National Institute of Justice (NIJ)

The NIJ Cooperative Agreement* with the NFSTC arises from the administration of directed funds, since legislation to support state and local crime laboratories is typically included in the NIJ budget. The Cooperative Agreement provides a framework for program review and management and the funds are program-based “no year money”.

The programs of the Cooperative Agreement are selected based upon feedback from the crime laboratory community. Once programs are identified, they become formalized by acceptance of the Cooperative Agreement by the NIJ. Feedback is obtained by using various focus groups.

The NFSTC has received formal input from:

• American Board of Criminalists (ABC)
• Association of Forensic Quality Assurance Managers (AFQAM)
• American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLD)
• American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors / Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB)
• NFSTC corporation member representatives

The NIJ activities are sometimes referred to under the banner of the FRN, which is the acronym for NIJ’s Forensic Resource Network, an informal structure within the Office of Science and Technology in NIJ and composed of the recipients of major directed funding administered by NIJ as Cooperative Agreements.

Each year that there is an appropriation through directed funds, the NFSTC is required to develop a program that meets the following:

• Complies with the controlling legislation (e.g. CLIP)
• Provides a worthwhile service to state and local crime laboratories
• Receives approval from a program review process, usually involving external assessment
• Receives approval from the Office of the Comptroller in NIJ for the program budget
• Complies with the requirements of Circular A122
  

* 2000-RC-CX-K001 - 2004-DN-BX-0079 - 2006-MU-BX-K002