Notices regarding the Consultant Statement of Work: Review and 

Revalidation of the First Step Act Risk Assessment Tool

April 8, 2020: On March 4, 2020, NIJ hosted a webinar that provided an overview and 

discussion of this statement of work. The slides and transcript from this webinar have been 

added to the end of this document.

April 8, 2020: FAQs for this statement of work have been added here: 

https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/nij-2020-fsa. Any additional FAQs related to this 

statement of work will be added to this page as they become available.

April 7, 2020: The response deadline was revised to April 24, 2020.

The original statement of work begins on the next page.
U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs 

National Institute of Justice 

National Institute of Justice 

Consultant Statement of Work: 

Review and Revalidation of the First Step Act Risk Assessment Tool 

Release date: February 10, 2020 

Response deadline: 11:59 p.m. eastern time on April 24, 2020 
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Timeline:

Deadline: 

Webinar: 

Budget:

To be determined after consultant selection. 

Submissions are due by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on April 24, 2020. 

A webinar will take place at 1:00 p.m. eastern time on March 4, 2020, 

to provide details and guidance for potential consultants on this

funding initiative. Sign up for the webinar here:

https://ojp.webex.com/ojp/onstage/g.php?MTID=e29ecc18ff306655

8f02a3873ae61cd18.

To be determined after consultant selection.

Purpose: 

With this Statement of Work (SOW), the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is seeking 

responses to support the annual review and revalidation of the risk assessment tool 

developed for the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in accordance with the First Step Act (FSA). This 

initiative furthers the mission of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) by supporting 

research to reduce crime and protect public safety.

Funding Initiative Background: 

On December 21, 2018, Congress passed the FSA. Title I of the FSA focuses on reforms for

reducing recidivism among the federal prison population. A key requirement of Title I is 

the development of a risk and needs assessment system (RNAS) for BOP. Section 101 of the 

FSA requires the attorney general, in consultation with the Independent Review 

Committee,1 to develop and publicly release an RNAS that BOP will use to: 

• determine the initial recidivism risk of each prisoner as part of the intake process2

and classify each prisoner as having minimum, low, medium, or high risk for

recidivism; and

• reassess the recidivism risk of each prisoner periodically based on factors including

indicators of progress and regression that are dynamic and that can reasonably be

expected to change while in prison.

1 On April 8, 2019, NIJ made a noncompetitive award to Hudson Institute. One of Hudson Institute’s core responsibilities 

was to establish an Independent Review Committee (IRC) that would assist the attorney general in carrying out duties 

related to the FSA. For the names of the IRC members and more information about them, see

https://www.hudson.org/research/14945-hudson-institute-to-host-first-step-act-s-independent-review-committee. 2 BOP’s classification system, Bureau Risk Assessment Verification and Observation (BRAVO), is used to predict serious 

misconduct while in prison. The newly developed RNAS, the Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and 

Needs (PATTERN), will be used in conjunction with BRAVO to predict the risk of post-release recidivism. 
2 | Page

Results from the RNAS will assist in BOP’s determination of the: 

• appropriate type and amount of evidence-based recidivism reduction programming 

for each prisoner; 

• assignment of each prisoner to such programming accordingly; and 

• reassignment of each prisoner to appropriate evidence-based recidivism reduction 

programming or productive activities based on the prisoner’s specific criminogenic 

needs. 

On July 19, 2019, DOJ published a report, The First Step Act of 2018: Risk and Needs 

Assessment System, and announced the newly developed RNAS, the Prisoner Assessment 

Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs (PATTERN). A risk tool designed to predict the 

likelihood of general and violent recidivism for all BOP inmates, PATTERN includes static 

factors (e.g., age and crime of conviction) and dynamic factors (e.g., participation in 

programs like occupational training or drug treatment) that are associated with either an 

increase or a reduction in risk of recidivism. As required by the FSA, PATTERN provides 

predictive models, or scales, developed and validated for males and females separately. 

Additional enhancements to PATTERN were announced on January 15, 2020, in 

a report released by DOJ. 

To accomplish the mandates set forth in Title I of the FSA, PATTERN must be reviewed and 

revalidated on an annual basis for up to five years. NIJ will assist DOJ in completing the 

following tasks: 

“... on an annual basis, review, validate, and release publicly on the Department of Justice 

website the risk and needs assessment system, which review shall include — 

(A) any subsequent changes to the risk and needs assessment system made after the 

date of enactment of [the FSA];

(B) the recommendations developed under paragraph (2) [of 18 U.S.C. 3631], using the 

research conducted under paragraph (3);

(C) an evaluation to ensure that the risk and needs assessment system bases the 

assessment of each prisoner’s risk of recidivism on indicators of progress and of 

regression that are dynamic and that can reasonably be expected to change while in 

prison;

(D) statistical validation of any tools that the risk and needs assessment system uses; 

and

(E) an evaluation of the rates of recidivism among similarly classified prisoners to 

identify any unwarranted disparities, including disparities among similarly classified 

prisoners of different demographic groups, in such rates ...”
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NIJ requests innovative responses from consultants who will review and revalidate 

PATTERN on an annual basis for at least five years. Successful consultants will be expected 

to assist DOJ in completing tasks specified in Section 3631, in coordination with NIJ and 

BOP. 

Successful consultants will be subject to and must pass a required background 

investigation in order to access the data3 required to complete the annual review and 

revalidation of PATTERN.4 Access to data shall be limited to the minimum number of 

persons necessary. 

Background investigations can take approximately two to four months to complete. This 

should be considered when developing the project timeline. When developing a project 

management plan, consultants should include approximately two to four months in order 

to complete the requirements of, and assure the receipt of, an approved background 

investigation. 

In collaboration with NIJ and BOP, the successful consultants will determine the validation 

sample and subsequent data to be used for the revalidation of PATTERN and work 

collaboratively to finalize the analytic plan for the review and revalidation of PATTERN. 

Due to the implementation of PATTERN in January 2020, the analytic plan may be subject 

to change as data, specifically recidivism data, eventually become available. 

The consultants supported under this initiative will be expected to meet with NIJ and BOP 

staff quarterly and/or as requested — either in-person, via videoconference, or by phone 

— and to provide regular updates of project progress. These updates (whose frequency 

will be determined by NIJ staff in consultation with BOP and the successful consultants) 

may include information on progress in the annual review and revalidation process, and 

other activities as required by the FSA mandate. Travel to Washington, D.C., may be 

required on at least a biannual basis.

Deliverable Requirements: 

Respondents should include plans to address all aspects of the FSA mandate, including 

assisting DOJ in the preparation of an annual report. Required information describing the

 

3 The successful consultants will be provided access to administrative data from BOP and criminal history data from state 

and local jurisdictions via the International Justice and Public Safety Network (Nlets) to complete the annual review and 

revalidation of PATTERN. The dataset will include, but not be limited to, measures commonly associated with recidivism 

risk, such as criminal history, demographic characteristics (e.g., age), prison misconduct, and participation in 

programming. 

4 Only those persons with requisite clearances can access the data. If the consultant plans to hire support staff, a 

background investigation will be required for support staff members who will have or need access to project data. Access 

to data should be limited to key staff only. 
4 | Page

review and revalidation of PATTERN and subsequent findings will be provided through 

NIJ.

5 The successful consultants supported under this initiative will assist NIJ and BOP in 

planning for the development and dissemination of this report. Should the successful 

consultants have recommendations for potential changes to PATTERN, they will be 

provided to NIJ for submission to and review by the attorney general.6

The consultants supported under this initiative will be prohibited from making public any 

information related to the review and revalidation of PATTERN. Doing so would be a 

violation of the contractual agreement between the consultants and NIJ. 

Other project deliverables: 

Consultants will deliver quarterly progress reports to CSR. The reporting format will be 

provided to successful consultants.

Eligibility Requirements: 

NIJ expects to support multiple consultants resulting from separate response submissions. 

The consultants will work as a team to address the FSA mandates. 

With this initiative, NIJ will support only qualified individuals who can serve as 

independent consultants. Each response may only include one consultant. Responses may 

not include a team of consultants. 

The consultant may propose to include and hire support staff, for example a research 

assistant, as needed. In this case, the eligibility requirement — qualified individuals — still 

applies. Successful respondents, performing as independent consultants, may not claim 

reimbursement through an established company or organization. Consultants will receive 

1099 forms each year. Specific budget instructions will be provided to successful 

respondents.

The following entities are not eligible for support under this funding initiative and will be 

removed from competition:

• Small businesses, 

• States (including territories), 

• Units of local government, 

 

5 It is expected that reports required by the FSA will be reviewed by NIJ, BOP, and other DOJ staff before the public release 

of any information. 6 Until such time that the attorney general determines that potential recommendations are appropriate, any such

recommendations will be considered strictly confidential and not for public dissemination. Any release of such 

recommendations will be made solely by and at the discretion of DOJ.
5 | Page

• Federally recognized Indian tribal governments that perform law enforcement 

functions (as determined by the secretary of the interior), 

• Nonprofit and for-profit organizations (including tribal nonprofit and for-profit 

organizations), 

• Consulting firms, 

• Institutions of higher education (including tribal institutions of higher education), or

• Any staff identified in the RNAS report as key staff, including NIJ contractors and 

members of the Independent Review Committee. 

Responses that include more than one consultant will be considered by NIJ as 

noncompliant and will not move forward to the review process. 

How to Apply: 

To be considered timely, a submission must be emailed by the deadline to the following 

email address: PATTERN@csrincorporated.com. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Submission Information:

This section details what a submission should include:

• Title page: not counted against the 25-page narrative limit.

• Table of Contents and Figures: not counted against the 25-page narrative limit.

• Abstract: no more than 400 words describing the core elements of the proposed 

review and revalidation of PATTERN.

• Narrative: should not exceed 25 double-spaced pages in 12-point font with 1-

inch margins. If included in the main body of the narrative, tables, charts, figures, 

and other illustrations count toward the 25-page limit for the narrative section. 

The project abstract, table of contents, and appendices do not count toward the 

25-page limit.

 

Responses that fail to comply with these length-related restrictions will not 

receive further consideration. 

• The narrative should describe the proposed project in depth. The following 

sections should be included as part of the program narrative: 

o Statement of the Problem. The statement of the problem should briefly

address the problem to be addressed as required by the FSA. 

o Project Design and Implementation. Consultants should provide a 

detailed description of the analytic strategies to be used to conduct the 

review and revalidation of PATTERN and to address the mandates in 
6 | Page

Title I (see page 2). Consultants should describe the research 

methodology in detail and demonstrate the validity and usefulness of the 

analytic strategy. Consultants should consider the rigor and soundness of 

the methodology and analytical and technical approaches for the 

proposed research and address the feasibility of the proposed project and 

potential challenges or problems in carrying out the activities. 

o Potential Impact. Consultants should describe the potential impact of 

the research and how it may inform or improve the use of PATTERN for 

BOP. The discussion of impact should include a discussion of the 

deliverables required by NIJ, including the provision of project updates to 

NIJ, BOP, and DOJ. 

o Capabilities/Competencies. This section should describe the experience 

and capability of the consultant (and of support staff, if applicable) that 

the consultant will use to implement and manage this effort, highlighting 

any previous experience implementing projects of similar scope, design, 

and magnitude. Consultants should address:

 Experience and expertise in developing and implementing risk 

assessment tools.

 Experience and expertise in the review and validation of risk

assessment tools. 

 Experience in and capacity to work with the proposed data 

sources in the conduct of similar research efforts.

 Experience in and capacity to design and implement rigorous 

research and data analysis projects. 

 Experience producing meaningful deliverables. 

• Appendices:

o Bibliography/references. 

o Any tools/instruments, questionnaires, tables/charts/graphs, or maps 

pertaining to the response that are supplemental to such items included 

in the main body of the narrative. 

o List of additional support staff, if and as needed. 

o Curriculum vitae or resume of the consultant, and of any and all support 

staff who will be significantly involved in substantive aspects of the 

proposed project (including, for example, statisticians hired to conduct 

proposed data analysis), if applicable.

o List of any previous and current NIJ awards to the consultant, including 

the NIJ-assigned award numbers and a brief description of any scholarly
7 | Page

products that resulted in whole or in part from work funded under the 

NIJ award(s).7 

o Project management plan. Consultants should outline the activities and 

timeline necessary for meeting the goals and objectives of this project. 

o Research and evaluation independence and integrity statement. The 

consultant must demonstrate research/evaluation independence and 

integrity, including appropriate safeguards. The consultant must 

demonstrate independence and integrity regarding both this proposed 

research and/or evaluation, and any current or prior related projects.

For purposes of this initiative, the proposed consultant is to document

research and evaluation independence and integrity by including one of 

the following two items: 

 (a) A specific assurance that the consultant has reviewed its 

submission to identify any actual or potential apparent conflicts of 

interest (including through review of pertinent information on the 

consultant and any staff), and that the consultant has identified no 

such conflicts of interest — whether personal, financial, or 

organizational (including on the part of the consultant entity or on 

the part of staff) — that could affect the independence or integrity 

of the research, including the design, conduct, and reporting of the 

research. 

OR

 (b) A specific description of actual or potential apparent conflicts 

of interest that the consultant has identified that could affect the 

independence or integrity of the research, including the design, 

conduct, or reporting of the research. These conflicts may be 

personal (e.g., on the part of the consultant or other staff), 

financial, or organizational (related to the consultant). An example 

of a consultant (or other personal) conflict-of-interest situation is 

one in which a consultant would be in a position to evaluate a 

spouse’s work product (actual conflict), or to evaluate the work of 

a former or current colleague (potential apparent conflict). With 

regard to potential organizational conflicts of interest, as one 

example, generally an organization would not be given an award 

 

7 Applicants should list any direct consulting agreements, grants, cooperative agreements, or contracts on which they 

were significantly involved in substantive aspects of the proposed project.
8 | Page

to evaluate a project if that organization had itself provided 

substantial prior technical assistance to that specific project or a 

location implementing the project (whether funded by OJP or 

other sources), because the organization in such an instance might 

appear to be evaluating the effectiveness of its own prior work. 

The key is whether a reasonable person understanding all of the 

facts would be able to have confidence that the results of any 

research or evaluation project are objective and reliable. Any 

outside personal or financial interest that casts doubt on the

objectivity and reliability of an evaluation or research product is a 

problem and must be disclosed. 

In addition, for purposes of this initiative, the consultant is to address 

possible mitigation of research integrity concerns in one of the following 

two ways, at a minimum: 

 (a) If the consultant reasonably believes that no actual or potential 

apparent conflicts of interest (personal, financial, or 

organizational) exist, then the consultant should provide a brief 

narrative explanation of how and why it reached that conclusion. 

The consultant should also include an explanation of the specific 

processes and procedures that the consultant has in place, or will 

put in place, to identify and prevent (or, at the very least, mitigate) 

any such conflicts of interest pertinent to the funded project 

during the period of performance. There is no guarantee that the 

plan, if any, will be accepted as proposed.

OR

 (b) If the consultant has identified actual or potential apparent 

conflicts of interest (personal, financial, or organizational) that 

could affect the independence and integrity of the research, 

including the design, conduct, or reporting of research findings, 

the consultant is to provide a specific and robust mitigation plan to 

address each of those conflicts. There is no guarantee that the 

plan, if any, will be accepted as proposed. 

NIJ will assess research and evaluation independence and integrity 

based on considerations such as the adequacy of the consultant’s 

efforts to identify factors that could affect the objectivity or 
9 | Page

integrity of the proposed staff in carrying out the research, 

development, or evaluation activity; and the adequacy of the 

consultant’s existing or proposed remedies to control any such 

factors.

At a minimum, and in order to receive full consideration, the following items must be 

submitted by the deadline. These items are critical and must be included in a consultant’s 

formal response to this SOW. The items are: 

• Narrative, 

• Curriculum vitae or resume (of consultant and support staff, as needed), 

• List of additional support staff, 

• List of any previous and current NIJ awards to the consultant, and

• Research and evaluation independence and integrity statement. 

Additionally, the respondent must meet the eligibility requirements provided on page 4. 

Responses that fail to comply with the length-related restrictions provided above 

and do not include the critical materials requested here will not receive further 

consideration. 

Submission File Types: 

Submissions should be sent to as either a PDF or Word (.doc) file. 

 

Response Review Information: 

Review Criteria 

Responses that meet the guidelines specified above will be evaluated by independent 

external reviewers using the following review criteria. Each individual criterion is assigned 

a weight based on the percentage value listed. 

Statement of the Problem (Understanding of the problem, research questions, and their 

importance) — 10% 

1. Demonstrated understanding of the problem. 

2. Demonstrated importance of research questions, goals, and objectives, including 

alignment with the aims of the funding initiative.

3. Demonstrated awareness of the state of current research. 
10 | Page

Project Design and Implementation (Quality and technical merit) — 60% 

1. Soundness of methods and analytic and technical approach to addressing the stated 

aim(s) of the proposed project. 

2. Feasibility of proposed project. 

3. Awareness of potential pitfalls of proposed project design and feasibility of 

proposed actions to minimize and/or mitigate them. 

4. Feasibility of completing the deliverables required by the FSA. 

Potential Impact — 5% 

Potential for significant scientific or technical advances that will improve 

criminal/juvenile justice in the United States, such as: 

• Significantly improved understanding of the stated criminal/juvenile justice 

problem. 

• An innovative solution for addressing all or a significant part of the stated 

criminal/juvenile justice problem. 

Capabilities/Competencies (Capabilities, demonstrated productivity, and experience of 

the consultant and proposed support staff) — 25% 

1. Qualifications and experience of proposed consultant (and, if applicable, of other 

relevant support staff identified in the response who will be significantly involved in 

substantive aspects of the proposed project). 

2. Demonstrated ability of the consultant to implement the proposed strategies and 

manage the effort. 

3. Relationship between the capabilities/competencies of the proposed consultant and 

other relevant support staff (if applicable) and the scope, goals, and strategies of the 

proposed project. 

Review Process:

NIJ is committed to ensuring a fair and open process for making final consultant 

appointments. NIJ will consult with independent, external experts to review consultant 

responses and evaluate whether the information presented in the responses is reasonable, 

understandable, measurable, and achievable, as well as consistent with the initiative’s

written requirements. 

Contact Information: 

Consultant responses should be submitted via email to PATTERN@csrincorporated.com. 

To be considered timely, a response must be submitted by the deadline, no exceptions. 
11 | Page

For assistance Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m eastern time, send an 

email to PATTERN@csrincorporated.com. Answers to frequently asked questions will be 

posted on the NIJ website at https://nij.ojp.gov/funding/opportunities/nij-2020-fsa.
 

 

 

 

 

Funding Initiative through NIJ for the 

Review and Revalidation of the First Step Act Risk 

Assessment Tool 

Statement of Work Post Date: February 10, 2020 

Statement of Work Close Date: April 10, 2020 11:59 PM eastern time 

Today’s Presenter: 

Marie Garcia, Senior Social Science Analyst, Office of the Director, National Institute of Justice 
 

Webinar Overview 

• NIJ Overview 

• First Step Act overview 

• Development of PATTERN 

• Title I Requirements 

• Submission Critical Elements 

• Important Considerations 
 

 

National Institute of Justice (NIJ) 

Who we are: 

• NIJ is the research, development, and evaluation agency of the U.S. 

Department of Justice 

Our mission: 

• Improving knowledge and understanding of crime and justice 

issues through science 
 

 

NIJ Overview 

• NIJ has two research offices: 

• Office of Research Evaluation and Technology 

• Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences 

• NIJ Director serves as the Chief Evaluation Officer for DOJ 

• NIJ hosts CrimeSolutions.gov, a repository of evaluation 

evidence 
 

 

 

 

First Step Act (FSA) 

• FSA 

• Passed into law in December 2018 

• Overarching goal of Title I: 

• Reduce recidivism among the federal prison population 

• Core statutory obligations: 

• Constitution of an Independent Review Committee 

• Development of a risk and needs assessment system for the 

Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Development of PATTERN 

• PATTERN 

• Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs 

• 15 factors (dynamic and static) 

• Created using data from sample of 222,970 individuals released 

from BOP custody 

• To be used in concert with BOP’s classification assessment, 

BRAVO (Bureau Risk Assessment Verification and Observation) 

• Revised risk assessment tool released in January 2020 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review and Revalidation of PATTERN 

Title I requirements: 

“... on an annual basis, review, validate, and release publicly on the 

Department of Justice website the risk and needs assessment system, which 

review shall include — 

(A) any subsequent changes to the risk and needs assessment system made 

after the date of enactment of [the FSA]; 

(B) the recommendations developed under paragraph (2) [of 18 U.S.C. 3631], 

using the research conducted under paragraph (3); 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review and Revalidation of PATTERN 

Title I requirements (cont’d): 

(C) an evaluation to ensure that the risk and needs assessment system bases 

the assessment of each prisoner’s risk of recidivism on indicators of progress 

and of regression that are dynamic and that can reasonably be expected to 

change while in prison; 

(D) statistical validation of any tools that the risk and needs assessment 

system uses; and 

(E) an evaluation of the rates of recidivism among similarly classified 

prisoners to identify any unwarranted disparities, including disparities 

among similarly classified prisoners of different demographic groups, in such 

rates ...” 
 

 

 

 

 

Current Funding Initiative 

Goal: 

• Support team of consultants to review and revalidate PATTERN 

annually for up to 5 years 

Expectations: 

• Collaborate and meet with NIJ and BOP regularly 

• Successfully pass DOJ background investigation 

• Submit quarterly reports detailing progress 

• Assist in the preparation of an annual report to Congress 
 

 

 

 

Submission Critical Elements 

Critical elements: 

• Narrative 

• Curriculum vitae or resume 

• Consultant and support staff, as needed 

• List of additional support staff, as needed 

• List of any previous and current NIJ awards to the consultant 

• Research and evaluation independence and integrity statement 
 

 

Submission Evaluation Criteria 

External experts will evaluate each submission on: 

• Statement of the Problem and Research Questions (10%) 

• Project Design and Implementation (60%) 

• Potential Impact (5%) 

• Capabilities and Competencies (25%) 
 

 

 

 

Important Considerations 

*Support for this funding initiative will be made in the form of a contract. This is 

not a solicitation. 

*Only qualified individuals can submit responses to this funding initiative. 

*Submissions from entities other than individuals will not be considered. 

*A submission may include only 1 individual labeled as a consultant. A team of 

consultants would not be responsive. 
 

 

 

 

Important Considerations (cont’ed) 

*Submissions may include support staff as needed, for example, a research 

assistant. 

*Consultants will be unable to publish or otherwise disseminate any information 

generated from this initiative. 

*The budget for each consultant will be determined after selection. 
 

 

Submission information: 

Response deadline: 

11:59 p.m. eastern time on Friday, April 10, 2020 

Responses should be submitted via email to: 

PATTERN@csrincorporated.com 
 

 

 

For more information: 

For questions about the Review and Revalidation of the First Step Act Risk 

Assessment Tool initiative, email: 

PATTERN@csrincorporated.com 

Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. eastern time 
 

Recommended Resources 

NIJ First Step Act webpage: 

• nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/nijs-role-under-first-step-act 

First Step Act reports: 

• July 19, 2019: nij.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh171/files/media/document/the-firststep-act-of-2018-risk-and-needs-assessment-system_1.pdf 

• January 2020: nij.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh171/files/media/document/the-firststep-act-of-2018-risk-and-needs-assessment-system-updated.pdf 
Learn about NIJ Funding 

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updates when funding 

opportunities post 

Funding 

Opportunities 

Past 

Awards 

Go to www.nij.gov & click on FUNDING & AWARDS 

www.nij.ojp.gov 
 

 

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Please submit questions using the Q&A box and 

selecting all panelists. 
i

Funding Webinar Transcript

On March 4, 2020, NIJ hosted a webinar that provided an overview of this solicitation.

Following are the transcript and slide presentation from that webinar.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: Good afternoon, everybody. And welcome to today’s webinar, 

“Funding Initiative through NIJ for the Review and Revalidation of the First Step Act Risk 

Assessment Tool,” hosted by the National Institute for Justice. At this time, I would like to 

introduce you to today’s presenter, Marie Garcia, Senior Social Science Analyst with the 

National Institute of Justice.

MARIE GARCIA: Good afternoon. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. Also 

with me today is my colleague, Sherran Thomas, Senior Advisor and Contracting Officer 

Representative for NIJ, as well as our colleagues, Esther Ivory and Dennis Singleton from 

CSR. 

During today’s webinar, we will provide a high-level overview about:

• NIJ and the goals of our agency, 

• a review of the First Step Act, 

• a review of the development of PATTERN, the new risk assessment system for the 

Bureau of Prisons, 

• the requirements of Title 1 of the First Step Act, 

• critical elements for the review and validation of SOW, and 

• an overview of important considerations for potential submissions. 

The National Institute of Justice is a research, development, and evaluation agency of the 

US Department of Justice. Our mission is to improve knowledge and understanding of 

crime and justice issues through science. NIJ is comprised of two science offices. The 

Research Evaluation and Technology Office encourages and supports research, 

development, and evaluation to further the understanding of the causes and correlates of 

crime and violence. The Investigative and Forensic Science Offices improves the quality 

and practice of forensic science through innovative solutions that support research and 

development. 

The NIJ Director, Dr. David Muhlhausen, serves as the Chief Evaluation Officer for the 

Department of Justice. Initially, NIJ hosts CrimeSolutions.gov, a repository of evaluation 

evidence. Crime Solutions is comprised of two components: a web-based clearinghouse 

of programs and practices, and a process for identifying and rating those programs and 

practices. 

The First Step Act was passed into law on December 18th, 2018. The act is significant 

bipartisan legislation that promotes criminal justice reform. Title I of the act is focused on 

reforms to reduce recidivism among the federal prison population. Two obligations within 

Title I include the constitution of an independent review committee and the development of 

a risk and needs assessment system for the Bureau of Prisons. Many of Title I’s reforms 

hinge on the creation of this system. 
ii

Over the course of spring 2019, Dr. Grant Duwe and Dr. Zach Hamilton developed 

PATTERN, the Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs. The 

assessment tool includes dynamic and static factors. The assessment tool was created 

using data from 222,000 individuals released from a BOP facility to a location in the United 

States. PATTERN will be used in concert with BOP’s classification system, the BRAVO, 

the Bureau Risk Assessment Verification and Observation. BRAVO was designed to 

predict serious misconduct in prison. 

In the month after the initial release of PATTERN in July 2019, the department worked to 

improve PATTERN based on suggestions from the independent review committee and a 

range of stakeholders. Revisions to PATTERN were released in a detailed report in 

January 2020. The current statement of work, or SOW, was created to address several 

statutory mandates found in Title I of the act. As shown here, the risk assessment tool 

developed towards the BOP must be reviewed, validated, and released by the Attorney 

General on an annual basis. Consultants will determine if changes should be made to the 

tool. 

And what might those changes be? These changes would be provided to the Attorney 

General for consideration. Additionally, Title I requires an assessment to ensure the tool 

continues to be based on factors that are amenable to change. And an evaluation of the 

rates of recidivism among similarly classified prisoners to identify any unwarranted 

disparities will be completed as well. With this SOW, NIJ will support a team of consultants 

to fulfill the Title I mandate just described. The mandate can be found on page two of the 

SOW. In addition to completing the activities in Title I, the team of consultants are 

expected to collaborate with NIJ and BOP. This will include, but not be limited to, regular 

meetings with NIJ and BOP staff, either in person or by phone, to provide updates on 

project progress. Each consultant must successfully pass a Department of Justice 

background investigation in order to access project data. This process can take between 

two and four months. Each consultant will submit quarterly progress reports, and a key 

deliverable for the SOW is the assistance in the drafting of an annual report to Congress. 

The Title I mandates that were described will be addressed in the annual report submitted 

by the Department of Justice. There are several critical elements in the SOW. They 

include:

• The narrative, a curriculum vita, or resume, or bio sketch of the consultant, a list of 

support staff as needed, 

• A list of any previous and current NIJ awards to the consultant Please keep in mind 

if you work for an entity that has received funding from NIJ, we want to be aware 

of the awards and projects that you are involved in. 

• Additionally, a research and evaluation independence and integrity statement. 

These are critical elements. If one of them is not included in the submission, the 

submission will not be considered responsive. 

External experts will evaluate each submission on the following criteria: Statement of the 

Problem, Project Design and Implementation, Potential Impact, and the Capabilities and 

Competencies of the Consultants. 
iii

Many questions have come in about the funding avenue for the SOW. Many of you might 

be familiar with NIJ’s typical funding streams, which typically comes in the form of a

solicitation. The SOW is not a solicitation. The activities that will be supported under the 

PATTERN SOW are a direct service to the Department of Justice and the Attorney 

General. For this reason, support for this initiative will be provided through an NIJ 

contract, with authority to generate individual consultant agreement. 

Because NIJ will generate an individual consultant agreement, only qualified individuals 

can submit responses to the SOW. Entities other than individuals will not be considered 

responsive. Further, a submission can only include one individual that will serve as a 

consultant. This is nonnegotiable. A submission that includes a team of consultants will 

not be considered responsive. Submissions may include support staff, as needed. 

Again, because of the nature of the activities requested here— specifically the direct 

service to the department and the Attorney General— consultants will not be able to 

publish or otherwise disseminate any information generated from the review and 

revalidation of PATTERN at any time. The results generated from this work will be 

included in the annual report to Congress. The budget for each consultant will be 

determined after selection has been made. 

Submissions are due on or before 11:59 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, on Friday, April 

10th, 2020. They must be submitted via email to the email address on your screen. For 

more information, or if you have questions about the review and revalidation of the SOW, 

please email the address here, PATTERN@csrincorporated.com, between Monday 

through Friday from 8:00 to 6:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. Please allow one to two 

business days for a response. 

Now, there are several resources that you can look into that will provide more guidance 

and information about the First Step Act. You are encouraged to visit NIJ’s First Step Act 

webpage. And you are encouraged to review the two First Step Act reports that have 

released: The first was released on July 19th, 2019 and the second, updated report was 

released in January 2020. Additionally, if you’re interested in learning more about NIJ 

funding, you can go to our webpage, at https://NIJ.ojp.gov/. There, you can learn more 

about this SOW, our other current funding opportunities, as well as our past awards. And 

you can sign up for email updates to find out when our solicitations and other funding 

opportunities have posted.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: Hi, everybody. I’m just going to go over a couple more things 

before we get into the questions. As Marie mentioned, the NIJ website is NIJ.ojp.gov. It’s 

a great way to stay connected with the National Institute of Justice. The site also offers

several email subscriptions, and you can now subscribe to receive those emails using 

text. You would submit OJP NIJ, insert your email address, and send it 468-311. Please 

note that message and data rates may apply. NIJ also has a presence on social media, 

and you are invited to follow us on Facebook, at https://www.facebook.com/OJPNIJ/ and 
iv

Twitter. So at this time we’re going to open it up to questions. And our first question 

today” How many consultants are you looking for?

MARIE GARCIA: NIJ did not include a number in the SOW on purpose. We are looking 

for a team of qualified individuals. This could be two individuals, and this could be up to 

five. We have no number that we’ve set. I know that’s vague and perhaps not a direct

answer to the question, but we want to make sure that we have the right team. If you’re 

qualified, if you’re interested, you’re encouraged to submit your proposal.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: The next question: “Will you discuss the idea of individuals 

versus organizations submitting responses? What does that mean exactly?”

MARIE GARCIA: So for the purposes of this SOW, one example that we can provide is 

that if you are a professor at a university, the university, as an organization, could not 

apply. However, as a professor, if you’re able to establish independence from the 

university and work as an independent consultant, you would be an eligible, qualified 

individual for the purposes of this work.

SHERRON THOMAS: Good afternoon. This is Sherran Thomas and I’m the Contracting 

Officer Representative. In addition to what Marie offered, I’d like to just explain further that 

typically, GSA competitions are used when the government is interested in contracting 

and giving awards to small and large businesses. However, this procurement approach is 

different and unique in that NIJ has already awarded a competitive contract. And that 

particular contract is specifically directed to manage consultant assignments, which is why 

small and large businesses are restricted.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: All right. “Can I use a foreign employee?”

MARIE GARCIA: Clarity.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: So, the individual had asked if a foreign employee may be 

used. If you could submit a clarifying question or comment, that would be appreciated. 

“Will there be new data collection, or primary or solely secondary data analysis?”

MARIE GARCIA: So the PATTERN tool has currently been implemented at the Bureau of 

Prisons. If you read the statute carefully, the scores from PATTERN, in concert with other 

assessments, will be used to provide programming to those in custody currently in the 

BOP. Over time, this will include both secondary and primary data collection. But, again, 

as mentioned in the SOW, the actual samples from which to draw, and the years, will be 

determined with the consultant team as well as NIJ [and the] BOP. So to answer your 

question, it will include both over time.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “Could you speak more about the budgeting for individual 

contractors?”
v

SHERRON THOMAS: Okay. You will be requested to submit a proposed budget. What 

you should consider in looking at the statement of work, is the level of effort that you 

would need to complete, or produce, or perform, in order to complete the assignment. 

Consider the timeline that’s proposed and whether or not you’re able to work within that 

timeline. All of those factors should weigh in to help you decide how much time you need 

to complete the project. This is totally open to your discretion and your expertise to let us 

know how much time you believe you’re going to need to complete this work, and if you 

can work within the timeline. 

From there, the budget process is only going to be relevant to those that are selected. So, 

we’re not expecting everyone to respond to that. If you’re selected, that is the first thing 

you would consider. Next, the contract would be able to match your proposed daily rate, or 

hourly rate, based on the market. So we’re not following the financial guide that guides 

our grants where consultant rates are $650 a day. If you have a proof of payment 

statement, which could be an invoice, or any other proof, or your salary even in your 

affiliation, you could use that as a way to describe what your market value is for doing this 

type of work for other organizations, and we would consider that. When we ask you for a 

proposed a budget, you would put all of that together and send it back to us and we would 

consider it.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “Has anyone been performing this function already? Basically,

are there any incumbents?”

MARIE GARCIA: The PATTERN was developed again by Zach Hamilton Grant Duwe in 

July. The no-validation work for Title I has been completed since this time, so no one is 

working on this task at this moment. There are no incumbents. So, the team of 

consultants that will be brought together will be the first to start this work.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “Are consultants expected to work together on the revalidation? 

How does this work if multiple contractors submit different proposals?”

MARIE GARCIA: As mentioned, the consultants will work together as a team to get this 

work done. I understand there are several questions about who will do what in terms of 

the actual work. We’re going to bring together the best team, based on your qualifications 

and expertise. So, you’re encouraged to include in your capabilities and competencies a 

discussion of what skills you would have that you can bring to bear for this work. You will 

be required to work together. Once the team is put together, we will discuss with you, in 

terms of your qualifications and expertise and skillset, how to best manage this work and 

move forward.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “I am a woman-owned small business owner. Could the 

contract be with my company for my consulting services, rather than with me as an 

individual? Because I would lose my WOSB status if I work outside.”
vi

MARIE GARCIA: As mentioned in the SOW and during this Q&A session, small 

businesses are not eligible, and would not be responsive based on the direct service 

requirement for this work.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “I have an employee research assistant living in Serbia. Can I 

use his help? Paid.”

SHERRON THOMAS: Generally speaking, the Department of Justice requires US citizens 

to be involved in their investigations and their work. Is the person a student? — It doesn’t 

say here.

ESTHER IVORY: Yes.

SHERRON THOMAS: Okay. Thank you, Esther.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “Will we have access to the data used to design the PATTERN 

tool?”

MARIE GARCIA: Yes. If necessary, you will have access to the dataset and you will also 

have access to the consultants that developed the tools. So we do expect that in the 

beginning, there will be some engagement on the front [end] to give the consultant team 

an understanding of how the tool was developed. So you will have access to those data.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “How much travel do you anticipate?”

MARIE GARCIA: This is a five-year project. So a consultant team could be required to 

come to DC annually. Basically, you will be off-site, so unless we would require you to 

come to DC, I would say no more than perhaps twice a year.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: So a follow-up on the foreign question: the person is not a 

student.

SHERRON THOMAS: That’s not allowed.

MARIE GARCIA: Not allowed.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: So they were just confirming then it is not allowed.

SHERRON THOMAS: Right. The person must be a US citizen to perform on this task.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “Would the data available for validation be restricted to only 

federal offenses, or would non-federal offence data be available as well?”

MARIE GARCIA: So the criminal history data that will be used for this process will come 

from the FBI. It will include whatever offense records they have on file as for the criminal 

history for the individuals in the dataset.
vii

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “Could two independent consultants partner together to submit 

a proposal?”

MARIE GARCIA: A team [consisting of] more than one consultant per application 

submission, would not be responsive. If you have a person that you think is qualified and 

should submit an application — each person must do it on their own. Unfortunately, that 

is the way that this has to move forward, unfortunately. If there are several of you that are 

qualified and want to come in together, you are required to be qualified to come in to get 

[employed] separately, on different proposals.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “What does NIJ want to see in the 25-page narrative?”

MARIE GARCIA: Capabilities and competencies would absolutely [need to] be in there. 

As you’ll see in the criteria, that’s one of the key criteria for this SOW. We want to see 

your understanding of PATTERN. We want to understand your expertise in doing review 

and revalidation work. This was a fairly complicated task that Grant and Zach underwent 

last summer in order to create the work. So, we really want to see your expertise and 

innovation in terms of your ideas about how to review and revalidate PATTERN. Any 

thoughts about methods and an analytic plan? Those particular ideas should be conveyed 

in the proposal. It’s very clear here that we have specific items and tasks in Title I that 

have to be addressed. So, please communicate to us how you would address those 

particular activities.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: So, clarification on the initial question about a foreign assistant: 

they are a permanent resident of the United States, but not a citizen. And this gentleman 

is saying that they have applied for funding before and been told that it’s only open to 

citizens, and as a green card holder, he did not qualify.

MARIE GARCIA: And the same would apply here.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: Okay. Just to confirm, to make sure that you heard that, that 

would be the same in this situation as well. You would not qualify. You must be a US 

citizen. Let’s see. “Is NIJ looking for changes to the PATTERN instruments, including 

improvements on measuring various dynamic factors?”

MARIE GARCIA: One of the elements of the statute is requesting whether any changes to 

the tool, in terms of the addition of new factors, the removal of certain factors, how the 

factors are being measured —that is exactly what we are looking for. But, again, these 

changes must be approved by the Attorney General before any changes are made to the 

tool. So, the consulting team will develop the tool again, as necessary, make changes,

and submit those to the Attorney General for consideration. So that is part of what we are 

asking for here.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: Next question, “Is the data de-identified?”
viii

MARIE GARCIA: A quick review of how the data will be provided to NIJ: NIJ, the FBI, and 

the BOP will be entered into a memorandum of understanding that will allow NIJ to have 

access to the data. The data will be transferred to NIJ from the Bureau of Prisons. The 

data, when they arrive at NIJ, will be de-identified for the purposes of this task. So, yes, 

they will be de-identified.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: All right. “Individual and a business. For example, I start as a, 

adjust faculty member at a university outside of my business and I perform peer reviews 

as an individual. That being said, can I apply as an individual outside of my business?”

SHERRON THOMAS: Yes.

MARIE GARCIA: Yes. If you are able to establish independence from your business, you 

would be eligible to apply for this SOW.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: Another question about the team of consultants: About how 

large would that team be?

MARIE GARCIA: As mentioned, we don’t have an end [number] to provide to you at this 

time. Our primary goal right now is to look for the necessary expertise. That’s what we 

want you to show in your submission to this competition. So, we don’t have a number. But 

to be clear, the team itself will not be too cumbersome and too large, because we need to 

be able to get the work done quickly, at least for 2020. We don’t know yet. But we will 

make that determination once the submissions have come in.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: At this time, it appears that any remaining question has been 

answered. On the screen right now, you’re going to see the email address for 

PATTERN@csrincorporated.com. We would like that you please submit those questions 

to this email address, and Marie will work with those at CSR to get an answer to you

related to your particular scenario. Another question was, “When are you anticipating 

making the awards?”

MARIE GARCIA: The due date for the SOW is in April. The first report to Congress is due 

at the end of the year. So, we will be making the selections and working with the 

consultants to develop a budget, and to get to work on the background investigations, no 

later than June and July of this year.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “Will we have access to documentation as to how the factors 

were constructed for PATTERN, so that we may recreate them relatively easily with the 

data provided?”

MARIE GARCIA: Yes. You will have access to the documentation. The primary 

documentation that is available is actually already available to all of you. The reports that 

have been made available on NIJ’s webpage, our work on First Step, actually has that 
ix

information. Should you require additional information once the work gets underway, we 

will provide that to you.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “Is there a conflict serving as an OJP peer reviewer and this 

contract?”

MARIE GARCIA: No, there is not a conflict of interest here. You can serve as a reviewer 

for OJP solicitations and funding opportunities, and you can also submit to this SOW if you 

are an eligible, qualified individual.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “Since states can apply, I assume this means state 

organizations as well. Example, the Department of Juvenile Justice, is that correct?”

MARIE GARCIA: Yes, that is correct. Again, just to restate: Only qualified individuals can 

apply for this statement to work. There was a question about student assistance and 

citizenship. And our rules about citizenship apply to the consultant and any support staff 

that are included in the submission. 

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: “Will Zach and Grant be involved in the team?”

MARIE GARCIA: Zach and Grant, as the developers of PATTERN, will not be involved in 

the future development of this work. But they will serve as consultants on an as-needed 

basis to provide any and all information about the tool, how it was created, the data 

analysis, how the measures were constructed. So, they will be a resource to the team 

once the team has been determined.

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: At this time, it looks like all the questions have been addressed. 

Again, you do have the opportunity to submit your question after the webinar to the email 

address at PATTERN. On behalf of Marie and NIJ, I would like to thank you for attending 

today’s webinar.

MARIE GARCIA: Any and all questions are welcome. We want to be as helpful to you 

over the next few weeks as we can. We wish you all the best, and we look forward to 

seeing your submissions.