the bold lines
A · Primary source A volunteer has read the underlying statute, resolution, or court document. Citations are quoted from it. How we verify →
The law that says Navajo businesses come first — and why enforcement is the argument.
What the NBOA is
The Navajo Business Opportunity Act (5 N.N.C. § 201 et seq.) is the Nation’s business-preference law. In plain terms: when the Navajo Nation government spends money on contracts, certified Navajo-owned businesses are supposed to get priority. The idea is simple — keep the Nation’s own spending circulating in the Nation’s own economy, building Navajo businesses instead of sending the money straight to border towns.
Why it’s an argument, not a settled fact
Nearly every candidate supports the NBOA’s idea. The disagreement in the interviews is about enforcement: whether priority is actually honored in practice, whether certification works for small businesses, whether waivers and exceptions swallow the rule, and who is accountable when the law is bypassed. When you hear a candidate invoke the NBOA, the substance is in their answer to: what specifically would you change about how it’s enforced?
Questions worth asking any candidate
How should NBOA compliance be tracked and published? What should happen — concretely — when a contract skips Navajo priority without justification? How would they make certification faster for a one-person Navajo business? And how does the NBOA connect to their bigger economic plan? (See Economic Development 101.)
Goes with: Economic Development 101 · The Enterprises 101
Quick check
Check your understanding — private, no grades
In plain terms, the NBOA says…
Right — priority for certified Navajo-owned businesses, keeping Nation spending in the Nation.
The main argument candidates raise about the NBOA is over its…
Yes — nearly every interview dispute is about whether the priority is actually enforced.
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Three laws, often called one
Under review — citations from the Navajo Nation Code Annotated
- Navajo Business Opportunity Act — 5 N.N.C. § 201 et seq. · who gets the contract
- Navajo Nation Procurement Act — 12 N.N.C. § 301 et seq. · how the contract is awarded
- Navajo Preference in Employment Act — 15 N.N.C. § 601 et seq. · who gets hired
They are constantly cited together. 2 N.N.C. § 223 names the NBOA and, in the same section, requires that “all contracts shall be awarded only after public advertisement and bidding.” The bidding requirement is not in the NBOA — it sits alongside it, in Title 2. Following Navajo preference and following competitive-bidding rules are two different obligations.
Both laws were amended together in 2023. Council Resolution CO-81-23 amended the Procurement Act (12 N.N.C. §§ 301–371) and the Business Opportunity Act (5 N.N.C. §§ 201–215) in a single act. That amendment is not in the published code, which is current only through 2009.
Correction — July 9, 2026. We were wrong about the NBOA.
A · read in the Navajo Nation Code Annotated
This site said, repeatedly, that the Navajo Business Opportunity Act governs who gets a contract but does not require competitive bidding — and that candidates who blamed the NBOA for the housing loss had named the wrong law.
That was wrong. They named the right law.
5 N.N.C. § 205 — Navajo Business Opportunity Procedures in Bidding and Procurement
(B) Advertisement and notice. After preparing a bid or request for proposal solicitation, the procuring entity shall:
1. Provide notice or invitation to bid in a newspaper having general circulation within the Navajo Nation; or
2. Provide notice or invitation to bid by mail or telefax to certified businesses listed on the Navajo Nation Business Source List compiled and maintained by the Business Regulatory Department; and
3. The notice shall include the specifications, the deadline dates for submission of bids, bid openings, award, and the necessary qualifications.
§ 205(C) requires the maximum feasible price to be determined before bids are solicited.
And it names an enforcer
§ 209(A): “All proposed professional services, procurement and construction contracts shall be initially reviewed by the Business Regulatory Department for compliance with the Act.”
§ 209(B): the Department shall investigate any alleged violation on receipt of a written complaint, prepare a written summary of facts and witness statements, seek voluntary compliance, and if that fails, render a decision. § 209(C) provides for interim project suspension, temporary restraining orders and permanent injunctions.
§ 210 — sanctions: civil fines up to $500 per day, per violation; suspension or termination of a party’s authorization to do business on the Navajo Nation; a bar on future business, for a period or permanently.
What this changes
- Curtis Yanito was right. He said the housing loss would have been prevented if the NBOA had been followed. § 205 requires advertisement of the bid.
- Jerilynn Yazzie was right to name the NBOA and the NPEA together.
- § 204 certifies a Priority #1 business as one hundred percent Navajo-owned. § 205(B)(2) says notice of an invitation to bid shall be provided to certified businesses on the Navajo Nation Business Source List.
- One candidate — a Priority #1 certified, registered, 100% Navajo-owned business — told Cal Nez that only one chapter had ever invited her to bid.
That is no longer an anecdote. It is a question about a statutory duty.
2 N.N.C. § 223(E) and 5 N.N.C. § 205 are not rival laws. They are the same requirement, written twice. 12 N.N.C. § 331 confirms it: competitive sealed bidding “shall be conducted in a manner consistent with the procedures set forth in the Navajo Nation Business Opportunity Act, 5 N.N.C. § 205.”