FY 21 COPS Office Hiring Program Solicitation | O COPS 2021 97003

Opportunity Information: Apply for O COPS 2021 97003

The FY 21 COPS Office Hiring Program (CHP) Solicitation is a competitive U.S. Department of Justice grant opportunity run by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office). Its central purpose is to strengthen community policing by directly helping law enforcement agencies add sworn officer capacity that is tied to a clear community policing strategy. The COPS Office frames community policing as an agency-wide philosophy built on partnerships and problem solving to address the conditions that drive public safety concerns, including violent crime, nonviolent crime, and fear of crime. In line with broader DOJ priorities, the program also emphasizes work that promotes civil rights, improves access to justice, supports victims, protects the public from evolving threats, and builds community trust through meaningful relationships and collaborative prevention and response.

At a practical level, CHP funds the hiring and rehiring of full-time, sworn, career law enforcement officers (or deputies) so agencies can expand their ability to carry out community policing activities. Applicants are expected to explain their community policing approach and justify how many positions they need to carry it out, with anticipated outcomes including deeper community partnerships, more consistent use of analysis to identify and understand local problems, organizational or management changes that better support community policing, and an overall increase in the agency's capacity to do community policing work. While agencies can request a certain number of positions, the COPS Office may reduce the number funded based on total funding availability and other program considerations, with the intent to fund as many positions as possible across successful applicants.

Funding is structured as partial salary support. Awards generally cover up to 75 percent of entry-level salary and fringe benefits for each approved position for a three-year period, using the applicant's current entry-level compensation levels for full-time officers. The remaining share is a required local cash match of at least 25 percent unless the agency receives an approved waiver. The maximum federal contribution is $125,000 per officer position over the three-year period unless a local match waiver is approved, and any costs above entry-level rates (for example, if an agency pays higher salaries or benefits than the entry-level amount used for the calculation) must be paid by the recipient agency. The period of performance is designed to be flexible: the program supports three years of officer salaries within a five-year window to account for recruiting and hiring timelines.

The solicitation allows agencies to use funds in three main hiring categories. First, agencies may hire new officers, including filling existing vacancies that are no longer funded in the agency budget, but only if those positions are added above the agency's current budgeted level of sworn officers and the hires occur on or after the official award start date listed on the notice of award. Second, agencies may rehire officers who were laid off due to state, local, or Bureau of Indian Affairs budget reductions, again with rehiring occurring on or after the award start date, and with the requirement that the agency maintain documentation showing when positions were laid off and when they were rehired. Third, agencies may rehire officers who are scheduled for layoff in the future at the time of application due to those same types of budget reductions; in that scenario, the agency must continue paying for the positions with local funding until the scheduled layoff date, identify the layoff date(s) and number of affected positions in the application, and then may use CHP funds to rehire on or immediately after the scheduled layoff date. The solicitation also explains that the agency does not necessarily need to complete every administrative step of a layoff if the jurisdiction does not require it, but it must be able to document that an approved budget decision was made and must keep records showing the timing and economic justification for the layoffs, such as council minutes, budget documents, memoranda, notices, or orders.

A major condition of the program is retention and non-supplanting. Agencies must retain each CHP-funded position for at least 12 months after the three years of federal funding for that position end. The funded positions are expected to be added to the agency's law enforcement budget with state and/or local funds over and above what would have existed without the award, meaning the agency cannot meet the requirement simply by letting locally funded positions disappear through attrition and then "absorbing" the grant-funded roles. The solicitation also warns agencies not to reduce their existing sworn officer budget in anticipation of the grant; budget reductions must be unrelated to receiving CHP funds to avoid violating statutory non-supplanting rules. If an agency applies across multiple hiring categories and receives an award, the notice of award will specify how many positions were approved in each category, and the agency generally cannot shift positions between categories without written prior approval from the COPS Office.

Eligibility is broad across public-sector law enforcement jurisdictions, including state governments, county governments, city or township governments, and federally recognized tribal governments, with additional eligible applicants described in the solicitation's eligibility clarification section. The grant is discretionary and awarded through a competitive process. The opportunity is identified as Funding Opportunity Number O-COPS-2021-97003, under CFDA 16.710, categorized under Law, Justice and Legal Services. The posting lists an award ceiling of $50,000,000 and an estimated 200 awards. The solicitation was created May 7, 2021, with an original closing date of June 15, 2021. The program is authorized under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended by the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Title I, Part Q), codified at 34 U.S.C. 10381 et seq.

• The Department of Justice, Community Oriented Policing Services in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY 21 COPS Office Hiring Program 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 May 07, 2021.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jun 15, 2021. (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 $50,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 200 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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