Fiscal Year 2017 Report on the Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program

• NCJ Number: 253053
• Date Published: September 2019
• Length: 3 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description; Grants and Funding

Annotation

Activities during fiscal year (FY) 2017 are reported for the U.S. Justice Department's Paul Coverdell National Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program, which provides funding to states and units of local government to improve the quality and timeliness of forensic science and medical-examiner services.

Abstract

The Justice Department's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) executes the Coverdell Grants Program through a grant solicitation that has both a formula and a competitive component. Only states are eligible to apply for the formula component; the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories are considered states in this mandate. Under the competitive component, funds may be awarded to State Administering Agencies (SAAs) or dispersed directly to units of local government, based on the merits of the respective applications. States and local governments that provide forensic science or medical-examiner services may apply for the competitive funding. On January 10, 2017, NIJ released the solicitation for funding applications under the FY 2017 Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grants Program. NIJ made 62 awards totaling $10,606,081; 52 states received base awards; 1 state received a combination of base and competitive awards; and 9 units of local government received competitive awards. In order to ensure compliance with federal statutes, regulations, and policies, NIJ monitors each award. The monitoring includes reviews of Coverdell grantees' budgets to ensure they are in accord with the work promised in the grant application and are consistent with Coverdell Program statutory and policy requirements. This report provides on-line access to a website with abstracts about each project, as written by the awardees.