National Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program: Drug Court Technical Assistance Initiative, FY 2004

National Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program:
Drug Court Technical Assistance Initiative, FY 2004

Appendix

Technical Assistance Forms

Successful applicants for the Drug Court Technical Assistance Initiative will be required to work with BJA to prepare the following forms:

Technical Assistance Request Form. To be completed by a jurisdiction. This form will be used by the technical assistance provider to assess a jurisdiction's technical assistance needs.
Technical Assistance Assessment and Approval Form. To be completed by the technical assistance provider. This form describes the proposed technical assistance plan for the jurisdiction, with justification for the proposed plan, and is submitted to BJA for approval.
Technical Assistance Report Outline. To be completed by the consultant who provided the technical assistance to the jurisdiction.
Technical Assistance Evaluation. To be completed by the jurisdiction that received the technical assistance.
Technical Assistance Impact Form. To be completed by the jurisdiction that received the technical assistance. As a followup to the evaluation, this form will help to determine the impact of the technical assistance on the jurisdiction.
Consultant Fee Verification Form. To be completed by the consultants on an annual basis to determine the pay rate for consultants.

Minimum Standards of Performance

Output and performance are the focus of the National Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program. BJA and OJP reserve the right to disallow costs if the performance standards outlined in the solicitation are not met or if approved deliverables under the cooperative agreement are not submitted to BJA in accordance with the approved work plan.

The cooperative agreement recipient or recipients must meet the minimum standards of performance (MSP) described below in performing the work described in the performance work plan. MSP distinguishes between satisfactory and unsatisfactory performance. BJA and OJP will monitor the cooperative agreement recipient's performance in accordance with procedures set forth in its application and will take appropriate action for documented instances of performance that fall below MSP. At a minimum, to achieve satisfactory performance, the cooperative agreement recipients must ensure that:

At least 90 percent of onsite technical assistance work plans are submitted to BJA within 15 days of receiving the request.
At least 95 percent of the deliverables are completed within the timeframe approved by BJA.
Written materials, documents, publications, and brochures follow Government Printing Office guidelines and are virtually free of errors relating to content accuracy, style, spelling, and grammar.
All trainers, faculty, or consultants are approved by BJA and reflect a wide range of expertise, experience, cultural and ethnic diversity, and geographic representation.
Technical assistance services meet the needs of the participants as demonstrated by an average score of at least 5.5 out of a possible 7 in the overall assessment of the services, using an evaluation form approved by BJA.
The most economical rates for travel, lodging, and meeting costs are used 100 percent of the time.
An adequate workforce is maintained at all times, within the budget limitations of the cooperative agreement, to provide for the timely performance of all deliverables described herein.

The recipient also must be able to report the impact of the technical assistance and provide data that indicate a program result that is valid, verifiable, and able to be audited.

Use of Consultants

OJP's Financial Guide (part III, chapter 15, paragraph 6) requires compensation for consultant services to be reasonable and consistent with that paid for similar services in the market. Therefore, depending on the services needed, a grant recipient may set a daily rate below the maximum of the individual's calculated daily rate if the nature of the services dictates a lesser rate.

The Financial Guide establishes the maximum rate for consultants not requiring prior written approval at $450 (excluding travel and subsistence costs) for an 8-hour day. An 8-hour day may include preparation and report writing and actual travel time in addition to the time required for actual performance. Preparation and report writing time is determined on a case-by-case basis depending on the nature of the work to be provided by the consultant. Additionally, documentation and records to support the consultant's fee must be kept and updated on an annual basis.

Personnel Requirements

Certain skilled and experienced professional and technical personnel are essential for cooperative agreement recipients to accomplish the work necessary under the National Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program. These people are identified as "key personnel." Key personnel must meet the minimum qualifications defined below and must be identified in the budget narrative.

The applicant should also describe other staff and contract personnel who will be required to perform the tasks outlined in the solicitation to ensure that the deliverables are met on time.

The applicant shall provide staff who are qualified to perform the work described in the performance work statement. The proposed team is expected to have experience and knowledge about drug courts, court administration, substance abuse treatment, training curricula, and development and delivery of training and technical assistance. The application should describe the responsibilities of key and nonkey personnel and the percentage of time each type of staff will be assigned to the project to ensure availability when needed.

The proposed staff must meet the following criteria for the proposal to be considered responsive. The minimum skills required for key personnel to perform the tasks under the National Drug Court Training and Technical Assistance Program's Technical Assistance Initiative are as follows.

Key Personnel for the Drug Court Technical Assistance Initiative
Technical Assistance Project Director. The technical assistance project director will be the primary point of contact with BJA and be responsible for activities such as providing project oversight and direction, ensuring technical assistance development, identifying consultants, and facilitating planning meetings. The incumbent must have a minimum of an advanced college degree; 5 years of work experience in criminal justice, substance abuse, public policy, or a similar discipline; and at least 5 years of work experience in developing and managing a technical assistance program of similar magnitude and complexity. Additional years of work and technical assistance experience as listed above may be substituted for the advanced degree.

Clearinghouse Project Director. The clearinghouse project director will be the primary point of contact with BJA and be responsible for activities such as project oversight and direction, managing a clearinghouse, and facilitating planning meetings. The incumbent must have a minimum of an advanced college degree; 5 years of work experience in criminal justice, substance abuse, public policy, or a similar discipline; and at least 5 years of work experience in developing and managing a technical assistance program of similar magnitude and complexity. Additional years of work and training experience as listed above may be substituted for the advanced degree.

Technical Assistance Manager. The technical assistance manager will be responsible for ensuring the development of onsite technical assistance, identifying faculty with appropriate skills and experience, and executing the onsite technical assistance. At minimum, the technical assistance manager must have a bachelor's degree; at least 4 years of experience in criminal justice, substance abuse, public policy, or a similar discipline; and at least 3 years of work experience in developing and managing a technical assistance program of similar magnitude and complexity.