Title: FY 2002 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program Series: Fact Sheet Author: Bureau of Justice Assistance Published: December 2001 Subject: criminal aliens, criminal justice -- general, funding resources 6 pages 12,288 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 (877-712-9279 for TTY users). -------------------------------- U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance BJA Bureau of Justice Assistance Fact Sheet Richard R. Nedelkoff, Director FY 2002 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) announces the opening of and all critical deadlines for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). -------------------------------- Critical Deadlines for SCAAP Applicants Applicant Account Registration Start Date: Thursday, January 3, 2002, 9 a.m. (e.t.) End Date: Friday, January 25, 2002, 5 p.m. (e.t.) Applicant Account Registration: Registration is the first step in applying for FY 2002 SCAAP funds. All new applicants must register and have their registration approved by BJA before submitting an application. New Applicants: To register, new applicants must create a Grant Management System (GMS) user account to access the FY 2002 SCAAP application process and must start and save at least the Jurisdiction page of the application prior to the January 25 deadline. FY 2000 and/or 2001 Applicants: Jurisdictions that applied for SCAAP funding from either or both the FY 2000 and 2001 funding cycles, must use their previously established user ID and password to log into the GMS system and begin and save at least the Jurisdiction tab of the actual SCAAP application prior to the January 25 deadline. Application Submission Period Start Date: Thursday, January 3, 2002, 9 a.m. (e.t.) End Date: Friday, February 1, 2002, 5 p.m. (e.t.) To successfully submit a SCAAP application, all applicants must complete and submit their SCAAP application via the online GMS. Application Resubmission Start Date: Monday, February, 18, 2002, 9 a.m. (e.t.) End Date: Friday, February 22, 2002, 5 p.m. (e.t.) BJA will review and return any submitted applications with incomplete or inaccurate data to the applicant for corrections. BJA will notify both the CEO and program contact, via the e-mail addresses provided in the application, if their application needs to be corrected and resubmitted. Corrections must be made and the application resubmitted to BJA no later than 5 p.m. eastern time on Friday, February 22. BJA will not pro- cess applications resubmitted after the February 22 deadline. -------------------------------- FY 2002 Reporting Period: All inmate records and supporting information provided on the FY 2002 SCAAP application must be for the reporting period of July 1, 2000, through June 30, 2001. Important Changes in the FY 2002 SCAAP Process To better facilitate the review of inmate records by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), all country of birth code information provided in the inmate record files must be in the standard INS codes. Applications with inmate record data that is not in the required format will not be considered for funding and will be returned to the applicant. The standard INS country of birth codes are available on the BJA Web site at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA. Legislative Authority If the chief executive officer (CEO) of a state (or, if appropriate, a political subdivision of the state), exercising authority with respect to the incarceration of an undocumented criminal alien, submits a written request to the U.S. Attorney General, the Attorney General shall enter into a contractual arrangement that provides for compensation to the state or political subdivision of the state, as may be appropriate, with respect to the incarceration of the undocumented criminal alien. For FY 2002, approximately $550 million has been made available for this program. SCAAP is authorized and governed by the provisions of the Omnibus Appropriations Act, Pub. L. 106-113, Division B, Section 1000(a); Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1252, Section 242 as amended; and Title II, subtitle C, Section 20301, Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Pub. L. 103-322. Eligible Applicants States and units of general government that have authority over correctional facilities that incarcerate or detain undocumented criminal aliens for a minimum of 72 consecutive hours are eligible to apply for SCAAP funds. The phrase "states and units of general government" encompasses the 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and nearly 3,000 counties and cities with jail facilities. The CEOs of these jurisdictions must apply directly or delegate authority to another jurisdictional official to apply on behalf of the jurisdiction. User accounts for SCAAP may be established only by government officials within the applying jurisdictions; nongovernment officials may not establish user accounts on behalf of applying jurisdictions. When establishing a user account, for the purposes of SCAAP, sheriffs or chiefs of police are not considered CEOs but may serve as contact persons who can establish SCAAP user accounts on behalf of their CEOs. All applications must be filed in the name of the state or unit of general government and must include the name and official title of the jurisdiction's CEO and reliable e-mail addresses for the CEO and any designated program contact. Applications may not list the submitting agency as the jurisdiction (e.g., a county sheriff's department or department of corrections). Online Application and Payment Processes For the third consecutive year, the FY 2002 SCAAP application and payment processes will be managed through an innovative Web-based system that was premiered during the FY 2000 SCAAP funding cycle. Applicants will apply, transmit inmate data, and receive payment via this electronic system. Establishing a User Account/Application Period The FY 2002 SCAAP application process will have a 3-week applicant account registration period with a concurrent 4-week application period. All jurisdictions intending to apply for FY 2002 SCAAP funds must register by the January 25 deadline. All applications must be started, completed, and submitted before the end of the 4-week application period. There will be no exceptions. While waiting for BJA approval of their user accounts, new applicants should complete their applications. These applications may be submitted once the user account approval has been received. The posting of any final payments requires that all data is received and processed at one time because extending the application period for any single applicant would delay the determination of payment amounts for all applicants. Required Data Submissions Jurisdictions applying for SCAAP funds must provide information for the prescribed reporting period on undocumented criminal alien inmates, the total reporting period salary information for all full- and part-time permanent and contracted correctional officers, and information regarding total inmate population. Applicants may not include any records for inmates for whom any payments to cover costs of housing inmates are received from other jurisdictions or the Federal Government, including, but not limited to, INS and the U.S. Marshals Service. Applicants should include information relating to costs for undocumented criminal aliens who are housed in other locations at a cost to the applicant. All inmate data must be submitted in the prescribed SCAAP format, regardless of whether the inmate data is typed into the onscreen data entry forms or uploaded from the applicant's data files. The prescribed format is available at grants.ojp.usdoj.gov/scaap/ScaapHelpInmateInformation.html. Inmate country of birth information must be submitted in the standard INS format, which is available on the BJA SCAAP Web page. Country code data dictionaries will no longer be accepted, and inmate records that are not in the required format will not be considered for funding. FY 2002 Data Review INS, BJA's partner in SCAAP, has primary responsibility for verifying alien inmate data to determine which inmates qualify for inclusion in the formula process. Information about inmates who are being claimed as possible qualifying aliens, including length of stay, must be provided by applicants in a specified format necessary for INS to conduct its verification. The SCAAP Web site and the SCAAP Internet application system include specific details about the required data format for uploaded files and also provide a data entry system for direct submission of inmate records. FY 2002 Funding Annual SCAAP payment amounts are determined using actual inmate, cost, and facility data for a specified reporting period. Whereas the relationship between data gathered and payment amounts may not have been clear in prior years, guidance in the new Internet-based system clarifies that SCAAP is not a traditional reimbursement program. Payment amounts are not partial reimbursements of the actual inmate, cost, and facility data collected. SCAAP uses prior data from a specified period to determine applicants' annual relative percentages of available funding. All applicants' relative percentages must be determined at one time. To facilitate this process, BJA developed an electronically managed formula to determine relative percentages and implemented it during the FY 2000 SCAAP funding cycle. After the current year's percentages are determined, the system applies the percentage values to the available funding for that fiscal year to determine actual payment amounts. Payment calculations are based solely on the information provided by the jurisdiction through the electronic application system as verified by INS. The final inmate and facility factors for all applicants are considered in relation to the available appropriation to determine an applicant's percentage of the total SCAAP allocation for the current fiscal year. Actual payment amounts from prior fiscal years should not be taken as indicators of payment amounts for FY 2002 because applicants' characteristics may vary, as may the number of eligible applicants and the appropriated amount of funds. Payments will be made electronically. Jurisdictions may use SCAAP funds for any lawful purpose. There are no postpayment reporting requirements for SCAAP. For Further Information SCAAP information is available on the Internet via the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) home page at www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA or by calling the OJP Grants Management System (GMS) Hotline at 1-888-549-9901, option 4. GMS staff are available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. eastern time. Or contact the U.S. Department of Justice Response Center at 1-800-421-6770 or 202-307-1480. DOJ Response Center staff are available Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. eastern time. For more information about BJA programs and funding, contact Bureau of Justice Assistance Clearinghouse P.O. Box 6000 Rockville, MD 20849-6000 1-800-688-4252 World Wide Web: www.ncjrs.org Clearinghouse staff are available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. eastern time. FS 000283 December 2001