FY 2023 Collaborative Reform Initiative: Organizational Assessment and Critical Response Solicitation | O COPS 2023 171691

Opportunity Information: Apply for O COPS 2023 171691

The FY 2023 Collaborative Reform Initiative: Organizational Assessment and Critical Response Solicitation is a Department of Justice (DOJ) Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office funding opportunity that supports intensive, hands-on technical assistance aimed at strengthening community policing and improving how law enforcement agencies serve and work with their communities. The overall emphasis is on building trust, increasing operational effectiveness, improving officer safety and wellness, and helping agencies adopt and spread evidence-based and promising public safety practices. Rather than funding routine police operations, the solicitation is built around providing structured support that helps agencies address serious incidents and deeper organizational challenges that can undermine public confidence.

This solicitation sits within the COPS Office Collaborative Reform Initiative Continuum of Services, which is designed as a set of complementary support options. It highlights three connected components. First is the Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center (CRI-TAC), which has operated since 2017 and provides agency-driven, customizable, short-term technical assistance across more than 60 topics using a "by the field, for the field" model. CRI-TAC is mentioned to clarify the broader continuum, but the solicitation explicitly states the COPS Office is not seeking proposals to fund CRI-TAC through this particular opportunity. The two program areas that are the focus here are Critical Response and Organizational Assessment, both of which provide deeper engagement than standard short-term technical assistance.

The Critical Response program is designed for law enforcement agencies dealing with high-profile events, major incidents, or other sensitive situations that require timely, tailored support. The assistance can take different forms depending on what an agency needs, including after-action reviews, peer-to-peer exchanges, targeted in-depth reviews, analysis and recommendations, and facilitated conversations with subject matter experts (SMEs). Timeframes vary widely: an executive consultation could be as short as about two weeks, while more comprehensive reviews of an incident or issue typically run six to nine months. The key idea is flexibility and speed, while still producing actionable findings and recommendations that can help an agency respond responsibly, learn from what happened, and reduce future risk.

The Organizational Assessment program is the most intensive offering described in the solicitation. It is intended for agencies facing systemic issues that affect community trust and confidence, and it involves an in-depth assessment paired with longer-term assistance aimed at meaningful reform. The typical engagement is framed as a 12-month period after the intake process is completed, with a maximum engagement length of 18 months. The solicitation stresses that while the initiative supports reform efforts, lasting change must ultimately be owned and sustained by local agencies and the communities they serve. In other words, the federal role is to provide structured expertise, assessment capacity, and guidance, while local partners carry forward the work over time.

Across these activities, the COPS Office frames community policing as a philosophy and set of organizational strategies that use partnerships and problem-solving to proactively address conditions driving violent crime, nonviolent crime, and fear of crime. The solicitation also underscores DOJ priorities such as advancing civil rights and racial equity, increasing access to justice, supporting victims and people impacted by the justice system, strengthening community safety, and addressing evolving threats, all with the broader goal of improving police-community trust. Applicants are expected to align projects with these themes and produce deliverables that contribute to practical improvement in the field.

A central expectation in the solicitation is the production of "knowledge products" and guidance that meet specific quality principles. The COPS Office wants outputs that are quality-driven and action-oriented (so they reduce variation in performance and encourage concrete steps), evidence-based (consistent with the best available research identified through systematic review), accessible (clear language and reasonable length for practitioners), and memorable (designed to support real-world decision-making in complex situations). Applicants are also encouraged to consult COPS Office materials such as Community Policing Defined and to consider COPS Office performance measures when designing project goals and activities, ensuring the work can be tracked and assessed in ways that matter to practitioners and communities.

On the administrative side, this opportunity is a discretionary cooperative agreement under CFDA 16.710, offered by the DOJ COPS Office. The funding opportunity number is O-COPS-2023-171691. The posting indicates an award ceiling of $3,500,000 and an expectation of two awards. The solicitation notes that eligibility is listed as "Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification)," meaning applicants would need to refer to the full notice for the precise eligible entity types and any restrictions. For proposals involving site-specific work with particular agencies, letters of support from the targeted agencies are strongly encouraged, signaling that the COPS Office expects clear buy-in and cooperation from participating jurisdictions.

The legal authority for the program is grounded in the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (as amended) and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Title I, Part Q (Public Law 103-322), codified at 34 U.S.C. 10381 et seq. Like most federal awards, funding is subject to the availability of appropriations and any additional legal requirements that may apply. Applicants are also instructed to follow the COPS Office Editorial and Style Manual for deliverables, which signals that the program is not only focused on doing the work but also on producing consistent, usable written products for the field.

Key dates and basic logistics included in the source information are a creation date of April 3, 2023, and an original closing date of May 17, 2023. Program questions are directed to the COPS Office Response Center (800-421-6770) or AskCopsRC@usdoj.gov, with hours listed as Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, excluding federal holidays. For additional background on the continuum of services, the solicitation points readers to https://cops.usdoj.gov/collaborativereform.

• The Department of Justice, Community Oriented Policing Services in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY 2023 Collaborative Reform Initiative: Organizational Assessment and Critical Response Solicitation" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.710.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 03, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 17, 2023. (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 $3,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

Apply for O COPS 2023 171691

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