How to Apply for Funding

1. Subscribe to News From OVC for updates on new funding opportunities and other OVC announcements.
    
2.  Visit the Department of Justice Grants Program Plan summarizes details about OVC funding opportunities that we expect to release, or have released, this fiscal year. The Program Plan also provides information about funding from other Department of Justice grant-making Components.

Refer to the following resources to help guide you through the grant application process—

• the notice of funding opportunity,
• the Training: Application Submission page on the JustGrants Resource Website, and
• the Office of Justice Programs Grant Application Resource Guide for information on the application process.

For new applicants or grantees, the onboarding process will commence when you initiate an application in Grants.gov. During entity onboarding, the Entity Administrator will be assigned to the entity’s designated “Electronic Business Point of Contact (E-Biz POC).” This is the individual who is currently designated in SAM.gov as responsible for federal grant-related activities.

Registering with Grants.gov is a one-time process; DOJ encourages applicants to register several weeks before the application submission deadline.

Learn more about Grants.gov and how long it takes to register on the Office of Justice Programs Grant Application Resource Guide.

Complete the AOR profile and create a username and password on Grants.gov. Note: An applicant entity's "Unique Entity Identifier," (UEI) must be used to complete this step.

UEIs are used to identify entities registered in the System for Award Management (SAM).

• Individual applicants registering with Grants.gov can learn about the registration process by going to the Grants.gov Applicant Registration webpage.
• Organizations and other entities can learn about the registration process by going to the Grants.gov Organization Registration webpage.

Note that organizations can have more than one AOR. For more information, access the How To Apply section of the OJP Applicant Resource Guide.

Additional Resources:

• JustGrants: Resources for Using the System for Award Management (SAM.gov)
• SAM.gov entity registration page

After you have reviewed the funding opportunity, you must complete the application package and submit it online. Learn about how to prepare and submit your application by viewing the following resources—

• the Training: Application Submission page on the JustGrants Resource Website, and
• the Office of Justice Programs Grant Application Resource Guide for information on the application process.

The E-Biz POC at the applicant organization must log into Grants.gov to confirm the applicant organization's AOR. The E-Biz POC will need the MPIN password obtained when registering with SAM to complete this step. Note that an organization can have more than one AOR.

Refer to the "Eligibility" section of the notice of funding opportunity to determine if you are eligible.

Refer to the funding opportunity for contact information for general questions about requirements.

Visit the "Application and Submission Information" section of the notice of funding opportunity to review the "Proposal Narrative" section, as the page length and other requirements may vary by funding opportunity. However, generally, the Proposal Narrative should be double-spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font and have no less than 1-inch margins. Pages should be numbered. If the Proposal Narrative fails to comply with these length-related restrictions, OVC may negatively consider such noncompliance in peer review and in final award decisions.

Documents required under the "Proposal Abstract" and "Budget and Budget Narrative" sections will not count toward the Proposal Narrative page count. Other attachments, such as résumés, will also not count toward the Proposal Narrative page count.

The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) will require each successful applicant to submit regular performance data that demonstrate the results of the work carried out under the award.

The performance data directly relate to the goals, objectives, and deliverables identified under "Goals, Objectives, and Deliverables" in Section A. Program Description of the notice of funding opportunity. Applicants should visit OJP’s performance measurement page for an overview of performance measurement activities.

The application should demonstrate the applicant’s understanding of the performance data reporting requirements for this grant program and detail how the applicant will gather the required data should it receive funding.

Please note that applicants are not required to submit performance data with the application. Performance measures information is included as an alert that successful applicants will be required to submit performance data as part of the reporting requirements under an award.

For more information on allowable and unallowable costs, please review the notice of funding opportunity and the Department of Justice (DOJ) Grants Financial Guide. Interpretations or clarification on the DOJ Grants Financial Guide can be addressed to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer's Customer Service Center at 800-458-0786. 

Applicants should provide a budget that—

1. is complete, allowable, and cost-effective in relation to the proposed activities;
2. shows the cost calculations demonstrating how they arrived at the total amount requested; and 
3. provides a brief supporting narrative to link costs with project activities. The budget should cover the entire award period.

See the Budget Preparation and Submission Information and Associated Documentation section of the Office of Justice Programs Grant Application Resource Guide for information on preparing a budget.

Information about what the budget narrative should include is available in the Narrative Justification for Every Cost section of the Office of Justice Programs Grant Application Resource Guide.

View the Audit Requirements section of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Grants Financial Guide for information about audit report requirements.

View the Indirect Costs section of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Grants Financial Guide for information about indirect costs and the Indirect Cost Rate Agreement section of the Office of Justice Programs Grant Application Resource Guide.

After you have reviewed the notice of funding opportunity, you must complete the application package and submit it online. 

Learn about how to prepare and submit your application by visiting the Training: Application Submission page on the JustGrants Resource Website, and the Office of Justice Programs Grant Application Resource Guide.

No. Applicants must submit their application electronically. OVC will not accept paper submissions.

For technical assistance with submitting an application, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800-518-4726 or 606-545-5035, at www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html, or at [email protected]. The Grants.gov Support Hotline operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except on federal holidays.

An applicant that experiences unforeseen Grants.gov technical issues beyond its control that prevent it from submitting its application by the deadline must contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline or the SAM Help Desk (Federal Service Desk) to report the technical issue and receive a tracking number.

An applicant that experiences unforeseen Grants.gov or JustGrants technical issues beyond its control that prevent it from submitting its application by the deadline must email the Nation al Criminal Justice Reference Service Response Center at [email protected] within 24 hours after the application deadline to request approval to submit its application after the deadline.

Note: OJP does not automatically approve requests to submit a late application. After OJP reviews the applicant's request, and contacts the Grants.gov or SAM Help Desks to verify the reported technical issues, OJP will inform the applicant whether the request to submit a late application has been approved or denied. If OJP determines that the late application submission was due to the applicant's failure to follow all required procedures, OJP will deny the applicant's request to submit its application.

The following conditions generally are insufficient to justify late submissions—

• failure to register in SAM or Grants.gov in sufficient time (SAM registration and renewal can take as long as 10 business days to complete. The information transfer from SAM to Grants.gov can take up to 48 hours.),
• failure to follow Grants.gov instructions on how to register and apply as posted on its website,
• failure to follow each instruction in the OJP funding opportunity, or
• technical issues with the applicant's computer or information technology environment, such as issues with firewalls.

For technical assistance with submitting the full application in the Justice Grants System (JustGrants), contact the JustGrants Service Desk at [email protected] or at 833-872-5175. The JustGrants Service Desk operates 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. eastern time, Monday to Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Saturday, Sunday, and federal holidays.

An applicant that experiences unforeseen JustGrants technical issues beyond its control that prevent it from submitting its application by the deadline must contact JustGrants Support  or the SAM Help Desk (Federal Service Desk). Report the technical issue and receive a tracking number.

The applicant must email the contact identified in the Contact Information section of the funding opportunity within 24 hours after the application deadline to request approval to submit its application after the deadline. The applicant's email must describe the technical difficulties, and must include a timeline of the applicant's submission efforts, the complete grant application, the applicant's Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number, and any JustGrants Support or SAM tracking number(s).

Note: OJP does not automatically approve requests to submit a late application. After OJP reviews the applicant's request, and contacts JustGrants Support to verify the reported technical issues, OJP will inform the applicant whether the request to submit a late application has been approved or denied. If OJP determines that the untimely application submission was due to the applicant's failure to follow all required procedures, OJP will deny the applicant's request to submit its application.

The following conditions generally are insufficient to justify late submissions—

• failure to register in SAM or Grants.gov in sufficient time (SAM registration and renewal can take as long as 10 business days to complete),
• failure to follow Grants.gov and JustGrants instructions on how to register and apply as posted on these websites,
• failure to follow each instruction in the funding opportunity, or
• technical issues with the applicant's computer or information technology environment, such as issues with firewalls.

Instructions for filling out the SF-424 can be found on the Office of Justice Programs Grant Application Resource Guide.