Supporting the Nation's Judicial System & the Public it Serves

Technical Assistance Grants

Technical Assistance Grants are designed to provide state and local courts with funding to obtain expert assistance to diagnose a problem, develop a response to that problem, and initiate implementation of any needed changes.

inner-body-techgrantsSIZE AND DURATION OF GRANT

Technical Assistance (TA) Grants may not exceed $75,000 and 12 months in duration.  Grant funds may cover the cost of obtaining the services of expert consultants; travel by a team of officials from one court to examine a practice, program, or facility in another jurisdiction that the applicant court is interested in replicating; or both.  In calculating project duration, applicants are cautioned to fully consider the time required to issue a request for proposals, negotiate a contract with the selected provider, and execute the project. Funds may not be used for salaries or benefits of full-or part-time court employees.

MATCH

Applicants for TA Grants are required to contribute a total match (cash and in-kind) of not less than 50 percent of the SJI award amount, of which 20 percent must be cash.  For example, an applicant seeking a $75,000 TA grant must provide a $37,500 match, of which up to $30,000 can be in-kind and not less than $7,500 must be cash.

HOW TO APPLY

All grant applications must be submitted via the online Grant Management System (GMS).  Refer to the Grant Application Guide for details about what an application for a Technical Assistance Grant must include.

SELECTION CRITERIA

In addition to the criteria detailed below, SJI will consider whether the applicant is a state or local court, a national court support or education organization, a non-court unit of government, or other type of entity eligible to receive grants under SJI’s enabling legislation; the availability of financial assistance from other sources for the project; the diversity of subject matter, geographic diversity; the level and nature of the match that would be provided; reasonableness of the proposed budget; the extent to which the proposed project would also benefit the federal courts or help state or local courts enforce federal constitutional and legislative requirements; and the level of appropriations available to SJI in the current year and the amount expected to be available in succeeding fiscal years, when determining which projects to support.

TA Grant applications will be rated based on the following criteria:

  • Whether the assistance would address a critical need of the applicant
  • Soundness of the technical assistance approach to the problem
  • Qualifications of the consultant(s) to be hired or the specific criteria that will be used to select the consultant(s)
  • Commitment of the court or association to act on the consultant’s recommendations
  • Reasonableness of the proposed budget