The purpose of this announcement is to solicit applications for projects that improve the quality and timeliness of forensic science or medical examiners services as well as projects seeking to address emerging forensic science. Specific funding has been reserved for projects that support responses to the opioid epidemic.

Federal Funds are authorized under 34 U.S.C. §10561 Paul Coverdell Forensic Sciences Improvement Grants. Coverdell funds are made available through a Congressional appropriation to the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (NIJ). All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated federal funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.

Applications may be submitted by state agencies and units of local government that operate an accredited crime laboratory or medical examiner/coroner’s office in Texas. A unit of local government is defined as a non-statewide governmental body with the authority to establish a budget and impose taxes.

All applications submitted by accredited crime laboratories must be submitted by a unit of government affiliated with the laboratory, including an authorizing resolution from that unit of government. For example, a city crime laboratory must apply under their municipal government, and community supervision and corrections departments, district attorneys, and judicial districts must apply through their affiliated county government (or one of the counties, in the case of agencies that serve more than one county).

Applicants must access the PSO’s eGrants grant management website at https://eGrants.gov.texas.govto register and apply for funding.

Projects must begin on or after 10/01/2024 and may not exceed a 12-month project period.

The total amount of grant funds available is anticipated to be ~$2M, with 55% of the available amount being allocated towards opioid-related projects.

Minimum: $10,000

Maximum: None

Match Requirement: None

Grantees must comply with standards applicable to this fund source cited in the Texas Grant

Management Standards (TxGMS), Federal Uniform Grant Guidance, and all statutes, requirements, and guidelines applicable to this funding.

Funds may only be used to carry out the following activities:

1. All or a substantial part of a program intended to improve the quality and timeliness of forensic science or medical examiner/coroner’s office services in the state, including those services provided by laboratories operated by the state and those operated by units of local government;
2. Eliminate a backlog in the analysis of forensic science evidence, including, among other things, a backlog with respect to firearms examination, latent prints, impression evidence, toxicology, digital evidence, fire evidence, controlled substances, forensic pathology, questioned documents, and trace evidence;
3. Train, assist, and employ forensic laboratory personnel and medicolegal death investigators, as needed to eliminate such a backlog;
4. Address emerging forensic science issues (such as statistics, contextual bias, and uncertainty of measurement) and emerging forensic science technology (such as high throughput automation, statistical software, and new types of instrumentation);
5. Educate and train forensic pathologists; or
6. Fund medicolegal death investigation systems to facilitate accreditation of medical examiner and coroner offices and certification of medicolegal death investigators.

The eGrants system will provide additional information about the requirements of applying and contents of the application. The following are some key aspects:

Accreditation. Grantees must comply with state regulations and rules for accreditation, including forensic analyst licensing for mandatory disciplines, promulgated by the Texas Forensic Science Commission in the Texas Administrative Code, Title 37, Part 15, Chapter 651. Additionally, the applicant must operate a laboratory or medical examiner office that is accredited through the Laboratory Accreditation Board of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, the National Association of Medical Examiners, or other recognized accrediting body.

Misconduct. Applicants should comply with state regulations for reporting misconduct or professional negligence to the Texas Forensic Science Commission, Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 38.01; or to the Texas Medical Board, Occupations Code, Chapter 164.

Laboratory Practices. Applicants must use generally accepted laboratory practices and procedures established by accrediting organizations or appropriate certifying bodies.

National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS). Applicants must certify to the NamUS requirements.

Budget Description. Projects must thoroughly and clearly define if the budget line items are opioid-related [OPIOID] or non-opioid [NON-OPIOID] related costs. See below for example:

Grantee-Defined Line Item
[OPIOID] Gas-Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer System (GC-MS)

[NON-OPIOID] Firearms and Toolmarks Comparison Microscope System

National Environmental Policy Act Checklist

The federal government requires all grantees under this funding announcement to submit a Bureau of Justice Assistance Grants Programs Checklist regarding potential project impacts subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Applicants must complete and upload the checklist to the Upload.Files tab of eGrants for their application to be considered complete.

1. Local units of governments must comply with the Cybersecurity Training requirements described in Section 772.012 and Section 2054.5191 of the Texas Government Code. Local governments determined to not be in compliance with the cybersecurity requirements required by Section 2054.5191 of the Texas Government Code are ineligible for OOG grant funds until the second anniversary of the date the local government is determined ineligible. Government entities must annually certify their compliance with the training requirements using the Cybersecurity Training Certification for State and Local Governments. A copy of the Training Certification must be uploaded to your eGrants application. For more information or to access available training programs, visit the Texas Department of Information Resources Statewide Cybersecurity Awareness Training page.

2. Entities receiving funds from PSO must be located in a county that has an average of 90% or above on both adult and juvenile dispositions entered into the computerized criminal history database maintained by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) as directed in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 66. This disposition completeness percentage is defined as the percentage of arrest charges a county reports to DPS for which a disposition has been subsequently reported and entered into the computerized criminal history system.

Counties applying for grant awards from the Office of the Governor must commit that the county will report at least 90% of convictions within five business days to the Criminal Justice Information System at the Department of Public Safety.

3. Eligible applicants operating a law enforcement agency must be current on reporting complete UCR data and the Texas specific reporting mandated by 411.042 TGC, to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for inclusion in the annual Crime in Texas (CIT) publication. To be considered eligible for funding, applicants must have submitted a full twelve months of accurate data to DPS for the most recent calendar year by the deadline(s) established by DPS. Due to the importance of timely reporting, applicants are required to submit complete and accurate UCR data, as well as the Texas-mandated reporting, on a no less than monthly basis and respond promptly to requests from DPS related to the data submitted.

4. Local units of government, including cities, counties and other general purpose political subdivisions, as appropriate, and institutions of higher education that operate a law enforcement agency, must comply with all aspects of the programs and procedures utilized by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to: (1) notify DHS of all information requested by DHS related to illegal aliens in Agency’s custody; and (2) detain such illegal aliens in accordance with requests by DHS. Additionally, counties and municipalities may NOT have in effect, purport to have in effect, or make themselves subject to or bound by, any law, rule, policy, or practice (written or unwritten) that would: (1) require or authorize the public disclosure of federal law enforcement information in order to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection fugitives from justice or aliens illegally in the United States; or (2) impede federal officers from exercising authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), § 1226(c), § 1231(a), § 1357(a), § 1366(1), or § 1366(3). Lastly, eligible applicants must comply with all provisions, policies, and penalties found in Chapter 752, Subchapter C of the Texas Government Code.

Each local unit of government, and institution of higher education that operates a law enforcement agency, must download, complete and then upload into eGrants the CEO/Law Enforcement Certifications and Assurances Form certifying compliance with federal and state immigration enforcement requirements. This Form is required for each application submitted to OOG and is active until August 31, 2025 or the end of the grant period, whichever is later.

5. Each non-profit 501(c)(3) organization must certify that it does not have, and will continue not to have any policy, procedure, or agreement (written or unwritten) that in any way encourages, induces, entices, or aids any violations of immigration laws. Additionally, the organization certifies that it does not have in effect, purport to have in effect, and is not subject to or bound by any rule, policy, or practice (written or unwritten) that would: (1) encourage the concealment, harboring, or shielding from detection of fugitives from justice or aliens who illegally came to, entered, or remained in the United States; or (2) impede federal officers from exercising authority under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a), § 1226(c), § 1231(a), § 1357(a), § 1366(1), or § 1366(3). Lastly, the organization certifies that it will not adopt, enforce, or endorse a policy which prohibits or materially limits the enforcement of immigration laws, and will not, as demonstrated by pattern or practice, prohibit or materially limit the enforcement of immigration laws.

Each non-profit organization must download, complete and then upload into eGrants the CEO/NGO Certifications and Assurances Form certifying compliance with federal and state immigration enforcement requirements.

6. Eligible applicants must be registered in the federal System for Award Management (SAM) database and have an UEI (Unique Entity ID) number assigned to its agency (to get registered in the SAM database and request an UEI number, go to https://sam.gov/).

Failure to comply with program or eligibility requirements may cause funds to be withheld and/or suspension or termination of grant funds.

Grant funds may not be used to support the unallowable costs listed in the Guide to Grants or any of the following unallowable costs:

1. Construction, renovation, or remodeling;
2. Medical services;
3. Law enforcement equipment that is standard department issue;
4. Transportation, lodging, per diem or any related costs for participants, when grant funds are used to develop and conduct training;
5. Processing DNA evidence from sexual assault evidence kits;
6. Research or statistical projects or activities, however, applicants may address emerging forensic science issues and technology through implementation of new technologies and processes into public laboratories;
7. Purchase and/or lease of vehicles, such as crime scene vans;
8. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) (including unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV) and/or any accompanying accessories to support UAS or UAV devices/systems);
9. Expenses other than those listed above (including expenses for general law enforcement functions or non-forensic investigatory functions); and
10. Any other prohibition imposed by federal, state or local law or regulation.

Application Screening: The Office of the Governor will screen all applications to ensure that they meet the requirements included in the funding announcement.

Peer/Merit Review: The Office of the Governor will review applications to understand the overall demand for the program and for significant variations in costs per item. After this review, the Office of the Governor will determine if all eligible applications can be funded based on funds available, if there are cost-effectiveness benefits to normalizing or setting limits on the range of costs, and if other fair-share cuts may allow for broader distribution and a higher number of projects while still remaining effective.

Final Decisions: The Office of the Governor will make all final funding decisions. Other factors may include cost effectiveness, overall funds availability, or state government priorities and strategies, legislative directives, need, geographic distribution, or other relevant factors.

The Office of the Governor may not fund all applications or may only award part of the amount requested. In the event that funding requests exceed available funds, the Office of the Governor may revise projects to address a more limited focus.

For more information, contact the eGrants help desk at eGrants@gov.texas.gov or (512) 463-1919.