BJS FY25 Survey of Public Defenders (SPD)
Status: Forecasted
Posted date: January 21, 2026
Close date: March 2, 2026
Opportunity ID: 361172
Opportunity number: O-BJS-2025-172531
Opportunity category: Discretionary
Agency name: Bureau of Justice Statistics
Agency code: USDOJ-OJP-BJS
Award floor: $0
Award ceiling: $1,000,000
Cost sharing required: No
Funding Instrument Types
- Cooperative Agreement
Category of Funding Activity
- Information and Statistics
Eligible Applicants
- For-profit organizations other than small businesses
- Independent school districts
- Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
- Private institutions of higher education
- Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
- Small businesses
Categories (use these for quoted searches)
- agency_code:usdoj_ojp_bjs
- category_of_funding_activity:information_and_statistics
- cost_sharing_or_matching_requirement:false
- eligible_applicants:for_profit_organizations_other_than_small_businesses
- eligible_applicants:independent_school_districts
- eligible_applicants:nonprofits_having_a_501_c_3_status_with_the_irs_other_than_institutions_of_higher_education
- eligible_applicants:nonprofits_that_do_not_have_a_501_c_3_status_with_the_irs_other_than_institutions_of_higher_education
- eligible_applicants:private_institutions_of_higher_education
- eligible_applicants:public_and_state_controlled_institutions_of_higher_education
- eligible_applicants:small_businesses
- funding_instrument_type:cooperative_agreement
- opportunity_category:discretionary
- status:forecasted
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) FY 2025 Survey of Public Defenders (SPD) is a new data collection to capture questions about the provision of public defense, including demographics, caseloads, clients, and access to resources, directly from attorneys. BJS’s history studying public defense dates back to 1986, and has periodically updated and modernized its knowledge of public defense field. In 1986 BJS looked more generally at criminal defense with the Criminal Defense System Study, and targeted studies at public defense with the National Survey of Indigent Defense Systems (NSIDS) as a probability sample in 1999 and a census in 2013. In response to lessons learned from the 1999 NSIDS, BJS also conducted the Census of Public Defender Offices (CPDO) in 2007, focusing on publicly-funded defender offices. Each of BJS’s prior collections examined public defense at the office level. After consideration of the results of these efforts, BJS determined that some questions about the provision of public defense. In 2021, the SPD survey instrument and sample design were created and pilot tested. In response to sampling challenges arising from an incomplete current frame of public defender offices, in 2025 BJS ran a new CPDO. The purpose of FY2025SPD solicitation is to use the 2025 CPDO and to implement lessons learned and recommendations from the pilot study into the full national collection of the SPD.