BJA Tribal Court Grant Program 2009 Solicitation & Tools

Click on the links below to find tools and resources to aid you in the grant application process.
For questions, please contact the National Tribal Justice Resource Center at Mail@ntjrc.org.

2009 Solicitation and Tools

BJA Tribal Court Grant Solicitation 2009
TCAP Frequently Asked Questions 2009
Bureau of Justice Assistance Tribal Court Funding Page
How to Apply at Grants.gov - PDF

TCAP Fact Sheets

Tribal Courts Assistance Program (TCAP) Fact Sheet Winter 2008

Tribal Courts Assistance Program (TCAP) Fact Sheet Winter 2007
Tribal Courts Assistance Program (TCAP) Fact Sheet Summer 2006
Tribal Courts Assistance Program (TCAP) Fact Sheet Winter 2005

Previous Solicitations

BJA Tribal Court Grant Solicitation 2008 - PDF
BJA Tribal Court Grant Solicitation 2007 - PDF
BJA Tribal Court Grant Solicitation 2006 - PDF
BJA Tribal Court Grant Solicitation 2005 - PDF
BJA Tribal Court Grant Solicitation 2004 - PDF
BJA Tribal Court Grant Program

Sample Grant Applications

Tribal Court Grant Writing Samples Page Category I Sample
Category I Sample
TLPI's Category I Sample Budget
TLPI's Category I Sample Other Attachments
TLPI's Category I Sample Program Narrative
TLPI's Category II Sample Budget
TLPI's Category II Sample Other Attachments
TLPI's Category II Sample Program Narrative
Category III Sample
Category III Sample
Category III Sample

Other Useful Tools

Sample Job Descriptions
Grant Management Wizard - Use our wizard to determine grant eligibility, grant category, grant tier and maximum funding availability
Chart of Federally Recognized Tribes
Chart of Tribal Populations
Grant Writing Resources
BJA GMS
Grants.gov (Apply here)
BJA Tribal Court Grantee Website

Previous Award Recipients

2008 Grant Recipients
2007 Grant Recipients
2006 Grant Recipients
2005 Grant Recipients
2004 Grant Recipients
2003 Grant Recipients
2002 Grant Recipients

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2009 Tribal Court Assistance Program Grant Solicitation

Authorized by 25 U.S.C. 3681(a), the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Tribal Courts Assistance Program (TCAP) helps develop new tribal courts; improves the operations of existing tribal courts; provides assistance with the development, enhancement, and continuing operation of tribal justice systems; and provides funding for training and technical assistance of tribal court staff. The program’s goals are to (1) provide planning grants to develop a comprehensive strategy and implementation plan to establish a court; (2) provide grants for an existing tribal court system to enhance tribal court services; and (3) provide planning grants for tribal justice system strategies.

All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.

TCAP helps develop new tribal courts, improves the operations of existing tribal courts, and provides funding for technical assistance and training of tribal court staff.

For information on tribal courts and training, visit the National Tribal Justice Resource Center’s web site at http://www.ntjrc.org.

Tribes may submit a TCAP application in one of three categories below. All applicants are encouraged to identify and plan system improvements to increase the tribe’s (or tribes’) capacity to collect and share court-related system data.

CATEGORY I: PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING AN INTERTRIBAL COURT SYSTEM FOR SMALLER POPULATIONS.
Grant maximum: $200,000. Applicants from eligible tribal governments or consortia of tribal governments of any size to plan, develop, and implement a new tribal court system. Funds may be used to facilitate the development and initial implementation of a single-tribe court system or an intertribal court system to meet the needs of more than one tribe in the same geographic region.


CATEGORY II: PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTING A SINGLE-TRIBE COURT SYSTEM.
Grant maximum: $150,000 or $175,000. Applicants from eligible tribal communities of any size to enhance the operation of existing tribal courts, such as establishing a core structure for a tribal court, improving case management, training court personnel, developing civil and criminal codes, acquiring equipment and software, enhancing prosecution and indigent defense, supporting probation diversion and alternative sentencing, designing services and multidisciplinary protocols for juvenile victims of physical and sexual abuse, and structuring intertribal or tribal appellate systems. Category II funding will be awarded under two tiers: 1) tribes and tribal consortia serving populations of less than 5,000 (up to $150,000); and 2) tribes and tribal consortia serving populations of 5,000 or more (up to $175,000). Applicants under both tiers must include information about their current operating budget and dockets to support the requested funding.


CATEGORY III: ENHANCING THE OPERATION OF TRIBAL COURTS.
Grant Maximum: $175,000. Applicants from federally recognized tribal governments with tribal court jurisdiction and/or state court jurisdiction to plan and implement tribal justice strategies to address crime and safety issues in their community in collaboration with other tribal justice components including law enforcement and corrections. BJA will award up to three grants under this category. Grantees will be required to design and implement a 2-year comprehensive plan. After year 1, tribes can identify local funding to continue implementation and/or can apply under other federal funding programs to provide continued implementation support. This plan must be completed and submitted to BJA upon completion of the first year of the project period. Grantees will be allowed to utilize up to $75,000 of the grant funds during the first year of the award to complete the strategic plan. The remaining $100,000 will be released to the grantee to begin implementing the goals of the strategic plan once the plan has been approved by BJA. Grantees will also be required to participate in intensive training and technical assistance programs from BJA which will be provided throughout the grant period to support the grantee’s efforts. As part of the planning process, successful applicants must:

Establish a Strategic Planning Advisory Board to plan, implement, and monitor the proposed strategy. This Advisory Board must oversee the plan and monitor the progress of implementation.

Increase coordination with relevant non-tribal agencies and organizations and among all levels of tribal government and council. If state court jurisdiction applies, applicant must coordinate with state agencies.

Identify and plan system improvements to increase the tribe’s (or tribes’) capacity to collect and share criminal justice system data.

Develop a strategy to streamline and improve the efficiency and/or effectiveness of the tribal justice system or process. While doing so, document the process showing coordination between tribal (and/or state, if applicable) law enforcement, court, and corrections.

Applicants under all three tiers must include information about their current operating budget and dockets to support the requested funding.

Eligibility

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 524 note, applicants are limited to federally recognized tribal governments, including eligible Alaska Native villages and corporations,1 and authorized intertribal consortia (see 25 U.S.C. § 450b[e]). For a current list of federally recognized tribes see Vol. 72, No. 55, of the Federal Register, pp. 13648-13652. Under this solicitation, a tribal government or intertribal consortium may submit only one application—a tribal government may not be part of two applications—and only one tribal government may serve as the applicant agency for an intertribal consortium. OJP requires that all applications must be accompanied by a current authorizing resolution of the governing body of the tribal entity or other enactment of the tribal council or comparable government body. If the grant will benefit more than one tribal entity, a current authorizing resolution or other enactment of the tribal council or comparable government body from each tribal entity must be included. In addition, if the grant application is being submitted on behalf of a tribal entity, a letter or similar document authorizing the inclusion of the tribal entity named in the application must be included. Recipients of prior BJA Tribal Court planning grants may only apply for Category II funding. Supplemental funding is not available for recipients of FY 2007 or FY 2008 TCAP grants.

Length of Grant

The minimum project period for TCAP awards is 24 months, with the project start date on or after September 1, 2009.

How to Apply

DOJ is participating in the e-Government initiative, one of 25 initiatives included in the President’s Management Agenda. Part of this initiative—Grants.gov—is a “one-stop storefront” that provides a unified process for all customers of federal grants to find funding opportunities and apply for funding.

Grants.gov Instructions: Complete instructions can be found at www.grants.gov. If you experience difficulties at any point during this process, please call the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 1–800–518–4726, Monday-Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. e.t.

Funding Opportunities with Multiple Purpose Areas: Some OJP solicitations posted to Grants.gov contain multiple purpose areas, denoted by the individual Competition ID. If you are applying to a solicitation with multiple Competition IDs, you must select the appropriate Competition ID for the intended purpose area of your application. The application will be peer reviewed according to the requirements of the purpose area under which it is submitted.

Note: OJP’s Grants Management System (GMS) does not support Microsoft Vista or Microsoft 2007. Therefore, OJP will not review any application whose attachments are in Microsoft Vista or Microsoft 2007 format. GMS downloads applications from Grants.gov and is the system in which OJP reviews applications and manages awarded grants. Applications submitted via GMS must be in the following word processing formats: Microsoft Word (*.doc), WordPerfect (*.wpd), PDF files (*.pdf), or Text Documents (*.txt) and may include Excel files (*.xls). GMS is not yet compatible with Vista and cannot yet process Microsoft Word 2007 documents saved in the new default format with the extensions of “.docx.” Please ensure the documents you are submitting in Grants.gov are saved using “Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)” format. In addition, GMS does not accept executable file types as application attachments. These disallowed file types include, but are not limited to, the following extensions: ".com," ".bat," ".exe," ".vbs," ".cfg," ".dat," ".db," ".dbf," ".dll," ".ini," ".log," ".ora," ".sys," and ".zip."

CFDA Number: The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) number for this solicitation is 16.608, titled “Tribal Court Assistance Program,” and the funding opportunity number is BJA-2009-1952.

A DUNS number is required: The Office of Management and Budget requires that all businesses and nonprofit applicants for federal funds include a DUNS (Data Universal Numeric System) number in their application for a new award or renewal of an award. Applications without a DUNS number are incomplete. A DUNS number is a unique nine-digit sequence recognized as the universal standard for identifying and keeping track of entities receiving federal funds. The identifier is used for tracking purposes and to validate address and point of contact information for federal assistance applicants, recipients, and subrecipients. The DUNS number will be used throughout the grant life cycle. Obtaining a DUNS number is a free, simple, one-time activity. Obtain one by calling 1–866–705–5711 or by applying online at www.dnb.com/us/. Individuals are exempt from this requirement.

Central Contractor Registration (CCR) is required: In addition to the DUNS number requirement, OJP requires that all applicants (other than individuals) for federal financial assistance maintain current registrations in the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) database. The CCR database is the repository for standard information about federal financial assistance applicants, recipients, and subrecipients. Organizations that have previously submitted applications via Grants.gov are already registered with CCR, as it is a requirement for Grants.gov registration. Please note, however, that applicants must update or renew their CCR registration at least once per year to maintain an active status. Information about registration procedures can be accessed at www.ccr.gov.