FY2023 Survey of Prison Inmates Data Linkage Program | O BJS 2023 171756

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJS 2023 171756

The FY2023 Survey of Prison Inmates Data Linkage Program (SPI DLP) is a Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) funding opportunity under the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), focused on strengthening the federal government s ability to produce reliable, policy-relevant statistics about people incarcerated in prisons and their outcomes after release. The program sits within OJP s broader priorities around civil rights and racial equity, access to justice, support for crime victims and justice-impacted individuals, improved community safety, protection from emerging threats, and building public trust in the justice system. In practical terms, the opportunity is about expanding the statistical and research value of the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI) by linking that survey s self-reported information to a range of administrative datasets, creating a richer picture of individuals experiences before incarceration, during incarceration, and after release.

At the core of this solicitation, BJS is seeking an agent (a single awardee) to implement the SPI Data Linkage Program and provide technical, scientific, and statistical support that builds on earlier linkage efforts. The 2016 SPI contains detailed self-report data collected directly from incarcerated individuals, and the goal of the linkage program is to connect those survey responses with administrative records that can validate, complement, and extend what is learned from the survey alone. The solicitation highlights several key administrative domains targeted for linkage, including criminal history records, employment and income data, housing-related information, and beneficiary records. By integrating these sources, BJS can study how justice involvement intersects with employment stability, earnings, housing access, benefit receipt, and other outcomes that are difficult to measure accurately through self-report only or through administrative data alone.

The work supported through SPI DLP is meant to expand BJS s capacity to conduct additional studies of people who are imprisoned and to follow them post-release. That includes completing methodological work (for example, developing and documenting linkage strategies, handling data quality differences across systems, and addressing missing or inconsistent identifiers), statistical work (such as evaluating linkage accuracy, producing weights or adjustments as needed, and conducting analyses that appropriately reflect the combined data), and reporting work (including publishing findings and expanding the broader SPI statistical reporting program). In other words, this is not just a data matching exercise; it is an end-to-end effort to make the linked dataset usable for federal statistical purposes and to turn it into credible, transparent, and reproducible statistical products.

From an administrative standpoint, this opportunity is a continuation solicitation and will be made as a cooperative agreement, which typically means BJS expects to have substantial involvement in guiding the project, coordinating decisions, and ensuring the work aligns with federal statistical standards and BJS priorities. The Funding Opportunity Number is O-BJS-2023-171756, and it is associated with CFDA 16.734 (BJS statistics programs). The award ceiling is 500,000 dollars, with one expected award, indicating BJS is looking for a single implementing partner rather than distributing smaller awards across multiple organizations. The solicitation was created on May 4, 2023, with an original closing date of May 23, 2023.

Eligibility is listed broadly as Others, with the expectation that the detailed eligibility rules are provided in the solicitation s Additional Information on Eligibility section. The statutory authority cited is section 302 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, codified at 34 U.S.C. 10132(c)(1), which authorizes BJS to make grants or enter into cooperative agreements or contracts with public agencies, higher education institutions, private organizations, or individuals to collect and analyze criminal justice data and produce reliable statistics. This legal authority underscores the main purpose of the award: improving national-level criminal justice statistics through rigorous data collection, integration, and analysis.

Overall, the SPI DLP opportunity is designed to enhance the evidence base on incarceration and reentry by combining what people report about their lives with what administrative systems record about their justice histories and socioeconomic outcomes. The expected result is stronger BJS statistical reporting that can better inform policymakers, practitioners, and researchers, particularly on questions tied to equity, system impacts, and post-release trajectories.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics in the information and statistics sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY2023 Survey of Prison Inmates Data Linkage Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.734.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 04, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 23, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O BJS 2023 171756

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