National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC-3) 2017-18 | Apply Online

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the NSYC-3 2017-18 grant opportunity?

The National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC-3) 2017-18 grant opportunity is a U.S. Department of Justice initiative administered by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). It funds a single organization to carry out the third national round of the National Survey of Youth in Custody, focused on measuring sexual victimization in juvenile correctional settings using self-reported information from youth in custody.

Who is administering this opportunity?

The opportunity is administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) within the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice.

How many awards does BJS plan to make?

BJS planned to make one award for this solicitation, funding a single organization to serve as the data collection agent for NSYC-3.

What type of funding instrument is used?

The work is structured as a cooperative agreement. This means BJS expects to be actively involved in guiding and overseeing key aspects of the project, rather than providing a hands-off grant.

What is the main purpose of NSYC-3?

The central purpose is to collect self-reported information from youth held in juvenile correctional settings about sexual victimization. The goal is to produce nationally credible statistics and facility-level prevalence measures that support federal requirements and inform policy and oversight.

What kind of information does the survey collect?

The survey collects direct, self-reported information from confined youth about sexual assault and sexual victimization experienced in juvenile facilities.

Which facilities are included in the NSYC-3 scope?

The survey focuses on juvenile correctional facilities, including state-operated institutions as well as locally run or privately operated facilities, as long as they house adjudicated youth under contract with the state.

Does NSYC-3 involve sampling, or is it a census of all facilities?

NSYC-3 involves designing and drawing a national sample of eligible facilities and then selecting and surveying youth within those sampled sites.

Why is confidentiality and participant protection emphasized in this project?

The topic is highly sensitive and the participants are minors in custody. The collection agent is expected to implement rigorous procedures for confidentiality, informed assent/consent as applicable, trauma-informed administration, and protections that encourage honest reporting while minimizing risk to participants.

What are the major operational tasks expected of the award recipient?

The funded organization is expected to plan and coordinate facility recruitment and scheduling, administer the survey in secure environments, manage data collection logistics, conduct data processing and quality assurance, and complete analysis and reporting activities as required by BJS.

What are the expected deliverables or end products?

Expected end products include statistical reporting that supports the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003 requirements, nationally credible statistics, facility-level prevalence measures, and outputs that help generate a list of juvenile correctional systems and facilities ranked or categorized by the prevalence of sexual victimization as measured by the survey.

How does NSYC-3 relate to the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)?

A key statutory purpose of NSYC-3 is to meet PREA-related data collection and analysis requirements. The reporting and facility-level prevalence measures support federal oversight and transparency goals under PREA.

What is the federal activity category for this opportunity?

The opportunity is discretionary and falls under the federal activity category of Information and Statistics.

What is the CFDA number for this program?

The CFDA number listed for this opportunity is 16.734.

What is the maximum award amount?

The maximum award amount listed is $8,000,000, reflecting the scale and complexity of conducting a multi-year national survey across secure juvenile facilities.

What is the anticipated project period?

The anticipated project period is 48 months, running from January 2, 2017 through December 31, 2020.

When was the solicitation posted and when did it close?

The solicitation was posted on April 20, 2016. The closing date was June 13, 2016 (the original and current closing date are both June 13, 2016).

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is described broadly as “Others,” with additional details referenced in the solicitation’s eligibility section.

What does it mean that the awardee serves as the “collection agent”?

The collection agent serves as the operational backbone of NSYC-3. This includes building a defensible national sample, gaining cooperation from juvenile facilities, administering standardized survey protocols to youth participants, producing cleaned data, and delivering analytic products BJS can use for national and facility-level prevalence reporting.

Why is facility recruitment and cooperation a major part of the work?

Because the survey is conducted inside secure juvenile correctional environments and depends on participation across a national sample, the project requires coordinated recruitment, scheduling, and cooperation from a range of facility types (state-run, local, and private under state contract).

What kinds of reporting outputs are expected at the facility level?

The project is expected to produce facility-level prevalence measures and support the creation of a list of juvenile correctional systems and facilities ranked or categorized according to sexual victimization prevalence as measured by the survey.

What is the overarching public purpose of NSYC-3?

The work supports federal oversight and transparency under PREA and provides policymakers and practitioners with comparable, systemwide information on sexual victimization in juvenile custody to inform policy and oversight decisions.