OJP Solicitation Template Supporting Statement 2017 Final Revised 09192017 (002)

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 OJP Solicitation Template provides direction and a description of required information to be submitted by potential/eligible applicants. The solicitation notifies and provides information on the content, reporting format, and submission of additional requirements related to the specific grant program.

The purpose of this Substantive Revision is to address revisions to the following four components of the OMB-approved (1121-0329) solicitation template specific to OJP and Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) programs:

• OJP Budget Detail Worksheet (BDW)

• Financial Management and System of Internal Controls Questionnaire (FCQ) – formerly the Financial Capability Questionnaire 1121-0021

• CTAS Tribal Narrative Profile

• CTAS BDW and Demographic Form

The revisions to these forms are discussed below under 15. Reason for Change in Burden.

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 2 CFR Part 200 Uniform 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 was posted in the Federal Register for 60 days at Vol. 82 page # 27724 and 30 days at Vol. 82 page # 38940. No 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.

The collection of the information for the aforementioned forms is not overly burdensome. Approximately 10,000 applicants respond once per year to solicitations developed under the OMB-approved solicitation template. Of that population, the number of respondents for the forms outlined above under 2. Needs and Uses and the calculated burden hours are broken out as follows:

OJP Budget Detail Worksheet (BDW)

Estimated 4,300 respondents x 5 hours = 21,500 Estimated Burden Hours

Financial Management and System of Internal Controls Questionnaire (FCQ) – formerly the Financial Capability Questionnaire 1121-0021

Estimated 3,000 respondents x 2 hours = 6,000 Estimated Burden Hours

Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) Tribal Narrative Profile

Estimated 400 respondents x 1.5 hours = 600 Estimated Burden Hours

CTAS BDW and Demographic Form

Estimated 400 respondents x 5.25 hours = 2,100 Estimated Burden Hours

Burden Hours (forms) = 30,200

Remaining applicant burden (No change) = 319,088

Total Burden = 349,288

13. Estimate of Cost Burden for Respondents

OJP estimates that using the new BDW, FCQ, CTAS Tribal Narrative Profile, and CTAS BDW and Demographic Form imposes minimal costs on respondents. All forms are web-based and require internet access. 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 completion of the attachments incurs no special fees from respondents. The use of web-based forms 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

There will be no costs beyond the normal labor costs for staff.

15. Reason for Change in Burden

Although the aforementioned forms have been listed as revised documents, essentially, the burden will not change. The OJP BDW “consultant/contracts” section has been broken out into two separate sections, “subrecipient/subgrants” and “procurement contracts” to better categorize the details of proposed consultants. Updated and clearer guidance will also be added to better explain how to complete the BDW and the level of detail required in each section. Although the level of detail has changed, the BDW is also being streamlined and automated with the intent of reducing the burden on public submissions. The current PDF format will be converted to Excel, providing ease of entry and more accurate detail of budget information.

The CTAS Tribal Community and Justice Profile is designed to allow the tribe to describe its community strengths, resources, challenges, and needs. The applicant may enter as much or as little text as needed to fully describe the community.

The CTAS BDW and Demographic Form align with the OJP BDW streamlining and automation efforts. For CTAS, the entire Excel workbook contains the Demographic Form and a Budget Detail Worksheet with narrative for each individual purpose area. An applicant is required to submit only one workbook; however, multiple worksheets within the workbook may need to be completed based on the applicant’s requests. The Demographic Form is designed to capture the unique characteristics of each tribe in order to paint a more detailed picture of each tribe’s strengths and challenges. Each applicant should complete the form in its entirety. If the applicant is unable to answer all or part of the form, it should provide an explanation for the missing information in the available space.

Finally, the FCQ has been changed to clarify existing approved questions and also to include questions around OJP’s implementation of its pre-award risk process, as required by 2 C.F.R. Part 200. One question regarding executive compensation that is also required by legislation and was already part of the approved OJP solicitation template had required the applicant to submit a separate email response to OJP. However, adding it to the FCQ will save the applicant time and effort.

16. Anticipated Publication Plan and Schedule

There will be no complex analytical techniques used in connection with the publication of information collected under the request. Information will be gathered once a year during the solicitation process.

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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