FY2022 Census of Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies and Census of Tribal Court Systems | O BJS 2022 171271

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJS 2022 171271

The FY2022 Census of Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies and Census of Tribal Court Systems is a Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) funding opportunity under the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), aimed at collecting and improving national data on tribal justice systems. The core purpose is to carry out a federal mandate created by the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010, which directs BJS to establish and implement a tribal data collection system (Public Law 111-211). In practical terms, this grant supports a comprehensive, structured effort to gather consistent information from tribal law enforcement agencies and tribal court systems so that policymakers, tribal leaders, practitioners, and researchers have reliable data to better understand capacity, operations, needs, and trends across tribal justice institutions.

The work funded through this cooperative agreement centers on running two related national censuses: the Census of Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies (CTLEA) and the Census of Tribal Court Systems (CTCS). These data collections are intended to strengthen the evidence base behind OJP priorities such as advancing civil rights and racial equity, improving access to justice, supporting victims and people impacted by the justice system, enhancing community safety, responding to evolving public safety threats, and building trust between law enforcement and communities. Because tribal nations and their justice systems vary widely in structure, geography, staffing, jurisdictional environment, and resources, the project emphasizes careful design and engagement to ensure the data collection is accurate, respectful, and useful.

The funded project is structured around a full survey life cycle. It begins with convening an expert panel and conducting stakeholder engagement, which is meant to bring in tribal perspectives and technical expertise to shape what information is collected and how questions are asked. The next major component is developing the CTLEA and CTCS questionnaires, ensuring the instruments capture relevant operational details while remaining feasible for agencies and courts to complete. The project also requires updating the universe frames, meaning the recipient must maintain and improve the underlying lists of eligible tribal law enforcement agencies and tribal court systems that should be included in each census. After preparation, the awardee will field the CTLEA and CTCS, carrying out outreach, administration, and follow-up to maximize participation and data quality. Once responses are collected, the project includes cleaning and validating the data to resolve errors, confirm consistency, and produce datasets that can support analysis. The final deliverables include raw data files, final cleaned datasets, and documentation so BJS can use the results and make them interpretable for future users.

Administratively, this is a discretionary funding opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number: O-BJS-2022-171271) and the funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates substantial federal involvement in the project through collaboration, guidance, and shared decision-making during key stages. The activity category is Information and Statistics under CFDA number 16.734. BJS expected to make a single award, with an award ceiling of $1,500,000. The opportunity was posted on April 15, 2022, with an original closing date of June 9, 2022.

Eligible applicants are broad and include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)), for-profit organizations other than small businesses, and small businesses. In effect, BJS is open to partnering with universities, research organizations, and other capable entities that can demonstrate the technical capacity to design and administer national-level censuses, manage secure data workflows, conduct rigorous quality assurance, and produce well-documented datasets suitable for government statistical use.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics in the information and statistics sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY2022 Census of Tribal Law Enforcement Agencies and Census of Tribal Court Systems" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.734.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 15, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 09, 2022. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, 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, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for O BJS 2022 171271

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