OJP Solicitation Template Supporting Statement 2012 Final v1

Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office of Audit, Assessment, and Management

Supporting Statement

Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Solicitation Template

1. Justification

1. Necessity of Information Collection

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP) provides innovative leadership to federal, state, local, and tribal justice systems, by disseminating state-of-the art knowledge and practices across America, and providing grants for the implementation of these crime fighting strategies. OJP is composed of five bureaus and one program office, to include the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). The Office of Justice Programs is established at 42 U.S.C. § 3711, and operates under the general authority of the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs, who is authorized to make grants, or enter into cooperative agreements and contracts for the Office and its components. 42 U.S.C. § 3715 note.

The collection of information represented in this Paperwork Reduction Act submission is necessary for OJP to implement its statutory requirements of Public Law 103-62 to maintain a standard template for use of all OJP bureaus and offices in the creation of formula and competitive discretionary program funding opportunities (solicitations) for public announcement. The solicitation template serves as a generic model for fiscal year announcements for OJP grant programs. The template will be used to solicit applications to fund grants to assist state, local, and tribal jurisdictions; for-profit and non-profit organizations; research organizations; and educational institutions, to combat violence against women, to fight internet crimes against children, to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system, to assist victims of crime, and to support youth mentoring.

2. Needs and Uses

The template (See attachment “OJP Solicitation Template final OMB Submission.doc”) provides direction and a description of required information to be submitted by potential/eligible applicants. The following elements are included –

Overview of Program Announced

Deadline: Registration

Deadline: Application

Eligibility

• General Statement of Eligibility in accordance with program authority and/or policy (outlines organizations generally eligible to apply in response to this solicitation)

• Faith-Based and Other Community Organizations

• American Indian Tribes and Alaska Native Tribes and/or Tribal Organizations

Program/Project Specific Information

Performance Measures

Notice of Post-Award FFATA Reporting Compliance

What an Application Should Include

• Information to Complete the Application for Federal Assistance (SF-424)

• Abstract (if applicable) (see attachment “Project Abstract Template.pdf”)

• Program Narrative

• Budget Detail Worksheet and Budget Narrative (see attachment “Budget_Detail_Worksheet - Final.pdf”)

• Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (if applicable)

• Tribal Authorizing Resolution (if applicable)

• Additional Attachments

• Other Standard Forms (located at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/funding/forms.htm)

Selection Criteria

Review Process

Additional Requirements (located at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/funding/other_requirements.htm)

How to Apply

Feedback to OJP on this Solicitation

Application Checklist

Appendix: Template(s) for Required Certification(s) or other Program-Specific Requirements

The solicitation notifies and provides information on the content, reporting format, and submission of additional requirements related to the specific grant program.

3. Use of Information Technology

Additional information on application requirements, certifications, and assurances is provided through hyperlinks to the OJP website. The application process is managed through the Internet, using OJP’s electronic application system, the Community Partnership Grants Management System (GMS) or the Federal government’s central application system, Grants.gov.

All data collection instruments mentioned in the solicitation, and required as part of the application process, have OMB clearance approval under OMB Control No. 1121-0243.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

Information requested from applicants is specific to OJP grant programs and would not otherwise be collected by other organizations.

5. Methods to Minimize Burden on Small Businesses

The GMS and grants.gov systems provide benefits to small business and other small sized entities relating to their record-keeping capabilities. GMS provides a centralized location to locate and manage all of the information about their OJP grants. Grants.gov provides a centralized location to locate and apply for grant funding opportunities.

6. Consequences of Not Conducting or Less Frequent Collection

The solicitation template provides a standardized format and agency-approved language governing the pre- and post-award grant as required by OMB guidance and statutory provisions of the OJP grant programs. The non-collection of data would prohibit OJP from carrying out its mission to solicit applications and award grants for criminal and juvenile justice and victim assistance programs as well as to conduct proper oversight and statutorily required post monitoring of awards.

7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances that would require the applicant to provide information under any of the described methods.

8. Public Comments

A notice has been posted in the Federal Register for 60 and 30 days, pages [7812] and [22559]. on February 4, 2013 and on April 16, 2013, two public comments were received.

9. Payments and/or Gifts to Respondents

There is neither payment nor gifts given to respondents outside of merited funding.

10. Assurances of Confidentiality

All information on the collection tool is collected in accordance with the Privacy Act. Any release of information will conform to the stipulations of the Privacy Act Authorization for Release Information. Only those individuals with a valid identification and password are authorized to access their personal information. A Privacy Notice is displayed on the GMS sign-in page.  The GMS Privacy Impact Assessment is available below

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

No sensitive questions are asked of the respondents.

12. Estimate of Hourly Burden on Respondents.

It is estimated that information will be collected annually from approximately 15,604 grant applicants. Annual cost to the respondents is based on the number of hours involved in preparing and submitting a complete application package. Mandatory requirements for an application include the Program Narrative and Budget Detail Worksheet and Budget Narrative (formerly 1121-0188). Optional requirements can be imposed depending on the type of program to include, but not limited to: project abstract, indirect cost rate agreement, tribal authorizing resolution, timelines, logic models, memoranda of understanding, letters of support, resumes, disclosure of pending applications, and statements of research and evaluation independence and integrity. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated at 22 hours per application. The 22-hour estimate is based on the amount of time to prepare an average application solicited by OJP which includes a majority of the sections listed under “2. Needs and Uses”, and the time to complete the Budget Detail Worksheet and Budget Narrative. The estimate of burden hours is based on OJP’s prior experience with the typical application submission process.

Estimated 15,604 applications received x 22 hours = 343,288 Estimated Total Burden Hours

13. Estimate of Cost Burden for Respondents

OJP estimates that using GMS imposes minimal costs on respondents. GMS is web-based and requires internet access. Respondents’ time to prepare and submit information is represented in burden hours captured in item 12. For those respondents that do not have internet access, public internet access can be used (e.g., public libraries, facilities offering free internet access). The GMS incurs no special fees from respondents The use of an automated system also yields cost savings to respondents as the effort and cost spent on paper-based reporting would be significantly higher to respondents due to the costs of production of a paper form, postal service, and other necessities of a paper-based system.

14. Annualized Cost to the Federal Government

Federal government employees involved in the solicitation development process spend an average of 34 hours a year drafting a solicitation document for approval to post to the public and answer any questions from applicants during the time in which the announcement is open. OJP develops approximately 190 solicitations each fiscal year. All other federal staff work on submitted applications is allocated in the submission for GMS under OMB 1121-0243.

190 new solicitations x 34 hours = 6,460 annual hours

The estimated hourly rate for an OJP employee (GS/12-1) including benefits is $42.66.

6,460 hours x $42.66 = $275,583

Personnel and Benefits $ 275,583

Staff Overtime $ 0

Operations & Maintenance $ 0

Total Cost to the Federal Government $ 275,583

15. Reason for Change in Burden

The increase in applications received is a result of the continual increase in application submissions OJP receives each year. The decrease in burden hours is a result of OJP reevaluating the number of hours to develop a typical OJP application. Previously reported applicant burden hours used the number of hours estimated for an applicant to complete a research or evaluation application, as this type of application would generally be the . the most time consuming. Because these represent a very small percentage of applications OJP receives, OJP recalculated the burden hours to represent the time it takes to complete a typical application OJP estimates this burden to be 20 hours. Previous hours associated with the Budget Detail Worksheet and Budget Narrative (1121-0188) was 4 burden hours. However, with the automation of the Budget Detail Worksheet and Budget Narrative and help and tutorial features included in the file, we have reduced the previous 4 burden hours to 2 burden hours under this collection. In summary, although the burden hours for an applicant have been reduced, the number of applications OJP receives has increased steadily over the years, resulting in the overall number of burden hours increasing.

16. Anticipated Publication Plan and Schedule

All OJP competitive discretionary solicitations will be published on Grants.gov. All other (i.e. formula) OJP open funding solicitations are posted on http://www.ojp.gov/funding/solicitations.htm. As required under the Transparency Act, OJP provides all funding decisions to USASpending.gov for public posting.

17. Display of Expiration Date

OJP is prepared to display all expiration dates.

18. Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission

OJP has no exceptions to the certification statement.

2. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

OJP does not collect information employing statistical methods.

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