Funding Initiative through NIJ for the 

Review and Revalidation of the Bureau of Prisons Needs 

Assessment System, Fiscal Year 2022 

October 21, 2021 | 1:00 PM EDT 

The webinar will begin shortly 
 

 

 

 

 

Funding Initiative through NIJ for the 

Review and Revalidation of the Bureau of Prisons Needs 

Assessment System, Fiscal Year 2022 

Statement of Work Post Date: October 1, 2021 

Statement of Work Close Date: December 30, 2021, 11:59 PM eastern time 

Today’s Presenter: 

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

• Overview of NIJ

• First Step Act Overview

• Title I Requirements

• PATTERN and SPARC-13

• 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

NIJ’s mission 

• Improving knowledge and understanding of crime and justice issues

through science
 

 

National Institute of Justice (NIJ) - Overview 

• Sits within the Office of Justice Programs 

• NIJ has two research offices 

• Office of Research, Evaluation, and Technology 

• Office of Investigative and Forensic Sciences 

• NIJ hosts CrimeSolutions.ojp.gov, a repository of evaluation 

evidence 
 

 

 

 

 

First Step Act 

• 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) 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Review and Validation Mandates 

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 Validation Mandates 

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 ...” 
 

 

 

 

First Step Act Risk Assessment Tool 

Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs (PATTERN) 

• 15 factors (dynamic and static)

• Created using data from sample of ~225,000 individuals released from BOP

custody

• Used in concert with BOP’s classification assessment, BRAVO (Bureau Risk

Assessment Verification and Observation)

• Revised risk assessment tool released in January 2020
 

Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Needs Assessment System 

• Needs assessed at intake; reassessment occurs at least semi-annually 

• Standardized Prisoner Assessment for Reduction in Criminality 

(SPARC-13) 

• Assesses the following 13 needs: 

Anger/Hostility Medical 

Antisocial Peers Mental Health 

Cognitions Recreation/Leisure/Fitness 

Education Substance Abuse 

Dyslexia Trauma 

Family/Parenting Work 

Finance/Poverty 
 

 

 

 

Current Funding Initiative 

Goal 

• Support a team of consultants to review and validate SPARC-13 annually 

for up to 3 years 

Expectations 

• Collaborate and meet regularly with NIJ and BOP 

• Work in parallel with the PATTERN team to meet the Title I mandate 

• 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 reviewers 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 

submission on behalf of a team of consultants will not be responsive. 
 

 

 

Important Considerations (cont’d) 

*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: 

• Thursday December 30, 2021, 11:59 p.m. eastern time 

Email responses to: FSAneedsassessment@bixal.com 
 

 

 

 

For more information 

For questions about the consultant statement of work, Review and 

Revalidation of the Bureau of Prisons Needs Assessment System, Fiscal Year 

2022, contact: 

FSAneedsassessment@bixal.com 

While questions may be submitted at any time, staff will review 

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

Recommended Resources 

NIJ First Step Act webpage 

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

Bureau of Prisons Needs Assessment and Programs webpage 

https://www.bop.gov/inmates/fsa/programs.jsp 

First Step Act reports 

https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/nijs-role-under-first-step-act#reports 
 

 

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