[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 55 (Wednesday, March 21, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16562-16566]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-6849]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

National Institute of Corrections


Solicitation for a Cooperative Agreement--Curriculum Development 
for MET, ECCP, and ICMS Training Project

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, partnerships of organization and 
groups, or individuals to enter into a cooperative agreement for a 12-
month project period to develop curricula, pilot them, and participate 
in the planning for the delivery of three closely related training 
programs. These training programs, together with other training 
components being developed separately, will ultimately be delivered at 
the beginning of 2013 as part of the training correctional staff and 
treatment providers will receive during the Second Chance Act/
Demonstration Field Experiment (SCA/DFE). This project is a joint 
effort being carried out by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), the 
National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and NIC. To successfully integrate 
the entire project, these three programs will be developed together and 
piloted during the first 6 months of this award. Also during this six-
month period and for the remainder of the project, the awardee will 
participate in the planning for the delivery of each training component 
to staff and treatment providers at the DFE sites.
    The three training curricula to be developed under this award are 
as follows:

Training 1

    The first training to be developed will be Effective Core 
Correctional Practices (ECCP), which will be based on similar programs 
developed in recent years (such as STICS, EPICS, STARR and the like). 
This competency-based curriculum will be used to train line level staff 
using an integrated case management approach within a desistance 
framework in working with parolees.

Training 2

    The second training will focus on the basics of Integrated Case 
Management and Supervision (ICMS), with an additional focus on 
supervision officers working with community service providers to 
coordinate and track services received by parolees.

Training 3

    The third training will be on the use of Motivational Enhancement 
Therapy (MET) by treatment providers working with parolees. This 
revised MET curriculum will be an adaptation of the traditional MET's 
emphasis on substance abuse to include a broader focus on criminal 
thinking and behavior.
    The SCA/DFE will be a multi-year effort and awardees under this 
solicitation will also be eligible to continue to participate in the 
project with additional funding to be awarded in 2013. Tasks under that 
future award will include training delivery, quality assurance, follow-
up coaching, refresher training, monitoring the fidelity of the 
training, and other technical assistance to the SCA/DFE sites. Because 
the selection of the SCA/DFE sites is ongoing, the details of these 
tasks will be defined as part of the planning process which will in 
turn inform the future work.

DATES: Applications must be received by 4 p.m. EDT on Monday, April 23, 
2012.
    Submissions: Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their 
proposals electronically via http://www.grants.gov. Applications may 
also be submitted to: Director, National

[[Page 16563]]

Institute of Corrections, 320 First Street NW., Room 5002, Washington, 
DC 20534. Applicants submitting proposals non-electronically should 
provide an original and three unbound copies of all documents. The 
original proposal should be submitted with the applicant's signatures 
in blue ink. Applicants are encouraged to use Federal Express, UPS, or 
similar service to ensure delivery by the due date. Faxed applications 
will not be accepted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: All technical or programmatic 
questions concerning this announcement, including additional 
information about the background or format of the training, should be 
directed to Christopher A. Innes, Ph.D., Chief, Research and 
Information Services Division, National Institute of Corrections. He 
can be reached by calling (202) 514-0098 or by email at [email protected]. 
Questions, answers, and additional information on this solicitation 
will be posted and updated regularly on http://nicic.gov/ during the 
time this solicitation remains open.

Related Solicitation

    Please note that NIC has issued a second separate, but closely 
related solicitation titled, ``Development of Core Correctional 
Practice Curriculum'' which concerns the development of blended 
learning materials for ECCP training. Two separate awards will be made 
through these two solicitations. Applicants may submit a separate 
proposal in response to the second solicitation, but the award under 
this solicitation will be made independently and each project will be 
managed separately.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Bureau of Justice Assistance issued a 
request for proposals titled, ``Second Chance Act Demonstration Field 
Experiment: Fostering Desistance through Effective Supervision'', 
seeking agencies interested in participating in an innovative 
intervention using a desistance approach as part of a randomized 
controlled trial experiment in prisoner reentry. BJA anticipates that 
it will make awards to up to four sites for what is expected to be a 
three-year project. The selection of the demonstration sites is in 
progress and sites will be expected to fully implement the intervention 
early in 2013. The BJA solicitation closed on February 23, 2012 and the 
applications from the sites to participate in the project are under 
review. Applicants responding to this solicitation are strongly 
encouraged to familiarize themselves with the description of the 
project and research design in the BJA solicitation. Please visit the 
Office of Justice Programs (OJP) SCA DFE site at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/funding/scadfe.htm and for the full text of the BJA 
solicitation, see: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/grant/12SecondChanceDFEsol.pdf.
    Please note that the BJA solicitation provided specific numbers of 
days expected for the on-site training. However, the length of each 
training program is subject to modification as necessary. Applicant 
should propose training program designs that are of adequate length to 
deliver the program content, but are encouraged to consider blended 
learning strategies to keep the on-site portion of the training to a 
reasonable limit.
    The SCA/DFE is a multi-site, multi-year project that will provide a 
rigorous test of a reentry model designed to: (1) Improve offenders' 
motivation to change; (2) address cognitive and behavioral functioning 
regarding criminal thinking and behaviors; and (3) address core factors 
that affect offender performance while under community supervision 
following release from prison. For this project, only offenders who are 
assessed as moderate- to high-risk for re-offending will be recruited 
to participate. To qualify for a SCA/DFE award, sites must have in 
place a reentry program that includes assessing offenders and using the 
results to tailor reentry plans to individuals.
    As described in the BJA solicitation, NIC has the responsibility of 
organizing and delivering all of the training for line staff and 
community-based service providers. Line staff will receive ECCP 
training (training 1), which should include skills building in 
relationships, coaching, problem-solving, motivational enhancement, 
role clarification and the use of authority, and using reinforcement 
and disapproval effectively. Line staff will also receive training in 
the key elements from the ICMS approach (training 2) that are 
focused on using risk and needs assessments to match appropriate 
treatment or programming options, coordinated services, follow-up, and 
community collaboration.
    Treatment providers will receive training on using MET in working 
with parolees (training 3). Both groups will receive education 
and training in the desistence model (this training is being developed 
under a separate cooperative agreement). All of the training developed 
under this award will also be designed to complement NIC's Thinking for 
a Change (T4C) cognitive behavioral training program. NIC has recently 
revised the T4C training (see http://nicic.gov/T4c for full information 
on this training). In the SCA/DFE design, parolees will receive the T4C 
program as part of the intervention (that training will be delivered by 
NIC), in conjunction with MET.
    The SCA/DFE project sites will also receive program quality 
assurance assessment, and feedback/coaching or technical assistance as 
needed throughout the project. Awardees under this solicitation will 
participate in the planning for the coordination and delivery of these 
additional services and will also be eligible to receive future funding 
to assist in the delivery of these services to the SCA/DFE sites.

Statement of Work

    (1) Design and pilot a curriculum for Effective Core Correctional 
Practices (ECCP) Training: The awardee under this solicitation will be 
responsible for the development and piloting of an ECCP curriculum 
designed to be delivered to staff at the SCA/DFE sites. In recent 
years, several curricula have been developed to train line-level 
correctional staff in working with people under correctional 
supervision. These include Strategic Training Initiative in Community 
Supervision (STICS) by Public Safety Canada, Effective Practices in 
Community Supervision (EPICS) by the University of Cincinnati 
Corrections Institute, and Strategic Techniques Aimed at Reducing Re-
arrest (STARR) from the Administrative Office of the United States 
Courts, Office of Probation and Pretrial Services as well others. These 
approaches for individual offender interventions use somewhat differing 
combinations of cognitive-behavioral techniques, motivational 
enhancement, cognitive restructuring, relationship building, and role 
clarification. The ECCP training program to be developed by the awardee 
under this solicitation will combine these elements and blend them with 
ICMS approaches and the Desistance Model. The awardee under this 
solicitation will develop both a curriculum and facilitators manual for 
Training for Trainers (T4T) and the curriculum for the training program 
the trainers will deliver to line staff.
    (2) Design and pilot a curriculum for Integrated Case Management 
(ICMS). The awardee under this solicitation will be responsible for the 
development and piloting of an ICMS curriculum designed to be delivered 
to staff at the SCA/DFE sites. The key elements from the ICMS approach 
that are most important to the project are assessment, matching 
treatment or programming, coordinated services, follow-up, and 
community collaboration. The training

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should be modeled after NIC's Transition from Prison to the Community 
Project's materials. These include the TPC Case Management Handbook: An 
Integrated Case Management (ICM) Approach and the TPC Reentry Handbook: 
Implementing the NIC Transition from Prison to the Community Model (see 
http://nicic.gov/TPJC for both documents). The ICMS training program to 
be developed by the awardee under this solicitation will combine these 
elements and blend them with ECCP and the Desistance Model. The awardee 
under this solicitation will develop both a curriculum and facilitators 
manual for Training for Trainers (T4T) and the curriculum for the 
training program the trainers will deliver to line staff.
    (3) Design and pilot a curriculum for Motivational Enhancement 
Training (MET): The awardee under this solicitation will be responsible 
for the development and piloting of an MET curriculum designed to be 
delivered to treatment providers at the SCA/DFE sites. Motivational 
Enhancement Therapy (MET) is an approach that has proven effective, 
particularly in working with people with substance abuse issues. It is 
a short intervention that begins with the assumption that clients will 
be better able to change their behavior when they develop a sense of 
intrinsic motivation and feel themselves able to make significant 
changes in their life. The approach is based primarily on Motivational 
Interviewing techniques developed by William R. Miller and Stephen 
Rollnick (1991). It is derived from a number of sources, including 
stages of change theory (Prochaska and DiClemente, 1984), other 
strength-based, client-centered approaches, and research on clinical 
practices that are associated with client success.
    In their book on the principles of motivational interviewing, 
Miller and Rollnick identified five strategies to use in employing this 
approach; (1) Expressing empathy and acceptance through respect and 
support instead of confrontation; (2) helping clients see the contrast 
between their behavior and their own desired goals; (3) avoiding 
arguments by letting the client talk about changing; (4) managing 
resistance by empathetically reflecting the client's resistance to 
change; and (5) supporting self-efficacy by helping the client believe 
that he or she can change.
    MET was designed as a standardized approach in Project MATCH, a 
nine-site clinical trial of patient-treatment matching sponsored by the 
National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (see Miller et al., 
1995). The MET strategy is not designed to train clients through a step 
by step process of change. Instead, it can be used to prepare a client 
for a more structured intervention to follow. The MET approach differs 
from cognitive-behavioral treatment strategies that teach specific 
skills and, in the SCA/DFE project, parolees will receive the Thinking 
for a Change program while at the same time working with treatment 
providers using skills they developed in the MET training. Under the 
cooperative agreement to be awarded under this solicitation, the 
awardee will develop a curriculum and assist in the planning for the 
delivery of training, with follow up coaching as necessary, to the 
treatment providers at each of the SCA/DFE sites. While the original 
MET training focused on substance abuse issues, this curriculum should 
be more broadly tailored to offenders. A typical MET intervention is 
structured around four sessions with the client. The awardee under this 
solicitation will work closely with NIC, the Federal partners, subject 
matter experts, and the evaluation team to design an MET approach 
appropriate for the SCA/DFE intervention which may differ from the 
traditional four session structure. Applicants are encouraged to 
include their ideas on this subject in their proposals.
    The revised MET intervention developed under this solicitation 
should be compatible with a focus on criminal thinking and behaviors to 
blend seamlessly with the subject in NIC's T4C program (such as 
antisocial/pro-criminal attitudes, values and beliefs; criminal 
associates; temperament and personality factors; family factors; low 
levels of education, vocational or financial achievement; and substance 
use) and the other components of the intervention included in the ECCP 
and crime desistance. The awardee under this solicitation will develop 
both a curriculum and facilitators manual for Training for Trainers 
(T4T) and the curriculum for the training program the trainers will 
deliver to line staff. MET References: Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. 
(1991). Motivational interviewing: Preparing people to change addictive 
behavior. New York: Guilford; Miller, W. R., Zweben, A., DiClemente, C. 
C., & Rychtarik, R. G. (1995). Motivational enhancement therapy (MET) 
manual. (Vol. 2). Project MATCH Monograph Series. Rockville, MD: 
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; Prochaska, J. O., & 
DiClemente, C. C. (1984). The transtheoretical approach: Crossing 
traditional boundaries of therapy. Homewood, IL: Dow Jones-Irwin.
    Tasks to be performed under this cooperative agreement include; (1) 
Creation of curricula for ECCP training. The awardee under this 
solicitation will develop both a trainer for trainers (T4T) program and 
a training curriculum for line staff for the trainers to deliver on-
site. The curricula should allow for the use of blended elements, 
including classroom or individual instruction, e-courses, virtual 
instructor led training and coaching/feedback. The curriculum must use 
NIC's Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP) model (see http://nicic.gov/Training/NICWBT16 and http://nicic.gov/Library/010714). In 
addition to developing the ECCP curricula, the awardee will also 
develop and deliver a facilitator's manual and any other supplementary 
material necessary for the delivery of the training.
    (2) Creation of curricula for ICMS training. The awardee under this 
solicitation will develop both a trainer for trainers (T4T) program and 
a training curriculum for line staff for the trainers to deliver on-
site. The curricula should allow for the use of blended elements, 
including classroom or individual instruction, e-courses, virtual 
instructor led training and coaching/feedback. The curriculum must use 
NIC's Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP) model (see http://nicic.gov/Training/NICWBT16 and http://nicic.gov/Library/010714). In 
addition to developing the ICMS curricula, the awardee will also 
develop and deliver a facilitator's manual and any other supplementary 
material necessary for the delivery of the training.
    (3) Creation of a curriculum to train service providers in the use 
of MET that can be delivered as on-site training. The awardee under 
this solicitation will develop both a trainer for trainers (T4T) 
program and a training curriculum for line staff for the trainers to 
deliver. The curriculum should allow for the use of blended elements, 
including classroom or individual instruction, e-courses, virtual 
instructor led training, and coaching/feedback. The curriculum must use 
NIC's Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP) model (see http://nicic.gov/Training/NICWBT16 and http://nicic.gov/Library/010714). In 
addition to developing the MET curricula, the awardee will also develop 
and deliver a facilitator's manual and any other supplementary material 
necessary for the delivery of the training. For the MET training, this 
should include a revision of the personal feedback report commonly used 
in MET sessions.
    (4) Pilot testing of all of the curricula and revisions to each 
curriculum after

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the pilot. The design of the pilots and curricula revisions will be 
carried out in consultation with NIC and the other Federal partners, 
subject matter experts, and the evaluation team.
    (5) Development, in consultation with NIC staff, Federal partners, 
subject matter experts, and the evaluation team, of instruments to aid 
in the evaluation of the training under this project, including 
knowledge tests.
    (6) Participation in development and planning meetings with NIC 
staff, Federal partners, subject matter experts, and the evaluation 
team to coordinate the curriculum development and planning for training 
delivery. Awardee expenses for these meeting are limited to the 
awardee's own project team's costs of travel, lodging, meals, 
incidental expenses, and compensation. Awardees should plan on up to 
four, two-day meetings. (For budgeting purposes, applicants may assume 
that 2 meetings will take place at the NIC National Corrections Academy 
in Aurora, Colorado, and two at NIC's offices in Washington, DC) To 
conform to DOJ rules, all project team members who may be attending 
these planning meetings must be listed by name in the proposal. 
Participation in other planning and coordination meetings will take 
place as necessary throughout the life of the project through 
teleconferences and WebEx meetings as required.
    (7) Delivery of a full report on the project together with the 
final, edited versions of all materials developed during the project in 
a design and format appropriate for public dissemination. A draft of 
these materials must be submitted prior to the end of the project and 
follow NIC's specific requirements for documents or other media.
    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. 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 media submitted under this project 
will be posted on the NIC Web site and must meet the Federal 
Government's requirement for accessibility (i.e., 508 PDF or HTML 
files). The awardee must provide descriptive text interpreting all 
graphics, photos, graphs, and/or multimedia to be included with or 
distributed alongside the materials and must provide transcripts for 
all applicable audio/visual works.
    Application Requirements: Applications should be concisely written, 
typed, double spaced, and reference the project by the ``NIC 
Opportunity Number'' and Title in this announcement. 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 program narrative, not to exceed 30 pages, in response to 
the statement of work, and 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. Large attachments to the proposal describing 
the organization or examples of other past work are discouraged.
    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.

    Authority:  Pub. L. 93-415.

    Funds Available: NIC is seeking the applicant's best ideas 
regarding accomplishment of the scope of work and the related costs for 
achieving all seven of the goals of this solicitation. The award under 
this solicitation will be based on best value and quality of the work 
as defined under the scope of work outlined above. Funds may only be 
used for the activities that are directly linked to the tasks of the 
project.
    This project will be a collaborative venture with the NIC's 
National Corrections Academy and its Research and Information Services 
Division.
    Eligibility of Applicants: An eligible applicant is any public or 
private agency, educational institution, organization, individual, or 
team with expertise in the described areas.
    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 seven project tasks adequately discussed? Is there a 
clear statement of how each task will be accomplished, to include: 
major sub-tasks, the strategies to be employed, required staffing, and 
other required resources? Are there any innovative approaches, 
techniques, or design aspects proposed that will enhance the project?

Organizational (35%)

    Does the proposed project staff 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 achieve all seven project tasks? Are the 
proposed project management and staffing plans realistic and sufficient 
to complete the project within the project time frame?

Project Management/Administration (25%)

    Does the applicant identify reasonable objectives, milestones, 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 insure effective coordination? Is 
the proposed budget realistic, provide sufficient cost detail/
narrative, and represent good value relative to the anticipated 
results?

    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.

    Number of Awards: One.
    NIC Opportunity Number: 12RE05. This number should appear as a 
reference line in the cover letter, where indicated on Standard Form 
424, and

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outside of the envelope in which the application is sent.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number: 16.601.

    Executive Order 12372: This project is not subject to the 
provisions of Executive Order 12372.

Morris L. Thigpen,
Director, National Institute of Corrections.
[FR Doc. 2012-6849 Filed 3-20-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-36-P