[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 250 (Monday, December 31, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67547-67548]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-32035]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Bureau of Justice Statistics

[OJP (BJS)-1342]


2002 Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories

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 
Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories.

DATES: Proposals must be received at the Bureau of Justice Statistics 
(BJS) on or before 5 p.m. EST, February 8, 2002 or be postmarked on or 
before February 8, 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: Greg W. Steadman, Statistician, Bureau 
of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20531; 
Phone (202) 616-3284 [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. 3732.

Program Goals

    The purpose of this award is to provide funding to administer the 
2002 Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories. The survey 
will obtain baseline information about the workload and operations of 
the approximately 400 forensic crime laboratories in the United States. 
Special emphasis will be made to identify the specific activities and 
resources to support forensic analysis within each laboratory 
including: personnel, budget, workload, and agencies for which analyses 
are performed and results reported. The initial draft survey instrument 
and roster of agencies list will be provided by BJS.
    BJS anticipates making the award for a 12 month period under this 
solicitation. A total of up to $250,000 will be made available to 
complete the project pending OMB clearance and availability of FY 2002 
appropriations.

Background

    The implementation of the 2002 Census of Publicly Funded Forensic 
Crime Laboratories is part of a continuing effort by BJS to expand 
statistical activities related to forensic crime laboratories. With the 
many recent advances in analysis and use of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) 
evidence by law enforcement agencies, attention has been focused on the 
improvement of DNA capabilities. The U.S. Department of Justice is now 
expanding crime laboratory support to all forensic disciplines beyond 
DNA that constitute the vast majority of physical evidence submitted 
for analysis in our nation's public laboratories.
    Though information is available through previous surveys such as 
BJS' Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories, 1998 and Federal Bureau of 
Investigation's CODIS Survey of DNA Laboratories, that information is 
primarily limited to laboratories performing DNA analyses. The American 
Society of Crime Lab Directors (ASCLD) also collects information 
limited to their membership with an annual management survey. Baseline 
information about all publicly funded forensic crime laboratories has 
not been collected on a national level.
    The goal of this survey is to provide baseline statistical 
information on the operations and workload of publicly funded forensic 
crime laboratories operating in the United States in order to improve 
the Nation's understanding of the level of work performed and resources 
committed to criminal forensic science analyses. The information will 
be useful for Federal, State and local governments to assess the areas 
in which additional resources for development, improvement or expansion 
of forensic capabilities are necessary. The information will also 
assist State and local laboratories in identifying technology 
disparities across laboratories and targeting equipment, supplies, 
training and technical assistance to such labs from programs such as 
the Crime Laboratory Improvement Program (CLIP) administered by the 
National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

Eligibility Requirements

    Both profit making and nonprofit organizations may apply for funds. 
Consistent with OJP fiscal requirements,

[[Page 67548]]

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 Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories. This 
includes extensive follow up, data verification, coding and data entry, 
and delivery of a final dataset 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 nine 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 American Society of 
Crime Lab Directors list will comprise the respondent list for this 
project.
    4. Conduct a pre-test of the survey instrument in a minimum of four 
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.
    6. Implement and maintain an automated tracking 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 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 laboratories and must be knowledgeable of the various areas of 
forensic science analysis, laboratory organization and relations with 
various components of the criminal justice system.
    8. Deliver to BJS electronic versions of the survey data, and 
documentation on diskette and in ASCII file format. Survey 
documentation should include, but is not limited to, a comprehensive 
codebook detailing variable positions, data coding, variable name 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 adjustments, and copies of all 
program code used to generate data or published statistics. All data 
and documentation from this survey will 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 
criminal justice departments and offices at State and local government 
levels.
    3. Availability of subject matter expert with knowledge of the 
areas of forensic science analyses, forensic laboratory operational and 
legal issues, and logistical impediments to implementing surveys in 
publicly funded laboratories. Applicants must demonstrate the ability 
to collect data from both centralized laboratory systems, with a single 
office responsible for administration of multiple laboratories, and 
decentralized systems with administrative units within the various 
facilities.
    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 timeline 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: December 20, 2001.
Lawrence A. Greenfeld,
Acting Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
[FR Doc. 01-32035 Filed 12-28-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-18-P