(1) Employees of the Center or of recipients 
shall not at any time intentionally identify the Cen-
ter or the recipient with any partisan or nonpartisan 
political activity associated with a political party or 
association, or the campaign of any candidate for 
public or party office. 
(2) Employees of the Center and staff attorneys 
shall be deemed to be State or local employees for 
purposes of chapter 15 of title 5, except that no 
staff attorney may be a candidate in a partisan po-
litical election. 
SEC. 8. GRANTS AND CONTRACTS. 
(a) CENTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AUTHORIZED TO 
MAKE GRANTS AND ENTER INTO CONTRACTS.—The Ex-
ecutive Director of the Center is authorized to make 
grants and enter into contracts under this Act. 
(b) GRANTS DESCRIBED.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Center shall make 
grants to State or local governments and public de-
fense systems that supplement, not supplant, other 
available resources for the purpose of improving or 
establishing public defense systems. 
(2) TERM.—The term of a grant under this 
section shall be 2 or 3 years, as determined by the 
Center. 
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(3) RENEWAL.—A grant recipient under this 
Act may renew such grant by submitting an applica-
tion to the Executive Director of the Center at such 
time, in such manner, and containing such informa-
tion as the Executive Director may reasonably re-
quire, including an assessment of such recipient’s 
compliance with or progress toward achieving the 
quality standards that the Center develops under 
subsection (e). 
(c) PROGRAM EVALUATION.—The Center shall mon-
itor and evaluate and provide for independent evaluations 
of programs supported in whole or in part under this Act 
to ensure that the provisions of this Act and the bylaws 
of the Center and applicable rules, regulations, and guide-
lines promulgated pursuant to this Act are carried out. 
(d) PUBLIC NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 30 days 
prior to the approval of any grant application or prior to 
entering into a contract or prior to the initiation of any 
other project, the Center shall announce publicly, and 
shall notify the Governor, the State bar association of any 
State, and the principal local bar associations (if there be 
any) of any community, where public defense services will 
thereby be initiated, of such grant, contract, or project. 
Notification shall include a reasonable description of the 
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grant application or proposed contract or project and re-
quest comments and recommendations. 
(e) QUALITY STANDARDS.—The Center shall develop 
and make publicly available standards for the quality of 
public defense services, which the Center shall use to as-
sess the success of a recipient in improving a public de-
fense system. 
(f) ONLINE DATABASE.—The Center shall establish 
and maintain a database that shall be publicly available 
online, and shall include the contact information for all 
public defense systems in every State. 
(g) REGIONAL BACKUP SERVICE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Center shall establish 
regional backup service centers to assist public de-
fense systems. 
(2) SERVICES.—The services provided at such 
centers shall include— 
(A) providing attorneys engaged in public 
defense services with access to qualified inves-
tigators and sentencing mitigation specialists; 
(B) providing information to public defense 
systems about grants that are available to 
them, and providing assistance and guidance to 
public defense systems that apply for such 
grants; and 
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(C) other services that the Center deter-
mines are appropriate. 
(3) LOCATIONS.—The Center shall determine 
the locations of the regional backup service centers, 
and the geographic region that each center is re-
sponsible for serving. 
(h) REQUISITES.—With respect to grants or con-
tracts in connection with the provision of public defense 
services under this Act, the following shall apply: 
(1) PROFESSIONAL
STANDARDS.—The Center 
shall ensure the maintenance of the highest quality 
of service and professional standards, the preserva-
tion of attorney-client relationships, and the protec-
tion of the integrity of the adversary process from 
any impairment in furnishing public defense serv-
ices. 
(2) ECONOMICAL AND EFFECTIVE DELIVERY OF 
PUBLIC DEFENSE SERVICES.—The Center shall en-
sure that grants and contracts are made so as to 
provide the most economical and effective delivery of 
public defense services to persons in both urban and 
rural areas. 
(3) OUTSIDE PRACTICE OF LAW PROHIBITED.— 
The Center shall ensure that attorneys employed full 
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time in public defense services activities supported in 
major part by the Center refrain from— 
(A) any compensated outside practice of 
law; and 
(B) any uncompensated outside practice of 
law except as authorized in guidelines promul-
gate by the Center. 
(4) CONTINUATION OF FUNDING.—The Center 
may provide interim funding necessary to maintain 
current level of activities for any grantee, contractor, 
or person or entity receiving financial assistance 
under this Act that files with the Center a timely 
application for refunding until— 
(A) the application for refunding has been 
approved and funds pursuant thereto received; 
or 
(B) the application for refunding has been 
denied in accordance with section 11. 
SEC. 9. RECORDS AND REPORTS. 
(a) AUTHORITY TO REQUIRE REPORTS.—The Center 
is authorized to require such reports as it deems necessary 
from any grantee, contractor, person, or entity receiving 
financial assistance under this Act regarding activities 
carried out pursuant to this Act. 
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