NIJ National Center on Forensics, Fiscal Year 2021 | O NIJ 2021 99002

Opportunity Information: Apply for O NIJ 2021 99002

The NIJ National Center on Forensics, Fiscal Year 2021 funding opportunity (O-NIJ-2021-99002) is a Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (NIJ) solicitation to create and run a single, university-based National Center on Forensics through a cooperative agreement. The broader DOJ purpose behind the solicitation is tied to public-facing justice priorities: promoting civil rights, expanding access to justice, supporting victims, protecting communities from crime and emerging threats, and strengthening trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Within that bigger mission, this specific award is focused on building workforce capacity and improving practice at the intersection of medicine, forensic science, and the legal system.

At the center of the solicitation is the requirement to establish the National Center on Forensics at an accredited institution of higher education, with both medical and law schools affiliated within the same university system. The university must also formally partner with a full-service, independent state department of forensic science that includes a medical examiner function, and that state forensic science agency must be located in the same state as the university partner. In other words, NIJ is not just looking for a standalone academic program or a loose coalition; it is looking for an operational center anchored in an accredited university setting and tightly linked to a statewide forensic science agency that performs medical examiner duties, with geographic alignment to ensure the partnership is practical and sustainable.

The work of the center is described in three main programmatic lanes. First, it must provide medico-legal learning opportunities for medical students, specifically geared toward training them to serve as deputy medical examiners or coroners, with an emphasis on meeting needs in underserved rural areas. This reflects a practical workforce problem: many jurisdictions, especially rural ones, struggle to recruit and retain qualified medico-legal death investigation professionals, and the center is intended to create a structured pathway that exposes medical trainees to this field and prepares them for real-world roles.

Second, the center is expected to provide forensic science and legal training to key justice-system professionals, including district attorneys, judges, and law enforcement. This training component signals an intent to improve how forensic evidence is understood, presented, challenged, and weighed throughout the justice process, not only in laboratories or morgues but also in courtrooms and investigations. It also suggests the center should function as a hub for interdisciplinary education, helping legal decision-makers and investigators better understand scientific limits, best practices, and appropriate uses of forensic methods.

Third, the solicitation calls for the center to develop additional opportunities, as appropriate, among the designated partners to benefit both current and future practitioners in the field. This leaves room for activities such as continuing education, professional development, cross-training, experiential learning, joint seminars, internships or rotations, practice-improvement initiatives, and other structured engagements that strengthen the pipeline and raise competency across forensic, medical, and legal roles. The emphasis is on building durable, partner-connected programming that has value for practitioners already working in the system as well as students and trainees entering it.

From a funding and administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary opportunity under CFDA 16.560, categorized under science and technology and other research and development. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically means NIJ expects to have substantial involvement in the project during the period of performance compared with a standard grant, often through collaboration on deliverables, oversight, and coordination. The award ceiling is $4,000,000, and NIJ anticipated making one award, meaning the solicitation is structured as a single-center national investment rather than a multi-site program.

Eligibility is broad on paper and includes various levels of government, public and private institutions of higher education, tribal governments and tribal organizations, nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and other entities as described in the full solicitation. Even with that broad eligibility list, the practical eligibility is shaped by the required structure: an accredited university-based center with affiliated medical and law schools, partnered with a qualifying state forensic science agency with a medical examiner function in the same state. Applicants that cannot credibly assemble that specific configuration would not be competitive or may not be responsive to the solicitation.

The solicitation also clarifies how NIJ expects partnerships to be organized financially and contractually. Even if multiple agencies will participate and federal award funds will support work across partners, only one entity may submit the application as the applicant organization. Any other participating entities that will receive and spend award funds to carry out project activities must be included as subrecipients rather than co-applicants. This matters for governance, budgeting, compliance, and accountability, because the single applicant is responsible for managing the cooperative agreement, overseeing subrecipient performance, and ensuring all federal requirements are met across the partnership.

Key dates and basic solicitation facts are straightforward: the opportunity was created May 3, 2021, with an original closing date of June 10, 2021. Overall, the grant is best understood as a targeted, one-award national effort to strengthen medico-legal death investigation capacity and improve forensic evidence literacy across the justice system by building a formal, operational center that bridges medical education, legal education, and a state forensic science agency with medical examiner responsibilities, with special attention to rural and underserved areas.

• The Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NIJ National Center on Forensics, Fiscal Year 2021" 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 May 03, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 10, 2021. (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, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, 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, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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