FY 2023 Census of Jails 2024 | O BJS 2023 171769

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJS 2023 171769

The FY 2023 Census of Jails 2024 grant opportunity is a discretionary funding solicitation from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Its purpose is to support the nationwide collection of the 2024 Census of Jails (COJ), a major statistical effort that helps the federal government maintain accurate, comprehensive information about local jail facilities and jail populations in the United States. The broader context of the solicitation aligns with OJP priorities around civil rights and racial equity, expanding access to justice, supporting victims and people impacted by the justice system, strengthening community safety, protecting the public from evolving threats, and improving trust between law enforcement and communities. In practical terms, this award is meant to ensure that jail data used by policymakers, researchers, and practitioners is current, reliable, and detailed enough to inform decision-making.

The award is structured as a cooperative agreement, which typically means BJS will have substantial involvement during the life of the project, such as providing guidance on methodology, deliverables, and timelines. The program falls under the Information and Statistics activity category (CFDA/Assistance Listing 16.734), signaling that this is primarily a data collection and statistical production project rather than a direct service or law enforcement operations grant. BJS expects to make a single award, with an award ceiling of $950,000, meaning the project is designed to be carried out by one lead organization that can manage the full end-to-end cycle of the census.

The core work required under the project includes updating the BJS jail frame, which is essentially the authoritative list and set of reference information that identifies and describes the universe of jail facilities to be measured. Keeping this frame current is a critical prerequisite for a census because jail systems and facilities can change over time due to consolidations, new construction, closures, jurisdictional shifts, or administrative restructuring. The recipient must also develop a web-based data collection instrument, indicating that the project will rely on an online survey tool to gather information from jail jurisdictions or facilities in a standardized way. Beyond building the instrument, the recipient must conduct the actual data collection for the 2024 COJ, then process the returned information, apply appropriate quality checks and validation procedures, and deliver final COJ datasets back to BJS.

A notable emphasis in the solicitation is on improving response rates and data quality. That means the recipient is not only expected to send out a survey and accept whatever comes back, but to actively manage the collection process through follow-up, technical assistance, outreach, and other strategies that encourage participation and reduce missing or inconsistent information. Data quality improvement also implies careful attention to issues like item nonresponse, definitional consistency across jurisdictions, internal logic checks, and the resolution of reporting anomalies. Because COJ data can be used to understand conditions of confinement, population levels, jail operations, and broader justice system trends, BJS is clearly signaling that completeness and accuracy are central performance expectations.

In terms of eligibility, BJS is casting a wide net. Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not higher education institutions when specified), Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments), for-profit organizations that are not small businesses, and small businesses. This range suggests BJS is open to universities, research organizations, survey firms, and other entities with demonstrated capacity in large-scale governmental data collections, secure data handling, instrument design, and statistical processing.

Key administrative details from the opportunity listing include the funding opportunity number O-BJS-2023-171769, a creation/posting date of May 25, 2023, and an original closing date of July 25, 2023. With only one expected award and a defined ceiling, the competition is positioned for applicants that can credibly demonstrate they have the staffing, technical infrastructure, and project management systems to execute a national census-style collection on schedule, including the ability to build and maintain a web instrument, manage respondent communications, and deliver clean, well-documented datasets suitable for federal statistical use.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics in the information and statistics sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY 2023 Census of Jails 2024" 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 May 25, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 25, 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 $950,000.00 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, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), 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 2023 171769

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