[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 227 (Monday, November 26, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59030-59031]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-29332]



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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Bureau of Justice Statistics

[OJP(BJS)-1338]


2002 Census of Tribal Justice Agencies in American Indian and 
Alaska Native Tribal Jurisdictions

AGENCY: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, 
Justice.

ACTION: Notice of solicitation.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to announce a public 
solicitation to obtain a data collection agent for the 2002 Census of 
Tribal Justice Agencies in American Indian and Alaska Native 
Jurisdictions.

DATES: Proposals must be received at the Bureau of Justice Statistics 
(BJS) on or before 5:00 p.m. EST, January 7, 2002 or be postmarked on 
or before January 7, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Proposals should be mailed to Application Coordinator, 
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 
20531; (202) 616-3497.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marika Litras, Statistician, Bureau of 
Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20531; Phone 
(202) 514-4272 (This is not a toll free number); E-mail: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Statutory Authority

    The awards made pursuant to this solicitation will be funded by the 
Bureau of Justice Statistics consistent with the provisions of 42 
U.S.C. Sec. 3732.

Program Goals

    The purpose of this award is to provide funding to administer the 
2002 Census of Tribal Justice Agencies in American Indian and Alaska 
Native Tribal Jurisdictions. The survey will obtain baseline 
information about tribal justice agencies in Federally recognized 
American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages. Special emphasis 
will be made to identify the tribal justice forums used for resolving 
disputes, tribal court services and personnel, law enforcement 
agencies, record keeping, and crime reporting practices. The initial 
survey instrument and respondent list will be provided by BJS. A draft 
of the initial survey instrument currently is available on the BJS 
website for public review and comment at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/stssent.htm#ctjaic>.
    BJS anticipates making one award for a 12-month period under this 
solicitation. A total of up to $210,000 will be made available to 
complete the project pending OMB clearance.

Background

    The implementation of the 2002 Census of Tribal Justice Agencies in 
American Indian and Alaska Native Tribal Jurisdictions is part of a 
multifaceted effort by BJS to expand statistical activities related to 
American Indian and Alaska Native crime and justice issues. The program 
is a component of the U.S. Department of Justice's Indian Country Law 
Enforcement Initiative appropriated to address the need for improved 
law enforcement and tribal justice systems in Indian Country. To date, 
there is no comprehensive documentation of tribal justice agencies 
operating in Indian Country, the services they provide, and the 
capacity of American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages to 
collect and report information about crime in their jurisdiction. 
Findings from the Census are designed to provide a systematic 
understanding of the administration of justice in Indian Country.
    Though baseline information about detention facilities is available 
through BJS'' Survey of Jails in Indian Country, and selected 
information about tribal law enforcement agencies is available through 
BJS'' Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, sparse data 
are available in the areas of tribal courts, tribal prosecution, tribal 
public defense, the use of traditional methods of dispute resolution, 
justice system personnel, and whether and to what extent crime 
incidents and civil disputes are recorded.
    The goal of this survey is to provide baseline information upon 
which to build a tribal criminal justice statistics infrastructure that 
not only will improve the Nation's understanding of crime and the 
administration of justice in American Indian tribes and Alaska Native 
villages, but may provide important information in the development or 
expansion of their own tribal justice systems. The information, 
moreover, may be useful by tribes in their application for various 
national crime prevention programs, such as the Local Law Enforcement 
Block Grants administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and 
the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grant Program of the Office 
of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), both of which 
provide for the distribution of funds based upon formulas utilizing 
crime information.

Eligibility Requirements

    Both profit making and nonprofit organizations may apply for funds. 
Consistent with OJP fiscal requirements, however, no fees may be 
charged against the project by profit-making organizations.

Scope of Work

    The objective of this project is to complete data collection for 
the 2002 Census of Tribal Justice Agencies in American Indian and 
Alaska Native Tribal Jurisdictions. This includes extensive follow up, 
data verification, coding and data entry, and delivery of a final data 
set and documentation. The initial survey instrument and respondent 
list will be provided by BJS. Specifically, the recipient of funds 
will:
    1. Develop a detailed timetable for each task in the project. Data 
collection should begin within three months of the project start and be 
completed within twelve months. After the BJS project manager has 
agreed to the timetable, all work must be completed as scheduled.
    2. Provide a final review of the survey instrument drafted by BJS 
for form and content.
    3. Verify the names, addresses, and appropriate contact from the 
respondent list provided by BJS. The most current BIA Tribal Leaders 
list will comprise the respondent list for this project.
    4. Conduct a pre-test of the survey instrument in a minimum of two 
sites to assure that survey items are perceived by respondents as 
intended and can be provided in a timely manner.
    5. Mail surveys to respondents and provide extensive follow up to 
respondents that require help, clarification, or encouragement to 
complete the survey. This may involve multiple follow up telephone 
calls, re-mailing or re-faxing surveys, email correspondence, and site 
visits where necessary. In some cases, survey translation into the 
Native language may be necessary.
    6. Implement and maintain an automated system to provide ongoing 
status of each survey respondent, complete documentation, and an 
inventory of follow up communication and procedures for each case. This 
automated tracking system should be remain current and be accessible to 
the BJS project monitor at all times.
    7. Identify techniques necessary to achieve a 100% survey item 
response rate. The data collection agent will have routine contact with 
the tribes and must be knowledgeable about the salient issues and 
tribal relations among various levels of government.
    8. Deliver to BJS electronic versions of the survey data, and 
documentation on

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diskette and in ASCII file format. Survey documentation should include, 
but is not limited to, a comprehensive codebook detailing variable 
positions, data coding, variable and value labels, any recoding 
implemented during the data cleaning process, methods used for dealing 
with missing data, any data allocations, imputation, or non-response 
adjustment, and copies of all program code used to generate data or 
published statistics. All data and documentation from this survey may 
be posted on the BJS website, and data archived at the Inter-University 
Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).

Award Procedures and Evaluation Criteria

    Proposals should describe the plan and implementation strategies 
outlined in the Scope of Work. Information on staffing levels and 
qualifications should be included for each task and descriptions of 
experience relevant to the project. Resumes of the proposed project 
director and key staff should be enclosed with the proposal.
    Applications will be reviewed competitively with the final award 
decision made by the Director of BJS. The applicant will be evaluated 
on the basis of:
    1. Demonstrated knowledge of applied survey research, including 
survey construction, interview techniques, data collection, data 
coding, entry and verification, and the production of public use data 
files. This includes availability of an adequate computing environment, 
knowledge of standard social science data processing software, and 
demonstrated ability to produce SPSS readable data files for analysis 
and report production.
    2. Demonstrated ability and experience in collecting data in 
American Indian tribes and Alaska Native villages.
    3. Knowledge of the tribal justice issues and logistical 
impediments to implementing surveys on American Indian reservations, 
tribal lands, tribal communities, or native villages. Applicants must 
demonstrate the ability to coordinate and facilitate trust and 
cooperation among tribal members participating in the survey. In 
addition, applicants must detail their strategy for obtaining 
participation from tribal respondents in remote areas with limited 
phone and/or postal access.
    4. Demonstrated fiscal, management, staff, and organizational 
capacity to provide sound management for this project. Applicant should 
include detailed staff resources and other costs by project tasks.

Application and Award Process

     An original and two (2) copies of the full proposal must 
be submitted including:
     Standard Form 424, Application for Federal Assistance
     OJP Form 7150/1, Budget Detail Worksheet
     OJP Form 4000/3, Program Narrative and Assurances
     OJP Form 4061/6, Certification regarding Lobbying, 
Debarment, Suspension, and Other Responsibility Matters; Drug Free 
Workplace requirements
     OJP Form 7120-1, Accounting System and Financial 
Capability Questionnaire (to be submitted by applicants who have not 
previously received Federal Funds from the Office of Justice Programs).
    These forms can be obtained online from www.ojp.usdoj.gov/forms.htm.
    In addition, fund recipients are required to comply with 
regulations designed to protect human subjects and ensure 
confidentiality of data. In accordance with 28 CFR part 22, a Privacy 
Certificate must be submitted to BJS. Furthermore, a Screening Sheet 
for Protection of Human Subjects must be completed prior to the award 
being issued. Questions regarding Protection of Human Subjects and/or 
Privacy Certificate requirements can be directed to the Human Subjects 
Protection Officer (HSPO) at (202) 616-3282 [This is not a toll free 
number].
    Proposals must include a project description and detailed budget. 
The project narrative should describe activities as discussed in the 
Scope of Work and address the evaluation criteria. The project 
narrative should contain a detailed time line for project activities, a 
description of the survey methodology to be used including defined 
geographic boundaries, data collection method, data entry, and data 
documentation procedures. The detailed budget must provide detailed 
cost including salaries of staff involved in the project and the 
portion of those salaries to be paid from the award, fringe benefits 
paid to each staff person, travel costs, supplies required for the 
project, sub-contractual agreements, and other allowable costs. The 
grant will be made for a period of 12 months.

    Dated: November 16, 2001.
Lawrence A. Greenfield,
Acting Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
[FR Doc. 01-29332 Filed 11-23-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-18-P