Notices regarding the solicitation “Tribal-Researcher Capacity 

Building Grants”

April 15, 2019: On March 28, 2019, NIJ hosted a webinar which included an overview and 

discussion on this funding opportunity. The slides and transcript from this webinar have been 

added to the end of this solicitation document.

The original solicitation document begins on the next page.
U.S. Department of Justice OMB No. 1121-0329 

Office of Justice Programs Approval Expires 11/30/2020 

National Institute of Justice 

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), National Institute 

of Justice (NIJ) is seeking applications for funding for grants to support research involving 

federally recognized tribes (or tribally based organizations) on issues of crime and justice in 

the United States. This program furthers the Department’s mission by sponsoring research 

to provide objective, independent, evidence-based knowledge and tools to meet the 

challenges of crime and justice, particularly at the tribal level. 

Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants 

Applications Due: May 13, 2019

Eligibility 

In general, NIJ is authorized to make grants to, or enter into contracts or cooperative 

agreements with, States (including territories), units of local government, federally recognized 

Indian tribal governments that perform law enforcement functions (as determined by the 

Secretary of the Interior),1 nonprofit and for-profit organizations (including tribal nonprofit and 

for-profit organizations), institutions of higher education (including tribal institutions of higher 

education), and certain qualified individuals. Foreign governments, foreign organizations, and 

foreign colleges and universities are not eligible to apply.

All recipients and subrecipients (including any for-profit organization) must forgo any profit or 

management fee. 

NIJ 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 funding, managing the entire project, and 

monitoring and appropriately managing any subawards (“subgrants”). 

Under this solicitation, any particular applicant entity may submit more than one application, as 

long as each application proposes a different project in response to the solicitation. Also, an 

entity may be proposed as a subrecipient (subgrantee) in more than one application.

NIJ may elect to fund applications submitted under this FY 2019 solicitation in future fiscal 

years, dependent on, among other considerations, the merit of the applications and on the 

availability of appropriations. 

 

1

 A determination by the Secretary of the Interior is not required for tribes to which federal recognition was extended 

by virtue of Public Law 115-121, the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017. 

2

 For additional information on subawards, see "Budget and Associated Documentation" under Section D. Application 

and Submission Information.
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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 

May 13, 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 via 

email to 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 may email the NIJ contact identified 

below within 24 hours after the application deadline to request approval to submit its

application. Additional information on reporting technical issues appears under Experiencing 

Unforeseen Grants.gov Technical Issues in the How to Apply section.

For assistance with any other requirements of this solicitation, contact the National Criminal 

Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Response Center: toll-free at 1-800-851-3420; 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. General information on applying for NIJ 

awards can be found at www.nij.gov/funding/Pages/welcome.aspx. Answers to frequently asked 

questions that may assist applicants are posted at www.nij.gov/funding/Pages/faqs.aspx.

Grants.gov number assigned to this solicitation: NIJ-2019-15203

Release date: March 14, 2019
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NIJ-2019-15203

Contents

A. Program Description.............................................................................................................. 4

Overview ................................................................................................................................ 4

Program-Specific Information ................................................................................................. 4

Goals, Objectives, Deliverables, and Expected Scholarly Products ........................................ 5

B. Federal Award Information..................................................................................................... 8

Type of Award ........................................................................................................................ 8

Financial Management and System of Internal Controls......................................................... 9

Budget Information ................................................................................................................10

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement.................................................................................10

Pre-agreement Costs (also known as Pre-award Costs) .......................................................10

Limitation on Use of Award Funds for Employee Compensation; Waiver...............................10

Prior Approval, Planning, and Reporting of Conference/Meeting/Training Costs ...................11

Costs Associated with Language Assistance (if applicable)...................................................11

C. Eligibility Information.............................................................................................................12

D. Application and Submission Information ...............................................................................12

What an Application Should Include ......................................................................................12

How to Apply .........................................................................................................................27

E. Application Review Information.............................................................................................31

Review Criteria ......................................................................................................................31

Review Process.....................................................................................................................33

F. Federal Award Administration Information ............................................................................35

Federal Award Notices ..........................................................................................................35

Administrative, National Policy, and Other Legal Requirements ............................................35

General Information about Post-Federal Award Reporting Requirements..............................36

G. Federal Awarding Agency Contact(s) ...................................................................................36

H. Other Information..................................................................................................................37

Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552 and 5 U.S.C. 552a) ....................37

Provide Feedback to OJP......................................................................................................37

Application Checklist .............................................................................................................38
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NIJ-2019-15203

Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants

(CFDA No. 16.560)

A. Program Description

Overview

NIJ actively supports research that involves federally-recognized tribes (or tribally-based 

organizations) on issues of crime and justice in the United States. In doing so, NIJ is committed 

to ethical and engaged efforts in-line with responsible research conduct and federal trust 

responsibilities. This solicitation seeks to enhance and expand such research through the 

provision of planning grants to support development of relevant, new, and innovative research 

projects. To ensure proposed projects result in tangible and mutually-beneficial studies, they 

must include a new tribal-researcher partnership component.

Statutory Authority: Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 

(sections 201 and 202); the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (sections 231-233); and 28 U.S.C. 

530C.

Program-Specific Information

Through this solicitation, NIJ will provide small planning grants to fund applications to 

develop new and innovative criminal justice research projects involving federallyrecognized tribes (or tribally-based organizations), and that represent a new tribalresearcher investigator partnership.3 For the purposes of this solicitation, a new 

partnership is defined as a newly-developed partnership where a partnership did not 

previously exist. Applications that do not involve a new tribal-researcher investigative 

partnership will not be considered (i.e., a pre-existing partnership or project 

continuation). Under this solicitation, grant funding may be awarded to cover costs 

associated with:

 Engaging and conferring with tribal nations on criminal justice research, 

development, testing (e.g., technology), and evaluation aimed to improve public 

safety in tribal communities;

 Establishing new tribal nation and tribal program partnerships and participation (e.g., 

technical and factual presentations to tribal leadership or governing bodies, including 

those requested by a tribe in connection with its process for providing its 

authorization [through tribal resolution or other appropriate documentation] to 

participate in the funded project; obtaining participatory agreements; and securing 

tribal Institutional Review Board [IRB] approvals);

 Developing research questions and study designs using community-based

participatory research principles that involve the tribal partner in all aspects of the

research process;

 

3 Under such an arrangement, the applicant research entity (or applicant researcher) may make subawards to tribal 

(or tribal organization-) partners that would participate in the funded project.
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NIJ-2019-15203

 Conducting pilot, feasibility, or evaluability assessment studies that may

involve collecting preliminary data and/or secondary data analysis; and

 Drafting a tribal-researcher investigator criminal justice proposal for submission

based on the new partnership.

While the scope of this solicitation is defined as investigator-initiated, the following 

research topics are of particular interest to the U.S. Department of Justice:

 The impact of concurrent criminal jurisdiction on the administration of justice in Indian 

country and Alaska Native villages.

 The effectiveness of the criminal justice response to combating the opioid crisis, and 

more broadly the use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs (e.g., methamphetamine, 

heroin, and other opioids including fentanyl, diverted pharmaceuticals, synthetic drugs, 

and analogues).

 Combating violent crime and responding to, and reducing victimization.

 Enhancing investigations and prosecutions.

 Murdered, missing, and trafficked persons.

 Sexual assault.

 Exploited children.

 Provision, role, and impact of forensic science services (including medicolegal death 

investigation), particularly as it relates to combating the opioid crisis and violent crime.

 Strengthening tribal justice systems (e.g., evaluating tribal healing to wellness courts, 

tribal-state collaborations, wellness court collaborations, technology-based court 

systems that improve court operations and outcomes, tribal-reentry programs).

 Developing and testing tools and technologies to improve criminal justice policy and 

practice (e.g., unmanned aircraft systems, body-worn cameras, drug-detecting 

technology, location-based technology, digital devices or applications, victim technologybased services).

The period of performance is limited to 18 months, and is not renewable.

Goals, Objectives, Deliverables, and Expected Scholarly Products

The goal of this solicitation is to build an increased capability to conduct rigorous 

research and evaluation projects in Indian country and Alaska Native villages through 

the promotion of engagement between researchers and tribal nations. The objective of 

this solicitation is to fund multiple planning grants for projects promoting such 

arrangements that address criminal justice issues in Indian country and Alaska Native 

villages.
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Final Research Report. Any recipient of an award under this solicitation will be expected to 

submit a proposal for a criminal justice research or evaluation project based on the results 

of the activities funded under the planning grant. Such proposal will comport with the 

instructions provided in Section D Application and Submission Information of this 

solicitation. NIJ will consider such proposals for potential award based on the criteria 

provided in Section E Application Review Information. Additional information on the final 

research report requirement for the solicitation is posted on the Post Award Reporting 

Requirements Page on NIJ’s website.

Special Report. The awardee will be expected to submit a special report detailing the 

tribal-research partnership. The report should thoroughly capture the process and 

substance of the collaboration, including lessons learned, challenges, and successes 

experienced, and overall reflections. The special report should also map out key issues 

that can help inform existing or future partnerships of a similar nature.

Required Data Sets and Associated Files and Documentation. Any recipient of an award 

under this solicitation will be expected to submit to the National Archive of Criminal Justice 

Data (NACJD) all data sets that result in whole or in part from the work funded by the 

award, along with associated files and any documentation necessary for future efforts by 

others to reproduce the project’s findings and/or to extend the scientific value of the data set 

through secondary analysis. For more information, see Program Narrative in Section D. 

Application and Submission Information.

For tribal nations with specific data access and/or ownership policies that prohibit or limit 

data archiving, NIJ expects the recipient of an award made under this solicitation to work 

with any participating or impacted tribe to ensure that an appropriate data sharing 

agreement is developed and implemented with the tribe that provides, among other things 

(as applicable to the project), that the designated tribal entity (tribal council, tribal IRB or 

analogous body) can review and approve data access requests.

In addition to these deliverables (and the required reports and data on performance 

measures described in Section F. Federal Award Administration Information), NIJ expects 

scholarly products to result from each award under this solicitation, taking the form of one or 

more published, peer-reviewed, scientific journal articles, and/or (if appropriate) law review 

journal articles, book chapter(s) or book(s) in the academic press, technological prototypes, 

patented inventions, or similar scientific products.

NIJ also expects copies of products developed specifically for the tribal partner and/or tribal 

stakeholders (e.g., interim or final reports, presentations, newsletters/articles).

The Goals, Objectives, Deliverables, and Expected Scholarly Products are directly related to the 

performance measures that demonstrate the results of the work completed.

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).
7 

NIJ-2019-15203 

Applicants should visit OJP’s performance measurement page at 

www.ojp.gov/performance for an overview of performance measurement activities at OJP. 

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. 

Objective Performance Measure(s) Data Recipient Provides

Conduct research 

in science, 

technology, 

engineering, 

and/or 

mathematics 

having clear 

implications for 

criminal justice 

policy and 

practice in the 

United States.

Conduct research 

in social and 

behavioral 

sciences having 

clear implications 

for criminal justice 

policy and 

practice in the 

United States.

1.Relevance to the needs of the field as measured 

by whether the project’s substantive scope did not 

deviate from the funded project or any 

subsequent agency-approved modifications to the 

scope.

2.Quality of the research as demonstrated by the 

scholarly products that result in whole or in part 

from work funded under the NIJ award, such as 

published, peer-reviewed, scientific journal 

articles, and/or (as appropriate for the funded 

project) law review journal articles, book 

chapter(s) or book(s) in the academic press, 

technological prototypes, patented inventions, or 

similar scientific products.

3.Quality of management as measured by such 

factors as whether significant project milestones 

were achieved, reporting and other deadlines 

were met, and costs remained within approved 

limits.

4.Number of technologies fielded as a result (in 

whole or in part) of work funded under the NIJ 

award, if applicable.

1.Quarterly financial reports, 

semi- annual and final 

progress reports, and 

products of the work 

performed under the NIJ 

award (including, at 

minimum, a final research 

proposal and special 

report on the partnership).

If applicable, an annual 

audit report.

2.List of citation(s) to all 

scholarly products that 

resulted in whole or in part 

from work funded under 

the NIJ award.

3.Description of all 

technologies fielded as a 

result (in whole or in part) 

of work funded under the 

NIJ award (if applicable).

Evaluation Research 

If an application includes an evaluation research component (or consists entirely of evaluation 

research), the application is expected to propose the most rigorous evaluation design 

appropriate for the research questions to be addressed. If the primary purpose of the evaluation 

is to determine the effectiveness or impact of an intervention (e.g., program, practice, or policy), 

the most rigorous evaluation designs may include random selection and assignment of 

participants (or other appropriate units of analysis) to experimental and control conditions. In 

cases where randomization is not feasible, applicants should propose a strong quasiexperimental design that can address the risk of selection bias. 

Applications that include evaluation research should consider the feasibility of including 

cost/benefit analysis. In cases where evaluations find that interventions have produced the 
8 

NIJ-2019-15203 

intended benefit, cost/benefit analysis provides valuable and practical information for 

practitioners and policymakers that aids decision-making. 

Evaluation research projects may also address a wide range of research questions beyond 

those focused on the effectiveness or impact of an intervention. Different research designs may 

be more appropriate for different research questions and at different stages of program 

development. The intervention strategies, setting, other contextual factors, and resources 

should be taken into account when selecting an evaluation design. In all cases, applications are 

expected to propose the most rigorous evaluation design appropriate for the research questions 

to be addressed. 

Applicants are encouraged to review evidence rating criteria at 

https://www.crimesolutions.gov/about_starttofinish.aspx for further information on high-quality 

evaluation design elements. 

B. Federal Award Information 

NIJ expects to make up to five awards with an estimated total amount awarded of up to 

$500,000 (approximately $100,000 per award). Awards will normally not exceed an 18-month 

period of performance. 

To allow time for (among other things) any necessary post-award review and financial 

clearance by OJP of the proposed budget and for any associated responses or other 

action(s) that may be required of the recipient, applicants should propose an award start 

date of January 1, 2020. 

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 

NIJ expects to make any award under this solicitation in the form of a grant. See Administrative, 

National Policy, and Other Legal Requirements, under Section F. Federal Award Administration 

Information, for a brief discussion of important statutes, regulations, and award conditions that 

apply to many (or in some cases, all) OJP grants.

Please note: Any recipient of an award under this solicitation will be required to comply with 

DOJ regulations on confidentiality and protection of human subjects. See “Requirements related 

to Research” 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. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

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. 

(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 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://onlinegfmt.training.ojp.gov. (This 

training is required for all OJP 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 the OJP Financial Management and System of Internal Controls 

Questionnaire (https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Resources/FinancialCapability.pdf) 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. 

 

4

 For the purposes of this solicitation, the phrase “pass-through entity” includes any recipient or subrecipient that 

provides a subaward (“subgrant”) to carry out part of the funded award or program.

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. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

Budget Information 

What will not be funded: 

 Applications primarily to purchase equipment, materials, or supplies (a budget 

may include these items if they are necessary to conduct research, 

development, demonstration, evaluation, or analysis.) 

 Applications that are not responsive to this specific solicitation. 

 Programs or services unrelated to the scope of the project or existing 

programs or services being evaluated. 

 Training in support of programs or direct services unrelated to or associated with 

the proposed project. 

 Applications that do not involve a new tribal-researcher investigative partnership. 

 Applications involving tribal governments or being conducted on tribal lands that 

do not have an executed tribal resolution, executive order, or letter of 

commitment from the tribal authorized representative (e.g., tribal council, tribal 

administrator, executive director) sanctioning the partnership/project. 

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement 

See “Cofunding” paragraph under item 4 (“Budget and Associated Documentation”) under What 

an Application Should Include in Section D. Application and Submission Information. 

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. 

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 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

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 2019 salary 

table for SES employees is available at the Office of Personnel Management website at 

https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salarytables/19Tables/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 nonfederal 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 Director of the National Institute of Justice 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 policy and guidance on approval, planning, and reporting of such events, 

available at 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 and of 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. 

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. 

 

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. 
12

NIJ-2019-15203 

C. Eligibility Information 

For eligibility information, see title page. 

For information on cost sharing or match requirements, see “What an Application Should 

Include” in Section D. Application and Submission 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 NIJ has designated to be critical, will neither proceed to peer review 

nor receive further consideration. For this solicitation, NIJ has designated the following 

application elements as critical: Program Narrative; Budget Detail Worksheet and Budget 

Narrative; resumes/curriculum vitae of key personnel; and, if applicable, an executed tribal 

resolution, executive order, or letter of commitment from the tribal authorized representative 

(e.g., tribal council, tribal administrator, executive director) sanctioning the partnership/project.7

(For purposes of this solicitation, “key personnel” means the principal investigator, and any and 

all co-principal investigators.) 

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,” 

“Resumes”) for all attachments. Also, OJP recommends that applicants include resumes 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 preapplications, applications, and related information. Grants.gov and OJP’s Grants 

Management System (GMS) take information from the applicant’s profile to populate the 

 

7 See item 6, “Tribal Authorizing Resolution,” below, in this section for details.
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NIJ-2019-15203 

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). 

To avoid processing delays, an applicant must include an accurate legal name on its SF424. 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 the 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

The project abstract is a very important part of the application, and serves as an introduction 

to the proposed project. NIJ uses the project abstract for a number of purposes, including 

assignment of the application to an appropriate review panel. If the application is funded, the 

project abstract typically will become public information and be used to describe the project. 

Applications should include a high-quality project abstract that summarizes the proposed 

project in 250-400 words. Project abstracts not submitted in the template below 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 the form’s standard 12-point font (with 1-inch margins). 

As a separate attachment, the project abstract will not count against the page limit for the 

program narrative. 

Project abstracts should follow the detailed template (including the detailed instructions as to 

content) available at www.nij.gov/funding/documents/nij-project-abstract-template.pdf. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

3. Program Narrative 

The program narrative section of the application should not exceed 30 double-spaced pages 

in 12-point font with 1-inch margins. If included in the main body of the program narrative, 

tables, charts, figures, and other illustrations count toward the 30-page limit for the narrative 

section. The project abstract, table of contents, appendices, and government forms do not 

count toward the 30-page limit. Content beyond the specified page number will not be 

reviewed. Failure to follow the guidance and format will negatively impact the application, 

with NIJ considering such noncompliance in peer review and in final award decisions. 

If the program narrative fails to comply with these length-related restrictions, NIJ may 

consider such noncompliance in peer review and in final award decisions. 

The following sections should be included as part of the program narrative. 

Program Narrative Guidelines: 

a. Title Page (not counted against the 30-page program narrative limit) 

The title page should include the title of the project, submission date, funding 

opportunity number, and the name and complete contact information (that is, 

address, telephone number, and e-mail address) for both the applicant and the 

principal investigator(s) and key project partners. 

b. Resubmit Response (if applicable) (not counted against the 30-page program 

narrative limit) 

If an applicant is resubmitting an application presented previously to NIJ, but not 

funded, the applicant should indicate this. A statement should be provided, no more 

than two pages, addressing: (1) the title, submission date, and NIJ-assigned 

application number of the previous application, and (2) a brief summary of revisions 

to the application, including responses to previous feedback received from NIJ. 

c. Table of Contents and Figures (not counted against the 30-page program narrative 

limit) 

d. Main Body

The main body of the Program Narrative should describe the proposed new 

partnership and project. The Program Narrative should include all of the following 

headings: Background, Work Plan, Approach, and Organizational Capacity of 

Applicant. The program narrative should be succinct, self-explanatory, and in the 

order outlined in this section. It should address outcomes and activities to be 

conducted over the entire period of performance. 

Background. Applicants should provide a detailed description of the new tribalresearcher investigator partnership, how the tribal partner/stakeholder input was 

sought, and how it was incorporated into the proposal. In addition, the applicant 

should describe possible criminal justice projects the tribal partner has identified as 

priority matters. Applicants should include any relevant data, background, and any 

other information to show the significance and importance of the issue or issues 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

under consideration, using data that are pertinent to understanding the identified 

problem (e.g., statistics, research findings, other objective evidence, as appropriate). 

If the partnership has already resulted in identifying a priority matter, this section 

should identify the research questions and discuss the purpose, goals, and 

objectives of the proposed project. Finally, the applicant should describe how tribal 

interests and priorities will drive research planning, design, and implementation. 

Work Plan. Applicants should provide a proposed work plan detailing each task and 

activity to be carried out during the period of performance. Applicants should address 

all the steps in partnership development and research planning. Also, applicants 

must provide a timeline with clearly defined milestones. The work plan should include 

a discussion of anticipated deliverables, including planned scholarly products 

indicated in the program-specific information on page 4 and a plan for dissemination 

to appropriate tribal stakeholders. Applicants should identify plans to produce or 

disseminate to broader interested practitioners and policy makers in a form that is 

designed to be readily accessible and useful to them. 

Approach. Applicants should provide a detailed description of the strategies to fulfill 

the new tribal-researcher partnership and in developing and submitting a criminal 

justice research or evaluation project. Applicants should explain what strategies will 

be applied for capacity building, project planning, communication, and dissemination. 

In addition, applicants should describe the potential impact of both the tribalresearcher partnership and research development project and how it may inform or 

improve criminal or juvenile justice-related policy, practice, or theory in the United 

States. Finally, applicants should consider the feasibility of the proposed project and 

potential challenges or problems in carrying out the activities. Where appropriate, the 

applicant should describe capacity, plans, and willingness to share successful 

approaches widely through various venues for broad diffusion of innovation. 

Organizational Capacity of Applicant. This section should describe the experience 

and capability of the applicant organization, key staff [researcher(s) and tribal 

partner(s)], and any proposed subgrantees (including consultants) that the applicant 

will use to implement and manage this effort and the federal funds under this award, 

highlighting any previous experience implementing projects of similar scope, design, 

and magnitude. Applicants should address: 

 Experience (if any) and capacity working with federally recognized tribes (or 

tribally based organizations) and in conducting similar research efforts. 

 Experience implementing community-engaged research and evaluation projects. 

 Experience and capacity to design and implement rigorous research and data 

analysis projects. 

 Experience producing and disseminating meaningful deliverables. 

Applicants should also outline the management plan, structure, and organization 

proposed to complete proposed tasks/projects and provide a description of the roles, 

responsibilities, and qualifications of the applicant’s proposed staff and partners. The 

management plan should connect to the goals and objectives of the project. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

e. Appendices not counted against the 30-page program narrative limit) include: 

 Bibliography/references. 

 Any tools/instruments, questionnaires, tables/charts/graphs, or maps pertaining 

to the proposed project that are supplemental to such items included in the main 

body of the narrative. 

 Curriculum vitae or resume of the principal investigator and any and all coprincipal investigators. In addition, curriculum vitae, resume, or biographical 

sketches of all other individuals (regardless of “investigator” status) who will be 

significantly involved in substantive aspects of the proposed project (including, 

for example, individuals such as statisticians used to conduct proposed data 

analysis). 

 To assist OJP in assessing actual or apparent conflicts of interest (including such 

conflicts on the part of prospective reviewers of the application), a complete list of 

the individuals named or otherwise identified anywhere in the application 

(including in the budget or in any other attachment) who will or may work (or 

advise or consult) on the proposed research, development, or evaluation project. 

This applies to all such individuals, including, for example, individuals who are or 

would be employees of the applicant or employees of any proposed subrecipient 

entity, any individuals who themselves may be a subrecipient, and individuals 

who may (or will) work without compensation (such as advisory board members). 

This appendix to the program narrative is to include, for each listed individual: 

name, title, employer, any other potentially-pertinent organizational affiliation(s), 

and the individual's proposed roles and responsibilities in carrying out the 

proposed project. If the application identifies any specific entities or organizations 

(other than the applicant) that will or may work (or advise or consult) on the 

proposed project, without also naming any associated individuals, the name of 

each such organization also should be included on this list. Applicants should 

use the “Proposed Project Staff, Affiliation, and Roles” form available at

https://www.nij.gov/funding/documents/nij-project-staff-template.xlsx to provide 

this list. 

If the application (including the budget) identifies any proposed non-competitive 

agreements that are or may be considered procurement "contracts" (rather than 

subawards) for purposes of federal grants administrative requirements the 

applicant also must list the entities with which the applicant proposes to contract. 

Applicants should provide this list as a separate sheet entitled "Proposed noncompetitive procurement contracts." 

For information on distinctions — for purposes of federal grants administrative 

requirements — between subawards and procurement contracts under awards, 

see “Budget and Associated Documentation,” below. 

 Proposed project timeline and expected milestones. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

 Human Subjects Protection paperwork (documentation and forms related to 

Institutional Review Board (IRB) review). (See

nij.gov/funding/humansubjects/Pages/welcome.aspx). 

 Privacy Certificate (for further guidance go to 

nij.gov/funding/humansubjects/pages/confidentiality.aspx). 

 List of any previous and current NIJ awards to the applicant and investigator(s), 

including the NIJ-assigned award numbers and a brief description of any 

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

NIJ award(s). (See “Goals, Objectives, Deliverables, and Expected Scholarly 

Products” under “Program-Specific Information,” above, for definition of “scholarly 

products.”) 

 List of other agencies, organizations, or funding sources to which this application 

has been submitted (if applicable). 

 Applicants proposing to use incentives or stipends payments as part of their 

research project design, must submit an incentive or stipend approval request, as 

a separate document, according to the requirements set forth at 

https://www.nij.gov/funding/Pages/research-participant-costs-andincentives.aspx. 

 Data archiving plan. Applicants should anticipate that NIJ will require (through 

special award conditions, that data sets resulting in whole or in part from projects 

funded under this solicitation be submitted for archiving with the NACJD (See 

https://nij.gov/funding/data-resources-program/Pages/data-archivingstrategies.aspx.)

Applications should include as an appendix a brief plan – labeled “Data Archiving 

Plan” – to comply with data archiving requirements. The plan should provide brief 

details about proposed data management and archiving, including submission to

NIJ (through NACJD) of all files and documentation necessary to allow for 

future efforts by others to reproduce the project’s findings and/or to extend the 

scientific value of the data set through secondary analysis. Pertinent files and 

documentation include, among other things, qualitative and quantitative data 

produced, instrumentation and data collection forms, codebook(s), any 

specialized programming code necessary to reproduce all constructed measures 

and the original data analysis, description of necessary de-identification 

procedures, and (when required) a copy of the privacy certificate and informed 

consent protocols. 

The plan should be one or two pages in length and include the level of effort 

associated with meeting archiving requirements. 

Note that required data sets are to be submitted on or before the end of the 

period of performance. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

 Letters of cooperation/support or administrative agreements from organizations 

collaborating in the project, such as law enforcement and correctional agencies 

(if applicable). 

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 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 

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. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

c. Cofunding 

An award made by NIJ under this solicitation may account for up to 100 percent of the 

total cost of the project. The application should indicate whether it is feasible for the 

applicant to contribute cash, facilities, or services as non-federal support for the project. 

The application should identify generally any such contributions that the applicant 

expects to make and the proposed budget should indicate in detail which items, if any, 

will be supported with non-federal contributions. 

For additional match information, see the Cost Sharing or Match Requirement section 

under Section B. Federal Award Information. 

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. 

d. Information on Proposed Subawards (if any) and 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. The rules also determine much of what an OJP recipient must do both before 

and after it makes a subaward. If a recipient enters into an agreement that is a 

procurement contract under an OJP award, a substantially different set of federal rules 

applies. 

OJP has developed the following guidance documents to help clarify the differences 

between subawards and procurement contracts under an OJP award and outline the 

compliance and reporting requirements for each. This information can be accessed 

online at https://ojp.gov/training/training.htm. 

 Subawards under OJP Awards and Procurement Contracts under Awards: A 

Toolkit for OJP Recipients. 

 Checklist to Determine Subrecipient or Contractor Classification. 

 Sole Source Justification Fact Sheet and Sole Source Review Checklist. 

In general, the central question is the relationship between what the third-party will do 

under its agreement with the recipient and what the recipient has committed (to OJP) to 

do under its award to further a public purpose (e.g., services the recipient will provide, 

products it will develop or modify, research or evaluation it will conduct). If a third party 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

will provide some of the services the recipient has committed (to OJP) to provide, will 

develop or modify all or part of a product the recipient has committed (to OJP) to 

develop or modify, or will conduct part of the research or evaluation the recipient has 

committed (to OJP) to conduct, OJP will consider the agreement with the third party a 

subaward for purposes of federal grants administrative requirements. 

This will be true even if the recipient, for internal or other non-federal purposes, labels or 

treats its agreement as a procurement, a contract, or a procurement contract. Neither 

the title nor the structure of an agreement determines whether the agreement -- for 

purposes of federal grants administrative requirements -- is a subaward or is instead a 

procurement contract under an award. The substance of the relationship should be given 

greater consideration than the form of agreement between the recipient and the outside 

entity. 

1. Information on proposed subawards 

A recipient of an OJP award may not make subawards ("subgrants") unless the 

recipient has specific federal authorization to do so. Unless an applicable statute or 

DOJ regulation specifically authorizes (or requires) subawards, a recipient must have 

authorization from OJP before it may make a subaward. 

A particular subaward may be authorized by OJP because the recipient included a 

sufficiently-detailed description and justification of the proposed subaward in the 

Program Narrative, Budget Detail Worksheet, and Budget Narrative as approved by 

OJP. If, however, a particular subaward is not authorized by federal statute or 

regulation, and is not approved by OJP, the recipient will be required, post-award, to 

request and obtain written authorization from OJP before it may make the subaward. 

If an applicant proposes to make one or more subawards to carry out the federal 

award and program, the applicant should-- (1) identify (if known) the proposed 

subrecipient(s), (2) describe in detail what each subrecipient will do to carry out the 

federal award and federal program, and (3) provide a justification for the 

subaward(s), with details on pertinent matters such as special qualifications and 

areas of expertise. Pertinent information on subawards should appear not only in the 

Program Narrative, but also in the Budget Detail Worksheet and Budget Narrative. 

2. Information on proposed procurement contracts (with specific justification for 

proposed noncompetitive contracts over $250,0008

) 

Unlike a recipient contemplating a subaward, a recipient of an OJP award generally 

does not need specific prior federal authorization to enter into an agreement that —

for purposes of federal grants administrative requirements — is considered a 

procurement contract, provided that (1) the recipient uses its own documented 

procurement procedures and (2) those procedures conform to applicable federal law, 

including the Procurement Standards of the (DOJ) Part 200 Uniform Requirements 

(as set out at 2 C.F.R. 200.317 - 200.326). The Budget Detail Worksheet and Budget 

 

8

 Consistent with the provisions of Office of Management and Budget memorandum, OMB M-18-18, dated June 20, 

2018, and entitled, “Implementing Statutory Changes to the Micro-Purchase and the Simplified Acquisition 

Thresholds for Financial Assistance,” DOJ will allow recipients (and any subrecipients) of awards made under this 

solicitation to use a simplified acquisition threshold of $250,000 and a micro-purchase threshold of $10,000, for 

federal grants administrative purposes. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

Narrative should identify proposed procurement contracts. (As discussed above, 

subawards must be identified and described separately from procurement contracts.) 

The Procurement Standards in the Part 200 Uniform Requirements, however, reflect 

a general expectation that agreements that (for purposes of federal grants 

administrative requirements) constitute procurement “contracts” under awards will be 

entered into on the basis of full and open competition. All noncompetitive (sole 

source) procurement contracts must meet the OJP requirements outlined at 

https://ojp.gov/training/subawards-procurement.htm. If a proposed procurement 

contract would exceed the Simplified Acquisition Threshold — currently, $250,000 —

a recipient of an OJP award may not proceed without competition unless and until 

the recipient receives specific advance authorization from OJP to use a noncompetitive approach for the procurement. An applicant that (at the time of its 

application) intends – without competition – to enter into a procurement contract that 

would exceed $250,000 should include a detailed justification that explains to OJP 

why, in the particular circumstances, it is appropriate to proceed without competition. 

If the applicant receives an award, sole source procurements that do not exceed the 

Simplified Acquisition Threshold (currently $250,000) must have written justification 

for the noncompetitive procurement action maintained in the procurement file. If a 

procurement file does not have the documentation that meets the criteria outlined in 

2 C.F.R. 200, the procurement expenditures may not be allowable. Sole source 

procurement over the $250,000 Simplified Acquisition Threshold must have prior 

approval from OJP using a Sole Source Grant Adjustment Notice (GAN). Written 

documentation justifying the noncompetitive procurement must be submitted with the 

GAN and maintained in the procurement file. 

e. Pre-Agreement Costs

For information on preagreement costs, see Section B. Federal Award Information. 

5. Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (if applicable) 

Indirect costs may be charged to an award only if: 

(a) The recipient has a current (unexpired), federally approved indirect cost rate; or

(b) The recipient is eligible to use, and elects to use, the “de minimis” indirect cost rate

described in the Part 200 Uniform Requirements, as set out at 2 C.F.R. 200.414(f). 

An applicant with a current (unexpired) federally-approved indirect cost rate is to attach a 

copy of the indirect cost rate agreement to the application. An applicant that does not have a 

current federally-approved rate may request one through its cognizant federal agency, which 

will review all documentation and approve a rate for the applicant entity, or, if the applicant’s 

accounting system permits, applicants may propose to allocate costs in the direct cost 

categories. 

For assistance with identifying the appropriate cognizant federal agency for indirect costs, 

please contact the Office of the Chief Financial Officer Customer Service Center at 1-800-

458-0786 or at ask.ocfo@usdoj.gov. If DOJ is the cognizant federal agency, an applicant 
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NIJ-2019-15203

may obtain information needed to submit an indirect cost rate proposal at 

https://www.ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Resources/IndirectCosts.pdf.

Certain OJP recipients have the option of electing to use the “de minimis” indirect cost rate. 

An applicant that is eligible to use the “de minimis” rate that wishes to use the "de minimis" 

rate should attach written documentation to the application that advises OJP of both-- (1) the 

applicant’s eligibility to use the “de minimis” rate, and (2) its election to do so. If an eligible 

applicant elects the “de minimis” rate, costs must be consistently charged as either indirect 

or direct costs, but may not be double charged or inconsistently charged as both. The "de 

minimis" rate may no longer be used once an approved federally-negotiated indirect cost 

rate is in place. (No entity that ever has had a federally-approved negotiated indirect cost 

rate is eligible to use the "de minimis" rate.) For the “de minimis” rate requirements 

(including information on eligibility to elect to use the rate), see the Part 200 Uniform 

Requirements, at 2 C.F.R. 200.414(f).

6. Tribal Authorizing Resolution (if applicable)

A tribe, tribal organization, or third party that proposes to provide direct services or 

assistance to residents on tribal lands must include in its application a resolution, letter, 

affidavit, or other documentation, as appropriate, that demonstrates (as a legal matter) that 

the applicant has the requisite authorization from the tribe(s) to implement the proposed 

project on tribal lands. In those instances when an organization or consortium of tribes 

applies for an award on behalf of a tribe or multiple specific tribes, the application must 

include appropriate legal documentation, as described above, from all tribes that would

receive services or assistance under the award. A consortium of tribes for which existing 

consortium bylaws allow action without support from all tribes in the consortium (i.e., without 

an authorizing resolution or comparable legal documentation from each tribal governing 

body) may submit, instead, a copy of its consortium bylaws with the application.

7. Financial Management and System of Internal Controls Questionnaire (including 

applicant disclosure of high-risk status)

Every OJP applicant (other than an individual applying in his or her personal capacity) is 

required to download, complete, and submit the OJP Financial Management and System of 

Internal Controls Questionnaire (Questionnaire) at 

https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Resources/FinancialCapability.pdf as part of its application. 

The Questionnaire helps OJP assess the financial management and internal control 

systems, and the associated potential risks of an applicant as part of the pre-award risk 

assessment process.

The Questionnaire should only be completed by financial staff most familiar with the 

applicant's systems, policies, and procedures in order to ensure that the correct responses 

are recorded and submitted to OJP. The responses on the Questionnaire directly impact the 

pre-award risk assessment and should accurately reflect the applicant’s financial 

management and internal control system at the time of the application. The pre-award risk 

assessment is only one of multiple factors and criteria used in determining funding.

However, a pre-award risk assessment that indicates that an applicant poses a higher risk to 

OJP may affect the funding decision and/or result in additional reporting requirements, 

monitoring, special conditions, withholding of award funds, or other additional award 

requirements.
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NIJ-2019-15203

Among other things, the form requires each applicant to disclose whether it currently is 

designated “high risk” by a federal grant-making agency outside of DOJ. For purposes of 

this disclosure, high risk includes any status under which a federal awarding agency 

provides additional oversight due to the applicant’s past performance, or other programmatic 

or financial concerns with the applicant. If an applicant is designated high risk by another 

federal awarding agency, the applicant must provide the following information:

 The federal awarding agency that currently designates the applicant high risk.

 The date the applicant was designated high risk.

 The high-risk point of contact at that federal awarding agency (name, phone number, 

and email address).

 The reasons for the high-risk status, as set out by the federal awarding agency.

OJP seeks this information to help ensure appropriate federal oversight of OJP awards. An 

applicant that is considered “high-risk” by another federal awarding agency is not 

automatically disqualified from receiving an OJP award. OJP may, however, consider the 

information in award decisions, and may impose additional OJP oversight of any award 

under this solicitation (including through the conditions that accompany the award 

document).

8. Disclosure of Lobbying Activities

Each applicant must complete and submit this information. An applicant that expends any 

funds for lobbying activities is to provide all of the information requested on the form 

Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL) posted at

https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Resources/Disclosure.pdf. An applicant that does not expend 

any funds for lobbying activities is to enter “N/A” in the text boxes for item 10 (“a. Name and 

Address of Lobbying Registrant” and “b. Individuals Performing Services”).

9. Additional Attachments

a. Applicant disclosure of pending applications9

Each applicant is to disclose whether it has (or is proposed as a subrecipient under) any 

pending applications for federally-funded grants or cooperative agreements that (1)

include requests for funding to support the same project being proposed in the 

application under this solicitation, and (2) would cover the identical cost items outlined in 

the budget submitted to OJP under this solicitation. The applicant is to disclose both 

applications made directly to federal awarding agencies, and also applications for 

subawards of federal funds (e.g., applications to State agencies that will subaward 

(“subgrant”) federal funds).

OJP seeks this information to help avoid inappropriate duplication of funding. Leveraging 

multiple funding sources in a complementary manner to implement comprehensive 

programs or projects is encouraged and is not seen as inappropriate duplication.

 

9 Typically, the applicant is not the principal investigator. Rather, the applicant, most frequently, is the institution, 

organization, or company in which the principal investigator is employed.
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NIJ-2019-15203 

Each applicant that has one or more pending applications as described above is to 

provide the following information about pending applications submitted within the last 12 

months: 

 The federal or State funding agency. 

 The solicitation name/project name. 

 The point of contact information at the applicable federal or State funding 

agency. 

SAMPLE

Federal or State 

Funding Agency 

Solicitation 

Name/Project 

Name

Name/Phone/E-mail for Point of Contact 

at Federal or State Funding Agency

DOJ/Office of 

Community Oriented 

Policing Services 

(COPS Office)

COPS Hiring 

Program

Jane Doe, 202/000-0000; 

jane.doe@usdoj.gov

Health and Human 

Services/ Substance 

Abuse and Mental 

Health Services 

Administration

Drug-Free 

Communities 

Mentoring 

Program/North 

County Youth 

Mentoring 

Program

John Doe, 202/000-0000; john.doe@hhs.gov

Each applicant should include the table as a separate attachment to its application. The 

file should be named “Disclosure of Pending Applications.” The applicant’s Legal Name 

on the application must match the entity named on the disclosure of pending 

applications statement. 

Any applicant that does not have any pending applications as described above is to

submit, as a separate attachment, a statement to this effect: “[Applicant Name on SF424] does not have (and is not proposed as a subrecipient under) any pending 

applications submitted within the last 12 months for federally-funded grants or 

cooperative agreements or for subawards under federal grants or cooperative 

agreements) that request funding to support the same project being proposed in this 

application to OJP and that would cover the identical cost items outlined in the budget 

submitted as part of this application.”
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NIJ-2019-15203 

b. Applicant Disclosure and Justification – DOJ High Risk Grantees10 (if applicable) 

An applicant that is designated as a DOJ High Risk Grantee is to submit, as a separate 

attachment to its application, information that OJP will use, among other pertinent 

information, to determine whether it will consider or select the application for an award 

under this solicitation. The file should be named “DOJ High Risk Grantee Applicant 

Disclosure and Justification.” (See, also, “Review Process,” below, under Section E. 

Application Review Information, for a brief discussion of how such information may 

considered in the application review process.) 

OJP constantly seeks to optimize its investments in criminal- and juvenile justicefocused programs and activities, increase program effectiveness, and maximize the 

return – and program impact – from limited programmatic resources. Therefore, OJP 

may remove from consideration or not select for award a “DOJ High Risk Grantee” 

applicant that is determined to pose a substantial risk of program implementation failure. 

In making such determinations, OJP will consider one or more of the following factors: 

the applicant’s lack of sufficient progress in addressing required corrective actions 

necessary for removal of the DOJ High Risk Grantee designation; the nature and 

severity of the issues leading to or accompanying the applicant’s DOJ High Risk Grantee 

designation; or the applicant’s expected ability to manage grant funds and achieve grant 

goals and objectives. 

In this attachment, the applicant is to provide any additional information or justification –

especially with regard to corrective actions yet to be implemented (as of the application 

date) – that may help demonstrate how the applicant has addressed or otherwise 

mitigated such uncorrected matters, such that any negative impact on the proposed 

program and its implementation would be immaterial or would be significantly reduced or 

eliminated. (To the extent that the applicant believes that any of the information provided 

pursuant to this disclosure may be confidential in nature, the applicant should specifically 

identify it.) 

c. Research and Evaluation Independence and Integrity 

When an application proposes research (including research and development) and/or 

evaluation, the applicant must demonstrate research/evaluation independence and 

integrity, including appropriate safeguards, before it may receive award funds. The 

applicant must demonstrate independence and integrity regarding both this proposed 

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

Each application should include an attachment that addresses both i. and ii. below. 

i. For purposes of this solicitation, each applicant is to document research and 

evaluation independence and integrity by including one of the following two items: 

a. A specific assurance that the applicant has reviewed its application to identify 

any actual or potential apparent conflicts of interest (including through review of 

pertinent information on the principal investigator, any co-principal investigators, 

 

10 A “DOJ High Risk Grantee” is a recipient that has received a DOJ High-Risk designation based on a documented 

history of unsatisfactory performance, financial instability, management system or other internal control deficiencies, 

or noncompliance with award terms and conditions on prior awards, or that is otherwise not responsible. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

and any subrecipients), and that the applicant has identified no such conflicts of 

interest – whether personal or financial or organizational (including on the part of 

the applicant entity or on the part of staff, investigators, or subrecipients) – 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 

applicant has identified – including through review of pertinent information on the 

principal investigator, any co-principal investigators, and any subrecipients – 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 investigators or other staff), financial, or organizational (related to the 

applicant or any subrecipient entity). Some examples of potential investigator (or 

other personal) conflict situations are those in which an investigator would be in a 

position to evaluate a spouse’s work product (actual conflict), or an investigator 

would be in a position 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 

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 that objectivity and reliability of an evaluation or research product is a problem 

and must be disclosed. 

ii. In addition, for purposes of this solicitation, each applicant is to address possible 

mitigation of research integrity concerns by including, at a minimum, one of the 

following two items: 

a. If an applicant reasonably believes that no actual or potential apparent conflicts 

of interest (personal, financial, or organizational) exist, then the applicant should 

provide a brief narrative explanation of how and why it reached that conclusion. 

The applicant also is to include an explanation of the specific processes and 

procedures that the applicant 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. Documentation that may be 

helpful in this regard may include organizational codes of ethics/conduct and 

policies regarding organizational, personal, and financial conflicts of interest. 

There is no guarantee that the plan, if any, will be accepted as proposed. 

OR

b. If the applicant 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 the 

research, the applicant is to provide a specific and robust mitigation plan to 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

address each of those conflicts. At a minimum, the applicant is expected to 

explain the specific processes and procedures that the applicant has in place, or 

will put in place, to identify and eliminate (or, at the very least, mitigate) any such 

conflicts of interest pertinent to the funded project during the period of 

performance. Documentation that may be helpful in this regard may include 

organizational codes of ethics/conduct and policies regarding organizational, 

personal, and financial conflicts of interest. There is no guarantee that the plan, if 

any, will be accepted as proposed. 

OJP will assess research and evaluation independence and integrity based on 

considerations such as the adequacy of the applicant’s efforts to identify factors that 

could affect the objectivity or integrity of the proposed staff and/or the applicant entity 

(and any subrecipients) in carrying out the research, development, or evaluation 

activity; and the adequacy of the applicant’s existing or proposed remedies to control 

any such factors. 

How to Apply 

Applicants must register in and submit applications through Grants.gov, a primary source to find 

federal funding opportunities and apply for funding. Find complete instructions on how to 

register and submit an application at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html. 

Applicants that experience technical difficulties during this process should call the Grants.gov 

Customer Support Hotline at 800-518-4726 or 606–545–5035, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 

days a week, except on federal holidays. 

Registering with Grants.gov is a one-time process; however, processing delays may occur, 

and it can take several weeks for first-time registrants to receive confirmation of registration 

and a user password. OJP encourages applicants to register several weeks before the 

application submission deadline. In addition, OJP urges applicants to submit applications at 

least 72 hours prior to the application due date, in order 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 strongly encourages all prospective applicants to sign up for Grants.gov email notifications 

regarding this solicitation at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/manage-subscriptions.html. If 

this solicitation is cancelled or modified, individuals who sign up with Grants.gov for updates will 

be automatically notified. 

Browser Information: Grants.gov was built to be compatible with Internet Explorer. For 

technical assistance with Google Chrome, or another browser, contact Grants.gov Customer 

Support. 

Note on Attachments. Grants.gov has two categories of files for attachments: “mandatory” and 

“optional.” OJP receives all files attached in both categories. Attachments are also labeled to 

describe the file being attached (e.g., Project Narrative, Budget Narrative, Other). Please ensure 

that all required documents are attached in the correct Grants.gov category and are labeled 

correctly. Do not embed “mandatory” attachments within another file. 

An applicant must use the Add Attachment button to attach a file to its application. Do not click 

the paperclip icon to attach files. This action will not attach the files to the application. After 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

adding an attachment, select the View Attachment button to confirm you attached the correct 

file. To remove the file, select the Delete Attachment button. 

An application can be checked for errors via the Check Application button on the Forms tab of 

the Manage Workspace page. The button is active if the set of forms in the workspace matches 

those required in the application package. If you receive a Cross-Form Errors message after 

clicking the Check Application button, refer to the Cross-Form Errors help article for more 

detailed information about this validation error.

Note on File Names and File Types: Grants.gov only permits the use of certain specific 

characters in file names of attachments. Valid file names may include only the characters shown 

in the table below. Grants.gov rejects any application that includes an attachment(s) with a file 

name that contains any characters not shown in the table below. Grants.gov forwards 

successfully-submitted applications to the OJP Grants Management System (GMS). 

Characters

Upper case (A – Z)

Lower case (a – z)

Underscore (__)

Hyphen ( - )

Space

Period (.)

Special Characters Special Characters Special Characters

Parenthesis ( ) Curly braces { } Square brackets [ ]

Ampersand (&)* Tilde (~) Exclamation point (!)

Comma ( , ) Semicolon ( ; ) Apostrophe ( ‘ )

At sign (@) Number sign (#) Dollar sign ($)

Percent sign (%) Plus sign (+) Equal sign (=)

*When using the ampersand (&) in XML, applicants must use the “&” format.

GMS does not accept executable file types as application attachments. These disallowed 

file types include, but are not limited to, the following extensions: “.com,” “.bat,” “.exe,” “.vbs,” 

“.cfg,” “.dat,” “.db,” “.dbf,” “.dll,” “.ini,” “.log,” “.ora,” “.sys,” and “.zip.” GMS may reject applications 

with files that use these extensions. It is important to allow time to change the type of file(s) if 

the application is rejected. 

All applicants are required to complete the following steps: 

Unique Entity Identifier (DUNS Number) and System for Award Management (SAM)

Every applicant entity must comply with all applicable SAM and unique entity identifier 

(currently, a DUNS number) requirements. SAM is the repository for certain standard 

information about federal financial assistance applicants, recipients, and subrecipients. A DUNS 

number is a unique nine-digit identification number provided by the commercial company Dun 

and Bradstreet. More detailed information about SAM and the DUNS number is in the numbered 

sections below. 

If an applicant entity has not fully complied with the applicable SAM and unique identifier 

requirements by the time OJP makes award decisions, OJP may determine that the applicant is 

not qualified to receive an award and may use that determination as a basis for making the 

award to a different applicant. 

Applying as an Individual 

An individual who wishes to apply in his/her personal capacity should search Grants.gov for 

funding opportunities for which individuals are eligible to apply. Use the Funding Opportunity 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

Number (FON) to register. (An applicant applying as an individual must comply with all 

applicable Grants.gov individual registration requirements.) 

Enter the FON at https://apply07.grants.gov/apply/IndCPRegister to complete the registration 

form and create a username and password for Grants.gov. (An applicant applying as an 

individual should complete all steps except 1, 2, and 4.) 

Registration and Submission Steps 

1. Acquire a unique entity identifier (currently, a DUNS number). The Office of 

Management and Budget requires every applicant for a federal award (other than an 

individual) to include a "unique entity identifier" in each application, including an application 

for a supplemental award. Currently, a DUNS number is the required unique entity identifier. 

This unique entity identifier is used for tracking purposes, and to validate address and point 

of contact information for applicants, recipients, and subrecipients. It will be used throughout 

the life cycle of an OJP award. Obtaining a DUNS number is a free, one-time activity. Call 

Dun and Bradstreet at 866–705–5711 to obtain a DUNS number or apply online at 

www.dnb.com. A DUNS number is usually received within 2 business days. 

2. Acquire or maintain registration with SAM. Any applicant for an OJP award creating a 

new entity registration (or updating or renewing a registration) in SAM.gov must submit an 

original, signed notarized letter appointing the authorized Entity Administrator within thirty 

(30) days of the registration activation. Notarized letters must be submitted via U.S. 

Postal Service Mail. Read the Alert at sam.gov/SAM/ to learn more about what is required 

in the notarized letter, and read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) at 

www.gsa.gov/samupdate to learn more about this process change. All applicants for OJP 

awards (other than individuals) must maintain current registrations in the SAM database. 

Applicants will need the authorizing official of the organization and an Employer 

Identification Number (EIN). Information about SAM registration procedures can be 

accessed at sam.gov/SAM/. 

An application cannot be successfully submitted in Grants.gov until Grants.gov receives the 

SAM registration information. Once the SAM registration/renewal is complete, the 

information transfer from SAM to Grants.gov can take as long as 48 hours. OJP 

recommends that the applicant register or renew registration with SAM as early as possible.

3. Acquire an Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) and a Grants.gov 

username and password. Complete the AOR profile on Grants.gov and create a username 

and password. An applicant entity’s "unique entity identifier" (DUNS number) must be used 

to complete this step. For more information about the registration process for organizations 

and other entities, go to https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/organizationregistration.html. Individuals registering with Grants.gov should go to 

https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/registration.html. 

4. Acquire confirmation for the AOR from the E-Business Point of Contact (E-Biz POC). 

The E-Biz POC at the applicant organization must log into Grants.gov to “confirm” the 

applicant organization’s AOR. The E-Biz POC will need the Marketing Partner Identification 

Number (MPIN) password obtained when registering with SAM to complete this step. Note 

that an organization can have more than one AOR.
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5. Search for the funding opportunity on Grants.gov. Use the following identifying 

information when searching for the funding opportunity on Grants.gov. The Catalog of 

Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number for this solicitation is 16.560; National Institute 

of Justice Research, Evaluation, and Development Project Grants and the funding 

opportunity number is NIJ-2019-15203.

6. Access Funding Opportunity and Application Package from Grants.gov. Select “Apply 

for Grants” under the “Applicants” column. Enter your email address to be notified of any 

changes to the opportunity package before the closing date. Click the Workspace icon to 

use Grants.gov Workspace.

7. Submit a valid application consistent with this solicitation by following the directions 

in Grants.gov. To preview the application prior to (or after) submitting, go to the View 

Application tab in Workspace. For additional information, review the View Application Tab

help article and Attachments Tab help article. Within 24-48 hours after submitting the 

electronic application, the applicant should receive two notifications from Grants.gov. The 

first will confirm the receipt of the application. The second will state whether the application 

has been validated and successfully submitted, or whether it has been rejected due to 

errors, with an explanation. It is possible to first receive a message indicating that the 

application is received, and then receive a rejection notice a few minutes or hours later. 

Submitting an application well ahead of the deadline provides time to correct the problem(s) 

that caused the rejection. Important: OJP urges each applicant to submit its application at 

least 72 hours prior to the application due date, to allow time 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. Applications must be successfully 

submitted through Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. eastern time on May 13, 2019.

Go to https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/applicants/organization-registration.html for further 

details on DUNS numbers, SAM, and Grants.gov registration steps and timeframes. 

Note: Application Versions 

If an applicant submits multiple versions of the same application, OJP will review only the most 

recent system-validated version submitted. 

Experiencing Unforeseen Grants.gov Technical Issues 

An applicant that experiences unforeseen Grants.gov technical issues beyond its control that 

prevent it from submitting its application by the deadline must contact the Grants.gov Customer 

Support Hotline at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html or the SAM Help Desk

(Federal Service Desk) at https://www.fsd.gov/fsd-gov/home.do to report the technical issue and 

receive a tracking number. The applicant must e-mail the NIJ contact identified in the Contact 

Information section on the title page within 24 hours after the application deadline to request 

approval to submit its application after the deadline. The applicant’s e-mail must describe the 

technical difficulties, and must include a timeline of the applicant’s submission efforts, the 

complete grant application, the applicant’s DUNS number, and any Grants.gov Help Desk or 

SAM tracking number(s). 

Note: OJP does not automatically approve requests to submit a late application. After 

OJP reviews the applicant’s request, and contacts the Grants.gov or SAM Help Desks to verify 

the reported technical issues, OJP will inform the applicant whether the request to submit a late 
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application has been approved or denied. If OJP determines that the untimely application 

submission was due to the applicant’s failure to follow all required procedures, OJP will deny the 

applicant’s request to submit its application. 

The following conditions generally are insufficient to justify late submissions: 

 Failure to register in SAM or Grants.gov in sufficient time (SAM registration and renewal 

can take as long as 10 business days to complete. The information transfer from SAM to 

Grants.gov can take up to 48 hours.) 

 Failure to follow Grants.gov instructions on how to register and apply as posted on its 

website. 

 Failure to follow each instruction in the OJP solicitation. 

 Technical issues with the applicant’s computer or information technology environment, 

such as issues with firewalls or browser incompatibility. 

Notifications regarding known technical problems with Grants.gov, if any, are posted at 

the top of the OJP Funding Resource Center at https://ojp.gov/funding/index.htm. 

E. Application Review Information 

Review Criteria 

Applications that meet basic minimum requirements will be evaluated by peer reviewers using 

the following review criteria. Each individual criterion is assigned a different weight based on the 

percentage value listed. For example, the first criterion, “Background” is worth 25 percent of the 

score in the assessment of an application’s technical merit.

Background – 25% 

1. Demonstrated an understanding of the complex justice system issues involving 

American Indian and Alaska Native communities. 

2. Demonstrated an understanding of the appropriate role of federal, tribal, state, and local 

agencies in addressing crime and victimization. 

3. Demonstrated an understanding of the principles behind tribally-driven research that 

results in tangible and mutually beneficial studies. 

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

alignment with the aims of the solicitation. 

5. Demonstrated awareness of the state of current research. 

Work Plan – 30%

1. Feasibility of proposed partnership, project, and timeline. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

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

aim(s) of the proposed project. 

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

actions to minimize and/or mitigate them. 

4. Achievability of proposed deliverables and dissemination plan. 

Approach – 20%

 Feasibility of proposed approach toward the partnership, project, capacity building, 

communication, and dissemination. 

 Potential for significantly improved understanding of the stated criminal/juvenile justice 

problem. 

 Potential for innovative solution to address (all or a significant part of) the stated 

criminal/juvenile justice problem. 

Organizational Capacity of Applicant (Capabilities, demonstrated productivity, and 

experience of the applicant organization and proposed project staff) – 25% 

1. Qualifications and experience of proposed project staff; that is, the principal 

investigator, any and all co-principal investigators, and all other individuals (and 

organizations) identified in the application (regardless of “investigator” status) who will 

be significantly involved in substantive aspects of the proposed project. 

2. Demonstrated ability of the applicant organization to implement the proposed strategies 

and manage the effort. 

3. Relationship between the capabilities/competencies of the proposed project staff 

(including the applicant organization) and the scope and strategies of the proposed 

project. 

Budget 

In addition, peer reviewers will consider and may comment on the following additional items in 

the context of scientific and technical merit. 

1. Total cost of the project relative to the perceived benefit (cost-effectiveness). 

2. Appropriateness of the budget relative to the level-of-effort. 

3. Use of existing resources to conserve costs. 

4. Alignment of the proposed budget with proposed project activities. 

5. Proposed plan (if any) to produce or to make available to broader interested audiences, 

such as criminal/juvenile justice practitioners or policymakers, summary information 

from the planned scholarly products of the project. 
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Plan for Dissemination to Broader Audiences (if applicable to the proposed project) 

Peer reviewers may comment—in the context of scientific and technical merit—on the proposed 

plan (if any) to produce or to make available to tribal stakeholders and/or broader interested 

audiences, such as criminal/juvenile justice practitioners or policymakers, summary information 

from the planned scholarly products of the project. 

Review Process 

OJP is committed to ensuring a fair and open process for making awards. NIJ reviews the 

application to make sure that the information presented is reasonable, understandable, 

measurable, and achievable, as well as consistent with the solicitation. 

Peer reviewers will review the applications submitted under this solicitation that meet basic 

minimum requirements. For purposes of assessing whether an application meets basic 

minimum requirements and should proceed to further consideration, OJP screens applications 

for compliance with those requirements. Although specific requirements may vary, the following 

are common requirements applicable to all solicitations for funding under OJP programs: 

 The application must be submitted by an eligible type of applicant. 

 The application must request funding within programmatic funding constraints (if 

applicable). 

 The application must be responsive to the scope of the solicitation. 

 The application must include all items designated as “critical elements.”

 The application, if submitted by an applicant that is a DOJ High Risk Grantee,11 or is 

designated “high risk” by a federal grant-making agency outside of DOJ, must not have 

been determined by the Director/Administrator to pose a substantial risk of program 

implementation failure, based on 1) the applicant’s lack of sufficient progress in 

addressing required corrective actions necessary for removal of the DOJ High Risk 

Grantee (or non-DOJ high risk) designation, 2) the nature and severity of the issues 

leading to or accompanying the DOJ High Risk Grantee (or non-DOJ high risk) 

designation, and/or 3) the applicant’s expected ability to manage grant funds and 

achieve grant goals and objectives. 

For a list of the critical elements for this solicitation, see “What an Application Should Include” 

under Section D. Application and Submission Information. 

Peer review panels will evaluate, score, and rate applications that meet basic minimum 

requirements. NIJ may use internal peer reviewers, external peer reviewers, or a combination, 

to assess applications on technical merit using the solicitation’s review criteria. An internal 

reviewer is a current DOJ employee who is well-versed or has expertise in the subject matter of 

this solicitation. An external peer reviewer is an expert in the subject matter of a given 

solicitation who is not a current DOJ employee. Peer reviewers’ ratings and any resulting 

 

11 See “Applicant Disclosure and Justification – DOJ High Risk Grantees” under “What an Application Should 

Include,” above, for a definition of “DOJ High Risk Grantee.”
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recommendations are advisory only, although reviewer views are considered carefully. Other 

important considerations for NIJ include geographic diversity, strategic priorities, and available 

funding, as well as the planned scholarly products and the extent to which the Budget Detail 

Worksheet and Budget Narrative accurately explain project costs that are reasonable, 

necessary, and otherwise allowable under federal law and applicable federal cost principles. 

Pursuant to the Part 200 Uniform Requirements, before award decisions are made, OJP also 

reviews information related to the degree of risk posed by applicants. Among other things to 

help assess whether an applicant that has one or more prior federal awards has a satisfactory 

record with respect to performance, integrity, and business ethics, OJP checks whether the 

applicant is listed in SAM as excluded from receiving a federal award. 

The evaluation of risks goes beyond information in SAM, however. OJP itself has in place a 

framework for evaluating risks posed by applicants for competitive awards. OJP takes into 

account information pertinent to matters such as —

1. Applicant financial stability and fiscal integrity. 

2. Quality of the applicant’s management systems, and applicant’s ability to meet 

prescribed management standards, including those outlined in the DOJ Grants Financial 

Guide. 

3. Applicant’s history of performance under OJP and other DOJ awards (including scholarly 

products, and compliance with reporting requirements and award conditions), as well as 

awards from other federal agencies. 

4. Reports and findings from audits of the applicant, including audits under the Part 200 

Uniform Requirements. 

5. Applicant's ability to comply with statutory and regulatory requirements, and to effectively 

implement other award requirements. 

Note on applicants with a “high risk” designation: Risks associated with DOJ High Risk 

Grantees, or applicants designated as “high risk” by a federal grant-making agency outside of 

DOJ, are taken into account during the review process, and each applicant with such “high risk” 

designations will be considered for funding on a case-by-case basis, depending on the nature 

and severity of the issues that led to the DOJ High Risk Grantee (or non-DOJ high risk) 

designation, status of progress in addressing corrective actions, and expected ability to manage 

grant funds and achieve grant goals and objectives. A “high risk” designated applicant is to 

submit disclosure and justification documentation consistent with the requirements specified, 

above, under “What an Application Should Include” in Section D. Application and Submission 

Information. 

All final award decisions will be made by the Director of the National Institute of Justice, who 

may take into account not only peer review ratings and NIJ recommendations, but also other 

factors as indicated in this section. 
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F. Federal Award Administration Information 

Federal Award Notices 

Award notifications will be made by September 30, 2019. OJP sends award notifications by 

email through GMS to the individuals listed in the application as the point of contact and the 

authorizing official (E-Biz POC and AOR). The email notification includes detailed instructions 

on how to access and view the award documents, and steps to take in GMS to start the award 

acceptance process. GMS automatically issues the notifications at 9:00 p.m. eastern time on 

the award date. 

For each successful applicant, an individual with the necessary authority to bind the applicant 

will be required to login; execute a set of legal certifications and a set of legal assurances; 

designate a financial point of contact; thoroughly review the award, including all award 

conditions; and sign and accept the award. The award acceptance process requires a physical 

signature on the award document by the authorized representative. The fully-executed award 

document must then be scanned and submitted to OJP. 

Administrative, National Policy, and Other Legal Requirements 

If selected for funding, in addition to implementing the funded project consistent with the OJPapproved application, the recipient must comply with all award conditions, as well as all 

applicable requirements of federal statutes and regulations (including applicable requirements 

referred to in the assurances and certifications executed in connection with award acceptance). 

OJP strongly encourages prospective applicants to review information on post-award legal 

requirements and common OJP award conditions prior to submitting an application. 

Applicants should consult the “Overview of Legal Requirements Generally Applicable to OJP 

Grants and Cooperative Agreements – FY 2018 Awards,” available in the OJP Funding 

Resource Center at https://ojp.gov/funding/index.htm. In addition, applicants should examine the 

following two legal documents, as each successful applicant must execute both documents 

before it may receive any award funds. (An applicant is not required to submit these documents 

as part of an application.) 

 Certifications Regarding Lobbying; Debarment, Suspension and Other Responsibility 

Matters; and Drug-Free Workplace Requirements. 

 Certified Standard Assurances. 

The webpages accessible through the “Overview of Legal Requirements Generally Applicable to 

OJP Grants and Cooperative Agreements – FY 2018 Awards” are intended to give applicants 

for OJP awards a general overview of important statutes, regulations, and award conditions that 

apply to many (or in some cases, all) OJP grants and cooperative agreements awarded in FY 

2019. Individual OJP awards typically also will include additional award conditions. Those 

additional conditions may relate to the particular statute, program, or solicitation under which the 

award is made; to the substance of the funded application; to the recipient's performance under 

other federal awards; to the recipient's legal status (e.g., as a for-profit entity); or to other 

pertinent considerations. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

Awards under this solicitation will include a condition (the specific terms of which will govern the 

award) related to verification of employment eligibility. The condition will, generally speaking, 

require the recipient (and any subrecipient) that accepts the award to verify the employment 

eligibility of any individual hired under the award, consonant with 8 U.S.C. § 1324a(a)(1). 

Awards under this solicitation will include a condition (the specific terms of which will govern the 

award) related to competition requirements set forth at 2 C.F.R. § 200.319. The condition will, 

generally speaking, prohibit recipients (and any subrecipients) from procuring goods and 

services with award funds by means of any competition that disadvantages or excludes vendors 

on the basis of their having (or their having had) a prior or existing contractual relationship with 

the federal government. 

General Information about Post-Federal Award Reporting Requirements 

In addition to the deliverables and expected scholarly products described in Section A. Program 

Description, any recipient of an award under this solicitation will be required to submit the 

following reports and data. 

Required reports. Recipients typically must submit quarterly financial reports, semi-annual 

progress reports, final financial and progress reports, and, if applicable, an annual audit report in 

accordance with the Part 200 Uniform Requirements or specific award conditions. Applicants 

should anticipate that progress reports will be required to follow the non-budgetary components 

of the Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) template/format. General information on 

RPPRs may be found at www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/rppr/. Future awards and fund drawdowns 

may be withheld if reports are delinquent. (In appropriate cases, OJP may require additional 

reports.) 

Awards that exceed $500,000 will include an additional condition that, under specific 

circumstances, will require the recipient to report (to FAPIIS) information on civil, criminal, and 

administrative proceedings connected with (or connected to the performance of) either the OJP 

award or any other grant, cooperative agreement, or procurement contract from the federal 

government. Additional information on this reporting requirement appears in the text of the 

award condition posted on the OJP webpage at https://ojp.gov/funding/FAPIIS.htm. 

Data on performance measures. In addition to required reports, an award recipient under this 

solicitation also must provide data that measure the results of the work done under the award. 

To demonstrate program progress and success, as well as to assist DOJ with fulfilling its 

responsibilities under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), Public 

Law 103-62, and the GPRA Modernization Act of 2010, Public Law 111–352, OJP will require 

any award recipient, post award, to provide performance data listed as part of regular progress 

reporting. Successful applicants will be required to access OJP’s performance measurement 

page at www.ojp.gov/performance for an overview of performance measurement activities at 

OJP. 

G. Federal Awarding Agency Contact(s) 

For questions directed to the Federal Awarding Agency, see NCJRS contact information on the 

title page. 

For contact information for Grants.gov, see the title page. 
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NIJ-2019-15203 

H. Other Information 

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

All applications submitted to OJP (including all attachments to applications) are subject to the 

federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and to the Privacy Act. By law, DOJ may withhold 

information that is responsive to a request pursuant to FOIA if DOJ determines that the 

responsive information either is protected under the Privacy Act or falls within the scope of one 

of nine statutory exemptions under FOIA. DOJ cannot agree in advance of a request pursuant 

to FOIA not to release some or all portions of an application. 

In its review of records that are responsive to a FOIA request, OJP will withhold information in 

those records that plainly falls within the scope of the Privacy Act or one of the statutory 

exemptions under FOIA. (Some examples include certain types of information in budgets, and 

names and contact information for project staff other than certain key personnel.) In appropriate 

circumstances, OJP will request the views of the applicant/recipient that submitted a responsive 

document. 

For example, if OJP receives a request pursuant to FOIA for an application submitted by a 

nonprofit or for-profit organization or an institution of higher education, or for an application that 

involves research, OJP typically will contact the applicant/recipient that submitted the 

application and ask it to identify -- quite precisely -- any particular information in the application 

that the applicant/recipient believes falls under a FOIA exemption, the specific exemption it 

believes applies, and why. After considering the submission by the applicant/recipient, OJP 

makes an independent assessment regarding withholding information. OJP generally follows a 

similar process for requests pursuant to FOIA for applications that may contain law-enforcement 

sensitive information. 

Provide Feedback to OJP 

To assist OJP in improving its application and award processes, OJP encourages applicants to 

provide feedback on this solicitation, the application submission process, and/or the application 

review process. Provide feedback to OJPSolicitationFeedback@usdoj.gov. 

IMPORTANT: This e-mail is for feedback and suggestions only. OJP does not send replies from 

this mailbox to messages it receives in this mailbox. Any prospective applicant that has specific 

questions on any program or technical aspect of the solicitation must use the appropriate 

telephone number or e-mail listed on the front of this solicitation document to obtain information. 

These contacts are provided to help ensure that prospective applicants can directly reach an 

individual who can address specific questions in a timely manner. 

If you are interested in being a reviewer for other OJP grant applications, please e-mail your 

resume to ojpprsupport@usdoj.gov. (Do not send your resume to the OJP Solicitation Feedback 

email account.) Note: Neither you nor anyone else from your organization or entity can be a 

peer reviewer in a competition in which you or your organization/entity has submitted an 

application.
38

NIJ-2019-15203 

Application Checklist 

Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants 

This application checklist has been created as an aid in developing an application. 

What an Applicant Should Do: 

Prior to Registering in Grants.gov:

_____ Acquire a DUNS Number (see page 29) 

_____ Acquire or renew registration with SAM (see page 29) 

To Register with Grants.gov: 

_____ Acquire AOR and Grants.gov username/password (see page 29) 

_____ Acquire AOR confirmation from the E-Biz POC (see page 29) 

To Find Funding Opportunity:

_____ Search for the funding opportunity on Grants.gov (see page 30) 

_____ Access Funding Opportunity and Application Package (see page 30) 

_____ Sign up for Grants.gov email notifications (optional) (see page 27) 

_____ Read Important Notice: Applying for Grants in Grants.gov

_____ Read OJP policy and guidance on conference approval, planning, and reporting 

available at ojp.gov/financialguide/DOJ/PostawardRequirements/chapter3.10a.htm

(see page 11) 

After Application Submission, Receive Grants.gov Email Notifications That: 

_____ (1) application has been received 

_____ (2) application has either been successfully validated or rejected with errors 

(see page 30) 

If no Grants.gov receipt, and validation or error notifications are received: 

_____ Please refer to the section: Experiencing Unforeseen Grants.gov Technical Issues 

(see page 30) 

Overview of Post-Award Legal Requirements:

_____ Review the “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. 

Scope Requirement:

_____ The federal amount requested is within the allowable limit(s).

Eligibility Requirement: See cover page. 

What an Application Should Include: 

_____ Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424) (see page 12) 

_____ Project Abstract (if applicable) (see page 13) 

_____ Program Narrative (critical element) (see page 14) 

_____ Budget Detail Worksheet (critical element) (see page 18) 

_____ Budget Narrative (critical element) (see page 18) 

_____ Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (if applicable) (see page 21) 

_____ Tribal Authorizing Resolution (critical element, if applicable) (see page 22) 
39

NIJ-2019-15203

_____ Financial Management and System of Internal Controls Questionnaire (see page 22)

_____ Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL) (see page 23)

_____ Additional Attachments

_____ Applicant Disclosure of Pending Applications (see page 23)

_____ Curriculum vitae or resume (critical element) (see page 16)

_____ Applicant Disclosure and Justification – DOJ High Risk Grantees (if applicable)

(see page 25)

_____ Research and Evaluation Independence and Integrity (see page 25)

_____ Request and Justification for Employee Compensation; Waiver (if applicable)

(see page 10)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Funding Webinar Transcript 

On March 28, 2019, 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 Opportunities through the National Institute of Justice for TribalResearch--Researcher Capacity Building Grants, which is hosted by the National 

Institute of Justice. At this time, I would like to hand it over to your presenter, Tina 

Crossland, Social Science Analyst with the National Institute of Justice. 

CHRISTINE CROSSLAND: Okay. Thank you, Mary Jo, and welcome everybody and 

thank you for taking part into today's webinar. The key goals of the webinar are to 

highlight the solicitation purpose, goals, and expectations, review areas of what 

activities are permissible under the solicitation, highlight changes from last year's 

solicitation, provide a general overview of the application requirements, highlight 

specific tools and resources for applicants that will facilitate the application submission, 

explain the application review process, and finally, offer an opportunity for our 

perspective applicants and partners to ask questions. So with this next slide, I want to 

emphasize that NIJ respects the government-to-government relationship that exists 

between federal government and tribes as sovereign nations by ensuring all research 

efforts are tribally engaged. NIJ is also committed to activities that maintain high 

standards of scientific integrity, rigor, and ethics, and fulfill our federal trust 

responsibility. To ensure the work with tribal nations and people are of the most 

appropriate approach and of the highest quality, NIJ understands the end--the need to 

continually improve its funding priorities and processes. Consequently in 2018, NIJ 

introduced a new solicitation to address research capacity. This solicitation came about 

after a year of engaging with tribal leaders, community members, researchers, and 

other federal agency officials. The purpose of the outreach was to gather information, 

feedback and suggestions, and to coordinate information and resources. Feedback 

from these listening sessions were generally positive and there was a strong preference 

for a program that was responsive to tribal needs and focused on building the capacity 

of tribal people. It was emphasized that we should focus on building research capacity 

using a tribal-centered approach. Previous researcher tribal partnership happens 

unsuccessful in part because of the limited amount of time a solicitation is open and the 

ability to conduct outreach to tribal stakeholders in order to enter into mutually beneficial 

and equitable partnerships. This process is counter to community-based participatory 

research principles and let the tribe-centered approach in order to address public safety 

issues most salient to our tribal partners. One of the key recommendations coming out 

of this effort was the need to provide planning grants to ensure tribal researcher 

partnerships had a sufficient time and resources to develop in a productive, successful 

way. So through this year's solicitation, we will provide small grants to fund applicants 

that wish to both facilitate a new tribal researcher partnership and initiate a new--a 

criminal justice project involving federally recognized tribes or tribally-based 

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organizations. Tribal organizations could include tribal coalitions, regional intertribal 

organizations, tribal training and technical assistance providers serving tribal citizens, 

and these are just a few examples. NIJ expects to make up to five awards this year 

with individual awards not exceeding $100,000 and addition awards will not exceed an 

eighteen-month period of performance. Future funding may be made based upon one 

of the final deliverables that I will discuss momentarily. So with the next slide, I'll speak 

to solicitation goals and expectations. NIJ has been supporting and directing research 

and evaluation studies in tribal crime and justice issues since the 1980s. Knowing the 

long history of unethical and un-equitable research practices that so many indigenous 

populations have been subjected to, NIJ follows a basic premise that all of our tribal 

studies must establish equitable and mutually beneficial research partnership. That 

means both partner--both partners benefit from the relationship. The ultimate goal of 

this particular solicitation is to build an increased capacity to conduct rigorous research 

and evaluation projects in Indian Country and Alaska Native villages, or other tribal 

communities or settings that promote the engagement between researchers and tribal 

nations, citizens, and stakeholders. The objective of the solicitation is to fund multiple 

planning grants for projects promoting such engagements that address criminal justice 

issues that are important to our tribal partners. Specifically, we encourage studies 

designed to acquire information and knowledge that will enable tribes to make informed 

decisions about policies, programs, and community action that address crime and 

victimization. Therefore, research teams are expected to demonstrate a commitment to 

conducting sensitive research with tribal communities using a collaborative and 

participatory approach that ensures transparency, local buy-in, and coordination. 

Research teams must go into this process with an understanding that developing and 

implementing project activities must be done collaboratively with tribal partners. 

And then so with the next slide, I'm going to talk to you about what are some of the 

areas of inquiry. While the scope of the solicitation is defined as an investigator 

initiative, the following research topics of this are of particular interest to the Department 

of Justice. To name just a few, to the impact of the current criminal jurisdiction on the 

administration of justice in Indian Country and Alaska Native villages, the effectiveness 

of criminal justice responses to combating the opioid crisis and more broadly, the use 

and abuse of alcohol and other drugs, combating violent crime and responding to and 

reducing victimization, enhancing investigations and prosecutions, examining the 

provision, role, and impact of forensic science services in Indian Country, strengthening 

tribal justice systems, and developing and testing tools and technologies to improve 

criminal justice policy and practice. Of the most importance that needs to be conveyed 

is that the areas of inquiry must be criminal justice topics driven by the tribal partner. 

These partnerships should prioritize tribal issues for the benefit of the tribal community. 

So next, I'm going to talk about the types of activities that can be funded. So given the 

nature of the partnership, conferring with tribal partners will be key tasks. Types of 

engagement may include developing and presenting technical and factual presentations 

for tribal leadership, or governing bodies, and to the tribal communities at large. 

Documentation of the partnership is required, while projects involving tribal nations and 

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their citizens will be required to secure appropriate authorization to engage in research 

activities. This may require obtaining a tribal resolution, executive order, or other 

appropriate documentation from authorized tribal officials. Other similar tasks may 

include obtaining participatory agreements that set out the goals and objectives, 

priorities, plans, and the roles and responsibilities of each partner. It also requires 

securing tribal institutional review board approval where necessary, or for some other 

analogies body such as tribal research board or sub-communities. That is in addition to 

the tribes or to the researchers institutional review board. This mostly entails several 

site visits and meetings with the tribal executive branch and program staff, and 

presentations to the tribal council and other offshoots such as the districts, chapters 

within a tribal nation. Some other activities that can also be included under this task 

would be once legal documents and agreements have been put in place, the tribal 

research team should develop research questions and appropriate study designs. The 

entire process should use community-based participatory research principals that 

involve the tribal partner in all aspects of the research process. In general, NIJ funds 

quantitative, qualitative, and mixed method studies that include indigenous research 

methods. Projects to be considered under the solicitation include social and behavioral 

science projects, the forensic sciences, as well as technology development, testing and 

evaluation. One tribal community partner may want to do a cost of crime study while 

another may wish to test out new technologies. Once again, the research should be 

driven by the tribal partner. In preparation of developing final deliverables, the team 

may conduct pilot tests or feasibility or evaluability assessments studies that may 

involve collecting preliminary data and/or conducting secondary data analysis. 

However, the primary activities under these awards should be in support of developing 

and enhancing partnerships and developing a scientific criminal justice research or 

evaluation proposal. So, let me talk about the expected deliverables. So besides the 

standard grant reporting requirements like semi-annual performance progress reports, 

which I'll also refer to as RPPR, and quarterly financial reports, there are four key 

deliverables. The first one is the final research report in the form of a criminal justice 

research or evaluation proposal based on the results of the activities under the grant. 

NIJ will consider such proposals for potential funding moving forward. The second 

deliverable is a special report that describes partnership in detail. The report should 

thoroughly capture the process and substance of the collaboration, including lessons 

learned, challenges and successes experienced and overall reflections. This report 

should also map out key issues that can help inform existing or future partnerships of a 

similar nature. One of the strengths of this program lies in disseminating lessons 

learned to tribal communities at large. Third, any data sets and associated files and 

documentation are required if applicable and appropriate. NIJ will not archive any data 

that is identifiable to an individual or tribe. Archiving of data will be rare with these 

planning grants as NIJ only archives research data. If primary and secondary research 

is not part of the planning grant, archiving data is not expected. If data are collected as 

part of a pilot test or evaluability assessment, the data that the tribe provides to the 

study belongs to the tribe though the combined data set the work product must be 

archived. In addition to the three deliverables mentioned, NIJ does take copies of 

products developed under the partnership that were created specifically for our tribal 

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stakeholders, for example, presentations, news articles and newsletters. However, 

tribal permission must be obtained for the dissemination as well as copies of 

manuscripts for peer-reviewed scientific journals and/or law review articles or similar 

scientific or policy products that the tribal partner authorized. Manuscripts may be in 

process under review are published. So let me talk about what will not be funded or 

applicable under this solicitation. So, specific expenses that are not allowed include 

anything that is not responsive to the specific solicitation. NIJ will not fund any 

application whose primary purpose is to purchase equipment, materials, or supplies. 

However, a budget may include these if they are necessary to conduct research, 

development, demonstration, evaluation, or analysis. NIJ will not fund applications 

whose work is funded under another federal award, for example ongoing work or similar 

projects. NIJ will not fund training in support of programs or direct services unrelated to 

or associated with the proposed project. And NIJ will not fund programs or services 

unrelated to the scope of the project or existing programs or services being evaluated. 

As I mentioned earlier, we held several listening sessions and capacity building and 

what tribal research or partnerships should look like. In many cases, we were told that 

these partnerships should involve a mentorship component where the researcher works 

with tribal members to help develop the research and evaluation capacity and 

infrastructure and tribal communities and in turn, the tribal partners can mentor 

researchers on tribal issues and affairs. Therefore, these activities are permissible. So, 

on the next slide, what additional things will not be funded include--and this goes to our 

basic minimum requirements, which I'll go into more detail. So under the solicitation, 

NIJ will not fund nor will applications move past the Basic Minimum Review or BMR 

phase if the application does not include a new tribal researcher investigative 

partnership. In other words, if a pre-existing partnership already exists and/or the 

application isn't to fund a project already developed or has been implemented, it will fail 

the basic minimum review. We also will not fund or move past the basic minimum 

review any application that does not have an executed tribal resolution, executive order 

or letter of commitment from the tribal authorized representatives is applicable. 

Applications involving tribal governments are being conducted on tribal lands that do not 

have an executed tribal resolution, executive order, or letter of commitment from the 

tribal authorized represents--representatives sanctioning the partnership will not be 

included. As always, please see the solicitation for more information on what will be 

funded. So, let me summarize on this slide what are some of the main details here. 

Applications must be a new partnership between researchers or a team and a tribal 

entity. Applications must discuss a partnership to develop a relevant and new criminal 

justice research project. The application must have an executed tribal resolution or 

executive order along with letters of support or cooperation with other relevant 

organizations if applicable. The project is expected to follow all tribal policies including 

submitting the project for institutional review, board review, project cannot exceed an 

18-month period of performance and planning grants should not exceed $100,000. So, 

now we're going to go into the review process. And I will cover the next slide which 

talks about the basic minimum requirements. So, there are five here. The program 

narrative of the application should not exceed 30 double-spaced pages in 12-point font 

with one inch margin. If included in the main body of the program narrative, tables, 

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charts, figures, and other illustrations count towards the 30-page limit. The project 

abstract, table of contents, appendices and government forms do not count towards that 

page limit. If the program narrative fails to comply with these length-related restrictions, 

we will consider such noncompliance in peer review and in our final funding decision. 

Other expected documents included a program abstract consisting of 250 to 400 words 

describing the project, and that the title page will include the following information, that 

would include the title of the project, the submission date, the funding opportunity 

number, and the name and complete contact information for both the applicant and the 

principal investigator and partners. So that would include addresses, telephone 

numbers, and email address. There are other forms that should be included, so please 

review the solicitation for further details such as making sure the application for federal 

assistance form is provided, human subjects and privacy documentations and others. 

So now I'd like to talk to you about the selection criteria. This is something that we have 

modified from last year's solicitation. So, I'll spend a little bit more time here. So, the 

main body of the program narrative should describe the proposed new partnership and 

project. Proposals received under the solicitation will be evaluated according to four 

criteria, each of which carry the different weight, as you can see on the slide, based on 

its importance, and two additional categories that do not have a weighted based 

importance applied. The first two criteria are background and work plan. For the 

background, applicants should provide a detailed description of the new tribalresearcher investigator partnership, how the tribal partners stakeholder input was 

thought, how it was incorporated into the proposal. In addition, the applicant should 

describe possible criminal justice projects that the tribal partner has identified as a 

priority matter. Applicants should include any relevant data background and any other 

information to show the significance and importance of the issue or issues under 

consideration using data or information that are pertinent to understanding the identified 

problem. If the partnership has already resulted in identifying a priority matter, this 

section should also include research questions and discuss the purpose, goals, and 

objectives of the proposed project. And finally, under background, the applicant should 

describe how tribal interests and priorities will drive research planning, design, and 

implementation. For the second criteria in work plan, applicants should provide a 

proposed work plan detailing each task and activity to be carried out during the period of 

performance. Applicants should address all steps in the partnership development and 

research planning. Applicants must provide a timeline with clearly-defined milestones. 

The work plan should include a discussion of anticipated deliverables, including planned 

products indicated in the project-specific information of the solicitations, and a plan for 

dissemination to appropriate tribal stakeholders. Applicants should identify plans to 

produce or disseminate to a broader interested practitioners and policymakers in the 

form that is designed to be readily accessible and useful to them. The other two 

selection criteria are the approach. So this is the third criteria. Application should 

provide a detailed description of the strategies to fulfill the new tribal researcher 

partnership, and in developing and submitting a criminal justice research or evaluation 

proposal. Applicants should explain what strategies will be applied for capacity building, 

project planning, communication, and dissemination. 

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In addition, applicants should describe the potential impact of both the tribal researcher 

partnership and research development project, and how it will inform or improve criminal 

or juvenile justice-related policy, practice, or theory. And finally, applicants should 

consider the feasibility of the proposed project, potential challenges in carrying out the 

activities, and what they will do to mitigate any obstacles. Where appropriate the 

applicant should describe capacity plans and willingness to share successful] 

approaches widely through various venues for broad diffusion of innovation. 

The fourth weighted criterion is organizational capacity. Applicants should describe the 

experience and capability of the applicant organization, chief staff, which would include 

researchers and tribal partners, and any proposed sub-grantees including consultants, 

that the applicant will use to implement and manage this effort, and the federal funds 

under this award highlighting any previous experience implementing projects of a similar 

scope, design, and magnitude. Applicants should also outline the management plan, 

structure, and organization proposed to complete the proposed task and projects, and 

provide a description of the roles, responsibilities, and qualifications of the applicant's 

proposed staff and partners. The management plan should connect to the goals and 

objectives of the project. So on our next slide, we'll talk about the external and internal 

review process. So after the solicitation closes, all applications will receive a 

preliminary review. Applications will be evaluated to determine if they have been 

submitted by an eligible type of applicant, whether they are responsive to the scope of 

the solicitation, and whether the basic minimum required elements that I have discussed 

have been included. All applications that pass the preliminary review will be forwarded 

for external peer review that is comprised of both technical and practitioner reviewers 

with expertise in tribal affairs and matters, as well as research methods and analysis in 

criminal and tribal justice systems. This process includes both individual review by each 

panelists and a consensus review developed by the entire panel. These reviews--

reviewers discuss the merits and limitations of each proposal. In addition, an internal 

review by NIJ scientific staff, department subject matter experts, and senior 

management will be completed. Both the external and internal reviews are presented to 

the NIJ Director. All funding decisions are ultimately at the discretion of the NIJ 

Director. 

So on the next slide, we'll be talking about other review considerations. And this 

includes whether an applicant has been designated as a DOJ high-risk grantee. If that 

is the case, a separate attachment to the application is required that provides 

information that the department will use among other pertinent information to determine 

whether it will consider or select the applicant for award under the solicitation. NIJ may 

remove from consideration or not select for an award a DOJ high-risk grantee applicant 

that is determined to pose a substantial risk of program implementation failure. For 

more information, see the solicitation, specifically pages 26, 27, 28, and 29. For 

purposes of this disclosure, high-risk includes any status under which a federal 

awarding agency provides additional oversight due to the applicant's past performance, 

or other programmatic or financial concerns with the applicant. If an applicant is 

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designated high-risk by another federal awarding agency, the applicant must also 

provide information. Examples of other federal agencies may include, but not be limited 

to, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Health, the 

National Science Foundation, and Departments of Education, State, and Interior. 

So in the next sets of slides, we want to highlight what was actually funded in 2018. 

And the first award that we will talk about was titled the Northwest Juvenile Justice 

Alliance Project, which seeks to address research gaps identified by tribes in the Pacific 

Northwest. The tribal researcher partnership involves the Northwest Portland Area 

Indian Health Board, tribes in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, the Northwest 

Professional Consortium research staff, and the State's Juvenile Justice Department. 

The study will identify, test, and expand promising practices that improve juvenile justice 

assistance for tribes in the Pacific Northwest, determine if non-native justice systems 

are improving life outcomes to interact with these services, and build tribal capacity to 

access and use data that support quality improvements at the community level. The 

next project is a collaboration between the Tribal Law and Policy Institute and the 

Hoopa Valley Tribe. This partnership will examine the linkages between Hoopa's recent 

legal sovereignty challenges, and the tenacity of violent crime and substance abuse in 

the community. The third project was awarded to ICF Incorporated who has partnered 

with the Pathfinder Center to conduct an 18-month formative and preliminary outcome 

evaluation of the Pathfinder services for Native American victims of sex trafficking using 

a community-based participatory research approach that is culturally responsive and 

trauma-informed. And then finally, the Center for Court Innovation has partnered with 

the Office of the Public Defender of the Confederate Salish and Kootenai Tribes to gain 

an understanding of the landscape of risk/needs assessments, data collection, and 

management information systems across Indian Country, and build the necessary 

partnerships to implement a large-scale study for the development and validation of a 

risk/needs assessment for Indian Country. So that just can give you some ideas of the 

things that we were looking at and have funded to date. 

Next, I'll provide on the next slide some frequently asked questions that came up last 

year that some of you actually may be wanting to hear the answers to. So first, there 

appears to be a lot of confusion as to who is an authorized representative. If a project 

involves a tribe or tribes, and/or will be conducted on tribal land, tribal resolutions must 

be obtained. And if you can just hold on a second, we're having a little problem with 

progressing our slides, and I will talk slowly while we try to move that forward. Okay. 

Okay. So this--if a--so let me just repeat that. There appears to be a lot of confusion as 

to who is an authorized representative if a project involves a tribe or tribes, and/or will 

be conducted on tribal lands. Tribal resolutions must be obtained from the appropriate 

body, which in most cases will be the tribal council. A program administrator does not 

have the legal authority to authorize the partnership. For tribal organizations, such as a 

Tribal Victim Service provider, the individual who has the legal authority will most likely 

be the Executive Director. As it pertains to Alaska, each federally-recognized Alaska 

tribe has the authority to authorize a partnership. It does not require researcher partner 

going to a regional body for approval. Another common question posed by several 

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applicants was who should be the grantee? That is the tribe, tribal organization, or the 

research entity, or individual. That determination is best made by the partner. 

However, there are some things to consider when making that decision. For example, 

indirect rates for universities are very high. That said, if the majority of the work is being 

performed off-campus, off-campus rates should be applied. Another option is to have 

the tribal partner manage the award. Ultimately, it comes down to who has the 

organizational capacity to manage and execute all requirements of the award. We also 

received questions about who can be the researcher. Does the researcher have to be 

Native American? The answer is that the research partner can be anyone interested in 

establishing a tribal partnership, and who will ensure the efforts will be done 

collaboratively. Ultimately, the partnership between the tribe or a tribal entity and the 

researcher should be co-learning and bidirectional capacity building. Unsuccessful 

2018 applicants tended to inadequately demonstrate that a new partnership is being 

established or any relapse--relationship existed with a tribe or tribes, or tribal 

organization. In other words, no tribal legal documentations were provided. They didn't 

demonstrate the potential to improve our understanding of or provide solutions to a 

criminal or juvenile justice problem, or the topics of consideration were not within the 

scope of the solicitation. And finally, we received questions on how best to identify a 

partner. So the next series of slides will show some resources the applicants can 

review to find some answers. Okay. So guidance for researchers is our next slide. 

And for researchers, I encourage you to access these documents publicly available on 

websites provided. Keep in mind, too, that all of these slides will be provided to 

everybody within 10 business days. For those less familiar who have not worked with 

tribes, I encourage you to take the free online training program titled "Working 

Effectively with Tribal Governments." This training curriculum has been developed to 

provide some basic skills and knowledge you can use to work more effectively with 

tribal governments. We are also providing a link to the National Congress of American 

Indians Policy Research Centers who have several informative documents and toolkits. 

We are also encouraging you to view the webinar hosted by The Center for Victims 

Research titled "Engaging Tribal Leadership and Community Stakeholders." And 

finally, we've listed a link to report on guidelines for successful researcher practitioner 

partnership. Another set of guidelines for some--or guidance for tribal partners, we are 

encouraging you to access the following organizations or associations. We've provided 

e-mail addresses, links to websites with contact information, or directories that can be 

searched. On our next slide, we have some additional resources, so for those seeking 

tribal partnerships, we're highlighting some federal sites where you can review and 

download information on federally recognized tribes if you can go to the next slide. 

Regional Intertribal Organizations, Alaska Native Corporations, and other collaborations 

and I know we're going through this rather quickly. So we'd like to remind you again we 

will be providing this information to you as well. We're also providing you some links to 

some tribal organizations and programs working on crime and justice issues. This list is 

not exhaustive, but shows some of the many tribal organizations and/or programs that 

could be partnered with under the solicitation to include the National Indigenous 

Women's Resource Center, Alaska Native Women's Resource Center, Tribal Domestic 

Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions, Tribal Access Program for National Crime 

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Information, and Urban Indian Health Organization. And then I think we have one other 

resource slide here that provides similar information linking to Indian Health Services at 

the Epidemiological Centers and other Native American organizations. I also 

encourage applicants to review the National Congress of American Indians' previous 

Tribal Leader/Scholar Forum website, as well as the National Indian Nation Conference 

website to get an understanding of some of the key criminal justice areas of concern. 

And so now, I would like to briefly talk about data archiving as I know this is one of our 

key areas that require a lot of inquiry. So before I talk about the application process, I 

do want to address another item that was frequently asked about which is NIJ's Data 

Archiving Requirement. NIJ has a longstanding commitment to making the results and 

accomplishments of research that it funds and conducts available to the public. An 

NIJ's new data should be made as widely and freely available as possible while 

safeguarding the privacy or participants and protecting confidentiality and proprietary 

data. Increasing access to specific data resulted from NIJ funding or support offers 

many benefits and reflects NIJ's responsibility to maintain dealership over taxpayer 

funds. Specifically sharing a scientific data and results enables researchers to more 

vigorously test the validity of research findings, strengthen analyses by combining 

datasets, access hard to generate data, and explore new inquiries. Because of the 

number of questions raised about data archiving, NIJ has developed a frequently asked 

questions document on data archiving that we will post with the webinar slides. 

Questions that are addressed in the FAQ include, "Why does NIJ archive these data?" 

"Who has access to these data?" "For what purpose are data queries?" And "Can 

participating tribes determine how the data are used once it is archived?" For tribal 

nations with specific data access and/or ownership policies that prohibit or limit data 

archiving, NIJ will work with the tribe to set up a data-sharing agreement in which the 

designated tribal entity, for example a tribal council, a tribal institutional review board or 

some analogous body, can review and approve data access request. This will be done 

on a case by case basis only after awards have been made. 

And now we would like to talk about the application process. So, the application 

checklist can be found on pages 12, 33 through 34 of the solicitation. Please carefully 

review the checklist in preparing your application and prior to submission. NIJ has 

designated application elements as critical and they are shown on the slide with an 

asterisk. If any of these elements are missing, a proposal will not move on to the peer 

review phase. The four critical elements are the program narrative, budget detail 

worksheet, budget narrative, and resumes and a curriculum vitae as key personnel. For 

purposes of this solicitation, key personnel means, principal research investigators and 

any and all co-principal investigators and or project director coordinator title partners 

and key staff. As it pertains to legal documentation of the tribal partnership, a tribal 

resolution, letter, affidavit, or other documentation as appropriate that demonstrate as a 

legal matter that the applicant has the pre-requisite authorizations from the tribe or 

tribes to implement the proposed project should be provided. In those instances when 

an organization or consortium of tribes applies for an award on behalf of a tribe or 

multiple specific tribes the application should include appropriate legal documentation 

ix 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

from all tribes. To further clarify, letters of support or commitment are not equivalent to 

a tribal legal document. Once again, a tribal program manager does not have the 

authority to commit to the partnership and project unless legal documentation is 

provided by the tribal government stating otherwise. Similarly, if a tribal-based 

organization is the partner, the authorized representative or executive authority is the 

only one authorized to commit to the project. So please see the solicitation for guidance 

and details on each of these items. The second site continues on with the checklist, 

other items that should be included and the appendices of the application include a 

bibliography or references of all citations documented in the Program Narrative. Any 

tools, instruments, questionnaires, tables, charts, graphs, or math pertaining to the 

proposed project that supplements the Program Narrative, proposed project timeline, 

expected milestones, human subject protection paperwork, list of any previous and 

current NIJ awards of the applicant and partners. Justification for stipends or 

compensation payments is part of the project and data archiving plan is applicable. 

Letters of cooperation and support, or administrative agreements from organizations 

collaborating on the project, once again these are not in lieu of tribal legal documents. 

As a reminder, if you have any other questions, we will answer them during the Q&A 

section at the end of the webinar. So the next slide, we'll talk about the application 

submission process. So once again, please read the solicitation for guidance and more 

information on application submissions. Some key application submissions that are 

time sensitive include registering on Grants.gov. Registering with Grants.gov is a 

onetime process, however processing delays may occur and it can take several weeks 

for time--for first time registrants. We strongly encourage applicants to register several 

weeks before the application submission deadline. Which for this solicitation is May 

13th, in fact I encourage you to register as soon as possible. In addition, we urge 

applicants to submit applications at least 72 hours prior to the application due date. In 

order 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 

be caused a rejection notification. The closing date for this solicitation is Monday May 

13. So I encourage applicants to submit no later than Friday May 10th, should any 

submission errors or issues arrive so there is time to resolve them. Grants.gov has two 

categories of files for attachments, mandatory and optional. NIJ receives all files 

attached in both categories. Attachments also labeled to describe the file being 

attached, therefor mandatory files include program narrative, budget narrative and 

worksheet, CV worksheet, CVs, resumes, or bio sketches of key staff and the tribal 

authorization if applicable. Optional files include other forms and appendices that I have 

described earlier. For any technical difficulties, contact Grants.gov customer support. 

The next slide, talks about recommended grant resources that we are encouraging our 

applicant's to review prior to submitting their application. The first is the 2019 Office of 

Justice Programs Grant Application resource guide which provides guidance to assist 

grant applicant in preparing and submitting applications for OJP funding and information 

that may help potential applicants making the decision on whether to apply for funding. 

To ensure cost or allow we strongly encourage applicants to review the Funding 

Resource Center for additional information and helpful guidance. In addition, we're also 

encouraging applicants to review the department's grant financial guide and take the 

x 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

online training which is a prerequisite for all funded grantees. On the next slide, we're 

talking about the application in a work timeline. These are estimates. So the closing 

date is May 13th, the basic minimal review will commence immediately. Applicants who 

do not provide the required elements or the application did not meet the scope of work 

of the solicitation will receive notification on or after May 31st. External and internal 

peer review will also commence immediately and continue until late June, possibly early 

July. Funding decisions are expected in June and July, but the processing awards will 

continue over the summer with anticipated awards announced anytime between August 

and October. To allow time for among other things, any necessary post-award review 

and financial clearances of the proposed budget and for any associated responses or 

other actions that may be required of the recipient, applicants should propose an award 

start date on January 1st, 2020 and an end date that does not exceed 18 months which 

will more likely be June 30th, 2021. So, in the next slide, now we'd like to open things 

up for questions and answers. If you have not done so already, please remember to 

submit your questions via the Q&A panel, not the chat box, and make sure it is directed 

to all. Mary Jo, do we have a first question? 

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: Yes. We have our first question here. Other tribal 

organizations in the same area of the state and receive letters of support from these 

organizations but they are not providing data and are not part of the project teams. 

Could we work with these tribal organizations as a new tribal partner? 

CHRISTINE CROSSLAND: Yes. 

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: If you are working with one tribal agency, can your partner--

can you partner with another agency in the same tribe? 

CHRISTINE CROSSLAND: As long as it can be established as a new partnership and 

that it is a new project, then, yes. It would be eligible under the solicitation. 

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: All right. So, while we're waiting for some questions to come 

in, we are going to--go to the next slide and we're going to go ahead and show you 

some information. This information actually does also appear in the solicitation itself. 

It's referencing the National Criminal Justice Reference Service. You can contact them 

if you're having--if you have questions or need assistance with the solicitation. They will 

work with Tina and give an answer to your question. You can reach them through 

grants@ncjrs.gov. They also have a web chat and that URL is listed on the slide right 

now. You can reach them through the toll--toll-free number at 800-851-3420. And 

there's also a number for the hearing impaired. They have hours of--hours of operation, 

10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. 

CHRISTINE CROSSLAND: So, while we're waiting for our next couple of questions, I 

want to go over some that we have left here just to make that clear in case somebody 

has the same type of question. So, we were--got posted a question that said, would a 

non-profit tribal organization that works with Native Americans in an urban area be 

xi 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

considered a tribal-based organization? And the answer is yes. Can a Native American 

community service agency that serves all nations in urban areas be a travel partner? 

The answer is yes. Our tribe has its own research department. Can a university 

partner be a consultant or do they have to be a subaward? They can be a consultant or 

a subaward. It's really up to the partnership. 

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: Can you please repeat the type of information of 

authorization that's needed if the partner is non-prof--a non-profit tribal organization, 

community-based organization? 

CHRISTINE CROSSLAND: So, it would be the authorized individual who can enter into 

a legal authorized agreement which tends to be the executive director. It could be a 

president, anybody who has the legal authority and can document that in the award. 

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: Can non-research place organizations apply for funding if 

partnering with a researcher? 

CHRISTINE CROSSLAND: So, once again, we're talking about researcher-tribal 

partnerships. So, if the organization is a tribally-based organization serving those in 

tribal communities or stakeholders, then yes. It would have to be clearly established in 

the program narrative, the partnership relationship. 

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: One second, please. 

CHRISTINE CROSSLAND: So, we had another question about for institutional review 

board approval, do you mean Tribal IRB or Institutional IRB or both? What if the tribe 

does not have its own IRB? We mean both. All parties, IRB must be in view with the 

project. For example, if a researcher is attached to a university or college or a research 

organization, their institutional review board of record must review and approve the 

project. If the tribal partner has an IRB, the project must also be reviewed and 

approved by that body. Sometimes, the tribal council will need to approve the project or 

the tribe may have a subcommittee or board who reviews research on the tribe's behalf. 

If the tribe doesn't have any of those bodies, we will go with the institutional review 

board of the researcher. To be clear, all recipients of awards with the department have 

to have an IRB approval from a body that has a federal right assurance with the U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services. 

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: A Native American researcher in our organization is 

considering developing a partnership with her own tribe. Would this be considered a 

new partnership and eligible for this award? 

CHRISTINE CROSSLAND: If she has not--if she or he has never worked with the tribe 

before and this is a new project that they're developing, then that would be eligible 

under the solicitation. What would be an example of appropriate legal documentation 

from a tribal serving organization? And I think this is somewhat what I already 

responded, but I'll respond again. Documentation should be authorized and approved 

xii 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by the representative who has the legal authority to enter into such agreements. Most 

of the time, this will be the executive director or president. We have another question 

that talks about can charts, graphs, and text box be single space? And the answer is 

yes. Okay. Someone has asked, does the 100,000 budget apply to direct cost or total 

cost, direct cost was negotiated. The answer is yes. This is a total cost keeping in mind 

that these are planning grants. Is there a cap on indirect cost rate administration 

overhead that can be included in the project budget? There is no cap on indirect. 

Another question, is there a cross match share required for this project? And the 

answer is no. And another question, are in-kind contributions required? They are not 

required. There are no in-kind contributions required. Another question is, can 

equipment purchased through the grant for research purposes be retained by the tribal 

organization or the university that retains the equipment? It would depend on the type 

of equipment. And I would recommend that you read the OJP Financial Guide that was 

highlighted on the earlier slides that will guide and provide specific guidance on the 

matter. So, what if funding from another federal grant uncovered gaps or areas for 

additional research with a tribal organization? Is this acceptable? With this specific 

example, it's apparent that there's already a pre-established relationship or partnership 

and the project already realized and therefore, it would not be eligible. Keep in mind the 

two key elements of this program are a new partnership and a new project. How many 

grants do you anticipate rewarding or awarding? In other words, are you trying to fund 

a certain number of projects? NIJ plans to fund at least five grants this year. Based on 

a grant's final deliverable in the form of the criminal justice research proposal that I 

outlined earlier, NIJ could fund the planning grants research proposal at the end of the 

project. 

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: How does a researcher identify interest in a unique topic? 

We specialize in impairment and safety issues with cannabis. We work with first 

responders, environment safety and driving. Tribal nations are being left out of the 

nature of cannabis concerns. 

CHRISTINE CROSSLAND: So, I would strongly encourage you if you have not worked 

with other tribes before to review the resource guides that we provided in the earlier 

slides and reach out to the organization to see if they can provide you some assistance 

in partnering up with different groups. Someone asked about the earlier funding that I 

talked about and what does that mean. So, a second phase of potential funding was 

mentioned. When do you anticipate that being made? So, if an initial planning grant is 

awarded to you that would be for an eighteen-month period of performance with a start 

date that always will start on January 1st. So, for these grants, that would be January 

1st, 2020. So, upon the receipt of the criminal justice proposal which is either due 90 

days prior to the grant's end date or no later than the end date which for most of these 

grants will be June 30th, 2021. Research proposals could be funding during that year's 

fiscal cycle which would be for school year '20-'21 depending on the director's approval 

and available funds. If sufficient funds are not available at that time, awards could be 

made to conduct the research in the next fiscal year. Okay. And I don't see that we 

have any other questions. I just want to reiterate that our slides will be provided to 

xiii 
 

 

everybody within 10 business days. That will include the transcript. And we will also be 

including the frequently asked questions as it pertains to data archiving as I know many 

of our research partners have many discussions of tribes about this. And this is a 

document that they could willingly share with that potential partner or partners that they 

will be working with. 

MARY JO GIOVACCHINI: Thank you all on behalf of the National Institute of Justice for 

your time today and for attending this webinar. We appreciate it and good luck. 

xiv 
 

 

 

 

Funding Opportunities through NIJ for TribalResearcher Capacity Building Grants in FY 2019 

Solicitation: NIJ-2019-15203 

Solicitation Post Date: March 14, 2019 

Solicitation Close Date: May 13, 2019 

Today’s Presenter: 

Christine (Tina) Crossland, Senior Social Science Analyst 

Office of Research & Evaluation 
Webinar Overview 

• Background & Purpose 

• Goals & Expectations 

• Areas of Inquiry & Permissible Activities 

• Review Process & Selection Criteria 

• Tools and Resources 

• Highlights from 2018 

• Application Requirements & Submission Procedure 

• Q&A Session 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

Background and Purpose 

• Purpose 

– Building research capacity using a tribe-centered approach 

• Objective 

– Facilitate a new tribal-researcher partnership; and 

– Initiate new criminal justice research projects involving federally recognized tribes (or

tribally-based organizations) 

• Science Areas 

– Social and behavioral science 

– Investigative forensic sciences 

– Technology development, testing, and evaluation 

• Funds awarded through a competitive process with future funding possible 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
Goals and Expectations 

• Promote engagement between researchers and tribal nations, 

citizens, and stakeholders 

• Establish equitable and mutually beneficial research partnerships 

• Develop research plans that address criminal justice issues of 

importance to tribal partners 

• Increase the ability to conduct rigorous research and evaluation 

projects in tribal communities 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

Areas of Inquiry 

• Criminal justice or public safety research and evaluation 

• DOJ topics of interest 

Criminal jurisdiction on the administration of justice 

Response to the opioid crisis and more broadly the use and abuse of alcohol 

and other drugs 

Violent crime and responding to and reducing victimization 

Murdered, missing, and trafficked persons 

Enhancing investigations and prosecutions 

Provision, role, and impact of forensic science services 

Development and testing of tools and technologies to improve criminal justice 

policy and practice 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

Types Of Activities That Can Be Funded 

• Outreach and Engagement Activities 

– Developing, presenting, and disseminating materials for tribal 

leadership (or governing bodies), communities’ members, and 

stakeholders 

• Presentations, FAQs, newsletter articles, infographics 

– Drafting and securing tribal resolutions or executive orders 

– Drafting and executing participatory agreements and/or data 

sharing agreements 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
Types Of Activities (cont.) 

• Conducting Research 

– Developing research questions and study designs with tribal 

partner 

community-based participatory research principals 

tribally-driven participatory research 

– Securing tribal institutional review board approval 

– Conducting pilot studies 

– Performing feasibility or evaluability assessments 

– Completing secondary data analysis 

– Drafting a tribal-researcher criminal justice research proposal 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
Expected Deliverables 

• Standard grant reporting requirements 

– Quarterly and final financial reports 

– Semi-annual and final research performance progress reports 

• Specific solicitation required deliverables 

– Criminal justice research or evaluation proposal 

– Special report describing the tribal-researcher partnership 

– Associated data sets or files, if appropriate 

– Associated manuscripts, presentations, articles, etc. resulting from partnership 

• The strength of the research lies in disseminating the results to the tribal 

community at large. 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

 

 

What will not be funded 

that are not responsive to this specific solicitation 

• Applications... 

– 

– whose primary purpose is to purchase equipment, materials, or supplies 

– whose work is funded under another federal award 

– that request training in support of programs or direct services unrelated to or 

associated with the proposed project 

– that request programs or services unrelated to the scope of the project or existing 

programs or services being evaluated 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

 

What will not be funded (cont.) 

– Applications that do not involve a new tribal researcher investigative 

partnership (i.e., pre-existing partnership or project continuation) 

– Applications that do not have an executed tribal resolution, executive 

order, or letter of commitment from the tribal authorized representative 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

Summary of Key Details 

• New partnership between researcher(s) and tribal entity(ies) 

• Relevant and innovative criminal justice research project 

• Tribal resolution or executive order 

• Letters of support/cooperation with other relevant organizations 

• Tribal institutional review boards or analogous bodies 

• 18-month period of performance, no extensions 

• $100,000 planning grants 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
REVIEW PROCESS 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

 

Basic Minimum Requirements 

1. Program narrative 

2. Budget detail worksheet* 

3. Budget narrative* 

4. CVs, resumes, or biographical sketches of all key 

personnel 

5. Tribal resolution or other tribal legal documentation 

*All applicants should use the Excel version of OJP’s Budget Detail Worksheet 

https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Forms/BudgetDetailWorksheet.htm

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

 

Selection Criteria 

• 25% Background should describe: 

– How the tribal partner/stakeholder input was sought; 

– How input was incorporated into the proposal; 

– Possible criminal justice projects the tribal partner has identified as priority 

matters; 

– How tribal interests and priorities will drive research planning, design, and 

implementation; and 

– Research questions, purpose, goals, objectives (if applicable). 

• 30% Work Plan should describe: 

– Each task and activity; 

– Anticipated deliverables; and a 

– Timeline with milestones. 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

Selection Criteria (cont.) 

• 20% Approach should describe strategies to: 

– Fulfill the partnership 

– Develop and submit a criminal justice research project 

– Address challenges; and 

– Inform or improve criminal or juvenile justice-related policy, practice, or 

theory. 

• 25% Organizational Capacity of Applicant should describe: 

– Experience and capability of the applicant organization 

– Key staff and partners, and subgrantees/consultants 

• Budget 

• Dissemination plans 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

External and Internal Review 

• BMR/Responsiveness Review 

– Submitted by an eligible type applicant 

– Responsive to the scope of the solicitation 

– Basic minimum requirements included 

• External Peer Reviewer 

• Technical and practitioner reviewers 

• Tribal expertise 

• Internal Review 

– NIJ scientific staff and senior management 

– Department subject matter experts 

• All funding decisions are at the discretion of the NIJ Director 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

Other Review Considerations 

• DOJ High Risk Grantee Applicant Disclosure and Justification 

– Nature and severity of the issues leading to or accompanying the applicant’s DOJ 

High Risk Grantee designation 

– How the applicant has addressed or otherwise mitigated such uncorrected matters 

– Ability to manage grant funds and achieve grant goals and objectives 

• High risk designation by other federal grant-making agency outside 

DOJ disclosure 

– Federal awarding agency that currently designates the applicant high risk 

– Date the applicant was designated high risk 

– High-risk point of contact at that federal awarding agency (name, phone number, and 

email address) 

– Reasons for the high-risk status, as set out by the federal awarding agency 
HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2018 
 

 

 

 

Fiscal Year 2018 TRCBG Awards 

• Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board 

– “NW Juvenile Justice Alliance” 

• Tribal Law and Policy Institute 

– “Hoopa Valley Tribe and Tribal Law and Policy Institute Research 

Partnership” 

• ICF Incorporated, LLC 

– “Pathfinder: Evaluating Services to Native American Victims of Sex 

Trafficking” 

• Center for Court Innovation 

– “Building Tribal-Researcher Capacity to Inform Data-Driven Practices, 

Technology, and Tribal Justice” 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

Frequently Asked Questions 

• Who is the authorized representative or body for a tribe or tribal 

organization? 

– Tribal council, not a program or department administrator 

– Executive director with full, legal authority 

• Who can be the researcher? 

• How do researchers find tribal partners? 

• How do tribes find a research partners? 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

Guidance for Researchers 

•“Working Effectively with Tribal Governments” 

– https://tribal.golearnportal.org/ 

• NCAI Policy Research Center (http://www.ncai.org/prc) 

– Research-based toolkit 

– “Walk Softly and Listen Carefully: Building Research Relationships with Tribal 

Communities” 

– "Tribal Nations and the United States: An Introduction" 

• Center for Victim Research 

(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkah8Y6AjhwIqHnIOW6_ENw/featured) 

– “Engaging Tribal Leadership and Community Stakeholders” 

•“Guidelines for Successful Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships in the 

CJS” (https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/243918.pdf) 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

Guidance for Tribal Partners 

• Native Research Network 

– email@nativeresearchnetwork.org 

• Society of Indian Psychologists 

– Admin@aiansip.org 

• American Public Health Association’s American Indian/Alaska 

Native/Native Hawaiian Caucus 

– http://www.aiannhcaucus.com/contact.html 

• American Society of Criminology 

– http://www.asc41.com/divisions.htm 

• American Evaluation Association 

– https://www.eval.org/findanevaluator 

• Center for Victim Research 

– https://victimresearch.org/get-connected/find-a-partner/ 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

Other Resources 

• Tribal Directory | Regional Intertribal Organizations 

– https://www.bia.gov/tribal-leaders-directory 

– https://data.doi.gov/dataset/tribal-leader-directory 

– https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia.gov/libraries/maps/tld_map.html 

– http://www.ncai.org/tribal-directory/tribal-organizations 

– https://narf.org/nill/triballaw/directories.html 

• Alaska Native Corporations 

– http://dhss.alaska.gov/ocs/Pages/icwa/Regional-Corporations.aspx 

– http://www.ncai.org/tribal-directory/alaska-native-corporations 

• Tribal-State Collaboration and Justice Capacity Building Project 

– http://tloa.ncai.org/ 

– http://www.nijc.org/projects.html 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
Other Resources (cont.) 

• National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC) 

– http://www.niwrc.org/ 

• Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center (ANWRC) 

– http://www.aknwrc.org/ 

• Tribal Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Coalitions 

– https://www.justice.gov/ovw/local-resources 

• Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information (TAP) 

– https://www.justice.gov/tribal/tribal-access-program-tap 

• Urban Indian Organizations (UIO) 

– https://www.ihs.gov/urban/nationalprograms/ 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

Other Resources (cont.) 

• Indian Health Service Tribal Epidemiology Centers 

– https://www.ihs.gov/epi/tecs/centers/ 

• National American Indian Court Judges Association 

– http://www.naicja.org/ 

• NICWA - National Indian Child Welfare Association 

– https://www.nicwa.org/our-research-expertise/ 

• IACP's Law Enforcement Indian Country Section 

– https://www.theiacp.org/working-group/section/indian-country-law-enforcementsection 

• NCAI PRC’s Annual Tribal Leader Scholar Forum 

– http://www.ncai.org/policy-research-center/initiatives/tribal-leader-scholar-forum 

• The National Indian Nations Conference 

– http://www.ovcinc.org/home 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

Data Archiving Requirements 

Data Archiving Requirements 

– National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) 

• https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/NACJD/index.html 

• Why are data archived? 

– To increase transparency; 

– To preserve data; and 

– To support new research aimed at reproducing original findings, replicating 

results, and testing new hypotheses. 

• Who can access these data? 

– Individuals with a documented legitimate research purpose 

• Tribal Data Access and Ownership Agreements 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
APPLICATION PROCESS 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

Application Checklist | Requirements 

– See pages 12, 33-34 of the solicitation 

• What an Application Should Include: 

– Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424) 

– Project Abstract 

– Program Narrative (critical element)* 

– Budget Detail Worksheet & Narrative (critical elements)* 

– Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (if applicable) 

– Tribal Authorizing Resolution or Executive Order (critical elements)* 

– Financial Management and System of Internal Controls Questionnaire 

– Disclosure of Lobbying Activities (SF-LLL) 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

Application Checklist | Requirements 

– See pages 12, 33-34 of the solicitation 

• Additional Attachments 

– Applicant Disclosure of Pending Applications 

– Curriculum vitae or résumé (critical element)* 

– Research and Evaluation Independence and Integrity 

– Request and Justification for Employee Compensation; Waiver 

(if applicable) 

– Complete list of the individuals named or otherwise identified 

anywhere in the application 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

Application Submission 

• Grants.gov 

– Registering in advance of deadline 

– Acquire a unique entity identifier (currently, a DUNS number). 

– Acquire or maintain registration with SAM 

– Submit application packet at least 72 hours prior to deadline 

– Workspace 

– Mandatory and Optional Attachments 

• Files labeled to describe the file being attached (e.g., program 

narrative) 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
Recommended Grant Resources 

• OJP Funding Resource Center 

– https://ojp.gov/funding/index.htm 

• 2019 OJP Grant Application Resource Guide 

– https://ojp.gov/funding/Apply/Resources/Grant-App-Resource-Guide.htm 

• DOJ Grants Financial Guide 

– https://ojp.gov/financialguide/DOJ/index.htm 

• DOJ Grants Financial Management Online Training 

– https://ojpfgm.webfirst.com/ 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

Application and Award Timeline 

• Solicitation closing date – May 13, 2019 at 11:59 PM EDT 

• Basic Minimal Review – May 14-17, 2019 

– Notification to non-BMR applicants – May 31, 2019 

• External and Internal Peer Review – May to July 2019 

• Funding Decisions – June/July 2019 

• Award Processing – July to September 2019 

• Award Announcements – August to October 2019 

• Project Start Date – No sooner than January 1, 2020 

– Project Period – Not to exceed 18 months (not renewable) 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
DISCUSSION 

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

 

National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Response Center 

Application Assistance and Support 

https://www.ncjrs.gov 

• Provides solicitation support and general assistance. 

• Links to all current OJP funding opportunities. 

• Funding Notices - subscribe to receive email notifications of new opportunities: 

– Sign up to receive the bi-weekly JUSTINFO newsletter as well as the weekly Funding News From NCJRS email. 

– Be sure to select “Grants/funding” as an area of interest in your NCJRS registration profile when you subscribe. 

• email - grants@ncjrs.gov 

• web chat - https://webcontact.ncjrs.gov/ncjchat/chat.jsp 

• toll free at 800–851–3420; 

• TTY at 301–240–6310 (hearing impaired only) 

The NCJRS Response Center hours of operation are 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday through Friday. 

NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation 
 

 

 

 

Application Assistance 

Grants.gov 

• Provides technical assistance with submitting an application: 

• Customer Support Hotline – 800-518-4726 or 606-545-5035 

• The Grants.gov Support Hotline operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except on federal 

holidays. 

• Email 

• support@grants.gov 

Website 

• https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html 

• Provides information on available federal funding opportunities for various federal agencies. 
NIJ FY19 Tribal-Researcher Capacity Building Grants Solicitation