[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 131 (Tuesday, July 9, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41086-41088]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-16484]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

National Institute of Corrections


Solicitation for a Cooperative Agreement--Children of 
Incarcerated Parents: Arrest Through Pre-Adjudication

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, or individuals to enter into a 
cooperative agreement for an 18-month period to begin no later than 
September 15, 2013. Work under this cooperative agreement will involve 
the development of a guiding framework document of promising practices 
regarding children

[[Page 41087]]

of incarcerated parents. This project will examine the points of the 
criminal justice continuum from arrest and jail incarceration through 
the pre-adjudication phase; including: Pretrial, release, diversion, 
guilty adjudication, and reentry from local jails and how each of the 
decisions made throughout the pre-adjudication phase in the criminal 
justice system impacts this population. The project will further 
identify and highlight innovations and promising practices that have 
shown to positively impact children of incarcerated parents. This 
project will be a collaborative venture with the NIC Community Services 
Division.
    NIC Opportunity Number: 13CS22. This number should appear in the 
reference line in your cover letter, on Standard Form 424 in section 11 
with the title of your proposal, and in the right justified header of 
your proposal.
    Number of Awards and Funds Available: Under this solicitation, one 
(1) award will be made. The total amount of funds available under this 
solicitation is $150,000.00. Funds awarded under this solicitation may 
only be used for activities directly related to the project as 
described herein unless otherwise amended in writing by NIC.
    Applications: All applicants must be submitted electronically via 
http://www.grants.gov. Hand delivered, mailed, faxed, or emailed 
applications will not be accepted.

DATES: Application must be submitted before midnight on Wednesday, July 
31, 2013.

    Authority: Pub. L. 93-415.

    Eligibility of Applicants: An eligible applicant is any public or 
private agency, educational institution, organization, individual, or 
team with expertise in the described areas.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    NIC has worked closely with Federal, state and local jails, 
prisons, community corrections on a broad range of projects ranging 
from operational to research and innovation. Regarding Children of 
Incarcerated Parents, in December, 2000, Congress appropriated funds to 
the Department of Justice (DOJ), National Institute of Corrections 
(NIC) ``to work with cooperative agreements to fund private sector or 
not for profit groups that have effective, tested programs to help 
children of prisoners.'' To prepare for this solicitation, NIC convened 
a Children of Prisoner's planning meeting, inviting federal and state 
government, association, academic, and private provider 
representatives. Solicitations were announced in five (5) categories 
and eleven (11) awards were made. At the completion of the project, the 
National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) conducted an overall 
process evaluation and identified a series of recommendations specific 
to program development delivery and sustainability. Throughout the past 
decade rates of incarceration have increased and the sheer number of 
children impacted by parental incarceration has risen. A number of 
organizations and individuals have focused attention on this issue, 
however, less so from the criminal justice perspective. This 
solicitation for cooperative agreement will examine the points of the 
criminal justice continuum from arrest and jail incarceration through 
the pre-adjudication phase; including: Pretrial, release, diversion, 
guilty adjudication, and reentry from local jails and how each of the 
decisions made throughout, impact children of incarcerated parents. We 
are seeking organizations, groups, or individuals to identify and 
address the gaps of information that is in the local criminal justice 
system(s) in a document that can be used to improve practices during 
pre-adjudication and jail reentry.
    Scope of Work: The intent of this solicitation is for the awardee 
to develop a guiding framework document of promising practices 
regarding children of incarcerated parents, from a criminal justice 
perspective. It is anticipated that in developing the framework 
document, the applicant will have strong familiarity with the criminal 
justice and social service systems. The awardee will demonstrate in the 
application the ability to complete all tasks outlined in the 
deliverables and project management and staffing plans commensurate 
with the project time frame. If consultants or partnerships are 
proposed, provide reasonable justification for inclusion. The proposed 
budget should be realistic and provide an adequate cost detail outline 
that represents accurate value in relation to the anticipated results. 
In addition, the awardee will research and identify up to four (4) 
sites that have demonstrated success with promising practices that can 
be incorporated into the framework document. This document will serve 
as a guideline for stakeholders, e.g., law enforcement, correctional 
agencies, court system, prosecutors, pretrial officers, and social 
services which demonstrate the importance of collaboration and 
highlight innovative practices for children of incarcerated parents 
from the point of arrest through the pre-adjudication phase of the 
continuum. The awardee will also create relevant materials to be used 
for educating stakeholders through the NIC Web site or at conference 
workshops and training sessions. Upon being awarded this solicitation, 
the awardee will meet with the project manager to discuss the 
expectations of the project and provide answers to any questions 
pertaining to the scope of work.
    Deliverables: Project deliverables include (1) Conduct a review of 
existing literature and current research for Children of Incarcerated 
Parents and identify best and or promising practices; (2) Research and 
identify up to 4 sites that have demonstrated measured success with 
innovative and promising practices for Children of Incarcerated 
Parents. While onsite, engage stakeholders and translate lessons 
learned into the framework document. Stakeholders may include, but not 
be limited to: Law enforcement agencies, correctional agencies, court 
systems, prosecutors, pre-trial officers, and social services. The 
awardee is responsible for making and funding travel arrangements for 
onsite travel; (3) Development of a framework document that guides 
criminal justice organizations and related stakeholders with developing 
and implementing policies and practices to strengthen the bonds between 
criminal justice involved parents and children, i.e., a reentry 
process, that will focus on the decision points throughout the 
continuum from arrest through pre-adjudication to release and the 
impact on children at each of these points. Ensure that materials 
submitted are within guidelines listed at the end of this document; and 
(4) Prepare a PowerPoint presentation and other relevant materials that 
can be utilized at conference workshops or in local jurisdictions. The 
awardee will be required to provide project updates through scheduled 
quarterly meetings with NIC via conference call.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: All technical or programmatic 
questions concerning this announcement should be directed to Greg 
Crawford, Correctional Program Specialist, National Institute of 
Corrections who may be reached by email at [email protected]. In 
addition to the direct reply, all questions and responses will be 
posted on NIC's Web site at www.nicic.gov for public review (the names 
or affiliations of those submitting questions will not be posted). The 
Web site will be updated regularly and postings will remain on the Web 
site until the closing date of this cooperative agreement solicitation.

[[Page 41088]]

    Application Requirements: Application Requirements: Applications 
should be typed, double spaced, in 12-point font, and reference the 
project by the ``NIC Opportunity Number'' 13CS22 and title in this 
announcement, ``Children of Incarcerated Parents: Arrest Through Pre-
Adjudication''. 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 concisely written 
program narrative, not to exceed 30 numbered pages, in response to the 
statement of work, and a detailed budget with 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. Attachments to the proposal 
describing your organization or examples of other past work beyond 
those specifically requested above are discouraged. These attachments 
should not exceed 5MB.
    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.

    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.
    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 project tasks adequately discussed? Is there a clear 
statement of how each task will be accomplished, to include the overall 
project goal(s), major tasks to achieve the goal(s), the strategies to 
be employed in completing the tasks, required staffing, and other 
required resources? Are there any approaches, techniques, or design 
aspects proposed that are innovative and will enhance the project?

Organizational (35%)

    Do the proposed project staff members 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 complete all project 
tasks? Does the proposal contain project management and staffing plans 
that are realistic and sufficient to complete the project within the 
project time frame?

Project Management/Administration (25%)

    Does the applicant identify reasonable objectives and/or milestones 
that reflect the key tasks, 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 ensure effective coordination? Is the proposed budget realistic, 
does it provide a sufficient cost detail/narrative, and does it 
represent good value relative to the anticipated results?
    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. For all awards in which a document will be a deliverable, 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 materials submitted under this 
project must meet the federal government's requirement for Section 508 
accessibility, including those provisions outlined in 1194 Subpart B, 
Technical Provisions, Subpart C, Functional Performance Criteria; and 
Subpart D, Documentation and Support, NIC's government product 
accessibility template (see www.nicic.gov/section508) outlines the 
agency's minimum criteria for meeting this requirement; a completed 
form attesting to the accessibility of project deliverables should 
accompany all submissions.
    The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) should be entered 
into box 10 of the SF 424. The CFDA number for this solicitation is 
16.602, Research and Policy Formulation. You are not subject to 
Executive Order 12372 and should check box b under section 16.

Robert M. Brown, Jr.,
Acting Director, National Institute of Corrections.
[FR Doc. 2013-16484 Filed 7-8-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-36-P