BJA FY 2020 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program Program Requirements and Application Instructions | O BJA 2020 62002

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJA 2020 62002

The BJA FY 2020 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) is a Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) funding opportunity run through the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) that reimburses states and local governments for certain incarceration-related costs tied to holding undocumented criminal aliens during a defined 12-month reporting period. The core purpose is cost offset: when a state, county, city, or township jail or correctional system uses its own legal authority to incarcerate individuals who are in the United States unlawfully and who have qualifying criminal convictions, SCAAP provides a payment based on documented eligible inmate days and average incarceration costs, subject to available federal appropriations.

Under the FY 2020 SCAAP rules described here, the individuals counted toward payment eligibility must meet several specific conditions. They must be undocumented, they must have been convicted of at least one felony or at least two misdemeanors (most often for state or local law violations), and they must have been incarcerated for a minimum of four consecutive days during the reporting period. A key point is that the incarceration must be under the legal authority of the applicant government, meaning the applicant is responsible for the detention/custody decision and is not merely housing someone on behalf of another jurisdiction without legal authority over the incarceration itself.

The application process centers on detailed data reporting. Each applicant government submits information on the individuals it incarcerated for at least four consecutive days during the reporting period and who the applicant either (1) knows are undocumented criminal aliens or (2) reasonably and in good faith believes are undocumented criminal aliens. OJP then transmits the applicant-submitted inmate data to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a more detailed verification and review. In addition to inmate-level information, applicants must also provide information related to their average costs of incarceration during the same reporting period, since payment calculations depend not just on counts of eligible inmates or days, but also on cost factors.

SCAAP payment amounts are not a simple flat reimbursement and are not guaranteed at a specific level. Instead, the final payment calculation is driven by a combination of (a) what the applicant reports in the online application, (b) what DHS confirms or determines through its eligibility review of the submitted inmate records (often described as identifying "eligible inmates"), and (c) how much money Congress appropriated and OJP has available for that specific SCAAP cycle (in this case, FY 2020). Because funding is limited and distributed across many jurisdictions, the program functions as a payment program with allocations influenced by overall demand and validated eligibility rather than a full-cost reimbursement model.

Eligibility for applying includes state governments and units of local government such as counties and city/township governments, with the solicitation also indicating "others" as eligible applicants. The opportunity is administered by BJA, listed under CFDA (now Assistance Listing) 16.606, and uses an "Other" funding instrument type. The posting identifies this as a discretionary opportunity and provides an original closing date of July 30, 2021, with the opportunity record created January 13, 2021. The listing also shows an award ceiling figure of $95,000, though actual payments under SCAAP generally depend on the validated incarceration and cost data and the total funds available for the cycle.

Finally, all information submitted as part of a SCAAP application is subject to review by OJP, and the solicitation emphasizes that applicants should rely on the formal eligibility and program requirements sections for the full set of rules and definitions. In practical terms, a successful application depends on maintaining accurate jail/corrections records, being able to document qualifying convictions and incarceration length, providing complete individual data needed for DHS verification, and reporting credible average incarceration cost information for the reporting period.

• The Bureau of Justice Assistance in the affordable care act sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJA FY 2020 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 2021-01-13.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-07-30. (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 $95,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Others.

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