BJA FY 2021 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program Program Requirements and Application Instructions | O BJA 2021 171190

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJA 2021 171190

The BJA FY 2021 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) is a mandatory federal payment program run by the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), under the Office of Justice Programs (OJP). Its core purpose is to reimburse, at least in part, states and local governments for certain correctional costs they incur when they jail or incarcerate individuals who are both undocumented and have qualifying criminal convictions. The program sits within OJP's broader public safety goals, including advancing civil rights and racial equity, improving access to justice, supporting victims and justice-involved people, strengthening community safety, and building public trust, but SCAAP itself is primarily a statutory payment mechanism tied to incarceration data and cost reporting.

SCAAP payments for the FY 2021 cycle are tied to a specific 12-month reporting period. To be counted toward payment calculations, an individual generally must meet several conditions during that reporting window: the person must be an "undocumented criminal alien" as defined and verified through federal review; must have been convicted of at least one felony or two misdemeanors (most often under state or local law); and must have been incarcerated for at least four consecutive days under the legal authority of the applying government. In other words, the program is not paying for general immigration enforcement activity, short holds, or temporary custody that does not reach the four-day threshold. It is focused on incarceration where the applicant government had legal authority over the confinement and the individual meets the conviction and undocumented-status requirements.

A major program requirement is the submission of inmate-level information as part of the online application. Each applicant must provide specific data on individuals it incarcerated for at least four consecutive days and whom the jurisdiction either knows are undocumented criminal aliens or reasonably and in good faith believes are undocumented criminal aliens. OJP then transmits the submitted inmate data to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a detailed review. DHS's review is a key step because it helps determine which submitted individuals qualify as "eligible inmates" for SCAAP payment purposes. This means the applicant's submission is not the final word; eligibility depends on both what the jurisdiction reports and what DHS confirms through its verification process.

In addition to identifying potentially eligible incarcerated individuals, applicants must also provide information related to their average incarceration costs during the reporting period. This cost information matters because SCAAP is intended to offset correctional expenses, and the payment methodology relies on a combination of (1) what the applicant reports in the application (both inmate data and cost-related inputs), (2) what DHS returns to OJP after reviewing and validating inmate eligibility, and (3) the total amount of appropriated funds available for that application cycle. As a result, even if a jurisdiction submits a large number of potentially eligible inmates, the actual payment amount can be influenced by how many are confirmed eligible and how the available appropriation is distributed across all qualifying applicants.

From an eligibility standpoint, the program is open to state governments and units of local government, including county governments and city or township governments, with additional eligibility details referenced in the full solicitation instructions. The opportunity is categorized as mandatory (meaning it is driven by statutory requirements rather than a discretionary competitive grant process), and it is listed under CFDA 16.606 for law, justice, and legal services. For the FY 2021 cycle reflected in this notice, the expected scale is large, with an indicated award ceiling of $59,000,000 and an estimate of roughly 600 awards, reflecting that SCAAP commonly makes payments to many jurisdictions rather than funding a small number of projects.

Finally, the notice emphasizes that all information submitted is subject to review by OJP. Practically, that means applicants should treat the application as an auditable submission: inmate records, incarceration dates, conviction criteria, legal authority for incarceration, and cost calculations should be internally consistent, defensible, and supported by documentation in case of follow-up questions or compliance checks. The application timeline for this posting shows a creation date of March 9, 2022, with an original closing date of April 25, 2022, under funding opportunity number O-BJA-2021-171190.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 2021 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program Program Requirements and Application Instructions" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.606.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 09, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Apr 25, 2022. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $59,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 600 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O BJA 2021 171190

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