NIJ FY23 Criminal Justice Technology Testing and Evaluation Center

OJP is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community.

With this solicitation, NIJ seeks proposals to host a Criminal Justice Technology Testing and Evaluation Center. The Center will provide testing, evaluation, and other activities to support the safety, effectiveness, efficiency, and efficacy of technologies in use or adaptable by criminal justice and juvenile justice communities. The Center will inform NIJ’s research and development efforts as well as NIJ’s stakeholders, including criminal justice practitioners, policymakers, researchers, federal partners, and private industry, by: (1) conducting secondary research on technologies and technology implementation for potential use by criminal justice communities; (2) performing experimental testing and evaluation on technologies to inform potential adoption by criminal justice agencies; (3) conducting experimental or rigorous quasi-experimental research and evaluation of technology implementation by criminal justice agencies; (4) administering the NIJ Compliance Testing Program (CTP); and (5) supporting the development, validation, and maintenance of criminal justice equipment standards. This program furthers the Department’s mission by sponsoring research to provide objective, independent, evidence-based knowledge and tools to meet the challenges of crime and justice, particularly at the state and local levels.

NIJ will give special consideration to proposals with methods that include meaningful engagement with the people with lived experience of the subject of study, including, but not limited to, justice practitioners, community members, crime victims, service providers, and individuals who have experienced justice system involvement.

Applicants are encouraged to propose multidisciplinary research teams to build on the complementary strengths of different methods and areas of subject matter expertise. NIJ also seeks proposals that include consideration and measurement of issues of diversity, discrimination, and bias across age, gender and gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation, as applicable.

NIJ seeks proposals that include robust, creative, and multi-pronged dissemination strategies which include strategic partnerships with organizations and associations best equipped to ensure that research findings lead to changes in policies and practices related to the subjects of study. Special consideration will be given to proposals that dedicate at least 15% of the requested project award funding toward implementing such strategies, as demonstrated in the Budget Worksheet and Budget Narrative.

In the case of partnerships that will involve the use of federal award funds by multiple partnering agencies to carry out the proposed project, only one entity/partnering agency may be the applicant (as is the case with any application submitted in response to this solicitation); any others must be proposed as subrecipients. The applicant is expected to conduct a majority of the work proposed.