BJS FY25 National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) Program, Reference Years (RY) 2025–2029 | O BJS 2025 172528

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJS 2025 172528

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is offering a discretionary cooperative agreement to select a single organization to serve as the data collection agent for two of its core national corrections data programs: the National Prisoner Statistics program (NPS) and the National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP). Together, these collections are BJS's primary tools for tracking the size, characteristics, and trends of state and federal prison populations each year, and for producing widely used BJS publications such as the annual Prisoners series and the Corrections Populations in the United States bulletins. The overall project covers reference years 2025 through 2029, with an emphasis on maintaining continuity, comparability, and data quality across jurisdictions over time.

The award is structured as a five-year effort, but the solicitation funds only the first three years up front. Continued support for the final two years is contingent on successful performance, specifically the timely collection, processing, and delivery to BJS of the NPS and NCRP datasets for response years 2025, 2026, and 2027. In practical terms, the recipient needs to demonstrate it can reliably manage annual data cycles, work effectively with state departments of corrections and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and meet BJS requirements for documentation, data cleaning, and delivery before BJS commits additional funding for years four and five.

A key expectation is that the awardee will run the annual NPS collection, which is an aggregate (count-based) census of prison populations as of December 31 each year. Through NPS, state DOCs and the Federal Bureau of Prisons compile counts using administrative records, reporting both custody and jurisdiction populations, admissions and releases over the prior year, and demographic breakdowns such as race and Hispanic origin. NPS also captures information about facility capacity (as it relates to where prisoners are held) and includes annual reporting on confirmed HIV/AIDS cases and current testing policies for those conditions. Because NPS has been collected continuously since 1926, this work carries an added responsibility to preserve long-running definitions and trend integrity while also handling inevitable changes in state reporting systems and correctional practices.

Alongside NPS, the awardee will conduct the NCRP collection, which complements NPS by capturing more detailed, individual-level information about prisoners. While NPS is designed to deliver consistent top-line totals and broad breakdowns, NCRP is intended to support deeper analyses of prison populations and changes over time. The combined value of the two programs is that they let BJS describe national and state-level prison populations both in aggregate and in more detailed terms, helping policymakers, researchers, and the public understand how admissions, releases, and population composition shift year to year.

In addition to the standard annual collections, the solicitation requires the recipient to field one supplemental NPS special addendum during the project period. This addendum is meant to gather data on a focused, timely topic tied to prison conditions or operations. The example provided in the opportunity description is an addendum related to testing and treatment for opioid use disorder in state and federal prisons, but the specific topic would ultimately be determined in coordination with BJS. This component signals that the awardee should be prepared to design and deploy an additional data module, integrate it into the NPS workflow, and ensure the added data meet the same expectations for clarity, response support, and quality control.

Eligibility for this opportunity is broad and includes state, county, city/township, and special district governments; federally recognized tribal governments; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)); for-profit organizations (including those other than small businesses); and small businesses. BJS expects to make one award, with an award ceiling of $4,600,000. The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which generally indicates substantial federal involvement during the project, meaning the recipient should expect ongoing coordination with BJS on technical decisions, schedules, deliverables, and standards for data collection and processing.

Key administrative details included in the listing are the opportunity number O-BJS-2025-172528, CFDA number 16.734 (Information and Statistics), and an original closing date of 2026-02-24. Overall, this solicitation is best understood as an effort to sustain and modernize BJS's central annual prison statistics infrastructure for 2025-2029, ensuring that national prison population measures remain consistent, timely, and analytically useful while also allowing room to address emerging issues through a targeted supplemental addendum.

• The Bureau of Justice Statistics in the information and statistics sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "BJS FY25 National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) Program, Reference Years (RY) 2025–2029" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.734.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2026-01-15.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-02-24. (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 $4,600,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses.

Apply for O BJS 2025 172528

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