NIJ FY 2026 State and Local Collection and Reporting of Crime Data | Apply Online

FAQs: NIJ FY 2026 State and Local Collection and Reporting of Crime Data (O-NIJ-2026-172645)

What is this grant opportunity?

This is the NIJ FY 2026 State and Local Collection and Reporting of Crime Data grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number: O-NIJ-2026-172645). It is a discretionary research and development funding program offered by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) under CFDA 16.560.

What type of award is NIJ offering?

The award is structured as a cooperative agreement. This generally means NIJ expects to play an active, ongoing role in the project beyond providing funding, such as collaborating on project direction, deliverables, and dissemination.

What is the overall purpose of the program?

The program focuses on improving the accuracy, consistency, and integrity of crime data that state and local jurisdictions collect and submit for reporting purposes. A key emphasis is identifying what is going wrong in current practices and producing practical solutions that can be adopted widely.

What kind of work is NIJ looking to fund?

NIJ is seeking rigorous research that examines how crime data are collected, classified, validated, and reported across different state and local agencies. NIJ is looking for studies that test, measure, and document the real-world accuracy of reporting practices rather than only describing processes at a high level.

What does NIJ mean by "fidelity" in crime data reporting?

Fidelity refers to whether the data that ultimately get recorded and reported accurately reflect the underlying events and offenses that actually occurred. This includes examining how offense information is captured at initial contact, how incidents are coded and updated as more facts emerge, and how those decisions move through records systems and internal review processes before being finalized for reporting.

Which parts of the crime data workflow can a study cover?

The opportunity describes interest in the full path from initial contact and incident capture, through coding/classification and later updates, and onward through records management systems and internal review steps that determine what is finalized for reporting.

Is NIJ interested in identifying common problems across jurisdictions?

Yes. A major expected outcome is identifying common challenges that repeatedly undermine data quality across jurisdictions, with the intent to translate those findings into scalable solutions and best practices.

What examples of common challenges does the opportunity mention?

The opportunity points to potential issues such as inconsistent interpretation of offense definitions, differences in local policies or training, under-resourced records units, workflow bottlenecks, limitations in RMS or CAD platforms, misalignment between operational practices and reporting rules, and gaps in auditing or quality assurance.

Is this opportunity only about diagnosing problems, or also about solutions?

It is explicitly about both. NIJ wants research that does more than diagnose issues, and instead produces practical guidance, models, and governance approaches that can be adopted widely.

Does NIJ expect outputs that are scalable across many agencies?

Yes. NIJ emphasizes scalable, widely adoptable best practices that different types of agencies can realistically implement, including agencies with limited staffing, constrained budgets, or older technology stacks.

Is data governance part of the scope?

Yes. The opportunity highlights broader data governance practices as an area of interest, including how agencies set and enforce standards, manage documentation, control data changes, assign responsibility for data stewardship, conduct audits, maintain transparency in decision-making, and ensure continuity when staff turnover occurs.

How should governance relate to the research?

The opportunity indicates that stronger proposals would typically connect governance structures to measurable improvements in data accuracy and integrity, and may address how governance can be standardized or adapted across agencies with different sizes, structures, and technical maturity.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is broad. Eligible applicants include state, county, city, or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses); small businesses; and other entities.

Does the broad eligibility mean partnerships are allowed?

The opportunity description suggests NIJ is open to proposals led by academic teams, research nonprofits, public agencies, or technical and evaluation partners, and it creates room for multi-partner collaborations that combine practical agency access with strong research capacity.

How much funding is available?

The funding ceiling is $2,000,000.

How many awards does NIJ expect to make?

NIJ expects to make 1 award.

What does a single expected award imply for applicants?

The structure suggests NIJ is aiming for one relatively large project intended to produce field-wide learning and reusable outputs rather than funding multiple smaller studies.

When is the application due?

The original closing date listed for the opportunity is 2026-08-28.

When was this opportunity created?

The opportunity was created on 2026-06-22.

What characteristics are likely important for a competitive proposal?

Based on the opportunity description and the single large award, proposals will likely need a strong methodology, credible access to agencies and data, a clear plan for assessing accuracy and fidelity in reporting practices, and deliverables that translate findings into actionable, transferable best practices to improve crime data quality and integrity across jurisdictions.

What is CFDA 16.560 and why is it mentioned?

The opportunity is listed under CFDA 16.560, which is the program identifier associated with this NIJ discretionary research and development funding program.

What is NIJ's role during the project under a cooperative agreement?

Under a cooperative agreement, NIJ generally expects to be actively involved over the life of the project, including collaboration on project direction, deliverables, and dissemination of results.