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Electronic Crime and Digital Evidence Recovery (NIJ) - Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Electronic Crime and Digital Evidence Recovery funding opportunity?

It is a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) discretionary funding solicitation under the NIJ Research, Evaluation, and Development Projects Grants program (CFDA 16.560). The opportunity supports research, technology development, and evaluation projects intended to strengthen criminal justice policy and practice in the United States by improving forensic capabilities for digital evidence.

What is the main goal of this solicitation?

The core aim is to fund applied research and development (R and D) that advances the state of the art in digital forensics and can be transitioned into practical tools and methods used by investigators and forensic practitioners.

Is this funding intended for routine digital forensic casework?

No. The emphasis is not on routine casework. NIJ is seeking projects that create new or improved digital forensic capabilities through research, development, and evaluation.

Can funds be used for standard equipment purchases?

This opportunity is not focused on standard equipment purchases. It is focused on advancing digital forensics through applied R and D that results in improved tools and methods.

What types of projects does NIJ want to fund?

NIJ is looking for research, technology development, and evaluation efforts that produce new or improved forensic capabilities for digital evidence, with an emphasis on solutions that can be transitioned into tools and methods for real-world investigative and forensic use.

What are the priority areas NIJ is actively seeking proposals for?

NIJ identifies four priority areas:

• Forensic tools for mobile cellular devices
• Solutions for data forensics in Internet-based or cloud computing environments
• Forensic tools for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications
• Forensic tools for vehicle computer systems

Why are mobile cellular device forensic tools a priority?

Because smartphones and related ecosystems constantly evolve, including operating systems, applications, encryption, and device-level security. These changes can make lawful extraction and interpretation of evidence difficult, creating demand for improved forensic tools and approaches.

Why does the solicitation focus on cloud or Internet-based data forensics?

Cloud and Internet-based evidence can be distributed across services, accounts, jurisdictions, and virtualized infrastructure. Traditional disk-based forensic approaches do not always map cleanly to these modern architectures, so NIJ is seeking solutions better suited to these environments.

What makes VoIP communications forensics a priority area?

VoIP evidence can involve complex packet-based voice data, server and client logs, encryption, and provider-specific implementations. These factors can complicate collection, reconstruction, attribution, and timeline analysis, creating a need for improved forensic tools.

Why are vehicle computer systems included as a priority area?

Modern vehicles contain multiple electronic control units and other data sources that may hold information about usage, location, events, or system status. Specialized acquisition and interpretation methods are often required to obtain records reliably and in a forensically sound manner.

What is the award mechanism for this opportunity?

The award mechanism is a cooperative agreement.

What does it mean that the award is a cooperative agreement?

A cooperative agreement typically indicates closer involvement by the funding agency during project performance compared to a standard grant. This can mean more active collaboration or oversight by NIJ while the project is underway.

When was this opportunity posted and when did it close?

The opportunity was posted on November 5, 2010, and the application closing date was February 3, 2011.

Is the solicitation still active?

Based on the provided information, it has an archive date of May 3, 2011, indicating it is archived rather than currently open.

How many awards did NIJ expect to make?

NIJ listed an expectation of up to 100 awards.

Is there a minimum or maximum award amount?

No award floor or ceiling was specified in the summarized data provided.

Is cost sharing or matching required?

No. There is no cost sharing or matching requirement.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is broadly open to various types of entities, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications that may be included in the full solicitation.

What funding program and CFDA does this fall under?

It is part of the NIJ Research, Evaluation, and Development Projects Grants program and is identified with CFDA 16.560.

What category does this opportunity fall under?

The program sits within the Law, Justice and Legal Services category and aligns with Science and Technology and other Research and Development, consistent with its focus on usable forensic innovations.

What laws authorize this solicitation?

This solicitation is authorized under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (sections 201 and 202) and the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (section 232).

Who can I contact with programmatic questions about the solicitation?

NIJ provided a programmatic point of contact: Martin Novak, Physical Scientist, at 202 616 0630 or Martin.Novak@usdoj.gov.

Who can I contact for technical help submitting through Grants.gov?

For technical submission issues through Grants.gov, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800 518 4726 or support@grants.gov. Availability is noted as 24 7 except federal holidays.