FY 2000 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program

Please bookmark this site and routinely visit it for program updates and guidance regarding SCAAP.

Last Updated: January 12, 2001

Attention FY 2000 SCAAP payment recipients:

The SCAAP Program is a payment program, not a grant program. Jurisdictions eligible to receive funds simply provide OJP with their accounting information (if not already on record with the Office of Accounting) and accept their predetermined payment via GMS. They DO NOT have to submit any subsequent program progress reports or financial status reports (i.e., SF-269a).

Last Updated: December 15, 2000

BJA notified eligible jurisdictions of their payment amounts for the FY 2000 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program on December 8, 2000. Click on the Payment List to see eligible jurisdictions and their payment amounts. If you wish to accept payment, please log on to the Grants Management System and sign in using your user ID and password.

If you have any questions, call 1-888-549-9901, option #2 (Office of the Comptroller Customer Service), option #3 (systems-related technical assistance), or option #4 (program guidance).

Last Updated: November 16, 2000

Important Changes to the Administration of SCAAP

In response to a comprehensive programmatic review and feedback from audits, in FY 2000, the Bureau of Justice (BJA) instituted several changes to the administration of the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP), including moving to an online application and changing the methods used to determine payment amounts. In addition, the number of jurisdictions applying for payments under the program increased.

These changes have resulted in significant increases and decreases to a number of FY 2000 payment amounts compared to payment made in FY 1999.

The circumstances leading to those changes were as follows:

• Nearly 100 new jurisdictions applied for payments, representing an increase of more than 25 percent from FY 1999. Much of the increase is attributed to the implementation of an online application system. Thus, the same amount of funds is now being distributed among a substantially larger pool.
• The data used to determine payment amounts changed as follows:
• In prior years, 27 cost categories were used to determine reimbursable administrative costs. Effective FY 2000, only correctional officers' salaries are being considered. Total facility costs or ancillary correctional services, such as inmate recreation and drug treatment expenses, are no longer included.
• BJA collected additional data about total "inmate days" and the criminal illegal alien population.

• BJA enhanced its data review and verification process. As a result, BJA excluded from consideration several hundred thousand inmate records and millions of criminal illegal alien inmate days:
• For the first time, inmate data were reviewed to ensure that all required data fields were completed for each criminal illegal alien inmate record submitted.
• BJA, using the standard established by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), did not include as eligible any inmate who did not spend a minimum of 72 consecutive hours in custody.

Award amounts are expected to be made available in the very near future.

Last Updated: October 18, 2000

On October 11, 2000, the Office of Justice Programs notified members of Congress of FY 2000 SCAAP payment amounts to states and localities. We have since determined that the payment amounts were in error. OJP has contacted Congress, explained this problem, and apologized for the errors. OJP is working to correct the problem. Please continue to check this site for updates.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is extending the application deadline for the FY 2000 State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP) from July 14, 2000, at 11:59:59 e.t. to July 21, 2000, at 11:59:59 e.t. This extra time will enable applicants to ensure that they review all cost, facility, and inmate data for completeness, accuracy, and truthfulness prior to submission. No additional extensions will be made to this July 21 deadline.

In addition, please remember that BJA is unable to approve any application for a user account for SCAAP for fiscal year 2000 funding not completed by a public official. SCAAP user accounts can be established for only one user per eligible jurisdiction, and this user must be a chief executive officer (CEO) or formal public official designee and/or program contact who is able to bind the jurisdiction legally to the terms of the SCAAP program. A CEO may not delegate this responsibility to a nonpublic official or a public official outside his or her jurisdiction. An applicant may use whatever assistance it deems appropriate to gather needed information for the completion of the SCAAP online application and payment acceptance processes; however, it may delegate only to a public official within the applicant jurisdiction the responsibility for actually establishing user accounts and completing the online processes. By entering into the certifications contained in this application, the state or political subdivision of the state is committing to use general revenues to reimburse the Federal Government upon demand for any overpayment. Accordingly, the user entitled to submit an application for the SCAAP program must be an individual empowered to commit the general revenue funds of the state or political subdivision of a state. This ability to commit tax dollars is an inherently governmental function that cannot be delegated outside of the government. Any applying jurisdiction that violates these requirements will be subject to formal action, including nullification of the FY 2000 SCAAP application and eligibility for future SCAAP funding cycles.

Last Updated: May 25, 2000

The application period for FY 2000 SCAAP will be open from June 1, 2000, through midnight e.t. July 14, 2000.

In prior years, applicants were asked to provide actual felony or misdemeanor coding. For FY 2000, applicants must certify that either one felony or two misdemeanors have been committed by each inmate whose record is being provided for SCAAP funding purposes. Specific offenses and their respective reporting codes DO NOT need to be submitted as part of the SCAAP application. The coding information must be maintained at your site in a file that can be audited.

Click on FY 2000 SCAAP Overview for general program guidance.

Beginning June 1, 2000, potential applicants can click on FY 2000 SCAAP Application to begin the online application process. Once in GMS, you must log in as a new user. If you have an account in GMS for the FY 1999 LLEBG Program, you still must log in as a new user to apply for SCAAP.

Last Updated: April 20, 2000

An application period for FY 2000 SCAAP funding has not yet been determined. When the application period is established, it will be posted on this update. Please check back regularly.

SCAAP is a payment program designed to provide federal assistance to states and localities for the costs of incarcerating certain criminal aliens who are being held as a result of state and/or local charges or convictions. States and localities with correctional facilities that incarcerate, for 72 hours or longer, persons accused or convicted of either a felony or two misdemeanors that occurred prior to or resulted in the current custody are eligible to apply for SCAAP funding. In the near future, this site will provide a link to the Office of Justice Programs Grants Management System (GMS). As of SCAAP FY 2000, all applicants must access GMS and apply for SCAAP funding via the new end-to-end Internet-based process.

The SCAAP online application process for FY 2000 will allow potential applicants to submit inmate data to BJA using a prescribed on-screen format for data entry (for units of government with small inmate populations) or via a database upload function (for units of government with large inmate populations). The online system will also allow applicants to download the prescribed on-screen template for use in future FY SCAAP funding cycles. (The database upload function will be eliminated after this year.)

SCAAP requires units of government to submit the following information for the reporting period of July 1, 1998, to June 30, 1999:

• Inmate first, middle, and last name.
• Inmate date of birth.
• Inmate foreign country of birth.
• Unique inmate numbers (your correctional facility's internally generated identification numbers).
• Dates inmate was taken into and released from custody.
• Qualifying offenses.
• Most serious offense committed by inmates.

The following are optional fields (only to be entered if provided by the corresponding agencies):

• INS number: The 7, 8, or 9-digit number assigned by INS to alien inmates they have interviewed. This is not a detainer number.
• FBI number: The number assigned by the FBI. This is not a detainer number.

SCAAP will also require potential applicants to submit Annual Correctional Officer Salary data for the period of July 1, 1998, to June 30, 1999. For purposes of the program, BJA defines correctional officers as:

A correctional officer is full- and part-time permanent and contractual custody staff, deputies, and any dispatchers who spend significant time with inmates. This may not include clerical, educational, administrative, or other such facility staff. Salary information SHOULD NOT include benefits.

If you have any questions regarding this exciting program, please call the OJP Grants Management System Hotline at 1-888-549-9901 or e-mail us at ASKBJA@ojp.usdoj.gov.