The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), seeks applications for research and evaluation studies to produce practical knowledge that has the potential to improve the examination and interpretation of physical evidence in forensic science laboratories across the community of practice.
Donor Name: National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
State: All States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/10/2022
Size of the Grant: $1,500,000
Grant Duration: 5 years
Details:
OJP is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community. The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is authorized to conduct or authorize multi-year and short-term research and development concerning the criminal justice system and related aspects of the civil justice systems. With this solicitation, NIJ seeks proposals for rigorous research and evaluation projects that will:
- Identify and inform the forensic community of best practices through the evaluation of existing laboratory protocols; and/or
- Have a direct and immediate impact on laboratory efficiency and assist in making laboratory policy decisions.
Goals and Objectives
NIJ’s Research and Evaluation for the Testing and Interpretation of Physical Evidence in Publicly Funded Forensic Laboratories program is intended to meet the following goals and objectives. Proposals should address at least one of the goals specified below:
- Assessing Existing Laboratory Protocols – Improve the understanding of scientific rationale underpinning existing laboratory processes. To achieve this goal, applicants should perform research and evaluation of existing laboratory schemes and methods to determine possible improvements. Examples of such projects include:
- Evaluation of minimum acceptance criteria of analytical data, such as mass spectra, generated in case samples.
- Evaluation of accuracy gained from additional orthogonal testing of controlled substance samples.
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of a blind verification program for technical reviews.
- Evaluation of the implementation of software and statistical methods used for the interpretation of DNA mixtures.
- Evaluating Emerging Methods – Assess the value of emerging laboratory processes. To achieve this goal, applicants should conduct research to compare emerging methods to those currently used to accomplish the same purpose in publicly funded forensic laboratories. These evaluations should consider factors such as accuracy, reliability, cost, and analysis time. Examples of such projects include:
- Comparison of a newly developed comprehensive method to existing multi-step method(s).
- Comparison of methodology or instrumentation new to the laboratory or field to instrumentation that is currently used in the laboratory in order to investigate relative form factors such as accuracy, reliability, cost, analysis time, etc.
Funding Information
- Anticipated Total Amount to be Awarded Under Solicitation – $1,500,000.00.
Grant Period
Period of Performance Duration (Months) – 60.
Eligibility Criteria
- City or township governments, County governments, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Small businesses, Special district governments, State governments.
- For purposes of this solicitation, “state” means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
