[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 131 (Tuesday, July 9, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41086-41088]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-16484]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
National Institute of Corrections
Solicitation for a Cooperative Agreement--Children of
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest Through Pre-Adjudication
AGENCY: National Institute of Corrections, U.S. Department of Justice.
ACTION: Solicitation for a cooperative agreement.
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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is soliciting
proposals from organizations, groups, or individuals to enter into a
cooperative agreement for an 18-month period to begin no later than
September 15, 2013. Work under this cooperative agreement will involve
the development of a guiding framework document of promising practices
regarding children
[[Page 41087]]
of incarcerated parents. This project will examine the points of the
criminal justice continuum from arrest and jail incarceration through
the pre-adjudication phase; including: Pretrial, release, diversion,
guilty adjudication, and reentry from local jails and how each of the
decisions made throughout the pre-adjudication phase in the criminal
justice system impacts this population. The project will further
identify and highlight innovations and promising practices that have
shown to positively impact children of incarcerated parents. This
project will be a collaborative venture with the NIC Community Services
Division.
NIC Opportunity Number: 13CS22. This number should appear in the
reference line in your cover letter, on Standard Form 424 in section 11
with the title of your proposal, and in the right justified header of
your proposal.
Number of Awards and Funds Available: Under this solicitation, one
(1) award will be made. The total amount of funds available under this
solicitation is $150,000.00. Funds awarded under this solicitation may
only be used for activities directly related to the project as
described herein unless otherwise amended in writing by NIC.
Applications: All applicants must be submitted electronically via
http://www.grants.gov. Hand delivered, mailed, faxed, or emailed
applications will not be accepted.
DATES: Application must be submitted before midnight on Wednesday, July
31, 2013.
Authority: Pub. L. 93-415.
Eligibility of Applicants: An eligible applicant is any public or
private agency, educational institution, organization, individual, or
team with expertise in the described areas.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
NIC has worked closely with Federal, state and local jails,
prisons, community corrections on a broad range of projects ranging
from operational to research and innovation. Regarding Children of
Incarcerated Parents, in December, 2000, Congress appropriated funds to
the Department of Justice (DOJ), National Institute of Corrections
(NIC) ``to work with cooperative agreements to fund private sector or
not for profit groups that have effective, tested programs to help
children of prisoners.'' To prepare for this solicitation, NIC convened
a Children of Prisoner's planning meeting, inviting federal and state
government, association, academic, and private provider
representatives. Solicitations were announced in five (5) categories
and eleven (11) awards were made. At the completion of the project, the
National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) conducted an overall
process evaluation and identified a series of recommendations specific
to program development delivery and sustainability. Throughout the past
decade rates of incarceration have increased and the sheer number of
children impacted by parental incarceration has risen. A number of
organizations and individuals have focused attention on this issue,
however, less so from the criminal justice perspective. This
solicitation for cooperative agreement will examine the points of the
criminal justice continuum from arrest and jail incarceration through
the pre-adjudication phase; including: Pretrial, release, diversion,
guilty adjudication, and reentry from local jails and how each of the
decisions made throughout, impact children of incarcerated parents. We
are seeking organizations, groups, or individuals to identify and
address the gaps of information that is in the local criminal justice
system(s) in a document that can be used to improve practices during
pre-adjudication and jail reentry.
Scope of Work: The intent of this solicitation is for the awardee
to develop a guiding framework document of promising practices
regarding children of incarcerated parents, from a criminal justice
perspective. It is anticipated that in developing the framework
document, the applicant will have strong familiarity with the criminal
justice and social service systems. The awardee will demonstrate in the
application the ability to complete all tasks outlined in the
deliverables and project management and staffing plans commensurate
with the project time frame. If consultants or partnerships are
proposed, provide reasonable justification for inclusion. The proposed
budget should be realistic and provide an adequate cost detail outline
that represents accurate value in relation to the anticipated results.
In addition, the awardee will research and identify up to four (4)
sites that have demonstrated success with promising practices that can
be incorporated into the framework document. This document will serve
as a guideline for stakeholders, e.g., law enforcement, correctional
agencies, court system, prosecutors, pretrial officers, and social
services which demonstrate the importance of collaboration and
highlight innovative practices for children of incarcerated parents
from the point of arrest through the pre-adjudication phase of the
continuum. The awardee will also create relevant materials to be used
for educating stakeholders through the NIC Web site or at conference
workshops and training sessions. Upon being awarded this solicitation,
the awardee will meet with the project manager to discuss the
expectations of the project and provide answers to any questions
pertaining to the scope of work.
Deliverables: Project deliverables include (1) Conduct a review of
existing literature and current research for Children of Incarcerated
Parents and identify best and or promising practices; (2) Research and
identify up to 4 sites that have demonstrated measured success with
innovative and promising practices for Children of Incarcerated
Parents. While onsite, engage stakeholders and translate lessons
learned into the framework document. Stakeholders may include, but not
be limited to: Law enforcement agencies, correctional agencies, court
systems, prosecutors, pre-trial officers, and social services. The
awardee is responsible for making and funding travel arrangements for
onsite travel; (3) Development of a framework document that guides
criminal justice organizations and related stakeholders with developing
and implementing policies and practices to strengthen the bonds between
criminal justice involved parents and children, i.e., a reentry
process, that will focus on the decision points throughout the
continuum from arrest through pre-adjudication to release and the
impact on children at each of these points. Ensure that materials
submitted are within guidelines listed at the end of this document; and
(4) Prepare a PowerPoint presentation and other relevant materials that
can be utilized at conference workshops or in local jurisdictions. The
awardee will be required to provide project updates through scheduled
quarterly meetings with NIC via conference call.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: All technical or programmatic
questions concerning this announcement should be directed to Greg
Crawford, Correctional Program Specialist, National Institute of
Corrections who may be reached by email at [email protected]. In
addition to the direct reply, all questions and responses will be
posted on NIC's Web site at www.nicic.gov for public review (the names
or affiliations of those submitting questions will not be posted). The
Web site will be updated regularly and postings will remain on the Web
site until the closing date of this cooperative agreement solicitation.
[[Page 41088]]
Application Requirements: Application Requirements: Applications
should be typed, double spaced, in 12-point font, and reference the
project by the ``NIC Opportunity Number'' 13CS22 and title in this
announcement, ``Children of Incarcerated Parents: Arrest Through Pre-
Adjudication''. The package must include: A cover letter that
identifies the audit agency responsible for the applicant's financial
accounts as well as the audit period or fiscal year that the applicant
operates under (e.g., July 1 through June 30); a concisely written
program narrative, not to exceed 30 numbered pages, in response to the
statement of work, and a detailed budget with a budget narrative
explaining projected costs. Applicants may submit a description of the
project teams' qualifications and expertise relevant to the project,
but should not attach lengthy resumes. Attachments to the proposal
describing your organization or examples of other past work beyond
those specifically requested above are discouraged. These attachments
should not exceed 5MB.
The following forms must also be included: OMB Standard Form 424,
Application for Federal Assistance; OMB Standard Form 424A, Budget
information--Non-Construction Programs; OMB Standard Form 424B,
Assurances--Non-Construction Programs (these forms are available at
http://www.grants.gov) and DOJ/NIC Certification Regarding Lobbying;
Debarment, Suspension and Other Responsibility Matters; and the Drug-
Free Workplace Requirements (available at http://nicic.gov/Downloads/General/certif-frm.pdf. Failure to supply all required forms with the
application package may result in disqualification of the application
from consideration.
Note: NIC will not award a cooperative agreement to an applicant
who does not have a Dun and Bradstreet Database Universal Number
(DUNS) and is not registered in the Central Contractor Registry
(CCR).
A DUNS number can be received at no cost by calling the dedicated
toll-free DUNS number request line at 1-800-333-0505 (if you are a sole
proprietor, you would dial 1-866-705-5711 and select option 1).
Registration in the CRR can be done online at the CCR Web site:
http://www.bpn.gov/ccr. A CCR Handbook and worksheet can also be
reviewed at the Web site.
Review Considerations: Applications received under this
announcement will be subject to the NIC Review Process. Proposals which
fail to provide sufficient information to allow evaluation under the
criteria below may be judged non-responsive and disqualified.
The criteria for the evaluation of each application will be as
follows:
Programmatic (40%)
Are all of the project tasks adequately discussed? Is there a clear
statement of how each task will be accomplished, to include the overall
project goal(s), major tasks to achieve the goal(s), the strategies to
be employed in completing the tasks, required staffing, and other
required resources? Are there any approaches, techniques, or design
aspects proposed that are innovative and will enhance the project?
Organizational (35%)
Do the proposed project staff members possess the skills,
knowledge, and expertise necessary to complete the tasks listed under
the scope of work? Does the applicant organization, group, or
individual have the organizational capacity to complete all project
tasks? Does the proposal contain project management and staffing plans
that are realistic and sufficient to complete the project within the
project time frame?
Project Management/Administration (25%)
Does the applicant identify reasonable objectives and/or milestones
that reflect the key tasks, and measures to track progress? If
consultants and/or partnerships are proposed, is there a reasonable
justification for their inclusion in the project, and a clear structure
to ensure effective coordination? Is the proposed budget realistic,
does it provide a sufficient cost detail/narrative, and does it
represent good value relative to the anticipated results?
Specific Requirements: Documents or other media that are produced
under this award must follow these guidelines: Prior to the preparation
of the final draft of any document or other media, the awardee must
consult with NIC's Writer/Editor concerning the acceptable formats for
manuscript submissions and the technical specifications for electronic
media. For all awards in which a document will be a deliverable, the
awardee must follow the guidelines listed herein, as well as follow the
Guidelines for Preparing and Submitting Manuscripts for Publication as
found in the ``General Guidelines for Cooperative Agreements,'' which
can be found on our Web site at www.nicic.gov/cooperativeagreements.
All final documents and other materials submitted under this
project must meet the federal government's requirement for Section 508
accessibility, including those provisions outlined in 1194 Subpart B,
Technical Provisions, Subpart C, Functional Performance Criteria; and
Subpart D, Documentation and Support, NIC's government product
accessibility template (see www.nicic.gov/section508) outlines the
agency's minimum criteria for meeting this requirement; a completed
form attesting to the accessibility of project deliverables should
accompany all submissions.
The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) should be entered
into box 10 of the SF 424. The CFDA number for this solicitation is
16.602, Research and Policy Formulation. You are not subject to
Executive Order 12372 and should check box b under section 16.
Robert M. Brown, Jr.,
Acting Director, National Institute of Corrections.
[FR Doc. 2013-16484 Filed 7-8-13; 8:45 am]
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