NIJ FY 2026 State and Local Collection and Reporting of Crime Data
Opportunity number: O-NIJ-2026-172645
Program owner: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice
Summary: Competitive federal funding for rigorous research examining the accuracy and integrity of state and local crime-data collection and reporting and developing scalable best practices for criminal-justice practitioners.
NIJ seeks proposals for a comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional assessment of state and local crime-data collection and reporting. Research should identify sources of inaccurate or incomplete incident and offender data, compare reported information with other estimates, and examine factors affecting data quality.
The recipient will produce scholarly products, actionable dissemination products such as a best-practices guide, and archived research datasets and documentation. Eligible government entities include state, county, city or township, special-district, tribal, and other units of local government. Although police and sheriff's departments are not separately listed, an eligible governmental entity may propose research with a clear and material law-enforcement purpose.
Who is eligible?
Applicant types: State, county, city or township, special-district, tribal, and other local governments; independent school districts; public, state-controlled, and private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; small businesses; and other for-profit organizations.
Eligible applicants are U.S. state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special-district governments, federally recognized and other Native American tribal governments, other units of local government, independent school districts, public or private institutions of higher education, eligible nonprofits, small businesses, and other for-profit organizations. For this NOFO, state entities may be from a U.S. state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Non-U.S. entities are ineligible. Police and sheriff's departments are not separately named, but an eligible parent state or local government may apply for the required law-enforcement-related research.
What can the funding be used for?
Rigorous research examining crime-data collection and reporting across multiple jurisdictions; assessment of incident-level, offense, offender, race, and ethnicity data accuracy; documentation and comparison of reporting practices and crime estimates; analysis of factors affecting data quality; expert convenings; development of scalable best practices; scholarly and practitioner dissemination products; data archiving; and required performance reporting.
Restrictions
Activities outside the program's research scope will not be funded. The NOFO also excludes activities that violate or impede enforcement of federal immigration law, violate applicable federal civil-rights or nondiscrimination law, or fund prohibited legal services for removable or otherwise unlawfully present aliens, subject to the NOFO's stated exceptions.
How to apply
This is a two-step application. The mandatory Grants.gov SF-424 deadline was August 28, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time and, according to the source notice, has passed. Applicants that did not complete that step cannot apply through JustGrants. Applicants that timely completed Step 1 must submit the full application in JustGrants by September 4, 2026, at 8:59 p.m. Eastern Time. More than one application is permitted if each proposes a different project.
Required materials
Required items include the SF-424; Standard Applicant Information; Proposal Narrative; Budget Detail Worksheet; and Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support forms for the principal investigator, co-principal investigators, and other key personnel. The application also requests a proposal abstract, financial-management and internal-controls questionnaire, Agency Funding Priorities Inventory, principal-investigator contact information, and applicable budget, research, disclosure, assurance, human-subjects, privacy, data-management, project-timeline, and supporting materials.
Program contact
OJP Response Center
[email protected]
800-851-3420; 202-353-5556 (TTY)
Official sources
- Office of Justice Programs checked September 2, 2026
Grant details can change. Confirm all requirements on the official source before applying.