The Children’s Advocacy Center model was developed in the 1980s to improve the response to child abuse. CACs are designed to coordinate a multidisciplinary response to child abuse and reduce the additional stress on child abuse victims and families created by the investigation process. CACs provide a centralized child-friendly environment in which children and families receive services and support from multiple professionals (e.g., law enforcement officers, child protective services investigators, prosecutors, and mental health and medical providers). Nationwide, 777 CACs were operating in all 50 states and the District of Columbia as of 2014. As shown in figure 1, these local CACs receive support from the following larger organizations within the national CAC network: National Children’s Alliance (NCA)—NCA is a not-for-profit membership organization for CACs whose mission is to promote and support communities in providing a coordinated investigation and comprehensive response to child victims of abuse. NCA is the accrediting body for CACs and state chapters. NCA sets national standards for CACs and provides training, technical assistance, funding, and other support to state chapters and local CACs. Regional CACs—In 1992, amendments to VOCA established the Regional CAC Program—with one regional CAC in each of the four U.S. Census regions. The regional CACs provide training, technical assistance, and other support to state chapters and local CACs. The regional CACs and NCA work collaboratively to develop and improve CACs across the country. Each regional CAC is hosted by a local CAC. The current hosts are the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance (Northeast Regional CAC), the National Children’s Advocacy Center (Southern Regional CAC), CAC of the Pikes Peak Region (Western Regional CAC), and Children’s Health Care (Midwest Regional CAC), although the hosts have changed since the program began in 1995. State chapters—Forty-nine states have chapters that are accredited by NCA. State chapters assess child abuse trends and victims’ needs within their state. They work with the regional CACs and NCA to provide training and technical assistance that meets the specific needs of CACs within their state. Both the regional CACs and NCA pass through part of their VOCA grant awards to state chapters. From fiscal years 2010 through 2013, OJJDP awarded about $74 million in funding under the following five VOCA grant programs established in response to the Victims of Child Abuse Act. Annual funding ranged from about $23 million in fiscal year 2010 to about $16 million in fiscal year 2013 (see app. II for annual funding awarded under each program). Children’s Advocacy Center Subgrant Program—The largest of the VOCA grant programs, the CAC Subgrant Program funds a national grant program designed to support CACs nationwide. Since the program’s inception, OJJDP has exclusively awarded this grant to NCA. The average annual award amount from fiscal years 2010 through 2013 was $10.6 million. NCA largely passes this funding through to the 49 state CAC chapters. The funding amount differs by state, but on average, NCA provided each state chapter with an annual award of $177,000 from fiscal years 2010 through 2013. The state chapters use some of this funding to support basic operational expenses, and they also further pass through the funds to local CACs. NCA also makes a selected number of awards directly to local CACs. Regional CAC Program—This program supports the four regional CACs, which are exclusively funded through the VOCA grant. From fiscal years 2010 through 2013, OJJDP awarded an average of $1.2 million annually to each regional CAC. The regional CACs use this funding to provide training and technical assistance to existing and developing CACs and state chapters. Each of the regional CACs subawards a portion of its grant funds. From fiscal years 2010 through 2013, the regional CACs subawarded an average of 13 percent of their VOCA grants each year. Primarily, these subawards took the form of annual chapter support grants to the state CAC chapters. These subawards averaged about $7,000, and were often designated for specific expenses related to training and technical assistance. CAC Membership and Accreditation Program—Also awarded exclusively to NCA, this program provides funding to support NCA’s role as a national membership and accreditation organization for CACs and to enable the development and implementation of accreditation standards. The average annual award amount from fiscal years 2010 through 2013 was $886,000. Training and Technical Assistance for Child Abuse Prosecutors—Awarded exclusively to the National District Attorneys Association, this program funds a national training and technical assistance program to enhance the effectiveness of attorneys and others who investigate and prosecute child abuse cases. From fiscal years 2010 through 2012, OJJDP awarded an annual average of $1.5 million to the National District Attorneys Association. OJJDP did not make an award under this program in fiscal year 2013. Training and Technical Assistance for Child Abuse Professionals—Awarded exclusively to the National Children’s Advocacy Center, this program provides funding for the development and implementation of training and technical assistance for child abuse professionals in order to improve the judicial system’s handling of child abuse and neglect cases and the coordinated multidisciplinary investigation of and response to child abuse. From fiscal years 2010 through 2013, OJJDP awarded an annual average of $800,000 to the National Children’s Advocacy Center for this program. OJJDP releases VOCA grant solicitations and interested parties apply—OJJDP awards funding under each of the five VOCA programs through a competitive application process. OJJDP outlines the application process in an annual grant solicitation—the formal announcement of a new funding opportunity and a call for applications. The solicitation also provides applicants with key information about the grant program, such as eligibility requirements, allowable costs, and performance measures. Although VOCA grants are awarded annually, applicants only compete for funding every 3 years. Successful applicants are awarded 12 months’ worth of funding during the initial competition year, and are then invited to apply for two additional 12-month grants under continuation solicitations. The Regional CAC Program solicitation was last competed in fiscal year 2013, and the other four solicitations were last competed in fiscal year 2012. In the past, there has been limited competition for these grant programs. OJJDP uses a peer review process to evaluate applications— OJJDP uses a peer review process to evaluate applications when more than one qualified grant application is submitted. The peer review panel consists of three or more program-area experts (internal or external to DOJ) who review and score applications based on the criteria outlined in the grant solicitation. The peer reviewers’ evaluations are reviewed by the grant manager, who then writes a funding recommendation memo. The peer review process serves an advisory function, as DOJ retains the final decision regarding funding. According to OJJDP officials, in noncompete years, this peer review process is not used, since only existing grantees are eligible for continuation funding. Instead, applications are reviewed by a program manager and OJP’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) to ensure solicitation requirements are met and that the grantee is in good financial standing. OCFO must approve grantee budgets—Once DOJ has selected the applicants to receive funding, OCFO must review and approve the proposed project budgets that grantees submit with their application packets before the grantees can begin expending their funds. In consultation with OJJDP, OCFO reviews the budget to ensure that project costs are accurately explained, and to determine whether costs are reasonable, necessary, and allowable under applicable federal cost principles, agency regulations, and solicitation guidelines. Grantees must comply with several reporting requirements— During the grant performance period, OCFO and OJJDP are responsible for financial and programmatic monitoring of VOCA grantees. To accomplish this oversight, and in accordance with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance, grantees must submit the following periodic reports: Federal financial reports—Filed quarterly, these reports provide information on grant funds expended and remaining. Semi-annual progress reports—Filed semiannually, the progress reports include both narrative information and quantitative performance measures. Narrative progress reports—VOCA grantees must submit a narrative progress report that outlines the grant activities completed during the reporting period. Data Collection and Technical Assistance Tool (DCTAT)—In conjunction with the narrative progress reports, VOCA grantees are to electronically input quantitative performance data using OJJDP’s DCTAT, a standardized reporting tool that all OJJDP grantees use. Grantees must expend funds within the project period or obtain a no-cost grant extension—VOCA grantees have a 12-month project period in which to expend their grant funds. If grant funds remain unexpended at the end of the project period, they are returned to OJJDP unless OJJDP provides the grantee with a no-cost grant extension. OJJDP has several administrative review and approval processes in place that have contributed to delays in VOCA grantees’ ability to begin spending their funds, and OJJDP may have set an unrealistic project period in light of the time it takes to complete these processes. We found that none of the VOCA awards included in our review was fully expended at the end of the original 12-month project period. Specifically, for the 28 VOCA awards included in our review, we found that grantees had expended an average of 18.4 percent of their award by the end of their original 12-month project period. We identified several grant requirements and related administrative processes that delayed when VOCA grantees were able to begin expending their grant funds.