I am puzzled why you must not use lubricants for tapping stainless parts when they are going to passivated.
Passivating is a process that is performed in a bath of strong oxidizing acid. The longest established form of passivating uses a mixture of sulphuric, nitric and chromic acids which are really nasty. A newer passivating mixture uses citric acid which is less nasty and easier to dispose of.
Before passivating any stainless part must be thoroughly cleaned, and this is the function of the sodium hydroxide bath, to remove grease, oil, etc.; including natural oils from skin. Any oily contaminants on the stainless will react in the acid bath and produce gas bubbles which prevent the formation of the correct passivated layer.
Free machining grades of stainless also need a sodium hydroxide bath after the acid passivation to neutralize any residual acid on the surface as this can react with the sulphur in these grades and lead to a break down of the passivated film.
What passivation does is remove any traces of non-stainless metal fragments from the surface of the stainless steel. These can occur as wear particles from HSS tooling and also from contact with vices jaws, wrenches, wire brushes, saw blades, or just from airborne particles settling on the surface of the stainless. If these particles are not removed they can cause catalytic corrosion of the stainless discoloring the surface and eventually leading to pitting. The oxidizing acid in the passivating baths dissolves these non-stainless particles away. At the same time it creates a strongly oxidized layer on the surface of the stainless which makes it extremely resistant to further chemical attack. Passivating does not add anything to the surface of the stainless it chemically modifies it to an oxide form that strongly adheres to the surface.
An open mind is a virtue...so long as all the common sense has not leaked out.