Developing and Enhancing Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification (SAVIN) Programs

CATEGORY 1: AUTOMATED VICTIM NOTIFICATION SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION. BJA is seeking applications from state agencies to create a new single or federated statewide automated victim information and notification system through an implementation grant. To receive funding, the agency must have a plan in place for implementing a SAVIN program in the state that includes a governance plan—including an authorized/designated managing agency to provide program oversight and implementation—and legislation, if state legislation is required, to allow for the creation of a statewide automated victim notification program. Grants may be used to plan, deploy, operate, and assess the effectiveness of new SAVIN programs where no existing SAVIN program is in place. States with victim notification legislation will be given priority in the award process. Applicants may request up to $2.25 million in funding, and the project period may be up to 24 months. CATEGORY 2: AUTOMATED VICTIM NOTIFICATION SYSTEM ENHANCEMENT. BJA is seeking applications from state administering agencies that manage existing SAVIN systems to introduce new systemwide enhancements. Grant funds may be used to expand the coverage and information and notification functionality of the system to include information and notifications related to court events, offenders on community supervision (probation and parole), juvenile cases, protection orders, and related information important to crime victims. Grants may be used to plan, deploy, operate, and assess the effectiveness of enhancements to existing programs. Applicants may request up to $500,000 in funding, and the project period may be up to 24 months. CATEGORY 3: DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION EXCHANGE STANDARDS. BJA is seeking applications from public and nonprofit organizations and for-profit entities that have expertise in the development of information exchange standards and collaboration with national partners around best-practice solutions, with the goal of creating a national standard that states can use to share relevant offender information with victims and entities throughout the criminal justice system. The focus of this project is to develop a SAVIN information exchange standard (IEPD, or Information Exchange Package Documentation), based on the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) to automate and improve the sharing of offender data across systems. For-profit entities must agree to waive fees in order to be considered. Products resulting from project will be non-proprietary and available for reuse through BJA’s standards clearinghouse. Applicants may request up to $450,000 in funding, and the project period may be up to 12 months. BJA will make one award under this category.