The major DOJ formula funding stream for state and local criminal justice improvements. Forensic labs access JAG directly (if eligible) or via state/local subawards for equipment, personnel, and technology that fit JAG purpose areas.
Open now. Each grant page walks through the steps and dates:
JAG has three funding tracks. State Formula funds go to your state administering agency (SAA), which then subawards locally, so contact your SAA to ask about eligibility. Local Formula funds go directly from BJA to qualifying units of local government, with no state involved; check BJA's JAG allocations list to confirm eligibility. Competitive JAG awards are rare, reviewed set-asides applied for directly on grants.gov.
State Formula funds flow from BJA to your state, which then sub-awards to local jurisdictions. Contact your state SAA to ask about eligibility and sub-award timelines.
Still formula funding, not a competition — but paid straight to qualifying units of local government with no state administering agency involved. Look up your city or county to see if it qualifies for direct funding this year.
Look up your jurisdiction’s JAG allocation→Competitive JAG solicitations are posted directly on grants.gov. No state intermediary — eligible agencies apply directly to BJA.
Browse competitive JAG on grants.gov→Competitive awards are rare — most forensic labs access JAG through one of the formula pathways above.
States and units of local government. Forensic labs within law enforcement agencies often receive JAG subawards from their city or county. Labs may also apply directly if they are government entities.
A state’s JAG award doesn’t all stay with the state. Two rules push part of it back out to local governments: a Variable Pass-Through (VPT) rate, recalculated by the Census Bureau each year, sets the minimum share the state must distribute to local units of government based on their share of local law-enforcement spending. Separately, any local jurisdiction whose own individual JAG share works out to less than $10,000 isn’t eligible for a direct award — that money is folded into the state’s allocation instead, and the state must use it for a state agency serving that jurisdiction or subaward it to the jurisdiction directly.
BJA’s JAG Pass-Through Requirements →FY2026: 110 applications received, no awards made yet.
Awards per year: FY2022 953 · FY2023 1,009 · FY2024 927 · FY2025 951 · FY2026 none yet
Round totals: DOJ Office of Justice Programs award data. Award lists: USAspending.gov, plus DOJ’s own award list for rounds USAspending is missing. The award list covers only awards whose descriptions mention forensic work. Who received FY2025 awards isn't in federal spending data yet.
General advice for this program, not taken from the notice. The notice’s own review criteria are what reviewers actually score, so check these against it.
Explicitly map your forensic lab's project goals to BJA's current priority areas such as reducing case backlogs, improving DNA analysis capacity, or supporting violent crime reduction — use the exact language from the solicitation in your narrative.
Include specific, quantifiable outcomes such as the number of backlogged cases to be processed, average turnaround time reductions, or percentage increase in testing capacity, demonstrating that your lab has a clear method for tracking and reporting progress.
Do not submit line items like 'lab equipment' or 'supplies' without detailed cost breakdowns and vendor quotes, as reviewers will flag unsupported expenditures and it signals poor financial planning to the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
A starting list, not the official one. Each notice ends with its own application checklist, and that is the list to work from once a round opens.
