NIJ FY 2023 Invited to Apply - Support Activities under Section 13(d) of Executive Order 14074 | O NIJ 2023 171870

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2023 171870

The NIJ FY 2023 Invited to Apply grant is a discretionary research and development award from the Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), created under the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). It is designed to support activities tied to Section 13(d) of Executive Order 14074, with an emphasis on strengthening public trust and accountability in the justice system while advancing civil rights and racial equity. The opportunity sits within OJP's broader mission of increasing access to justice, supporting victims and individuals affected by the justice system, improving community safety, and protecting the public from evolving crime and technology-related threats.

At its core, the solicitation funds a study of how law enforcement agencies are using several advanced and sometimes controversial technologies and analytic approaches. On the forensic side, the grant supports work examining probabilistic genotyping, which uses statistical models to help interpret complex DNA mixtures; forensic DNA phenotyping, which attempts to infer certain physical traits or ancestry-related information from DNA; and forensic investigative genetic genealogy, which uses genetic data and genealogy methods to generate investigative leads, often by looking for relatives in genealogy databases. On the policing strategy side, it also covers person-based predictive policing approaches, meaning methods that attempt to forecast individuals who may be at elevated risk of involvement in future crime events, whether as potential offenders or victims. The purpose is not simply technical performance evaluation, but to understand law enforcement use in practice in the context of the policy direction laid out in Executive Order 14074, including potential implications for rights, equity, oversight, and community confidence.

The award structure reflects a targeted, limited competition format. It is labeled "Invited to Apply," which typically indicates NIJ is soliciting an application from a specific eligible entity or a very limited set of entities, rather than running an open competition. Eligibility is listed broadly as "Others," with additional clarification expected in the full solicitation's eligibility section, but the practical reality of an invited competition is that NIJ has already identified who should submit. NIJ anticipated making a single award, with an award ceiling of $650,000, indicating one primary project of moderate size rather than multiple smaller grants.

Administratively, the opportunity is identified as Funding Opportunity Number O-NIJ-2023-171870 and is associated with CFDA 16.560, NIJ's core assistance listing for criminal justice research and evaluation. The solicitation was posted on August 29, 2023, and had an original closing date of September 1, 2023, which is an unusually short window consistent with an invitation-only process. The funding instrument type is a grant, and the activity category is Science and Technology and other Research and Development, signaling that NIJ expects a research-driven deliverable such as an assessment, evaluation, or policy-relevant study rather than direct service delivery or equipment purchasing.

The legal authority behind the program draws from several major federal statutes that underpin DOJ research and justice assistance work: Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (sections 201 and 202), provisions of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (sections 231-233 and 235), and 28 U.S.C. 530C. Together, these authorities support NIJ's role in funding research, technology assessment, and evidence-building efforts that help guide criminal justice policy and practice. In practical terms, this grant is aimed at producing credible findings and recommendations that can help federal stakeholders and the field better understand how these high-impact technologies are being deployed, what safeguards and governance practices exist, and what risks or inequities may arise if they are used without clear standards, transparency, and oversight.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIJ FY 2023 Invited to Apply - Support Activities under Section 13(d) of Executive Order 14074" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.560.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 29, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Sep 01, 2023. (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 $650,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O NIJ 2023 171870

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