NIJ FY18 Research and Evaluation of Technologies to Improve School Safety | NIJ 2018 14054

Opportunity Information: Apply for NIJ 2018 14054

The NIJ FY18 Research and Evaluation of Technologies to Improve School Safety opportunity (NIJ 2018 14054) is a discretionary Department of Justice grant, administered by the National Institute of Justice, focused on building credible evidence about whether certain technologies can meaningfully improve safety in K-12 school settings. Rather than funding multiple unrelated projects, NIJ is looking to make a single award to one evaluator (one lead organization or team) that can plan and carry out rigorous assessments of several promising school safety technologies. The central aim is not to purchase or deploy technology at scale, but to evaluate effectiveness in real school environments and to produce findings that can guide future decision-making by schools, districts, and policymakers.

The award is structured as a cooperative agreement, which generally means NIJ expects a more collaborative relationship with the award recipient than a standard grant, potentially involving ongoing coordination on evaluation design, deliverables, and the practical realities of conducting research in schools. The funding activity categories span law, justice, and legal services as well as science and technology research and development, reflecting that the project sits at the intersection of public safety practice and applied technology evaluation. NIJ anticipates making one award, with a maximum (ceiling) amount of up to $4,000,000, indicating the expectation of a substantial, multi-site and/or multi-technology evaluation effort rather than a small pilot study.

A key feature of the solicitation is its emphasis on context. Evaluations are expected to explicitly consider the school environment and specific use cases, meaning how the technology would actually be used day to day by staff and students, under real operational constraints. The opportunity also highlights the importance of understanding what data the technology collects, generates, or relies on, and how those data might be used in practice as part of the intervention. In practical terms, this points evaluators toward measuring not only outcomes (for example, incident reduction, response times, reporting rates, or perceptions of safety), but also implementation factors such as usability, adoption, workflow fit, training burden, maintenance needs, false positives/false negatives, and unintended consequences that can occur when technology is introduced into a school setting.

NIJ also encourages applicants to look beyond tools created specifically for schools and to examine technologies proven in other settings that could translate well to K-12. This could include approaches used in other public spaces, healthcare, transportation, or commercial environments, so long as the evaluator can thoughtfully map those tools to school-specific needs and constraints. The implication is that NIJ is open to a range of technology categories, provided the evaluation is grounded in realistic school scenarios and produces actionable evidence about whether, how, and under what conditions the technology improves safety.

Eligibility is broad, allowing applications from state, county, and city or township governments; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; 501(c)(3) nonprofits (excluding institutions of higher education); individuals; for-profit organizations (including small businesses); and small businesses. This wide eligibility range supports NIJ's goal of selecting a single evaluator with the capacity to manage complex research, coordinate with multiple schools or districts, handle data responsibly, and deliver high-quality analysis. The opportunity was posted on March 12, 2018, with an original closing date of May 10, 2018, reflecting the FY18 timeline for proposal submission and award consideration.

Overall, this solicitation is best understood as NIJ seeking one well-qualified evaluation lead to rigorously test a small set of promising school safety technologies, paying close attention to real-world implementation in K-12 settings and the role of data in the intervention. The intended output is credible, policy-relevant evidence that helps stakeholders distinguish between technologies that are merely appealing in concept and those that demonstrate measurable safety benefits when deployed in actual schools.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the law, justice and legal services, science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIJ FY18 Research and Evaluation of Technologies to Improve School Safety" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.560.
• This funding opportunity was created on Mar 12, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 10, 2018. (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 $4,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, Individuals, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for NIJ 2018 14054

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: