PKG00246137-instructions..pdf

OMB No. 1121-0329 Approval Expires 11/30/2020

U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is seeking applications for the Justice Reinvestment Initiative: National Training and Technical Assistance. This program furthers the Department’s mission to reduce crime and recidivism by helping state, local, and tribal governments to analyze criminal justice system data, develop and implement policy options, and effectively allocate scarce resources while improving public safety and enhancing capacity to make data-driven policy decisions.1

Justice Reinvestment Initiative:

National Training and Technical Assistance FY 2018 Competitive Grant Announcement

Applications Due: January 7, 2019

Eligibility

Eligible applicants are limited to national scope private and nonprofit organizations (including tribal nonprofit or for-profit organizations) and colleges and universities, both public and private (including tribal institutions of higher education). All recipients and subrecipients (including any for-profit organization) must forgo any profit or management fee.

BJA welcomes applications under which two or more entities would carry out the federal award;

however, only one entity may be the applicant. Any others must be proposed as subrecipients (subgrantees).2 The applicant must be the entity that would have primary responsibility for carrying out the award, including administering the funding and managing the entire program.

BJA may elect to fund applications submitted under this FY 2018 solicitation in future fiscal years, dependent on, among other considerations, the merit of the applications and on the availability of appropriations.

1 In this solicitation, “state” refers to states, U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia 2 For additional information on subawards, see "Budget and Associated Documentation" under Section D.

Application and Submission Information.

https://www.usdoj.gov/ https://ojp.gov/ https://www.bja.gov/ https://www.bja.gov/

BJA-2018-13603

Deadline

Applicants must register with Grants.gov at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/register.html prior to submitting an application. All applications are due by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on January 7, 2019.

To be considered timely, an application must be submitted by the application deadline using Grants.gov, and the applicant must have received a validation message from Grants.gov that indicates successful and timely submission. OJP urges applicants to submit applications at least 72 hours prior to the application due date, to allow time for the applicant to receive validation messages or rejection notifications from Grants.gov, and to correct in a timely fashion any problems that may have caused a rejection notification.

OJP encourages all applicants to read this Important Notice: Applying for Grants in Grants.gov.

For additional information, see How To Apply in Section D. Application and Submission Information.

Contact Information

For technical assistance with submitting an application, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800–518–4726, 606–545–5035, at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html, or at support@grants.gov. The Grants.gov Support Hotline operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except on federal holidays.

An applicant that experiences unforeseen Grants.gov technical issues beyond its control that prevent it from submitting its application by the deadline must email the contact identified below within 24 hours after the application deadline to request approval to submit its application after the deadline. Additional information on reporting technical issues appears under “Experiencing Unforeseen Grants.gov Technical Issues” in the How To Apply section.

For assistance with any unforeseen Grants.gov technical issues beyond an applicant’s control that prevent it from submitting its application by the deadline, or any other requirement of this solicitation, contact the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Response Center:

toll-free at 800–851–3420; via TTY at 301–240–6310 (hearing impaired only); email grants@ncjrs.gov; fax to 301–240–5830; or web chat at https://webcontact.ncjrs.gov/ncjchat/chat.jsp. The NCJRS Response Center hours of operation are 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday, and 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

eastern time on the solicitation close date.

Grants.gov number assigned to this solicitation: BJA-2018-13603

Release date: November 8, 2018 https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/register.html https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Grants-govInfo.htm https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html mailto:support@grants.gov mailto:grants@ncjrs.gov https://webcontact.ncjrs.gov/ncjchat/chat.jsp

Contents A. Program Description

Overview

Program-specific Information

Objectives and Deliverables

Evidence-based Programs or Practices

Information Regarding Potential Evaluation of Programs and Activities

B. Federal Award Information

Type of Award

Financial Management and System of Internal Controls

Budget Information

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement

Pre-agreement Costs (also known as Pre-award Costs)

Limitation on Use of Award Funds for Employee Compensation; Waiver

Prior Approval, Planning, and Reporting of Conference/Meeting/Training Costs

Costs Associated with Language Assistance (if applicable)

C. Eligibility Information

D. Application and Submission Information

What an Application Should Include

How To Apply

E. Application Review Information

Review Criteria

Review Process

F. Federal Award Administration Information

Federal Award Notices

Administrative, National Policy, and Other Legal Requirements

General Information about Post-Federal Award Reporting Requirements

G. Federal Awarding Agency Contact(s)

H. Other Information

Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552 and 5 U.S.C. 552a)

Provide Feedback to OJP

Appendix A: Justice Reinvesment Initiative Five-Step Process……………..……………… .39 Appendix B: Performance Measures Table

Appendix C: Application Checklist

Justice Reinvestment Initiative:

National Training and Technical Assistance

CFDA #16.827

A. Program Description

Overview Through this solicitation, BJA seeks national training and technical assistance providers and subject experts to help state, local, and tribal jurisdictions pursue a state-level Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) approach, or apply key principles of the JRI approach—data-driven problem analysis and evidence-based solutions—to identify and respond to local crime and other public safety challenges.

BJA has supported justice reinvestment to improve the return on states’ public safety investments through a targeted, data-driven policymaking process. JRI is an intensive, data-driven approach that can help state, local, and tribal justice stakeholders analyze, understand, and address key challenges in their justice systems, including violent crime, opioid addiction and mental illness, high correctional costs, and high recidivism rates. The initiative supports a multi-staged process by which a jurisdiction increases the cost-effectiveness of its criminal justice system and reinvests savings into high-performing strategies to increase public safety.

Statutory Authority: Any awards under this solicitation would be made under statutory authority provided by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, Public Law No. 115-141, 132 Stat 348, 422.

Program-specific Information BJA is seeking applications under three categories of assistance to support JRI: (1) oversight, coordination, and assessment; (2) jurisdiction-level technical assistance; and (3) training and technical assistance for justice reinvestment site-based projects. The third category represents a new area of assistance designed to apply the JRI approach to efforts to enhance public safety and to help state, territory, local and tribal jurisdictions identify and address a wide range of crime and other challenges across the system, including violent crime, opioid addiction and mental illness, and high recidivism rates.

Objectives and Deliverables The objectives of JRI are as follows:

• Identify drivers of criminal justice resource consumption.

• Improve jurisdictions’ capacity to prevent and respond to violent crime, including by reducing the risk for recidivism (as measured by arrests for new crimes, convictions for new crimes, incarcerations for new crimes, and revocations based on technical violations). Specifically, identify offenders’ risks for general and violent recidivism, and related substance use and mental health needs, and mitigate their risk for engaging in violent behavior or being the victims of violent crime.

• Improve public safety through a re-allocation of resources in high performing crime- and recidivism-reduction efforts.

Category 1: Oversight, Coordination, and Assessment (OCA) Technical Assistance, Competition ID: BJA-2018-13989 BJA seeks an entity to provide program oversight, coordination, and assessment technical assistance (TA). The activities and deliverables of OCA assistance include the following:

• Assist BJA in overall coordination and assessment of JRI.

• Provide logistical and substantive support for a Justice Reinvestment Steering Committee composed of funding partners and TA providers.

• Provide technical assistance, in conjunction with BJA, to other TA providers to ensure adherence to the fidelity and basic principles of the justice reinvestment model.

• Review recommendations and assessments from TA providers regarding candidate jurisdictions’ readiness for JRI.

• Assess JRI activities and outcomes, to include state-level justice reinvestment efforts, efforts to be undertaken pursuant to Category 3 of this solicitation, and JRI subaward grants made by TA providers to seed jurisdictions’ implementation of key strategies and programs that advance JRI objectives and priorities. Assessment activities are expected to include analysis of documentation and data, interviews with state stakeholders and TA providers, and site visits.

• Document assessment activities through, for example, site visit assessment memoranda and synthesis of (1) monthly reports from providers documenting TA activities by site and (2) data tracking implementation performance and outcomes.

• Conduct up to two assessments of policies enacted or implemented as a result of justice reinvestment efforts to measure public safety and other impacts.3

• Develop and maintain up-to-date initiative-wide statistics and presentations showing progress of JRI.

• Coordinate with other BJA-funded projects and TTA providers who are working on violent crime efforts such as Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), Public Safety Partnership (PSP), Strategies for Policing Innovation (SPI), and Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI), when necessary.

• Make ongoing recommendations to BJA on relevant criminal justice research and ways to improve the effectiveness of JRI, including advice and assistance to BJA and TA providers in infusing evidence-based violence reduction practices and improving JRI performance measurement and assessment approaches.

Category 2: State-Level Training and Technical Assistance, Competition ID: BJA-2018- 13990 BJA seeks up to two providers for jurisdiction-level training and TA to help jurisdictions use the JRI process – stakeholder engagement, data analysis, policy development, implementation planning and execution, sustainability – to prevent and respond to crime and recidivism. (See Appendix A.) While jurisdictions experience many similar criminal justice system challenges, they vary significantly in the manifestation of these issues, as circumstances, resources, and laws vary across jurisdictions. The JRI process is a data-driven approach designed to unpack and assess the unique problems a jurisdiction is facing and assist them in developing tailored solutions for their particular issues.

3 Examples of such assessments include Mandatory Reentry Supervision: Evaluating the Kentucky Experience and Reducing Incarceration for Technical Violations in Louisiana.

http://www.pewtrusts.org/%7E/media/Assets/2014/06/PSPP_Kentucky_brief.pdf http://www.pewtrusts.org/%7E/media/Assets/2014/06/PSPP_Kentucky_brief.pdf http://www.pewtrusts.org/%7E/media/assets/2014/11/psppreducingincarcerationfortechnicalviolationsinlouisiana.pdf

BJA will evaluate the problem statement of any jurisdiction before accepting it into the JRI.

Jurisdictions should seek to address at least one of the Administration’s priority areas, such as violent crime or opioids. States may examine criminal codes and associated penalties as needed; and/or they may consider modifications to penalties for opioid- and stimulant-specific cases (e.g., methamphetamine), where incorporating treatment options may be appropriate for offenders whose instant offenses and criminal histories are non-violent, do not involve guns, and drug offenses are limited to personal use. Below are additional examples of the types of problems jurisdictions may address and ways the TA providers may operationalize data to help them reduce violent crime:

1. Create a shared understanding of the issue areas by making crime, corrections, and recidivism data analyzed through JRI available to all criminal justice partners. Support criminal justice agencies with funding and training in order to use data to:

a. Inform and help improve their strategic planning and priority setting.

b. Enable actionable and targeted interventions on crime types (e.g., gun crimes) and places (e.g., liquor stores, shared jurisdiction/borders).

c. Provide context to jurisdictional and local data (e.g., intra-jurisdictional and national comparisons).

d. Evaluate opportunities for state, local and cross-agency collaboration in order to more efficiently and effectively use resources to address crime and recidivism.

e. Coordinate with other BJA-funded projects and TTA providers who are working on violent crime efforts such as PSP, PSN, SPI, and SAKI when necessary.

2. Enhance data collection and enable meaningful sharing of information across system stakeholders. Support criminal justice agencies with funding and training to:

a. Move towards a unique, universal, statewide identification number (e.g., SID) to enable more comprehensive and useful crime and recidivism data.

b. Improve collection and information sharing about behavioral health, domestic violence, guns, gangs, and other specific crime types posing a challenge within a jurisdiction.

c. Make data sharing between key agencies—corrections, probation and parole, and law enforcement—automated where appropriate, to facilitate better public safety partnerships.

d. Develop or improve offender-specific information-sharing protocols to ensure that agencies are aware of high-risk individuals and receive relevant intelligence so they are managed appropriately through detention, reentry, and supervision.

3. Develop analytical capacity to inform more targeted and effective strategies to address specific crime problems. Support criminal justice agencies with funding and training to:

a. Build capacity to collect and track data across prosecutors’ offices to understand relationships between violent crime and charging and adjudication decisions.

b. Provide grant monies for local pilot programs to reduce crime and support effective law enforcement (e.g., funding for overtime, training, and/or analytics).

c. Explore the creation and deployment of a data analysis and strategy strike team, a jurisdiction-level team to assist smaller jurisdictions in analyzing their challenges, such as crime spikes, and how to address them.

4. Expand data collection about and resources for victims of crime. Support criminal justice agencies with funding and training to:

a. Improve data collection and training about types of victimization, trauma, and related needs in order to develop policies and procedures to maximize benefits

(e.g., accessing federal resources to aid victims of violent crime) and reduce the collateral effects of violence.

b. Increase victims’ access to and use of compensation programs by expanding eligibility, improving benefits, and reducing administrative barriers.

c. Improve victim restitution collection and increase payments to victims (e.g., using a database to track restitution orders and collection, increasing the amount inmates pay toward victim restitution).

5. Focus jurisdiction probation and/or parole agency resources on mitigating the risks of people on supervision engaging in violent behavior or being the victims of violent crime.

Support criminal justice agencies with funding and training to:

a. Ensure a minimum period of supervision for all people convicted of felony offenses leaving prison.

b. Provide the most intensive supervision at the beginning of a person’s supervision term, when recidivism is most likely. Ensure that agency staffing allows adequate supervision time for highest-risk individuals.

c. Implement a risk-needs-responsivity (RNR) framework and support local agencies supervising offenders with higher risks of violence to do the same.

Include tools to identify offenders’ risks for general and violent recidivism, and related substance use and mental health needs. Supervision activities should be tailored to reflect assessment results and mitigate offenders’ risk of engaging in violent behavior or being the victims of violent crime.

d. Develop and implement an escalating scale of swift and proportionate sanctions in response to supervision violations or antisocial behavior.

6. Assess and strengthen the ability of law enforcement to use proven approaches to investigate and respond to crime and provide alternatives to resource-intensive activities. Support criminal justice agencies with funding and training to:

a. Develop or expand Crisis Intervention Team training for law enforcement to safely and effectively deal with people who are experiencing a mental health crisis.

b. Establish a legal framework for the design, operation, and regulation of crisis stabilization units to serve people who have presented to law enforcement and who should not otherwise be subject to confinement in jail or prison.

c. Strengthen investigations and hold more offenders accountable by improving the performance and timeliness of forensic evidence processing.

7. Prioritize jurisdiction’s confinement resources to incapacitate serious, chronic, or violent offenders and ensure that bed space alignment supports the jurisdiction’s violent crime reduction goals. Support criminal justice agencies with funding and training to:

a. Evaluate and revise jail reimbursement processes to ensure they align with public safety interests.

b. Evaluate and improve bail and pretrial supervision decision making to promote greater consideration of a defendant’s risk of pretrial failure-in-release decisions.

For example, states may require the use of a pretrial risk assessment to determine the likelihood a defendant will fail to appear in court or be re-arrested before trial, and administer the risk assessments and provide pretrial supervision for defendants ordered to pretrial supervision by a judge to help ensure pretrial success.

c. Improve the quality and consistency of parole decision making and preparation for release (e.g., professionalize parole boards, and use an objective risk assessment tool to inform parole decision making).

d. Assess the correctional population to ensure appropriate bed space usage and, if needed, seek strategies to correct the inmate mix to prioritize bed space for serious, chronic, or violent offenders.

Category 3: Training and Technical Assistance for Justice Reinvestment Site-Based Projects, Competition ID: BJA-2018-13991

BJA seeks a provider to assist grantees selected through a separate, site-based solicitation:

BJA FY 2018 Justice Reinvestment: Reducing Violent Crime by Improving Justice System Performance. Under that solicitation, approximately six state, local, territory and tribal grantees will address public safety challenges related to law enforcement, pretrial, prosecution, sentencing, corrections, parole, and related areas.

The training and technical assistance (TTA) provider will be expected to work closely with the sites funded by BJA in order to help them achieve project goals and deliverables. The TTA provider will provide ongoing, intensive coaching to develop a detailed implementation plan, assist the site in executing it, and develop sustainability plans before the end of the sites’ award period.

The TTA provider may also be asked by BJA to provide training to the field, prioritizing jurisdictions engaged in Justice Reinvestment, as well as participate in group interactions at conferences or workshops, peer-to-peer consultations, distance learning, and/or web-based assistance.

Objectives and Deliverables Applicants should propose to accomplish the following objectives and related deliverables:

• Provide education and proactive, comprehensive TTA via teleconferencing, peer-to-peer consultations, onsite assistance, web-based assistance, and follow-up TTA as required by phone and/or email.

• Assign TTA coaches to each site to manage, monitor, and report on TTA needs, including keeping track of site progress, recommending next steps to improve performance, and providing BJA with regular updates. Develop case studies on each grantee’s experiences and results of assistance upon completion of engagement to demonstrate how their activities reduce crime and/or make the justice system more effective and efficient.

• Identify and maintain a list of TTA consultants whose expertise and experience can best meet grantees’ needs. As needed and with the approval of BJA, assign TTA consultants to assist sites, and report on and monitor TTA provided.

• As needed and with BJA approval, plan for and host distance-learning sessions for sites and the field at large, such as webinars and subject-specific conference calls on topics such as strategic planning, collaboration, and sustainability.

• Develop end-of-engagement materials, such as case studies, to document each grantee’s experiences and results of assistance, as well as to demonstrate how activities reduced crime and/or made the justice system more effective and efficient.

• Coordinate with other BJA-funded projects and TTA providers who are working on violent crime efforts, such as PSP, PSN, SPI, and SAKI, when necessary.

The objectives and deliverables are directly related to the performance measures that demonstrate the results of the work completed, as discussed in Section D. Application and Submission Information, under Program Narrative.

Evidence-based Programs or Practices OJP strongly emphasizes the use of data and evidence in policy making and program development in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services. OJP is committed to:

• Improving the quantity and quality of evidence OJP generates.

• Integrating evidence into program, practice, and policy decisions within OJP and the field.

• Improving the translation of evidence into practice.

OJP considers programs and practices to be evidence-based when their effectiveness has been demonstrated by causal evidence, generally obtained through one or more outcome evaluations. Causal evidence documents a relationship between an activity or intervention (including technology) and its intended outcome, including measuring the direction and size of a change, and the extent to which a change may be attributed to the activity or intervention. Causal evidence depends on the use of scientific methods to rule out, to the extent possible, alternative explanations for the documented change. The strength of causal evidence, based on the factors described above, will influence the degree to which OJP considers a program or practice to be evidence-based.

The OJP CrimeSolutions.gov website at https://www.crimesolutions.gov is one resource that applicants may use to find information about evidence-based programs in criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services.

Information Regarding Potential Evaluation of Programs and Activities The Department of Justice has prioritized the use of evidence-based programming and deems it critical to continue to build and expand the evidence informing criminal and juvenile justice programs to reach the highest level of rigor possible. Therefore, applicants should note that the Office of Justice Programs may conduct or support an evaluation of the programs and activities funded under this solicitation. Recipients and sub-recipients will be expected to cooperate with program-related assessments or evaluation efforts, including through the collection and provision of information or data requested by OJP (or its designee) for the assessment or evaluation of any activities and/or outcomes of those activities funded under this solicitation.

The information or data requested may be in addition to any other financial or performance data already required under this program.

B. Federal Award Information

Category 1 BJA expects to make one award under Category 1 of up to $800,000 for a 24-month period of performance, to begin on or about April 1, 2019.

Category 2 BJA expects to make up to two awards under Category 2, the amount of which will vary depending on the number of states proposed to be served, and may range from approximately https://www.crimesolutions.gov/

$3,500,000 up to $8,300,000, with an estimated total amount awarded of up to $11,785,000. In proposing a budget, applicants must set aside $500,000 as a subaward for each state to be served. The period of performance for Category 2 awards will be 36 months, to begin on or about April 1, 2019.

Category 3 BJA expects to make one award under Category 3 of up to $1,400,000, for a 36-month period of performance, to begin on or about April 1, 2019.

BJA may, in certain cases, provide additional funding in future years to awards made under this solicitation, through continuation awards. In making decisions regarding continuation awards, OJP will consider, among other factors, the availability of appropriations, when the program or project was last competed, OJP’s strategic priorities, and OJP’s assessment of both the management of the award (for example, timeliness and quality of progress reports), and the progress of the work funded under the award.

All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and to any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.

Type of Award BJA expects to make any award under this solicitation in the form of a cooperative agreement, which is a type of award that provides for OJP to have substantial involvement in carrying out award activities. See Administrative, National Policy, and Other Legal Requirements, under Section F. Federal Award Administration Information, for a brief discussion of what may constitute substantial federal involvement.

Financial Management and System of Internal Controls Award recipients and subrecipients (including recipients or subrecipients that are pass-through entities4) must, as described in the Part 200 Uniform Requirements5 as set out at 2 C.F.R.

200.303:

(a) Establish and maintain effective internal control over the Federal award that provides reasonable assurance that [the recipient (and any subrecipient)] is managing the Federal award in compliance with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal award. These internal controls should be in compliance with guidance in “Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government” issued by the Comptroller General of the United States and the “Internal Control Integrated Framework”, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

(b) Comply with Federal statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of the Federal awards.

(c) Evaluate and monitor [the recipient’s (and any subrecipient’s)] compliance with statutes, regulations, and the terms and conditions of Federal awards.

4 For purposes of this solicitation, the phrase “pass-through entity” includes any recipient or subrecipient that provides a subaward ("subgrant”) to a subrecipient (subgrantee) to carry out part of the funded award or program. Additional information on proposed subawards is listed under What an Application Should Include, Section 4c of this solicitation.

5 The "Part 200 Uniform Requirements” means the DOJ regulation at 2 C.F.R Part 2800, which adopts (with certain modifications) the provisions of 2 C.F.R. Part 200.

(d) Take prompt action when instances of noncompliance are identified including noncompliance identified in audit findings.

(e) Take reasonable measures to safeguard protected personally identifiable information and other information the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity designates as sensitive or [the recipient (or any subrecipient)] considers sensitive consistent with applicable Federal, state, local, and tribal laws regarding privacy and obligations of confidentiality.

To help ensure that applicants understand the applicable administrative requirements and cost principles, OJP encourages prospective applicants to enroll, at no charge, in the DOJ Grants Financial Management Online Training, available at https://ojpfgm.webfirst.com/. (This training is required for all OJP award recipients.)

Also, applicants should be aware that OJP collects information from applicants on their financial management and systems of internal controls (among other information) which is used to make award decisions. Under Section D. Application and Submission Information, applicants may access and review a questionnaire—the OJP Financial Management and System of Internal Controls Questionnaire—that OJP requires all applicants (other than an individual applying in his/her personal capacity) to download, complete, and submit as part of the application.

Budget Information Award recipients under Category 2 are expected to pass through an amount up to $500,000 per site via subaward grants to state jurisdictions that have enacted JRI policy changes to assist in implementation. Accordingly, budgets for Category 2 must include the maximum amount per site (i.e., Category 2 applications must reserve $500,000 per site anticipated to be served in implementation). Pass-through funding recipients and amounts must be approved by BJA before being committed.

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement This solicitation does not require a match. However, if a successful application proposes a voluntary match amount, and OJP approves the budget, the total match amount incorporated into the approved budget becomes mandatory and subject to audit.

Pre-agreement Costs (also known as Pre-award Costs) Pre-agreement costs are costs incurred by the applicant prior to the start date of the period of performance of the federal award.

OJP does not typically approve pre-agreement costs; an applicant must request and obtain the prior written approval of OJP for all such costs. All such costs incurred prior to award and prior to approval of the costs are incurred at the sole risk of the applicant. (Generally, no applicant should incur project costs before submitting an application requesting federal funding for those costs.) Should there be extenuating circumstances that make it appropriate for OJP to consider approving pre-agreement costs, the applicant may contact the point of contact listed on the title page of this solicitation for the requirements concerning written requests for approval. If approved in advance by OJP, award funds may be used for pre-agreement costs, consistent with the recipient’s approved budget and applicable cost principles. See the section on Costs Requiring Prior Approval in the DOJ Grants Financial Guide at https://ojp.gov/financialguide/DOJ/index.htm for more information.

https://ojpfgm.webfirst.com/ https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Resources/FinancialCapability.pdf https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Resources/FinancialCapability.pdf https://ojp.gov/financialguide/DOJ/index.htm

Limitation on Use of Award Funds for Employee Compensation; Waiver With respect to any award of more than $250,000 made under this solicitation, a recipient may not use federal funds to pay total cash compensation (salary plus cash bonuses) to any employee of the recipient at a rate that exceeds 110 percent of the maximum annual salary payable to a member of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service (SES) at an agency with a Certified SES Performance Appraisal System for that year.6 The 2018 salary table for SES employees is available on the Office of Personnel Management website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/18Tables/exec/html/ES.aspx. Note: A recipient may compensate an employee at a greater rate, provided the amount in excess of this compensation limitation is paid with non-federal funds. (Non-federal funds used for any such additional compensation will not be considered matching funds, where match requirements apply.) If only a portion of an employee's time is charged to an OJP award, the maximum allowable compensation is equal to the percentage of time worked times the maximum salary limitation.

The Assistant Attorney General for OJP may exercise discretion to waive, on an individual basis, this limitation on compensation rates allowable under an award. An applicant that requests a waiver should include a detailed justification in the Budget Narrative of its application. An applicant that does not submit a waiver request and justification with its application should anticipate that OJP will require the applicant to adjust and resubmit the budget.

The justification should address, in the context of the work the individual would do under the award, the particular qualifications and expertise of the individual, the uniqueness of a service the individual will provide, the individual’s specific knowledge of the proposed program or project, and a statement that explains whether and how the individual’s salary under the award would be commensurate with the regular and customary rate for an individual with his/her qualifications and expertise, and for the work he/she would do under the award.

Prior Approval, Planning, and Reporting of Conference/Meeting/Training Costs OJP strongly encourages every applicant that proposes to use award funds for any conference-, meeting-, or training-related activity (or similar event) to review carefully—before submitting an application—the OJP and DOJ policy and guidance on approval, planning, and reporting of such events, available at https://www.ojp.gov/financialguide/DOJ/PostawardRequirements/chapter3.10a.htm. OJP policy and guidance (1) encourage minimization of conference, meeting, and training costs; (2) require prior written approval (which may affect project timelines) of most conference, meeting, and training costs for cooperative agreement recipients, as well as some conference, meeting, and training costs for grant recipients; and (3) set cost limits, which include a general prohibition of all food and beverage costs.

Costs Associated with Language Assistance (if applicable) If an applicant proposes a program or activity that would deliver services or benefits to individuals, the costs of taking reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to those services or benefits for individuals with limited English proficiency may be allowable. Reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to services or benefits may include interpretation or translation services, where appropriate.

6 OJP does not apply this limitation on the use of award funds to the nonprofit organizations listed in Appendix VIII to 2 C.F.R. Part 200.

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/18Tables/exec/html/ES.aspx https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/18Tables/exec/html/ES.aspx https://www.ojp.gov/financialguide/DOJ/PostawardRequirements/chapter3.10a.htm

For additional information, see the "Civil Rights Compliance" section under “Overview of Legal Requirements Generally Applicable to OJP Grants and Cooperative Agreements - FY 2018 Awards” in the OJP Funding Resource Center at https://ojp.gov/funding/index.htm.

C. Eligibility Information For eligibility information, see title page.

For information on cost sharing or match requirements, see Section B. Federal Award Information.

D. Application and Submission Information

What an Application Should Include This section describes in detail what an application should include. An applicant should anticipate that if it fails to submit an application that contains all of the specified elements, it may negatively affect the review of its application; and, should a decision be made to make an award, it may result in the inclusion of award conditions that preclude the recipient from accessing or using award funds until the recipient satisfies the conditions and OJP makes the funds available.

Moreover, an applicant should anticipate that an application that OJP determines is nonresponsive to the scope of the solicitation, or that OJP determines does not include the application elements that BJA has designated to be critical, will neither proceed to peer review, nor receive further consideration. For this solicitation, BJA has designated the following application elements as critical: Program Narrative, Timeline/Task Plan, Budget Detail Worksheet and Budget Narrative, Applicant Disclosure of Proposed Subrecipients, résumés/curricula vitae of key personnel, and examples of work products.

NOTE: OJP has combined the Budget Detail Worksheet and Budget Narrative in a single document collectively referred to as the Budget Detail Worksheet. See “Budget Information and Associated Documentation” below for more information about the Budget Detail Worksheet and where it can be accessed.

OJP strongly recommends that applicants use appropriately descriptive file names (e.g., “Program Narrative,” “Budget Detail Worksheet,” “Timelines,” “Memoranda of Understanding,” “Résumés”) for all attachments. Also, OJP recommends that applicants include résumés in a single file.

Please review the “Note on File Names and File Types” under How To Apply to be sure applications are submitted in permitted formats.

1. Information to Complete the Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424)

The SF-424 is a required standard form used as a cover sheet for submission of pre-applications, applications, and related information. Grants.gov and the OJP Grants Management System (GMS) take information from the applicant’s profile to populate the fields on this form. When selecting "type of applicant," if the applicant is a for-profit entity, select "For-Profit Organization" or "Small Business" (as applicable).

https://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/LegalOverview/index.htm https://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/LegalOverview/index.htm https://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/LegalOverview/index.htm https://ojp.gov/funding/index.htm

To avoid processing delays, an applicant must include an accurate legal name on its SF-

424. On the SF-424, current OJP award recipients, when completing the field for “Legal Name” (box 8a), should use the same legal name that appears on the prior year award document (which is also the legal name stored in OJP’s financial system.) Also, current recipients should enter the Employer Identification Number (EIN) in box 8b exactly as it appears on the prior year award document. An applicant with a current, active award(s) must ensure that its GMS profile is current. If the profile is not current, the applicant should submit a Grant Adjustment Notice updating the information on its GMS profile prior to applying under this solicitation.

A new applicant entity should enter its official legal name in box 8a, its address in box 8d, its EIN in box 8b, and its Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number in box 8c of the SF-424. A new applicant entity should attach official legal documents to its application (e.g., articles of incorporation, 501(c)(3) status documentation, organizational letterhead) to confirm the legal name, address, and EIN entered into the SF-424. OJP will use the System for Award Management (SAM) to confirm the legal name and DUNS number entered in the SF-424; therefore, an applicant should ensure that the information entered in the SF-424 matches its current registration in SAM. See the How To Apply section for more information on SAM and DUNS numbers.

Intergovernmental Review: This solicitation ("funding opportunity") is not subject to Executive Order 12372. (In completing the SF-424, an applicant is to answer question 19 by selecting the response that the “Program is not covered by E.O. 12372.”)

2. Project Abstract

Applications should include a high quality project abstract that summarizes the proposed project in 400 words or less. Project abstracts should be:

• Written for a general public audience.

• Submitted as a separate attachment with “Project Abstract” as part of its file name.

• Single-spaced, using a standard 12-point font (such as Times New Roman) with 1-inch margins.

• Include the legal name of the applicant and the project’s title, goals, design elements, and proposed deliverables

As a separate attachment, the project abstract will not count against the page limit for the program narrative. BJA requests that the abstract be submitted as a text file, such as Word .doc format.

3. Program Narrative The program narrative should be double-spaced, using a standard 12-point font (Times New Roman preferred); have no less than 1-inch margins; and should not exceed 20 pages.

Pages should be numbered “1 of 20,” “2 of 20,” etc. If the program narrative fails to comply with these length-related restrictions, BJA may consider such noncompliance in peer review and in final award decisions.

https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/12372.html

The following sections should be included as part of the program narrative7:

a. Description of the Issue

b. Project Design and Implementation

c. Capabilities and Competencies

d. Plan for Collecting the Data Required for this Solicitation’s Performance Measures

OJP will require each successful applicant to submit regular performance data that demonstrate the results of the work carried out under the award (see “General Information about Post-Federal Award Reporting Requirements” in Section F. Federal Award Administration Information). The performance data directly relate to the goals, objectives, and deliverables identified under "Objectives and Deliverables" in Section A.

Program Description.

Applicants should visit OJP’s performance measurement page at www.ojp.gov/performance for an overview of performance measurements at OJP.

Performance measures for this solicitation are listed in Appendix B: Performance Measures Table.

The application should demonstrate the applicant’s understanding of the performance data reporting requirements for this grant program and detail how the applicant will gather the required data should it receive funding.

Please note that applicants are not required to submit performance data with the application. Performance measures information is included as an alert that successful applicants will be required to submit performance data as part of the reporting requirements under an award.

Award recipients will be required to submit performance metric data quarterly through BJA’s online Training and Technical Assistance Reporting Portal located at www.bjatraining.org.

Note on Project Evaluations An applicant that proposes to use award funds through this solicitation to conduct project evaluations should be aware that certain project evaluations (such as systematic investigations designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge) may constitute “research” for purposes of applicable DOJ human subjects protection regulations. However, project evaluations that are intended only to generate internal improvements to a program or service, or are conducted only to meet OJP’s performance measure data reporting requirements, likely do not constitute “research.” Each applicant should provide sufficient information for OJP to determine whether the particular project it proposes would either intentionally or unintentionally collect and/or use information in such a way that it meets the DOJ definition of research that appears at 28 C.F.R. Part 46 (“Protection of Human Subjects”).

7 For information on subawards (including the details on proposed subawards that should be included in the application), see "Budget and Associated Documentation" under Section D. Application and Submission Information.

https://www.ojp.gov/performance http://www.bjatraining.org/

“Research,” for purposes of human subjects protection for OJP-funded programs, is defined as “a systematic investigation, including research development, testing and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge.” 28 C.F.R. 46.102(d).

For additional information on determining whether a proposed activity would constitute research for purposes of human subjects protection, applicants should consult the decision tree in the “Research and the protection of human subjects” section of the “Requirements related to Research” webpage of the "Overview of Legal Requirements Generally Applicable to OJP Grants and Cooperative Agreements - FY 2018 Awards," available through the OJP Funding Resource Center at https://ojp.gov/funding/index.htm. Every prospective applicant whose application may propose a research or statistical component also should review the “Data Privacy and Confidentiality Requirements” section on that webpage.

4. Budget and Associated Documentation The Budget Detail Worksheet and the Budget Narrative are now combined in a single document collectively referred to as the Budget Detail Worksheet. The Budget Detail Worksheet is a user-friendly, fillable, Microsoft Excel-based document designed to calculate totals. Additionally, the Excel workbook contains worksheets for multiple budget years that can be completed as necessary. All applicants should use the Excel version when completing the proposed budget in an application, except in cases where the applicant does not have access to Microsoft Excel or experiences technical difficulties. If an applicant does not have access to Microsoft Excel or experiences technical difficulties with the Excel version, then the applicant should use the 508-compliant accessible Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) version.

Both versions of the Budget Detail Worksheet can be accessed at https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Forms/BudgetDetailWorksheet.htm.

a. Budget Detail Worksheet The Budget Detail Worksheet should be mathematically sound and include clear calculations for the applicant’s estimate of all costs.

The Budget Detail Worksheet should provide the detailed computation for each budget line item, listing the total cost of each and showing how it was calculated by the applicant. For example, costs for personnel should show the annual salary rate and the percentage of time devoted to the project for each employee paid with grant funds. The Budget Detail Worksheet should present a complete itemization of all proposed costs.

For questions pertaining to budget and examples of allowable and unallowable costs, see the DOJ Grants Financial Guide at https://ojp.gov/financialguide/DOJ/index.htm.

b. Budget Narrative The Budget Narrative should thoroughly and clearly describe every category of expense listed in the Budget Detail Worksheet. OJP expects proposed budgets to be complete, cost effective, and allowable (e.g., reasonable, allocable, and necessary for project activities).

An applicant should demonstrate in its budget narrative how it will maximize cost effectiveness of award expenditures. Budget narratives should generally describe cost effectiveness in relation to potential alternatives and the goals of the project. For example, a budget narrative should detail why planned in-person meetings are https://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/SolicitationRequirements/EvidenceResearchEvaluationRequirements.htm https://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/SolicitationRequirements/EvidenceResearchEvaluationRequirements.htm https://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/LegalOverview/index.htm https://ojp.gov/funding/Explore/LegalOverview/index.htm https://ojp.gov/funding/index.htm https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Forms/BudgetDetailWorksheet.htm https://ojp.gov/financialguide/DOJ/index.htm necessary, or how technology and collaboration with outside organizations could be used to reduce costs, without compromising quality.

The Budget Narrative should be mathematically sound and correspond clearly with the information and figures provided in the Budget Detail Worksheet. The narrative should explain how the applicant estimated and calculated all costs, and how those costs are necessary to the completion of the proposed project. The narrative may include tables for clarification purposes, but need not be in a spreadsheet format. As with the Budget Detail Worksheet, the Budget Narrative should describe costs by year.

c. Information on Proposed Subawards (if any), as well as on Proposed Procurement

Contracts (if any) Applicants for OJP awards typically may propose to make subawards. Applicants also may propose to enter into procurement contracts under the award.

Whether an action—for federal grants administrative purposes—is a subaward or procurement contract is a critical distinction as significantly different rules apply to subawards and procurement contracts. If a recipient enters into an agreement that is a subaward of an OJP award, specific rules apply—many of which are set by federal statutes and DOJ regulations; others by award conditions. These rules place particular responsibilities on an OJP recipient for any subawards the OJP recipient may make. The rules determine much of what the written subaward agreement itself must require or provide.