SMART FY 16 Maintenance and Operation of the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website | SMART 2016 8952

Opportunity Information: Apply for SMART 2016 8952

The SMART FY 16 Maintenance and Operation of the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW) is a U.S. Department of Justice SMART Office cooperative agreement focused on keeping the nations primary public-facing sex offender search website running securely, reliably, and in full legal compliance. The opportunity is rooted in federal requirements that states, territories, and certain tribes maintain sex offender registration and notification systems and make appropriate information available to the public. DOJ created NSOPW to solve a practical problem: instead of forcing the public and law enforcement to search dozens of separate state, territorial, and tribal registry sites, NSOPW serves as a single national search point that links and queries participating jurisdictions registries. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 formally established this role by codifying that the Attorney General must maintain the site, and it also pushed DOJ to support jurisdiction-to-jurisdiction information sharing through tools like the SORNA Exchange Portal.

At its core, this grant funds a single provider (expected awards: 1) to handle end-to-end hosting, maintenance, and day-to-day operations for NSOPW, with a strong emphasis on security and continuity of service. The grantee must host the primary site and also maintain a backup site in a separate location, meeting all DOJ security requirements. Operational expectations are tight and service-oriented: the provider must be able to implement requested changes to NSOPW within 24 hours as part of routine maintenance, without charging additional costs for those changes. The provider also has to continuously monitor connections between NSOPW and jurisdiction systems, proactively identify failures, and contact the affected connection site to get issues resolved within 24 hours. In addition to keeping the public website functional, the grantee must track and report usage metrics, delivering monthly statistics to the SMART Office and being ready to supply specific, more tailored information within 24 hours notice when requested.

A major piece of the work extends beyond the public website into secure, operational information sharing among registry professionals. The award requires maintaining and operating the SORNA Exchange Portal, a secure communication system used by SORNA jurisdiction registry managers to coordinate and share information. This portal is expected to support practical collaboration features such as email, discussion areas, chat capabilities, and file transfers, and it is framed as an important tool for improving information sharing related to relocating sex offenders and other cross-jurisdiction needs. The grantee is also expected to provide auditing and monitoring tools for SORNA jurisdictions and for SMART itself, and to participate in auditing and monitoring activities as requested, reinforcing that this is not just a web hosting role but an accountability-and-integrity role for national-level systems.

The scope also includes operating the Tribe and Territory Sex Offender Registry System (TTSORS), which DOJ provides at no cost to help tribes and territories meet SORNA registry requirements when they need a supported registry platform. TTSORS is described as both an administrative registry system and the public registry website system for those jurisdictions. Access to manage and update TTSORS is restricted to authorized tribal and territorial agencies responsible for registration and management, and the system must support collecting all offender information required by SORNA along with community notification capabilities, including the ability to use email address and telephone number search features. In practice, this means the grantee is responsible for maintaining a platform that directly supports the day-to-day registry operations of some jurisdictions while also feeding accurate public-facing information through their registry websites and NSOPW connectivity.

Another recurring theme is modernization and user support. The grantee must develop and implement enhancements across NSOPW, the Exchange Portal, and TTSORS to keep pace with evolving technologies, while ensuring continued compliance with SORNA and any later legislation that affects system operations. The provider is also responsible for helping jurisdictions implement the web services used to share data through NSOPW, which is critical because NSOPW depends on reliable technical integration with each participating registry. Training and technical assistance are required for states, territories, and tribes related to participation in NSOPW, the Exchange Portal, and TTSORS, and the grantee must also support SMART national trainings and conferences with both individual and group session assistance. The opportunity specifically calls out the need for cultural competence when working with Indian Country, emphasizing respect for tribal sovereignty, self-determination, and the diversity of tribal communities, and it expects the applicant to be able to provide appropriate support and guidance to tribes in the context of information sharing.

Public communication and content management are also part of the job, not just back-end technology. The grantee must respond to inquiries sent to the NSOPW "Webmaster" within 24 hours, whether questions come from the general public or from SORNA jurisdictions. Responses must be grounded in reproducible technical troubleshooting for technical issues, and in coordination with the relevant jurisdiction or agency for procedural or policy-related questions. The solicitation notes NSOPW typically receives three to five inquiries per day, varying in complexity. In addition, the provider must monitor, maintain, and update the NSOPW Facebook page with relevant content focused on sexual assault prevention and safety tips, and, in consultation with SMART, keep the Education and Prevention section of NSOPW updated as needed. The grantee is expected to coordinate closely with the SMART Office on site content, appearance, functionality, and related technical assistance materials such as brochures, publications, fact sheets, and training materials, including providing logistical support tied to those resources.

The opportunity includes strict data handling and non-commercialization rules designed to protect sensitive information and preserve public trust. Successful applicants may not retain any data beyond the project period except as needed for an authorized transition to a new provider, may not share data with other agencies except back to the submitting agency unless the submitting agency initiates communication through the Exchange Portal, may not charge any agency to use NSOPW, TTSORS, or the Exchange Portal, and may not sell or use collected data for any commercial or unauthorized purpose. These restrictions make clear that the work is a public service function, with the grantee acting as a trusted operator under DOJ direction rather than an owner of the data or a reseller of access.

Administratively, this is a discretionary DOJ SMART Office cooperative agreement in the law, justice, and legal services category (CFDA 16.750). The funding opportunity number is SMART 2016 8952, with an award ceiling of $882,000 and one expected award. Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) nonprofits other than institutions of higher education and for-profit organizations other than small businesses. The original closing date listed was April 7, 2016, and the opportunity was created February 11, 2016. Overall, the grant is essentially a national operations and modernization contract-like award, but structured as a cooperative agreement, requiring close coordination with the SMART Office while delivering high-availability hosting, rapid response maintenance, secure inter-jurisdiction communication tools, tribal and territorial registry system operations, training and technical assistance, and tightly controlled stewardship of sensitive registry-related data.

• The SMART in the law, justice and legal services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "SMART FY 16 Maintenance and Operation of the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.750.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-02-11.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-04-07. (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 $882,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses.

Apply for SMART 2016 8952

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