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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

CFDA 16.579 BYRNE FORMULA GRANT PROGRAM

I. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

The Byrne Formula Grant Program (Byrne grants) provides funds to States, for use by State and local governments, to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system, with emphasis on drugs, violent crime and serious offenders, and to enforce State and local laws that establish offenses similar to those established in the Federal Controlled Substances Act (21 USC 801 et seq.).

II. PROGRAM PROCEDURES

Byrne grants are awarded to the States, which, in turn, subaward the funds to State and local agencies. Each State is required to develop a statewide drug control and violent crime strategy as part of its application for funds. Strategies are developed in consultation with State and local criminal justice officials and are coordinated with the treatment and prevention block grant programs. Local units of governments must receive a share of the State=s formula grant funds that is equal to the ratio of local criminal justice expenditures to the total criminal justice expenditures for the State.

Grants may provide personnel, equipment, training, technical assistance, and information systems for more widespread apprehension, prosecution, adjudication, detention, and rehabilitation of persons who violate such laws, and may provide assistance (other than compensation) to their victims.

Byrne grant funds may be used for confidential expenditures such as the purchase of services, physical evidence, and information, and for "buy money," and "flash rolls." By the very nature of this use, some traditional accounting controls may be impossible to implement, once funds are in the field. In addition, the personnel administering these funds are exposed to extreme risk in terms of bodily harm or death. Guidelines for the control of confidential funds are found in the Office of Justice Programs, Office of the Comptroller, Financial Guide (Chapter 8). Each grant recipient is provided a copy of this guide. Additional copies can be obtained from the U.S. Department of Justice Response Center at 1-800-421-6770, or on the Internet (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/oc).

Source of Governing Requirements

This program is authorized under Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended (Act) and codified at 42 USC 3750-3766, Drug Control and System Improvement Grant Program.

Availability of Other Program Information

The Department of Justice's (DOJ), Bureau of Justice Administration (BJA) home page (http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/) under the selection titled Byrne Formula Grant Program provides information on program laws (as part of Byrne Formula Grant Program Guidance and Application Kit) and other general information about the program.

III. COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS

In developing the audit procedures to test compliance with the requirements for a Federal program, the auditor should first look to Part 2, Matrix of Compliance Requirements, to identify which of the 14 types of compliance requirements described in Part 3 are applicable and then look to Parts 3 and 4 for the details of the requirements.

A. Activities Allowed and Unallowed

Byrne grants may be used to implement programs that carry out any of the 26 authorized purposes as outlined in the Act (42 USC 3751 (b)):

1. Demand-reduction education programs in which law enforcement officers participate.

2. Multijurisdictional task force programs to integrate Federal, State, and local drug law enforcement agencies and prosecutors for the purpose of enhancing interagency coordination and intelligence and facilitating multijurisdictional investigations.

3. Programs to target the domestic sources of controlled and illegal substances, such as precursor chemicals, diverted pharmaceuticals, clandestine laboratories, and cannabis cultivations.

4. Community and neighborhood programs to assist citizens in preventing and controlling crime, including special programs that address crimes committed against the elderly and crime in rural jurisdictions.

5. Programs to disrupt illicit commerce in stolen goods and property.

6. Programs to improve the investigation and prosecution of white-collar crime, organized crime, public corruption crime, and fraud against the government, with priority attention to cases involving drug-related official corruption.

7. a. Programs to improve the operational effectiveness of law enforcement through the use of crime analysis techniques, street sales enforcement, schoolyard violator programs, and gang-related and low-income housing drug-control programs.

b. Programs to develop and implement antiterrorism plans for deep draft ports, international airports, and other important facilities.

8. Career criminal prosecution programs, including the development of model drug-control legislation.

9. Financial investigative programs to identify money laundering operations and assets obtained through illegal drug trafficking, including the development of model legislation, financial investigative training, and financial information-sharing systems.

10. Programs to improve the operational effectiveness of the court process by expanding prosecutorial, defender, and judicial resources and implementing court delay reduction programs.

11. Programs to provide additional public correctional resources and improve the corrections system, including treatment in prisons and jails, intensive supervision programs, and long-range corrections and sentencing strategies.

12. Prison industry projects to place inmates in a realistic working and training environment that enables them to develop marketable skills. With these skills inmates also are better able to support their families and themselves in the institution and make financial restitution to their victims.

13. Programs to identify and meet the treatment needs of adult and juvenile drug-and alcohol-dependent offenders.

14. Programs to provide assistance to jurors and witnesses and assistance (other than compensation) to victims of crime.

15. a. Programs to improve drug-control technology such as pretrial drug-testing programs; programs to provide for the identification, assessment, referral to treatment, case management, and monitoring of drug-dependent offenders; and programs to enhance State and local forensic laboratories.

b. Criminal justice information systems to assist law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and corrections organizations (including automated fingerprint identification systems).

16. Programs to demonstrate innovative approaches to enforcement, prosecution, and adjudication of drug offenses and other serious crimes.

17. Programs to address the problems of drug trafficking and the illegal manufacture of controlled substances in public housing.

18. Programs to improve the criminal and juvenile justice system's response to domestic and family violence, including spouse abuse, child abuse, and abuse of the elderly.

19. Programs with which State and local units of government can evaluate State drug-control projects.

20. Programs to provide alternatives to detention, jail, and prison for persons who pose no danger to the community.

21. Programs to strengthen urban enforcement and prosecution efforts targeted at street drug sales.

22. Programs to prosecute driving-while-intoxicated charges and enforce other laws relating to alcohol use and the operation of motor vehicles.

23. Programs to address the need for effective bindover systems for the prosecution of violent 16- and 17-year-old juveniles for certain enumerated violent crimes in courts with jurisdiction over adults.

24. Law enforcement and prevention programs for gangs and youth who are involved in or are at risk of involvement in gangs.

25. Programs to develop or improve forensic laboratory capability to analyze DNA for identification purposes.

26. Programs to develop and implement antiterrorism training and procure equipment for local law enforcement authorities.

Grant funds shall not be used for land acquisition or construction projects other than penal and correctional institutions (42 USC 3755).

G. Matching, Level of Effort, Earmarking

1. Matching

The Federal share may not exceed 75 percent of the cost of the program. The matching must be in cash and in-kind matching is not permitted. The 25 percent match is required on a project-by-project basis under this program, unless otherwise approved by the DOJ. The U. S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariani Islands and Federally recognized Indian Tribes are not required to provide matching funds (42 USC 3754 (a) and (e)).

2 Level of Effort - Not Applicable

3. Earmarking

a. Not more than 10 percent of a grant made to a State may be used by the State agency for costs incurred to administer the grant (42 USC 3754 (b)).

b. Not less than 5 percent of the award shall be allocated by each State to improve criminal history records (42 USC 3759 (a)).

c. The State is required to pass through to units of local government a portion of the funds. This percentage will be stated in the grant award from DOJ (42 USC 3756).

H. Period of Availability of Funds

The grant period is stated in the grant award documents from DOJ and is 3 years from the beginning of the Federal fiscal year of the award, regardless of when the award is actually made. Extensions of the grant period may be granted by the BJA.

L. Reporting

1. Financial Reporting

a. SF-269, Financial Status Report - Applicable

b. SF-270, Request for Advance or Reimbursement - Not Applicable

c. SF-271, Outlay Report and Request for Reimbursement for Construction Program - Not Applicable

d. SF-272, Federal Cash Transactions Report - Not Applicable

2. Performance Reporting - Not Applicable

3. Special Reporting - Not Applicable