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Special Forces students learn to collect fingerprint records from detainees in custom-designed scenarios.

Making a Difference

"(Your) staff did an excellent job. They were very prepared and organized. They were also very friendly, which made it easy for my new analyst to relax."
(Assessments Program)

~Deedra Hughes
Mississippi Crime Laboratory

Grant Progress Assessment Program

More than $1 Billion in NIJ Grants and Awards Assessed

From mid-2005 to September 30, 2011, NFSTC operated the National Institute of Justice’s (NIJ’s) Grant Progress Assessment (GPA) Program. The GPA Program provided comprehensive assessments of more than $1 billion of forensic laboratory grants and cooperative agreements. This grant funding was awarded to agencies to expand laboratory capacity, address evidence backlogs, assist with cold case investigations and handle other pressing issues in non-DNA, forensic-related areas.

NFSTC assessed grantee progress on more than 2,300 NIJ awards, promoting compliance and reinforcing the importance of proper expenditures to ensure that public funds were spent according to the terms of the grant. In addition, the program helped educate grantees about award management and policies.

NFSTC leverages this experience to assist agencies of all sizes with grant writing, grant management and assessment services. Click here for complete details on NFSTC’s Grant Support services.

Program Statistics

Some highlights of the GPA program include:

  • Site visits completed for 1,054 agencies
  • Reviews completed for 2,363 open awards:
    • 732 DNA Backlog Reduction awards
    • 278 Capacity Enhancement awards
    • 157 Solving Cold Cases with DNA awards
    • 373 Convicted Offender/Arrestee DNA Backlog Reduction awards
    • 823 Paul Coverdell awards

Impact

This program provided crucial information, including identifying challenges faced by the grantees in achieving program objectives and assessing the impact of the grant funding. According to NIJ staff, “Prior to the inception of the GPA Program, numerous grantees had difficulty managing and maintaining their records to standards required by OJP. However, through the combined efforts of the GPA Program and [NIJ] Management, the same grantees demonstrated vast improvement in award management.”