Blue Campaign Program Evaluation & Violence Prevention Advisement | DHS ST 20 108 FR01

Opportunity Information: Apply for DHS ST 20 108 FR01

The Blue Campaign Program Evaluation and Violence Prevention Advisement opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number DHS ST 20 108 FR01) is a discretionary DHS Science and Technology Directorate award issued through the Social Sciences Technology Center (SS-TC). It is structured as a cooperative agreement, meaning DHS expects meaningful, ongoing collaboration with the awardee rather than a hands-off grant relationship. The work sits in the science and technology research and development space (CFDA 97.108) and focuses on strengthening the evidence base and practical guidance behind prevention and response efforts tied to mass violence, terrorism-related incidents, and human trafficking, including support to victims, families, first responders, and affected communities.

At its core, the opportunity is about building and transferring usable knowledge. DHS S&T describes a need for rigorous social science and evaluation expertise to better understand an evolving threat environment that changes in motivations, actors, communications, and weaponry. SS-TC is looking for approaches that improve real-world performance and decision-making across policy, strategy, tactics, techniques, procedures, and operational impacts. In practice, that translates into program evaluation and advisement that can help communities and organizations enhance their existing prevention architectures and incident response plans, with an emphasis on protocols that address both immediate consequences (acute needs after an event) and longer-term recovery needs (sustained victim and community support).

The description emphasizes that effective prevention and response requires multidisciplinary expertise. It explicitly calls out fields like psychology, economics, criminology, political science, sociology, biostatistics, and other evaluation disciplines, signaling that DHS wants strong methodological capacity (for example, designing evaluations, measuring outcomes, analyzing data, and translating findings into actionable recommendations). The intended end users of the resulting research and findings are broad: federal, state, local, and private organizations. The purpose of that transfer is to improve education and awareness and reinforce a whole-of-society prevention model, where prevention is not only a federal responsibility but something local networks can act on earlier, including peers, teachers, community leaders, and law enforcement, to reduce harm as a threat develops and to strengthen preparedness and response.

Eligibility is open to a wide range of non-federal applicants, including public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)), for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses), small businesses, and even individuals. A key restriction is that applicants must not be a government organization, and federal agencies cannot apply. In addition, the applicant proposing to serve as the project manager must have at least three years of experience performing program evaluations at the time of application, which underscores the expectation that the awardee can immediately execute credible evaluation work without a ramp-up period.

The opportunity also spells out how federal and federally affiliated personnel can and cannot participate. Federal employees cannot serve in a principal leadership role on the award, and they cannot be paid through the award or otherwise use it to augment their agency appropriations. However, federal personnel may still be substantively involved through cooperation, such as consulting on planning and coordination, sharing information and indicators, and providing access to samples, equipment, facilities, data, or models. This is presented as one of the reasons the mechanism is a cooperative agreement: DHS anticipates substantial involvement that is necessary to meet the project goals. National laboratory employees may participate in planning, conducting, and analyzing activities as directed by the applicant, but they may not direct projects on behalf of the applicant organization. The notice also notes that a standards organization, through its assistance agreement with DHS, may provide funds to an FFRDC for specific non-federal research needs and direct project costs (personnel, supplies, equipment, facilities, data, and related expenses) tied to activities under the cooperative agreement.

From a funding and administrative standpoint, the posted award ceiling is $775,000. The original closing date listed is October 19, 2020, and the opportunity was created on September 4, 2020. The issuing office is DHS Office of Procurement Operations, Grants Division. Overall, the solicitation is positioned for organizations with proven evaluation capability that can work closely with DHS to assess and strengthen programs connected to human trafficking and mass violence/terrorism prevention and response, and then translate findings into practical guidance that can be adopted across sectors to support a more resilient, community-anchored prevention and preparedness system.

• The Office of Procurement Operations - Grants Division in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Blue Campaign Program Evaluation & Violence Prevention Advisement" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 97.108.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-09-04.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-10-19. (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 $775,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, 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, Individuals, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for DHS ST 20 108 FR01

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