Solving Cold Cases With DNA | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), part of the U.S. Department of Justice, offered a discretionary funding opportunity titled "Solving Cold Cases With DNA" (Funding Opportunity Number NIJ 2012 3099) to help jurisdictions reopen and work unsolved violent crime cases that may be solvable through modern DNA testing. The core purpose of the program is to support states and units of local government in identifying, reviewing, and investigating cold cases and in locating, preserving, and analyzing any biological evidence tied to those cases. The opportunity is built around the idea that a focused cold case effort, paired with updated forensic capabilities, can generate new leads and resolve cases that previously stalled.

The solicitation emphasizes that cold case programs have a track record of solving a meaningful number of serious violent crimes, particularly homicides and sexual assaults. It highlights how improvements in DNA technology have changed what is possible in forensic casework, especially for older evidence that may be degraded, limited in quantity, or otherwise compromised. In practical terms, evidence that was once considered too weak to test, or evidence that produced incomplete or inconclusive results years ago, might now yield usable DNA profiles. This makes it worthwhile for agencies to take a second look at older cases, re inventory evidence, and apply newer testing approaches where appropriate.

For this program, a "violent crime cold case" is defined as an unsolved Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Part 1 Violent Crime case in which all significant investigative leads have been exhausted. That definition is important because it frames the expected case selection: the program is not meant for active investigations with ongoing leads, but rather for cases that are truly stalled and where DNA analysis could provide a new investigative path.

The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, meaning NIJ expected to have an active role in the funded work compared with a standard grant. The activity categories listed include law, justice and legal services as well as science and technology and other research and development, reflecting the mix of investigation, evidence processing, and forensic analysis involved. The CFDA number associated with the program is 16.560 (National Institute of Justice Research, Evaluation, and Development Project Grants). The solicitation stated no cost sharing or matching requirement, lowering the barrier for participation by jurisdictions that may not have available local funds to contribute.

NIJ anticipated making about 14 awards under this solicitation. The posted date and creation date were both March 20, 2012, with an original and current closing date of May 21, 2012, and the archive date listed as August 21, 2012. The award ceiling and floor were both shown as 0 in the source data, which typically indicates that the specific dollar ranges were not encoded in that summary field and would need to be confirmed in the full solicitation document.

Eligibility was broadly labeled as unrestricted in the summary data, but the solicitation narrative makes clear that the main intended applicants were states and units of local government. In other words, while the database field may appear open, applicants would still need to align with the eligibility language in the actual announcement, especially around who is authorized to apply and who can carry out the investigative and forensic work.

The authorizing legislation for the opportunity was the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2012 (Public Law 112 55), which provided the statutory basis for NIJ to fund this type of effort. For help with the solicitation requirements, the point of contact listed was Michael Dillon, Senior Grants Management Specialist, reachable at 202 514 5528 and Michael.Dillon3@usdoj.gov. For technical issues with application submission through Grants.gov, applicants were directed to the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800 518 4726 or 606 545 5035, or by email at support@grants.gov, with support available 24/7 except federal holidays.

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