FY24 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program—Local Solicitation

Transcript also available as a PDF.

DARYL FOX: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to today’s webinar, “FY 2024 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (or JAG) Program–Local Solicitation.” At this time, it’s my pleasure to introduce today’s speakers to begin the presentation.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: Hi. My name is Tarasa Napolitano. I will be presenting today along with my colleague, Wai White. We are the leads for the JAG program, and we will be going through the JAG program solicitation today to bring you an overview of what the solicitation covers and give you an overview of the program and some of the features that the solicitation entails. So with that, we will go ahead and get started.

The agenda today: some of the highlights are introduction and overview of who OJP is and who BJA is; an overview of the JAG program; any eligibility and application requirements pertaining to JAG; any application resources; and then, at the end, we will hopefully have some time for your questions. And if you have questions ongoing throughout the presentation, as Daryl mentioned, please don’t hesitate to put them in the Q&A section. We do have people online right now that can respond to those ongoing throughout the presentation.

With that, we’ll go ahead and start. We have the introduction to who OJP is. OJP stands for the Office of Justice Programs. At the federal government, we love our acronyms. And as you can see, here’s a slew of them. The Office of Justice Programs—actually, the goal is to provide grant funding, training, research, and statistics to the criminal justice community. And we do that through these six components. BJA is one of the six components at OJP. And OJP is actually one of three grant-making components of the Department of Justice. The other two are the Office on Violence Against Women and the COPS Office [Office of Community Oriented Policing Services]. Many of you might also have grants through those grant-making components as well.

The Department of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Assistance mission is to provide leadership and services in grant administration and criminal justice policy development to support state, local, and tribal strategies to achieve safer communities. BJA works with communities, governments, and nonprofit organizations to reduce crime, recidivism, and unnecessary confinement, and promote a safe and fair criminal justice system.

You can see a link to our main BJA website here on the screen. This is being recorded. This webinar is being recorded and we will be posting it. So you will be able to access these links as well. Our director is Karhlton Moore, he is from the Ohio SAA, it stands for the State Administering Agency, in Ohio.

How BJA supports the field. BJA supports the field in many different ways. One is through grant funding, obviously. We provide diverse funding through many different ways to accomplish a diverse set of goals. Another way is by sharing knowledge through research development and so forth. And then obviously, engaging with the community through consulting and connecting and different types of convening.

And this leads us to our first poll question of the presentation. And I think this is really important, considering your attendance today. “Has your organization received JAG funds in the past?” If you could answer this question, either “Yes, my organization has received JAG funds in the past” or “This year will be our first JAG award.” And if you can go ahead and select your answer, we’ll leave it up for a couple seconds and then we’ll close it. We’re about at 60% now. All right. About five more seconds. All right, Daryl, if you could go ahead and close it? All right. Let’s see. So the results. Yes. So, I’m trying to see the results. Daryl, how do I see the results?

DARYL FOX: It’s in that polling tab. Right now, it’s showing that about 60% has, you know, answered yes to that, and then about—well, only 5% said this will be our first, and then 36% no answer. So obviously, quite a majority that has received funds.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: Fantastic. Okay. Great. So majority have received JAG funds, only a few of you have not. So for those of you who have not, this is a great way to learn about it, by attending this webinar. We’re so glad that you’re here. For those of you who have received it in the past, we’re also glad that you’re here. This will be a great refresher. Not a whole lot has changed this year, so that’s always good news. So with that, we’ll go ahead and continue on into the rest of the presentation.

A bit of an overview of the solicitation this year. As you know, the solicitation has been released. It’s currently open and posted on the JAG web page. And you can access it through the link on our web page or the link here through the opportunity ID here. There are two categories. If your award amount is over $25,000, you would be applying under Category 2. If it’s under $25,000, you would be under Category 1. And to find out which category you’re in or what your allocation is, you would click on the allocations link, and then select your state, and then find your local jurisdiction.

You can see there are two deadlines, so be cognizant of that. There is a Grants.gov deadline, which is October 16. And then a second deadline in JustGrants of October 22. So two different deadlines, you do have to meet both, so be cognizant of that.

So what is the Edward Byrne Grant and where did it come from? How did it start? Edward Byrne is actually named after an officer who was killed in the line of duty protecting a witness on a drug case. The program is named after him. And the program itself provides states and tribes and local governments the necessary funding to support a broad range of program areas, and we’ll get to what exactly that is later in the presentation.

Eligibility actually ranges, it changes from year to year. So allocations are going to be different every year. And they’re determined based on an agency’s crime data. So we get the crime data from NIBRS [National Incident-Based Reporting System] and it’s based on a 3-year average. So we do have a fact sheet that goes over some of that, we have a technical report that’s posted on our website. You can access all of that on the JAG web page. And we do have links here as well. That’s a little background about what JAG is, how it began.
JAG is actually the leading source of federal justice funding to state, local, and tribal jurisdictions. And essentially, it has to tie—your program, anything you fund under JAG—has to tie to one of these nine program areas. There are nine. Back in 2022, a ninth program area was added as part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. We added, it’s called SCIP [State Crisis Intervention Program], the ninth purpose area, and about five years ago, we added mental health programs as well for an eighth program area. But essentially, you have to have a nexus to one of these nine program areas in order for your program to be allowable. But as you can see, there’s a very broad scope for any program that you would like to fund under JAG.

Each year, we have in the solicitation areas of emphasis that are posted. And this changes every year. And this is based on administration and department priorities. And they do change from year to year. This year, as you can see, we do focus on prevention and prosecution of hate crimes, election security (given that this is an election year), enhancing justice reform strategies, equity, and violent crime reduction. And you will see a more detailed outline, specifically what these areas of emphasis entail, in the solicitation.

We often get asked what the difference between these two things are. What’s the difference between the areas of emphasis and the program areas? Well, essentially, the program areas are outlined in the statute. We have a statute that is allocated in JAG that says you have to meet—you have to have a nexus tied to one of these program areas. If your program does not tie into one of these program areas, it is unallowable. The areas of emphasis is really just a suggestion. Your program does not have to tie into of these areas, it’s just a suggestion to let you know some of the priorities that the department has highlighted for you and has recommended for you. And they do change year to year. The program areas, they do not change from year to year; they are stagnant, they stay the same every year. And like I said, sometimes we do get one added every now and again, but they do stay consistent from year to year.

So new for FY24. I don’t think this is exactly new for FY24, but for the purposes of JAG, these are just some additional uses that can be used under the JAG program. You can use JAG funds to support Rapid DNA. Although it cannot be used for… it’s important to note that for Rapid DNA, it cannot be used for evidentiary material. And if you do use it for DNA, it has to be uploaded to CODIS [Combined DNA Index System]. So that’s important to note. Let’s see. And with that, I’m going to pass to my colleague, Wai, who’s going to take over the next section, and then I will be back with you shortly to go over some other aspects of the JAG Program.

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: Thank you, Tarasa. I will be reviewing the eligibility and application requirements today. Let’s go ahead and start with a poll question. “Does your organization know how to determine JAG eligibility and allocations?” Your first option for response is, “Yes, my organization has received emails and/or phone calls from BJA each year, and it checks the JAG web page each spring for eligibility information and allocations.” The second option for response is, “Yes, my organization knows to check the JAG web page each spring for eligibility information and allocations. However, my organization has not received any emails and/or phone calls from BJA regarding JAG eligibility or allocations.” And your final option for response is, “No, my organization is unsure where and when JAG eligibility and allocation information is posted.”

I’ll give you a few minutes or some seconds to answer that so we can see what the JAG experience level is today in our audience. Okay. Just a few more seconds and then we’ll close it. Okay. And it looks like most of you guys answered the first option, “Yes, my organization has received emails and/or phone calls,” and you guys are pretty familiar with how to determine eligibility and where to locate allocation information. Perfect.

Okay. Eligibility. JAG is only open to the units of local government listed on the JAG Allocations List. Units of local government include towns, townships, villages, cities, counties, boroughs, and federally recognized Indian tribal governments. We understand there may be some questions about the eligibility of Indian tribal governments. It is the same process as the other units of local government, and eligible Indian tribal governments are listed in the allocations list as well. For jurisdictions that are interested in funding but are not listed in the allocations list, they may contact their State Administering Agency to inquire about the availability of funds for them. If you’re on this call, please make sure you check the allocations list to make sure you are eligible, as eligibility does change from year to year.

Disparate jurisdictions. In some cases, as defined by the legislation, a “disparity” could exist between the funding eligibility of a county and its associated municipalities. The “disparate allocation” provision creates a mechanism by which counties and cities that are part of the same geographic area may more equitably share their JAG funds. If you want to learn more about the three types of disparity, please refer to the JAG technical report, which I think Daryl posted. It gives a full breakdown of how they’re determined as well as some examples.

A Memorandum of Understanding or MOU is required before funds are accessible. The MOU identifies the fiscal agent and the distribution of funds amongst those in the disparate group, and it must be signed by the authorized representative for each disparate jurisdiction. And the way you identify disparate units of local government on the allocations list is that they are listed in shaded groups and in alphabetical order by county.

Here’s an example of how disparity is notated in the allocations list. You can see that the counties are in alphabetical order and the gray sections are the disparate groups. You want to note the joint allocation amount here. This is the amount that is to be divided between those jurisdictions within the group and documented via a signed MOU. The unshaded jurisdictions are direct allocations, so those jurisdictions can submit their applications directly without the requirement of an MOU.

Now we’re going to take a look at the list of application requirements. Some of these we can collect postaward if you aren’t able to get them completed by the time you need to submit your application. We are going to review what each of these items are, so you get a little bit more of an idea of what you’re submitting.

As you can see, only the Application for Federal Assistance, or the SF-424, and the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities form is completed and submitted in Grants.gov. The other application components are to be submitted in JustGrants.

Okay. One of the two forms completed and submitted in Grants.gov is the Disclosure of Lobbying Activities or the SF-LLL. Once it’s submitted in Grants.gov, the information will pre-pend into JustGrants. Please note that if your organization does not expend funds for such lobbying activities, to please just enter an N/A for questions 10a and 10b.

Another form that’s submitted in Grants.gov is the Application for Federal Assistance or the SF-424. Something we want to note here is that for Section 8F of this form, please include the name and contact information of the person who will be completing the application in JustGrants. JustGrants will use this email address to send the application to that specified user.

The first item in the list that is to be completed in JustGrants is the Proposal Abstract. This is to be completed in the JustGrants web-based form. We’d like a very brief description of how JAG funds will be used and to please exclude any personally identifiable information or PII. We have a list here of some examples for direct applicants and for those in a disparate group. So let’s take a look at them.

For a direct applicant, some examples would be the city of X will use JAG funds for overtime for increased patrols to bolster the security of at-risk nonprofit organizations such as synagogues, churches, mosques, and other places of worship. Another example is, the county of Y will use JAG funds to hire credible messengers as part of a community-based violence intervention initiative. For a disparate JAG abstract example, the disparate jurisdictions of X and Y will use JAG funds for technology improvements and equipment. Specifically, the county of X will use JAG funds to replace its records management system in order to transition to NIBRS, and the city of Y will use JAG funds to purchase body-worn cameras to promote public trust, accountability, and transparency.

So as you can see, these are really, really brief. We are only looking for a sentence or two of what JAG funds will be used for.

For the Proposal Narrative, we require more information for awards that are over $25,000, which is Category 2. Category 1 applicants should include a description of the projects that will be funded by JAG over the 2-year period. Category 2 requires a description of the issue, project design and implementation, capabilities and competencies, and a plan for collecting the data required for performance measures. The Proposal Narrative should be double-spaced,12-point font, and not over 10 pages long.

The Budget Worksheet and Narrative. A budget detail attachment is required to be uploaded in order for the system to submit your application. You can use a standard format that we have linked here, or you can use your own format as long as it has the same OJP budget categories. And please don’t forget to include a description and explanation of the costs, which is your Budget Narrative.

This year, the Financial Management Questionnaire is a web-based form in JustGrants. A completed Financial Management Questionnaire is required in order to successfully apply in JustGrants. The purpose of this is so OJP can assess the financial management and internal control systems, as well as the associated potential risks, of an applicant as part of the pre-award risk assessment process.

Certifications and Assurances by the Chief Executive of the Applicant Government or what we call the Chief Executive Certification or, for short, CE Certification. This is a required form to be signed by the highest-elected official of the jurisdiction, so think governor, mayor, or county board chair. It addresses the governing body and public comment requirements as well. For disparate groups, the certification must be submitted by the fiscal agent. This is an item that can be submitted postaward, but if it is missing at the time of application, we will put a withholding condition on it until it is received.

Okay. Regarding the Governing Body and Public Comment Requirements, under Governing Body Requirements, a JAG application must be made available for review by the governing body of the applicant jurisdiction, or to an organization designated by that governing body, at least 30 days prior to that application being submitted. For the Public Comment Requirement, a JAG application must be made available for public comment by citizens and neighborhood and community-based organizations to the extent applicable law or established procedures make such opportunity available. Grantees will attest to these facts via the submission of a properly completed CE Certification, as I previously discussed in the last slide.

If these requirements have not been satisfied by the time of application, please go ahead and submit your application anyway and we will place a withholding condition on the award until it is received.

We touched on the MOU earlier. This is required for only the disparate groups. It lets us know that all the jurisdictions within the group are agreeable to who the fiscal agent is and how much of the joint allocation each jurisdiction is receiving. This should be signed by the authorized representative of each eligible jurisdiction in the disparate group. And the MOU is something that can be submitted postaward but note that grantees will not be able to access funds until we receive that.

One of the last two items you will see as part of the application requirements are if jurisdictions are using JAG funding for body-worn cameras. If that is the case, we will require a signed Body-Worn Camera Policy Certification. This is an item that can be submitted postaward if needed and only applies to the applicant. So if a subrecipient in a disparate group plans to use their portion of funding for this, this certification is not required to be submitted for them. However, it is the responsibility of the fiscal agent to maintain this document, should OJP request it.

Same goes for funding use for body armor—we will need a Mandatory Wear Certification if funds are used for this. But again, this can be submitted postaward if needed and only applies to the direct applicant or the fiscal agent. If subs are using funding for body armor, the fiscal agent should maintain this form. Additional guidance regarding the mandatory wear requirement can be found in the BVP FAQs and the BVP Mandatory Wear FAQs. Law enforcement agency administrators and jurisdiction CEOs can obtain a body armor model policy and issues paper by contacting the BVP help desk.

That wraps up the application requirements for JAG and I will go ahead and hand it back over to Tarasa to discuss the other requirements, prohibited and controlled items, and reporting requirements.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: Thanks, Wai. With that we will pick up … with … wait, you just did the, you did the Trust Fund, right?

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: I did not. Just the … armor

TARASA NAPOLITANO: Oh, okay. Okay. So one of the JAG requirements is that you can either draw down funds in advance, you can draw down all of it in one lump sum, or you can draw it down on a reimbursement basis. If you draw it down in one lump sum though, it has to be deposited into a trust fund account and it has to be an interest-bearing trust fund account. And there are these rules and regulations for what that account must look like. And we do have a link here to show you what those guidelines are, so just be aware of that.

Also, Entry of Records into State Repositories. So for activities that generate court dispositions or records relevant to the National Instant Background Check System, NICS, and you must have a system in place to ensure that all NICS-relevant data are available in a timely manner.

ERPO. So I don’t know about you, but until last year or the year before, I did not know what ERPO stood for until the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was passed and then I knew what ERPO was. It actually stands for Extreme Risk Protection Order. And if you’re planning to fund an Extreme Risk Protection Order with your JAG funding, then you will need to have one of these signed and submitted by a principal legal officer. And essentially, this is stating that the program funded satisfies requirements outlined in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. So just be aware that there are guidelines to funding that, so just want you to be aware that while this is connected to the ninth program area that we’ve added to JAG, there are some guidelines to funding any programs that are attached to that.

We touched a little bit on this earlier about DNA and Rapid DNA, so just a little bit more in-depth here. DNA, as I mentioned before, if you do fund anything, any programs that are going to be collecting DNA samples, they must be uploaded into CODIS. You cannot be funding any DNA programs that are not being uploaded to CODIS. So any other nongovernmental DNA database is not allowable. We do allow forensic genetic genealogy testing. We do allow for —funds may be used to support Rapid DNA projects. However, as stated before, funds may not be used for Rapid DNA testing of evidentiary material, such as crime scene samples or sexual assault kits. So just be aware of that.

So some limits on the use of JAG funds: just be aware of administrative costs. At a local level, I don’t think this is too much of an issue. But be aware that if you do take administrative costs, there is a cap at 10%. So you cannot use more than 10% of your award for administrative costs. And this is regardless of whether or not you have an indirect cost rate. So if you have an indirect cost rate that says, oh, we can use 25% of our awards for administrative purposes, you still can only use 10%. And that’s just as regulated by the statute. So just be aware of that. And also supplanting—and I think this is just anywhere in any grant—supplanting is just unallowable.

Prohibited and Controlled Equipment. This started last year, I believe, and is moving forward—is carried forward. So same rules as last year, prohibited and controlled requirements, nothing has changed since last year. We do have equipment purchases that will be considered controlled or prohibited. Some will require prior approval. Some will be completely prohibited and unallowable. And we will go through the different categories here so that you will have an understanding of which category it will fall under. UAVs, UASs, basically drones, are still considered unallowable at this time, so just be mindful of that.

So essentially there are four categories. The first category, Category A, is strictly prohibited. These are equipment purchases that would be completely unallowable, you cannot ask for a waiver or prior approval to purchase any of this equipment. All the other categories, you can ask for prior approval or a waiver to purchase this equipment in all the other categories. And we’ll go through what those entail.

So let’s go over in more depth what the strictly prohibited items are. Drones, obviously we mentioned. Silencers, anything greater than or larger than a .50 caliber, grenades. This has been a big thing. We’ve seen a lot of launchers and we’ve had a lot of questions regarding launchers. So just be mindful of any type of an explosive or a launcher is going to be unallowable at this point. And any kind of weaponized aircraft, camouflage uniforms. I don’t think anyone’s using bayonets anymore. I don’t think that’s a thing, but it’s on here.

Category B. So these, you can ask for a waiver. You can ask for prior approval and get a waiver. These are outlined in the JAG statute. Any kind of vehicle or aircraft or boat. Luxury items, real estate, construction project, or any similar matter. This does exclude police-issued vehicles. So if it’s a patrol car or vessel or aircraft—excluding police helicopters—if it’s a patrol vehicle essentially, then patrol vehicles do not require a waiver. Those are allowable under JAG. I want that to be very clear. There is no waiver that is required. Those are allowable and are not considered controlled.

Category C. Again, this is controlled. You do need a waiver. You need to get permission, essentially a director approval, in order to purchase any of this. Command or control vehicles, tactical vehicles, wheeled armored vehicles, manned aircraft. This excludes police helicopters. Police helicopters are subject to the requirements of Category D, which is the next slide here.

So these also do require a waiver or prior approval from the director. So police helicopters, specialized firearms that are over .50 caliber, and explosives or pyrotechnics. So be mindful of all of that when you’re putting your programs together that these are still in place. And if you include any of this in your application, then there will likely be a hold on your award until we can collect the information necessary to get the approval that we need from the director to approve it and then lift the hold, so just to be mindful of that. It’s not to say that it couldn’t be, but we do need to get full approval, we need to make sure that you have a very strong justification provided, that this is being proven as necessary and that there is necessary circumstances involved into purchasing this with these grant funds.

Reporting. So with any grant, there’s always reporting. And I know this is everyone’s favorite part of the grant cycle. So we do want to touch on that here. There are basically two types of reports—well, I guess three, essentially. There are progress reports and financial reports, but we have three different systems. We have the PMT—well, two systems, the PMT and JustGrants. But you will have to—the two systems do not speak or talk to each other, so I want to kind of walk you through a flowchart on the next slide to kind of show you how that works. And since most of you are already familiar with this, you’ll already know what this process is. But for those of you, the five or so that are on the call that are not, I want to be mindful of that and kind of walk you through it.

But essentially, this is a timetable for the reporting deadlines. So the PMT is the progress report that you’ll have to submit in the Performance Measurement Tool quarterly. And the Financial Status Report or the FFR, you’ll need to report quarterly as well. And those are due 30 days after the end of the reporting period. There is also a report that’s due in JustGrants, and this is essentially the same report that you reported in PMT. However, it needs to be saved as a PDF and then uploaded into JustGrants. And this is done either annually or semiannually, depending on whether or not you’re Category 1 or Category 2. So if you are a Category 1, you will do it once a year, and if you are a Category 2, you will do it twice a year. And you can see the deadlines here, the due dates.

Here is kind of the flowchart and the process for making that happen. As you can see, you will log in to the PMT report, or the Performance Measurement Tool, I should say. You will complete the progress reports on a quarterly basis. Let’s say that you’re a Category 2 and your award is over $25,000, and it’s your 6-month mark and it’s time for you to upload that report into JustGrants, you will then save that report to your computer as a PDF. You’ll log in to JustGrants. You will upload it to the reporting module in JustGrants via PDF, through the PDF, into the PMT report. There you go. And then you’ll see—follow the little arrow diagram here.

And then your grant manager will review the report there, and if they have any questions, they will either send it back to you or if they don’t have any questions and they think everything looks good, they’ll approve the report right there and you are good to go for the next 6 months.

So that is kind of how the grant managers are able to review and approve reports on a continuous basis. So if you have any questions about how the reporting works, please feel free to reach out to your grant manager. You can email me. I’m happy to answer any questions that you might have. For those of you who are familiar with the PMT, I did want to let you know that we are in the process of updating the performance report. And I would say stay tuned for a new and revised PMT coming soon.

So here are some resources that—most can be accessed through the JAG web page, which is linked here. And it’s very—I think it’s just [bja.ojp.gov/program/jag/overview] I think or something. It’s very easy. But you click on the link here. We’re going to send this with the presentation. We’re going to post it. I really encourage you to flag this, bookmark it. Everything you need is here. The technical report, the fact sheet, the allocation, the FAQs—everything you need is here. And we are constantly updating this page. We’re always revising our FAQs. And we are always manning this page. So I would really implore you to bookmark this page, the JAG web page, and if you have any questions about anything, feel free to reach out to me. But again, bookmark the JAG web page, for sure.

Questions in SAM. SAM is something that you need to be registered in, in order to apply. So you do need to have an active account in SAM, which is the—SAM is also an acronym, so sorry, everyone, it’s the System for Award Management registration. If you do have an expired registration, do not delay in getting registered. It can really delay getting your application in. So you can see a link here, it’s just www.sam.gov. You can just type in sam.gov into your web browser and it will pull right up. It’s really easy.

Again, I mentioned this earlier, there’s a two-step process, you have to go through Grants.gov and then through JustGrants in order to apply for the JAG funding. If you apply in Grants.gov, you’re not done. You still have to go back. You still have to continue the process through JustGrants. So make sure you finish the second step in JustGrants as well and meet that deadline of October 22.

Any additional information can be found here. There’s an OJP Resource Guide, a DOJ Submission Checklist. I mean, there are just resources upon resources that are posted online. We’re going to drown you in resources. This is just a visual of the Resources Guide and what they look like.

There is technical assistance. So when you apply through Grants.gov, if you have any technical issues and, for some reason, you’re not sure if your submission went through or you are getting some kind of delay or error message, please reach out to their customer support line. There are links here to their email and to their call center. Please reach out to them. They are great at responding and providing technical assistance. We have the same for JustGrants technical support, as well. So make sure that you do that throughout the application process. It’s also a way that—if you do get a ticket number and you didn’t make it in, we can record that and say, “Oh, they didn’t make it in, but they did have a record.” So we can keep that and say like, “Oh, well we have a record that they did try making the—they do have a ticket number.” So I would just say, make sure that you reach out so that we have record that you were, you know, did make the effort and had technical assistance on top of it.

If you’d like to get updates from OJP, you can text OJP to get updates sent directly to your phone. Just send your email or, not to your—well, I guess it’s to your phone, if you want to get updates, email updates, and message data to your phone. So you just text OJP your email address to this number here to subscribe. You can also stay connected through social media. We have Facebook, YouTube, and all the other social content, if you’re interested. For any additional questions, we do have a resource, the OJP Response Center, who are fantastic. They know just as much as we do, so if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to them. They have a toll-free number here. And they’re open until 6:00 every day.

We also have, again, this is duplicating efforts here, but the tech support for Grants.gov and JustGrants.

And I blew through all of that resources so we can get to Q&A. I know that there’s—we’ve seen a lot of questions come up in the Q&A, but I wanted to open it up to see if anyone had any questions that they wanted to bring up now. Darius, was there anything that you weren’t—Darius or Erich, was there anything that came up in the Q&A that we wanted to bring up or discuss? Or that you weren’t able to get to?

DARIUS LOCICERO: I think we’ve gotten to everything thus far. It’s just a couple of lingering ones that we’re responding to now. But one of the most prevalent ones seems to surround the public comments. And just to clarify for everyone, the requirement is to simply post somewhere where the public would be able to view detailed comments if they choose to prior to submission of the application. And that is almost always a website at this point. But we will continue responding to these last couple now.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: Very good. And actually, I want to piggyback on that and say, governing body and the Chief Executive Certification, something that there seems to be confusion about all the time or every year, I should say is, the governing body review does not have to take 30 days. If your governing body signs the Chief Executive Certification right away, they don’t need to take the 30 days. They approve it onsite by signing the Chief Executive Certification. If they don’t need 30 days to review it, then they don’t need 30 days. The entire point is that they have up to 30 days to review; if they don’t want to elect to use all of the 30 days, they don’t have to. So if you want to submit your application with a signed Chief Executive Certification, please do so knowing that they do not have to wait 30 days in order to sign the Chief Executive Certification. I just want to clarify that because I don’t think it’s very clear. And we’ve tried to clarify the FAQ, but I feel like sometimes we just end up muddying the waters.
Yes, officer wellness programs are allowable expenses.

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: Tarasa, I’ll also address the question about the period of performance. I know there were some questions about that. It does date back to the first day of the fiscal year, so organizations can, you know, obligate their funds and then reimburse themselves once funding becomes available and we’ve, you know, already awarded them the money.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: I see a question about—did somebody already answer the question about a bomb robot? Darius, did you answer that? So explosives are unallowable. They’re on the prohibited list, just FYI. I didn’t see that answered here, I don’t think, but explosives are unallowable. But I don’t know, I’m guessing the robot is to extract—I guess I would need more information, but I’m guessing the robot is to go in and to de-program the bomb? I don’t know. I think I would need more information. But if it’s anything that has to do with explosives, it would be unallowable.

Any travel for any training is allowable as long as it’s criminal justice-related or related to one of the nine program areas. Yes.

And the bomb would be to render a safe IED, yeah, then yes, that would be allowable. Sorry. When you see the word “bomb” it’s just—automatically I’m like, “That’s an explosive, no.” Yes, then that’s allowable.

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: I see a question about the proposal abstract not being in the JustGrants portal and this person asked, “Is this because I need to fill out the SF forms first?” Yeah, you need to complete the SF forms in Grants.gov, that is your first step. Once you complete it, that information will move over to JustGrants and then you will be able to access the full application there and then the web-based form for the abstract should appear there.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: I also see a question about rental vehicles. Yes, rental vehicles are allowable. I think you need to—sometimes you do need to justify it. I think it depends on if you’re traveling for—it looks like someone is answering it in the Q&A. I do think it—you need to clarify if it’s for travel purposes for, like, if you’re traveling for a conference or training versus if it’s for a—sometimes for undercover purposes, there’s—you rent vehicles so that they don’t get used to seeing the same cars and they’re not identifiable, so I do know that we’ve approved rental vehicles for that purpose, for undercover operations. But you would have to do a cost analysis if it was just for travel purposes for, like, a training or conference or something.

Looks like we just got another question about the public comment, “Do we need to hold a public hearing or just post info on our website?” Again, just to reiterate, that it can just be posted to the website. There does not need to be a public hearing at all—some people have just even posted a notice in a courthouse.

DARIUS LOCICERO: Social media.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: … or a public—yeah, social media blast or a website, they posted it in a—they’ve mentioned it in the public meeting. So if you have a board meeting of sorts, if you’re a county level and it’s a board meeting and it’s made public, you can do it that way. Newspaper, I mean, not that people are necessarily doing newspapers anymore, but that’s also an alternative.

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: And something else that we should point out, and I think we mentioned a few times already, is the FAQs. We have a very extensive list of questions in our FAQs for JAG and a lot of these questions are addressed in there, so we just want to make sure you’re aware that that is available and to please refer to that. It is posted on our JAG website as well as in the solicitation.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: Yes. Undercover vehicles for investigators—undercover vehicles are allowable. You just—as long as, again, they’re being used for patrol purposes, we do like to maintain that, you know, patrol vehicles are allowable. So you just have to make sure it meets that definition. Oh, okay.

ERICH DIETRICH: Hi, everybody, this is Erich. I just want to clarify that an undercover, an unmarked vehicle, would require a waiver because that would not meet the definition of a patrol vehicle.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: So the question, Todd Lawson, “Is the fiscal year October 1 through September 30? Meaning all funds must be obligated by September 30 for each of the two years of the grant period performance?” So yes, it’s the federal fiscal year, so JAG always starts the award period at the beginning of the federal fiscal year, which is October 1, so you can start obligating at that time, however it’s at your own risk. So you can reimburse expenses as long as they’re allowable going back to the start of that award date.

Ornella, “Are admin costs only allowable under indirect costs if there is a negotiated cost agreement?” No, the great thing about JAG is you do not need an indirect cost agreement. You can use admin costs, regardless. Anyone can take admin costs and use up to 10% of their award for administrative purposes.

Hi, Leona DeWitt. Your question regarding the mandatory wear policy, “Does it apply to the grantee in general practice or specifically as it relates to the body armor being purchased?” It relates to the body armor being purchased through the grant funds. So you just need to ensure that the body armor being purchased with grant funds, that you have a mandatory wear policy in place for that.

Jeannette, yes, you can request funds to cover multiple uses. We do have multiple budget categories that will cover—and you can also fund multiple programs. So we have local jurisdictions that fund anything from domestic violence programs to reentry programs to equipment at a sheriff’s office. So all under the same JAG funding. So yes, feel free to fund a multitude of purposes.

Elaine Richards, it looks like we skipped you. “Can maintenance on a new software program be included as part of a program?” Yes, software can be included. You can purchase software with JAG.

It looks like we got most of the questions here. If there’s anyone that we did not get, can you—looks like we’re slowing up here. If there’s anyone we did not get, can you let us know?

So Courtney Greenley, “Can you expand on what would be required within the application for infrastructure real estate projects, i.e., engineering plans?” So we actually—Courtney, we do not deal a lot with this. (…infrastructure real estate projects.) I think that I would have to actually follow up with you on that because we have not—I have not seen any real estate approved since I’ve been doing this. Darius, do you want to jump in on this? I haven’t seen it. Okay.

DARIUS LOCICERO: I’m going to jump in and say when it comes to real estate and construction, it’s usually not allowable, but we would need specific details, including a criminal justice nexus and everything else. So those types of things, we would need more details to be sent to us to give a definite answer, but it’s typically not something that we approve.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: Okay. Thanks, Darius. “What is records retention for JAG documentation?” Hi, Dawn. I don’t know exactly what you’re referring to, but we have records retention going back to almost the beginning of JAG. So but are you asking on your side? Like, I’m not sure I understand. Like if you could clarify for me, Dawn, what you’re specifically asking, if you’re asking like, what your record retention should be or what ours is? I’m not sure I understand entirely.

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: I do see some questions from Anthony Diaz about the—there’s one question about reports required prior to the award period. So the reporting would start October 1, 2023. If nothing has been, you know, obligated, you know, during that time, you can just submit a report indicating that. So but the reason we go back that far is because that’s when the award begins. So again, if it doesn’t apply to you, you still need to submit the report, but just indicate that there was no activity during that time.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: Dawn, I see your response. It says what the—about the records retention, what it should be for you? For most federal funds, I believe it’s five years. I think you’re saying that it should be for us. Oh, yeah, I see Anya in the chat and it says seven years. Thanks, Anya. Yeah, I think seven years.

Suzanna, “What can administrative funds be used for?” They can be used for supply items, essentially anything that you would need to administer the award. So if you need, let’s say, personnel costs to fund the award, let’s say for an administrative person or a grant person, if you need supplies or, you know, anything like that, any administrative purposes that you can think of could be tied to that 10% amount.

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: Regarding some …

TARASA NAPOLITANO: So can it …

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: Oh, sorry.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: Oh. Oh, that’s okay.

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: Go ahead.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: Go ahead.

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: Okay. I was just going to address some of the questions coming in from Anthony Diaz about the SAM registration. It looks like he had some questions about how to register. So the best answer for that is going to SAM.gov. There’s a “get started” link, as well as a “renewal” link, so we’re not sure which one you need, but you would have to follow through the instructions on there. And then if they ask for required documentation, things like that, you would submit it directly to them. There you go. Yeah, there’s the website. And I also think they have a federal service desk number that you can call directly and find out how to go about completing the registration. But again, it is required, and if you have more questions, feel free to reach out to them, or we could try to walk you through as well.

Go ahead, Tarasa, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you.

TARASA NAPOLITANO: That’s okay. Crystal, your question, “Can…”—sorry, questions are coming in fast and fierce—“Can an application be made for multiple things, like a patrol car, radios, uniforms, sidearms, and municipal officer needs?” Yes. As mentioned before, this grant can be used for a multitude of things and multitude of programs.

Brittany, it looks like you have a question. “If equipment was purchased and the agency intended to use JAG funds to purchase it and they failed to request a grant modification prior to purchase, but during the award period, is that still reimbursable?” So I think I understand what you’re asking. If your agency purchased equipment and it sounds like the equipment that they wanted to purchase was not already approved, like, it sounds like you needed to—you needed a grant mod—you needed a modification to purchase it—which means that it wasn’t already in your budget. So I think this is a case, it’s a unique case that we would have to actually maybe have a different conversation—a sidebar conversation. Because if what you’re purchasing is allowable, then I think that it would be okay. But it’s hard to know, you know, you shouldn’t be purchasing things without already getting approval or letting your grant manager know. So without having an approved application, so.

Okay. This is a very specific question, Andrew. “What about funds used to upgrade a shoot house training house that was built using agency funds? Would funds be allowed to purchase material only and have officers build said upgrades on their own time? Or could we use funds to purchase equipment that would be installed at the shooting training house?”

So I think some of these are very case-by-case scenarios that we would have to kind of talk about and I would encourage you to, like, maybe reach out offline and we could talk about it. Because there’s a lot of NEPA concerns and questions that we would have to ask and it’s not exactly as a cut-and-dry, black-and-white answer, unfortunately. So I don’t know that I can give you an answer outright about that, just because I think that there would be some NEPA concerns and I think I would need some more information before making a determination. I do think that you could purchase equipment for upgrades, for sure. We would have to kind of have a discussion about what it would entail.

Are there more—okay. Ebony Cobb. “Thank you, Tarasa, for mentioning that JAG has been utilized for various programs such as domestic violence and reentry. Regarding the program area crime victim and witness program, are there more specifics or restrictions for this area other than non-compensation mentioned in the solicitation?” Yeah. The same restrictions apply to—there isn’t a specific regarding this specific program area. There aren’t specific restrictions regarding this specific program area. You should be able to fund this. There aren’t restrictions in terms of—you can subaward. You should be able to subaward to, let’s say, a nonprofit agency or domestic violence program or reentry program or a victim service agency and, yeah, corrections facility. The only thing I will say is that you will need to adhere to the guidelines in the financial guide. Just be mindful of that. But yeah.
“In regard to recruitment of law enforcement, would this cover costs of pre-employment exams and psych?” Well, it looks like Erich already answered it. All right.

I think we’ve slowed up so and we are about out of time. So I am going to say that if anyone has any follow-up questions or questions that have not been answered today, if you could send any follow-up questions to [email protected], the email listed here, we will make sure to get a response to you. We did our best to answer as many questions as we could in the Q&A. Again, we’re grateful that all of you joined today. And if there is any follow-up that’s needed, we will make sure to reach out and connect with you. Anything else, Wai or Darius, you would like to add?

WAI YEE TSANG-WHITE: Nothing else from me. Thank you.

DARIUS LOCICERO: No, I think that covers it. Like you said, if anyone has either a question that wasn’t answered or a follow-up question to an answer we provided, just look at that slide up there on the screen, [email protected], and we will ensure that you get a response. Thank you.

DARYL FOX: Great. So on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Assistance and all of our panelists, we want to thank you for joining today’s webinar. This will end today’s presentation.