Information: Bureau of Justice Grants
In June 2026, the Department of Justice (the Department) held two stakeholder briefings to provide an overview of the plan to consolidate the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) in a new Bureau of Justice Grants (BJG). The Department invited stakeholders to write to BJG.Feedback@usdoj.gov with their questions and recommendations. This document responds to feedback the Department received and questions many stakeholders asked. The Department values the perspectives of people who know how important grants are to public safety efforts across the country.
After considering stakeholder recommendations and concerns, Department leadership will direct next steps for BJG. At that time, a more detailed plan will be released to inform the public what to expect from BJG and how it will serve public safety efforts across the country.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Department is establishing the BJG in response to calls for simpler and more effective grants. For too long, agencies that serve crime victims and keep communities safe have urged the Department to reduce the administrative burden that comes with applying for and managing federal grants. They have expressed frustration at having to work through multiple offices to determine which grants they can apply for. Then, when they receive grants, they find themselves complying with multiple sets of requirements.
OJP, COPS, and OVW will be on equal footing as distinct offices, all reporting to an Assistant Attorney General who will lead BJG. A centralized BJG Office of Grants Operations and Management will provide shared services for administrative support functions to the COPS, OJP, and OVW offices.
The new structure will remove barriers that stand between communities and public safety resources by creating efficiencies and increasing the share of grant appropriations that reach the field. Every dollar saved through streamlining will go back to the field to support safety and justice for all.
Consistent with 34 U.S.C. § 10442(b), which provides that OVW “shall be a separate and distinct office within the Department of Justice, not subsumed by any other office,” OVW will remain distinct within BJG. Furthermore, it will maintain the statutorily defined responsibilities of its Director and Deputy Director for Tribal Affairs. OVW will continue to support coordinated community responses to domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking that serve all victims in comportment with all relevant laws.
Cost and efficiency assessments have guided key decisions about the BJG, and further analyses are underway to inform future decisions about how BJG will operate. Department leadership has directed OJP, COPS, and OVW to share detailed information with each other about their business practices and adopt the ones that are the most efficient and effective. Meanwhile, the Department forecasts an estimated savings of nearly $60 million in overhead costs through personnel reductions that will be achieved through attrition, not reductions in force.
OJP, COPS, and OVW will also continue to streamline their grant management processes so that all three will take a uniform approach to grant review and administration. These changes will make it easier to apply for and use grants. An example of these efforts can be seen in the simplified notice of funding opportunity (NOFO)template deployed this year.
Furthermore, moving from a model wherein OJP, COPS, and OVW each have their own administrative support structure performing similar functions to one in which they share a centralized administrative support structure will ensure taxpayer dollars are not unnecessarily spent on duplicative functions. Following consolidation, a centralized BJG office will provide services for administrative support functions like contract procurement, human resources, building support services, and IT services, as well as for legal services.
Finally, the BJG will have a single point of contact in the Department for all grant matters, residing in the BJG’s Office of the Assistant Attorney General. Creating this single point of contact will allow grant applicants’ and recipients’ needs to be addressed more quickly, consistently, and effectively.
The Department is considering stakeholder feedback alongside cost and efficiency analyses as it implements the BJG.
Yes. The Department is committed to preserving what is already working – like grant recipients’ direct line to staff with expertise on the problems the Department’s grants are meant to solve – while dispensing with what doesn’t work.
No, the consolidation aims to make processes streamlined and efficient. The American people need access to critical grant-funded services without unnecessary delays and administrative costs diverting to overhead the dollars Congress appropriates for grants. Furthermore, the less time grantees spend on onerous processes, the more time they can devote to the good work these grants fund: making communities safer and assisting victims in crisis.
The Department acknowledges that delays have created uncertainty and challenges. Getting back to a predictable fiscal year calendar while making internal processes more efficient is an immediate priority of the Department and one that will be fully carried out in the BJG. With streamlining and simplification, the Department can ensure grants are subject to careful review while shortening timelines.
A driver of this consolidation is the need to ameliorate difficulties with applying for and managing federal grants, particularly for law enforcement agencies and victim services organizations in rural areas. Where specialization is a luxury and most people in helping professions must be generalists and do multiple jobs, there isn’t time to contend with excessive bureaucratic requirements and service model expectations that only make sense for densely populated areas.