Title: Selection of Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Site Management Teams. Series: Solicitation Subject: ADAM, drug use indicators Date: March 1998 25 pages 40,000 bytes ------------------------------ Figures, charts, forms, and tables are not included in this ASCII plain-text file. To view this document in its entirety, download the Adobe Acrobat graphic file available from this Web site or order a print copy from NCJRS at 800-851-3420. ------------------------------ U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice National Institute of Justice Jeremy Travis, Director March 1998 Solicitation Selection of Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Site Management Teams APPLICATION DEADLINE: April 17, 1998 U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs 810 Seventh Street N.W. Washington, DC 20531 Janet Reno Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice Raymond C. Fisher Associate Attorney General Laurie Robinson Assistant Attorney General No‰l Brennan Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jeremy Travis Director, National Institute of Justice Department of Justice Response Center: 800-421-6770 Office of Justice Programs World Wide Web Site: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov National Institute of Justice World Wide Web Site: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij Selection of Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Site Management Teams I. Introduction The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) is seeking applications from parties (management teams) interested in directing Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) sites. ADAM replaced the 23-site Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) program in Fiscal Year (FY) 1998. ADAM will operate in 35 sites by the close of FY 1998, and is expected to operate in 50 sites in 1999 and 75 sites by FY 2000. This solicitation applies only to the 23 sites that were part of the original DUF system; it does not apply to the 12 sites added to ADAM in FY 1998 or to other prospective sites. Management of each of the original 23 DUF sites is being re-competed. Thus, all management teams of original DUF sites desiring to continue in the management capacity under ADAM must submit applications. In the event, for any given site, that no qualified organization applies under this solicitation, NIJ reserves the right to non- competitively select a management team. Applicants selected under this solicitation will enter into subcontracts with the ADAM program's data and management contractor, Abt Associates. Subcontracts will be renewable annually, subject to satisfactory performance. It is anticipated that all selections will be made so that site management teams are in place for data collection beginning in the third quarter (July 1) 1998. II. Background For over 10 years, NIJ's DUF program has conducted quarterly interviews and drug tests with arrestees in urban lock-ups. DUF data have played an important role in assembling the national picture of drug abuse and have been a central component in studying drug-crime links. DUF has also been used to research other issues through specialized questionnaires (called addenda). These addenda have provided valuable insights into arrestees' attitudes about and reported use of guns; structure of and patterns of participation in heroin, crack and powder cocaine markets; and the development of methamphetamine use patterns and markets in Western cities. While ADAM will retain many of DUF's features, ADAM will also incorporate new elements that will significantly strengthen the value of the data collected. New ADAM program elements will include: o development of local coordinating councils that will generate local research projects for execution at the ADAM site and assume a prominent role in disseminating the site's findings to policy, practitioner and public constituencies; o establishment of a rotating outreach program which will annually collect one additional quarter of data from a targeted population, such as a suburban, rural or Native American lock-up; o redesign and implementation of data collection and sampling methodology that will provide policy makers and practitioners with a rigorous basis from which to assess local drug use trends and patterns and evaluate local policies. The emphasis of this re-competition process is on selecting site management teams that will adhere to a standardized data collection protocol established by NIJ and that will actively promote the use of the data in local research and policy contexts. III. Scope of Work Data Collection Site management teams will be responsible for four quarterly data collection waves. Data collection consists of administering a short interview (approximately 20 minutes in length) and collecting a urine specimen in lock-ups from recent (past 48 hour) arrestees. Data collection will also periodically consist of administering supplemental questionnaires (called addenda). Quarterly data collection targets are 250 adult male cases and 100 adult female cases. In addition, sites may collect up to 100 juvenile male cases and 50 juvenile female cases. Site managers will be given guidance in their subcontracts as to what flexibility, if any, exists with respect to adult targets. In practice, juvenile targets have been difficult for many sites to meet. They represent the maximum number of cases for which NIJ will reimburse sites. Where permissible, a small incentive such as soda or candy is given to arrestees that participate. Data collection periods for any single population are generally for 2 to 3 consecutive weeks in a quarter. Data collection for the different populations (male, female, juvenile) need not run concurrently. NIJ and Abt will establish specific data collection calendars with each site. These calendars will reflect both local conditions, such as arrestee processing rates and jail, court and other schedules, and the scientific and data needs of the ADAM program. The data management and laboratory (currently Quest Diagnostics) contractors will provide site management teams with the materials necessary for completing data collection. These materials include interview forms, operations procedures manuals, specimen cups, and pre-paid shipping materials. The interview is currently administered in paper and pencil format. The anonymous and confidential responses to the interview are linked to the urine specimen through the use of bar coded stickers. Interviews are returned to Abt Associates, Inc. for data entry and merging with urinalysis results. Urine specimens are separately shipped to the laboratory for analysis. The merged data will be placed, on a quarterly basis, on the ADAM web site. Site managers will have exclusive access to their most recent quarter of data for 6 months; at the end of 6 months all site directors will have access to the data from all other sites. Complete calendar year data sets will be archived in a public access file through NIJ's usual archiving procedures. NIJ and the data management contractor will provide site management staff with a variety of training and support services. Each site will receive, at a minimum, one full training program each calendar year. This training will consist of workshops on interviewing techniques, proficiency testing and updates on changes in the interview instrument and in operational procedures. Abt Associates, Inc. will maintain a network of regional field representatives which will provide technical assistance to sites on an as-needed basis. Technical assistance is available not only for interviewing and operational procedures, but for accounting, auditing, and field accountability forms. Each site will send two representatives, at NIJ's expense, to the ADAM Annual Conference. The conference is used to discuss issues relating to site management, present ADAM research findings, and conduct training. The 1998 conference is being held June 4-6 in Los Angeles. It is expected that individuals selected as site managers under this solicitation will be invited to this year's conference. In other respects, the basic requirements for collecting ADAM data will not differ substantially from those currently in place for DUF. Site management teams must work with local jail authorities to ensure: o interview rooms or settings where ADAM staff can complete the confidential and anonymous interview away from the potentially intimidating presence of law enforcement officers and other arrestees; o access to a bathroom or toilet so that the urine sample can be collected; o the ability to present arrestees for interviewing within 48 hours of arrest; o access to booking facilities for approximately two to three weeks on a quarterly basis; o the availability of booking data so that an informational cover sheet (appended as Attachment A) can be completed prior to the interview and so that appropriate statistical adjustments can be made at the conclusion of the interview period. Data Collection Requirements ADAM data will be collected using probability selection methods so that information gained from interviewing a sample of arrestees in a jurisdiction can be generalized to the entire reference arrestee population. In order to ensure collection of data that are useful to policy makers, researchers and evaluators, and to increase comparability of data across sites, ADAM sites must be able to: o allow interviewers access to all facilities necessary to obtain a valid and reliable sample of arrestees that corresponds to the reference population of interest; o collect information at the time of interviewing that allows both description of the entire reference arrestee population and selection of a sample of arrestees for interviewing. NIJ, in conjunction with Abt Associates, Inc., will work with each site management team to develop an appropriate sample selection protocol, including selection rates, peak load interviewing times, and other such factors. Site management teams will be responsible for working with local law enforcement officials to provide the arrest records necessary for developing and maintaining the sampling framework. Site staff will enter a unique local identifier, such as an arrest ID number, in to a computer programmed with the site's individual selection protocol to determine whether an individual should be approached for interview. The protocol used to select individuals for interviewing will be centrally maintained at Abt Associates, Inc. Reference Population ADAM's reference population of interest is every person arrested during the interview period in the county in which the ADAM city is located. Thus, ADAM site management teams will need to be able to assist in securing and maintaining access to all facilities in the county to ensure that all arrestees have at least a probability of being interviewed. (See Appendix A, ADAM Site Definitions, for a list of sites and the definitions pertaining to "counties.") Site Performance Standards Many of ADAM's revised methodological and procedural elements will be reflected in site performance standards. Since many of these elements represent departures from current data collection practices and current contracts with NIJ, it is important that applicants understand the range of performance and management elements that will be a part of the ADAM system. These standards will include: o interviewer proficiency; o fiscal accountability and field documentation; o timeliness of data submission; o protection of human subjects; o adherence to protocols specified in procedures manuals. Audits, on-site inspections, proficiency exams and other such verification procedures may be used as part of monitoring performance. Local Research, Outreach and Dissemination Each site will operate a Local Coordinating Council (LCC). LCCs will be vested with disseminating ADAM findings, generating addenda and research ideas, and guiding the development of outreach plans. NIJ will provide, at a future date, guidance as to LCC membership and responsibilities. While applicants are strongly encouraged to suggest individuals for inclusion on Local Coordinating Councils, including treatment, prevention, education, and other professionals, applicants should make explicit that NIJ is not committing to the proposed membership. LCC membership will in part be dictated by resources that NIJ has available to fund LCC activities, and in part by missions that NIJ establishes for the LCCs. For example, NIJ is currently collaborating with CSAT (Center for Substance Abuse Treatment) to develop methodology under which ADAM data are used as a component of state estimates of need for treatment. It is likely, therefore, that the LCC will need to include representation from the needs assessment unit of the Single State Authority. LCCs will work with site management teams to develop local supplemental questionnaires and evaluations that can be administered at the ADAM site, and to guide the selection of outreach data collection sites. Supplemental questionnaires may be designed to assess topics of local interest. It is anticipated that sites will administer national supplemental questionnaires in the first and third collection quarters of each year, and local supplemental questionnaires in the second and fourth quarters of each year. It is anticipated that the ADAM program will reserve a pool of funds to assist sites in the development and analysis of local supplements. Additional funds are expected to be available, on a competitive basis, for using the ADAM system to conduct longitudinal and cross- sectional studies of programs and services that include the arrestee population. Outreach data collection, which consists of an additional quarter of data drawn from a population outside the county or over sampling of a subpopulation within the county, is not scheduled to begin until FY 2000. Nevertheless, site management teams should be aware that the responsibility for managing the outreach component of data collection will become part of site management activities. IV. Application Requirements Applications must explicitly discuss five basic issues. All applications must provide: o a discussion of qualifications of key personnel; o a narrative explaining the proposed technical approach to the scope of work; o a budget estimate using the attached form (Appendix B: Budget Estimate); o a discussion of potential outreach activities, dissemination plans and addenda research interests; o an inventory of lock-up facilities where interviewing may need to take place, and the arrest information systems available at the lock- ups. Each of these factors is discussed in a subsequent subsection. The weight that each of these factors will be accorded in the review process is detailed at the conclusion of this section. Qualifications of Key Personnel Each application must name a minimum of 2 key personnel: a site director and a site coordinator. Together, these personnel constitute the site management team. Multiple site directors and coordinators may be named as applicants see fit, but each application must include a minimum of one for each position. Applicants, for example, may name separate site coordinators for adult male, adult female, and juvenile data collection. Similarly, applicants may name site coordinators in instances where interviewing occurs in multiple facilities across multiple shifts. Site management teams will be expected to work with existing contacts at jail facilities to complete data collection. These contacts, called Facility Directors and/or Facility Coordinators, are employees of police departments, jails, sheriff's departments and corrections departments. Facility Coordinators assist NIJ, Abt Associates Inc. and the subcontractors in maintaining access to the facilities, scheduling appropriate data collection periods and times, securing access to the records necessary for statistical weighting, and coordinating of security arrangements. Applicants are not expected to name Facility Coordinators in their applications, nor are they expected to budget for them in the budget estimate form. Facility Coordinator arrangements will be made on a site-by-site basis, and any costs associated with these arrangements will be included in the subcontract negotiated with Abt Associates, Inc. To facilitate data collection, problem solving, development of research agendas and data dissemination, management teams are expected to reside in the metropolitan area of the ADAM site that they propose to manage. Resumes for key personnel should be written to reflect applicants' skills relative to the position descriptions presented in this section. Applications need not specify individual interviewers. However, applicants should provide a general discussion of how they intend to recruit and retain interviewers. Abt Associates, Inc. has a pool of interviewers available in most sites. Site managers interested in using this service should discuss why this approach is being considered, and the possible costs and benefits of such a structure. Applicants interested in this service should contact the NIJ staff listed at the end of this solicitation. In addition, applicants should be aware that there are restrictions on personnel involved in data collection. Sworn officers of the law, including part-time and reserve officials, cannot conduct ADAM interviews and cannot serve as site coordinators. There are no exceptions to this preclusion. In addition, pre-trial services staff and staff of other organizations involved in sanctioning, monitoring compliance with conditions of pre-trial release, and other such charge- related activities, may not be involved in interviewing or site coordination. Any applicant with responsibilities that conflict with these ADAM staff preclusions must demonstrate the capacity to recruit and retain interviewers who do not participate in these official contacts with the arrestees during the adjudication process. Site Director Responsibilities ADAM site directors are responsible for securing access to all lock-ups and jails where interviewing will be conducted. In addition, site directors are responsible for ensuring that quality control measures are maintained and that site staff adhere to site procedures. The site director supervises the site coordinator(s). Site directors must ensure that access to necessary arrest statistics and case flow information is made available for statistical weighting and development of interview shift schedules. Site directors are responsible for ensuring that all required training is completed, and that all billing is done in compliance with existing guidelines. Site directors are also responsible for producing a one-page analysis of local ADAM data that will be edited and included in the annual ADAM report. Site directors will also have responsibility for establishing and managing relations with the Local Coordinating Council. Specific responsibilities include functions such as dissemination of data and analyses to relevant local constituencies, development of local research topics, and assistance in the selection of outreach data collection sites. Site Coordinator Responsibilities Site coordinators are responsible for most day-to- day activities during data collection periods. Interview staff report directly to site coordinators. Site coordinators also ensure that proper arrangements for security, escorting of interview subjects, and related tasks, are made. Additional basic responsibilities include liaison with contracting staff over site collection and training schedules; scheduling interview staff during designated collection periods; ensuring adequate supplies of interview forms, incentives, urine specimen cups and other materials; coordinating access to arrest records and supervising process of selecting individual arrestees for interviewing. Site coordinators will also have responsibility for initiating interview forms with proper ID numbers; conducting on-site editing of interview forms; completing log sheets and other compliance documentation; and ensuring data and urine specimens are properly handled and submitted to contractors. Site coordinators must also ensure that appropriate case flow and arrest statistics, used for weighting and scheduling interview shifts, are collected. Interviewer Responsibilities Interviewers' basic responsibilities include: completing all training requirements; conducting ADAM interviews; self-editing interview forms prior to initiation of subsequent interviews; adhering to study protocols; obtaining urine specimens from study participants; following cost production and quality control guidelines; and strictly observing human subjects protection guidelines. In general, interviewers are expected to commit to the ADAM program for a minimum of one year. In addition, interviewers are expected to participate in approximately 20 hours of interviewing each quarter. These commitments ensure that interviewers develop adequate interviewing experience and help reduce training and related costs. Interviewers will be required to pass any local jail security measures that are required. Interviewers will be required to complete and demonstrate competence in basic interviewing skills. In addition, interviewers must demonstrate an understanding of project operational procedures. Interviewing and project materials will be developed and provided by Abt Associates, Inc.' regional field representatives. Security Staff Responsibilities Where security is necessary, security staff will be used to safeguard ADAM staff, arrestees and others in the interviewing area; assist in escorting arrestees to and from the interviewing area; and assists in obtaining access to necessary booking records. Technical and Management Plan Applicants should present a technical and management plan for completing the Scope of Work presented in Section III of this document. This section should address the team's understanding of the specific tasks to be performed, the methods that will be used to complete the specific tasks, and the resources that the applicant has available to meet the duties. Specific elements that this section should address include: o quality control mechanisms and procedures; o institution's and personnel's experience with multi-site data collection if relevant to the site; o applicants' experience with field accountability procedures; o methods proposed to ensure that access to all required jail facilities is maintained; o institutional capacity with respect to survey research projects; o applicants' experience with social science research studies that are similar in scope and scale to local ADAM data collection; o experience with studies relating to jails and jail populations and with studies relating to substance abuse issues; o appropriateness and adequacy of commitments of personnel and other resources; o an overview of organizational computer capacity, including Worldwide Web and E-mail access. Applicants are encouraged to review the forms listed as Attachment B. These forms will be used to document compliance with programmatic procedures, including billing, productivity, time management and data transmission requirements. Applicants are not required to complete these forms as part of the application. Budget Estimate This section of the application should provide information on budget costs that are relevant to the applicant's base institution, or costs which will be required to successfully complete data collection. Include in this section details on overhead, fringe, and indirect rates, including how they vary by project staff status (part-time, off-site vs. on-site, etc). Applicants are required to complete the budget estimate worksheet attached in Appendix B. This form is intended to develop an estimate of costs associated with data collection. Estimates provided as part of applications are not considered binding. Site management teams will separately negotiate an operational budget with NIJ and Abt Associates, Inc. The budget section should also summarize in a narrative the human subjects requirements of the applicant's institution. If the organization will require an IRB (Institutional Review Board) prior to data collection, or will require use of a special informed consent statement, please include a discussion of these factors in this section. Applicants should refer to later sections of this document for current guidance on NIJ's current human subjects standards. Inventory of Jails and Lock-Ups The application must contain, using the table attached in Appendix C, information on all jails and lock-ups in the county where adult male and female arrestees are detained and booked. It is not necessary to include tables for juvenile facilities. The table should include: the name of the facility; the population or municipalities the facility serves (if known); the types of charges booked at the facility; information on bonding and release practices (see Arrestee Processing subsection below), and information on the availability of arrest and booking statistics during the interview period (see Arrest and Booking Statistics subsection below). A narrative section summarizing the table is highly encouraged. Applicants are reminded when gathering information for this solicitation that NIJ will require the continued assistance and cooperation of jail staff (Facility Directors and Facility Coordinators) in order for the ADAM program to operate. Applicants are further reminded that jail staff at some facilities may not yet be aware of the ADAM program and its operations. Applicants are not expected to negotiate access to jail facilities as part of the application, and should refrain from attempting to do so. Please carefully review the paragraphs below for guidance as to how interviewing will be structured in sites with multiple small jails. Please do not request letters of reference from jail commanders and jail staff as part of your application. ADAM will not necessarily conduct interviews at each jail in the county in each quarter. Depending on the number of jails in the county, the number of bookings processed at each jail, and procedures regarding transfers from one jail to another, ADAM interviewing may occur at fixed locations, or may change from quarter to quarter. Generally, interviewing will occur with certainty at only the largest jails in the county. Additional interviews will periodically be conducted in smaller jails that are selected in proportion to their share of total county bookings. At least annually, booking statistics will be reviewed by NIJ, Abt Associates, Inc., and the site management team, to ensure that interviewing is occurring in appropriate facilities. Arrestee Processing Applicants should discuss issues relating to the arrestees' availability for interviewing. In some cases, arrestees are processed differently depending on the level of offense for which they are charged. Applicants must take care to explain how all felony and misdemeanant arrestees are processed and how data collection might be affected. For example, some misdemeanors may be processed at precinct houses and not at central booking facilities. In some jurisdictions, some defendants may bond out quickly so that there is no opportunity to interview them, while in other jurisdictions the bonding process may nevertheless provide the opportunity for interviewing. Applications should discuss these factors including, as relevant, how they vary by facility. Arrest and Booking Statistics Information regarding arrests and arrestee populations must be available to interview teams prior to or at the time of interviewing. NIJ and Abt staff will use arrest patterns to determine how many interviews to conduct at each facility, and to identify individual arrestees for interview. In rare cases where the arrest data cannot be made available prior to interviewing it must be made available at the completion of interviewing so that appropriate sampling weights can be calculated. Applicants should discuss the availability of such data. Research, Outreach and Dissemination This section of the application should focus on potential local applications of ADAM data. In particular, applicants should discuss special research projects that can be attached to the ADAM platform, special populations and subpopulations that the program can be used to reach, and mechanisms for communicating the data and related findings to local constituencies. Applications should include a discussion of links between ADAM data collection and local policy- making organizations and processes. Applicants should carefully discuss steps proposed to ensure ADAM data will be used and disseminated in both local policy and research contexts. This discussion should include potential addendum research issues to be addressed at the site using special questionnaires and local programs that the ADAM platform may be used to evaluate. Applicants should also discuss how they might leverage additional research dollars to utilize the ADAM platform. This section should also include a discussion of local planning processes and how the data might be used as part of local planning efforts and estimation needs. Applicants should discuss their ideas for outreach, the supplemental quarter of data collection. Which populations would be the first to be targeted for outreach data collection and why? This section should include a discussion of existing subpopulations that the ADAM data could be used to target. Applicants should also discuss a general plan for disseminating ADAM-related findings, including the role that the Local Coordinating Council might have in this effort. Applicants may present a general estimate of dissemination-related costs, where appropriate, but these estimates need not be included on the budget estimate form. Weights and Scoring There are 100 total points to be obtained, and they are divided accordingly among the following categories: V. How to Apply This application process differs from the typical NIJ application in numerous respects. Many of the standard forms required of other applications to NIJ are not required. Applicants are encouraged to carefully review the sections below. Funding NIJ will pay for costs associated with operating the site, including paying interviewers and security (as necessary), testing urine samples, and entering and processing the data. Site directors will negotiate a budget with the ADAM management contractor (Abt Associates, Inc.) at a later date that provides for site management, interviewer and security costs. Data entry and drug testing costs are absorbed under the national contracts and are not negotiated at the site level. Letters of Support Applicants are asked not to contact jail staff for letters of support, but otherwise may include such references as deemed necessary and appropriate. Who is eligible to apply? Individuals and organizations capable of completing the scope of work established in this solicitation are eligible to apply. Multiple applications from the same institution (a university, for example) will be treated as distinct and competing applications. The author(s) of the proposal should be clearly identified. Proposals that are incorrectly collated, incomplete, or handwritten will be judged as submitted or, at NIJ's discretion, will be returned without a deadline extension. No additions to the original submission are allowed. Applications should also include: a. Names and affiliations of all key persons, including potential site management personnel. Include name, title, organizational affiliation (if any), department (if institution of higher education), address, phone, email address and fax. b. Table of contents. c. Proposal narrative. d. Letters of reference. e. R‚sum‚s of key personnel. Page limits NIJ has established a limit of 25 double-spaced pages (with font size not smaller than 12 points) for applications. This page limit does not include references, letters of support, table of contents, tables pertaining to jails, curriculum vitae, or necessary appendixes. Proposals failing to conform to these page and font limitations will, at NIJ's discretion, be returned to the applicant without further time extensions. Number of copies. Send ten (10) copies of the fully executed proposal. Where to send. Proposals should be sent to: Solicitation for ADAM Site Management Teams National Institute of Justice Attn: Nora Fitzgerald 810 7th Street, NW Washington, DC 20531 (Zip code 20001 for Federal Express, UPS and other such deliveries) Contact. Applicants who wish to receive additional guidance and information may contact the U.S. Department of Justice Response Center at 800-421- 6770 or ADAM Director Jack Riley at 202-616-9030 or rileyj@ojp.usdoj.gov. Publications and materials pertaining to ADAM and DUF, the predecessor program, may be obtained from NIJ's web site (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/) or by calling the National Criminal Justice Reference Service at 800-851-3420. Due date Completed proposals must be received at the National Institute of Justice by the close of business on April 17, 1998. Extensions of this deadline will not be permitted. Application Review Applications will be reviewed relative to the criteria established in the Application Requirements section. Applicants bear the responsibility of demonstrating to the panel that the proposed management team and technical approach is best suited for ensuring the collection of valid and reliable ADAM data. After all applications are received, NIJ will convene a peer review panel. Panel members read each proposal and meet to assess the managerial and technical merits of the proposal. The review will take approximately 45 days, depending on the number of applications received. NIJ staff will review the panel's deliberations and make a recommendation to NIJ's Director. NIJ's Director has the sole authority to select proposals to be funded. VI. Data Confidentiality and Human Subjects Protection ADAM sites must conform to Department of Justice data confidentiality and human subjects protections. DOJ requirements are summarized below to alert research partners in the event they might have stricter guidelines which may affect compliance with ADAM operation guidelines. Research that examines individual traits and experiences plays a vital part in expanding our knowledge about criminal behavior. It is essential, however, that researchers protect human subjects from needless risk of harm or embarrassment and proceed with their willing and informed cooperation. Department of Justice regulations at 28 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) Part 22 require recipients of NIJ research funds to protect information that is collected from all research participants. When information is safeguarded, it is protected by statute from being used in legal proceedings: Such information and copies thereof shall be immune from legal process, and shall not, without the consent of the person furnishing such information, be admitted as evidence or used for any purpose in any action, suit, or other judicial, legislative, or administrative proceedings. (42 U.S.C. 3789g) The purpose of the regulations is threefold: (1) to protect the privacy of individuals by ensuring that any personally identifiable information obtained for research or statistical purposes may only be used and/or revealed for the purpose for which it was acquired, (2) to ensure that copies of such information shall not be used as evidence against the person about whom it pertains in any judicial, legislative, or administrative proceeding, and (3) to protect the integrity of research findings by minimizing subjects' concerns over the subsequent use of personal information. Department of Justice regulations require applicants for NIJ grants to file their plans for the protection of private information about individuals as part of their proposal. All applicants are required to submit a Privacy Certificate as part of their application for funding. The necessary assurances and safeguards are detailed in 28 C.F.R. 22. The Privacy Certificate must assert fully describe the procedures used to ensure data confidentiality, the procedures to ensure the security of the data, the procedures for subject notification, and the procedures for the final disposition of the data. For complete details on developing a confidentiality plan and drafting a Privacy Certificate, please consult the regulations at 28 C.F.R. 22. Applicants should also consult the "Privacy Certificate Guidelines" and the sample format for a Privacy Certificate, both of which are included as Appendix C at the end of the solicitation. In addition to the confidentiality protections, the U.S. Department of Justice has adopted policies on the protection of human subjects that are similar to those established by the Department of Health and Human Services. These policies are detailed in 28 C.F.R. Part 46. Although 28 C.F.R. 46.101(b) exempts many NIJ-supported research from review by an Institutional Review Board (IRB), all decisions with respect to IRB review must be made on an individual basis by the researcher and by NIJ during the process of application review. If IRB approval is necessary for this project, a copy of the IRB's findings and approval must be submitted to the National Institute of Justice prior to the initiation of data collection. Researchers should review 28 C.F.R. 46.101 to determine their individual project requirements. Research partners should be aware that all site personnel, contractors, and subcontractors must be advised of DOJ's data confidentiality and human subjects protections and must agree, in writing, to comply with all the statutes, regulations, and procedures to safeguard privacy and protect human subjects involved in research. For more information on the National Institute of Justice, please contact: National Criminal Justice Reference Service Box 6000 Rockville, MD 20849-6000 800-851-3420 e-mail: askncjrs@ncjrs.org You can view or obtain an electronic version of this document from the NCJRS Justice Information Center web site (http://www.ncjrs.org) or the NIJ web site (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij). If you have any questions, call or e-mail NCJRS.