Notice2025-00214
Notice of Availability of Calendar Year 2025 Competitive Grant Funds for the Technology Initiative Grant Program
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
January 8, 2025
Issuing agencies
Legal Services Corporation
Abstract
The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) issues this Notice describing the conditions for submitting a pre-application for 2025 Technology Initiative Grants (TIGs), and for applying under TIG categories that do not require pre-applications.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 5 (Wednesday, January 8, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 8, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1548-1550]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-00214]
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LEGAL SERVICES CORPORATION
Notice of Availability of Calendar Year 2025 Competitive Grant
Funds for the Technology Initiative Grant Program
AGENCY: Legal Services Corporation.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) issues this Notice
describing the conditions for submitting a pre-application for 2025
Technology Initiative Grants (TIGs), and for applying under TIG
categories that do not require pre-applications.
[[Page 1549]]
DATES: The deadline to submit a Pre-Application is 11:59 p.m. eastern
standard time on Friday, March 21, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Pre-Applications must be submitted electronically via LSC's
unified grants management system, GrantEase.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Mathison, TIG Special Grants
Coordinator, Office of Program Performance, Legal Services Corporation,
3333 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20007; (202) 295-1535 or
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#c1aca0b5a9a8b2aeafa481adb2a2efa6aeb7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="365b57425e5f45595853765a455518515940">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
Since 2000, Congress has provided an annual appropriation to LSC to
award special funding for client self-help and information technology
projects. LSC's TIG program funds technology tools that help achieve
LSC's goal of increasing the quantity and quality of legal services
available to eligible persons. Projects funded under the TIG program
develop, test, and replicate innovative technologies that can enable
grant recipients and State justice communities to improve low-income
persons' access to high-quality legal assistance through an integrated
and well-managed technology system. The TIG program also supports
effective technology planning and management at LSC-funded
organizations through the use of targeted assessment grants focused on
improvements to technology systems and information security.
II. Funding Opportunity Information
A. Eligible Applicants
To be eligible for Technology Initiative Grants, applicants must be
current grantees of LSC Basic Field-General, Basic Field-Migrant, or
Basic Field-Native American grants. In addition, applicants must
receive basic field funding of at least a one-year term, be up to date
on reporting on any existing TIG-funded projects, and not have had a
previous TIG terminated in the past three years for reporting or other
performance issues.
B. Technology Initiative Grant Purpose and Key Goals
Since LSC's TIG program was established in 2000, LSC has made over
923 grants totaling over $91 million. This grant program encourages
organizations to use technology in innovative ways to:
1. Effectively and efficiently provide high-quality legal
assistance to low-income persons and to promote access to the judicial
system through legal information, advice, and representation.
2. Improve service delivery, quality of legal work, and management
and administration of grantees.
3. Develop, test, and replicate innovative strategies that can
enable grantees and State justice communities to improve clients'
access to high-quality legal assistance.
C. Funding Categories
1. General Technology Initiative Grants
Projects in this category (1) implement new or innovative
approaches for using technology in legal services delivery; (2) enhance
the effectiveness and efficiency of existing technologies so that they
may be better used to increase the quality and quantity of services to
clients; or (3) replicate, adapt, or provide added value to the work of
prior technology projects. This includes, but is not limited to, the
implementation and improvement of tested methodologies and technologies
from previous TIG projects. We also encourage replication of proven
technologies from non-LSC-funded legal aid organizations as well as
sectors outside the legal aid community. Applicants seeking
continuation funding for their own existing TIG initiatives may wish to
apply under the Sustainability, Enhancement, and Adoption (SEA) Grants
category discussed below.
LSC recommends a minimum amount for funding requests in this
category of $40,000, but projects with lower budgets will be
considered. There is no maximum amount for TIG funding requests that
are within the total appropriation for TIG.
All applicants in this category must submit a pre-application
according to the process and requirements outlined in this notice. LSC
will open the application system and provide guidance for this project
category by January 29, 2025. The pre-application deadline is March 21,
2025, and the full application deadline is June 18, 2025.
2. Technology Improvement Projects
LSC recognizes that grantees need sufficient technology
infrastructure in place before they can take on a more innovative TIG
project. This grant category is for applicants who need to improve
their basic technology infrastructure or their information security
posture. The maximum funding amount for this category is $35,000.
Technology Improvement Projects (TIP) do not require a pre-
application. LSC will open the application system and provide guidance
for this project category by April 1, 2025. The application deadline
for Technology Improvement Projects is May 23, 2025.
3. Sustainability, Enhancement, and Adoption Grants
Sustainability, Enhancement, and Adoption (SEA) Grants allow
successful TIG grantees to further build upon a specific project and
its technologies, ensure that their TIG-funded work is effectively
integrated into the service delivery system, and complete the project
activities necessary to ensure the initiative's long-term success.
These grants were formerly known as Adoption, Expansion, and
Enhancement Grants.
SEA Grants are available to current TIG recipients and to
recipients of recently completed TIG projects. Applicants seeking to
enhance a non-TIG initiative or replicate another organization's
project should apply under the General category. LSC encourages all
prospective applicants to meet with their regional TIG program manager
to discuss whether an SEA Grant may be a good fit. Applicants should be
able to clearly demonstrate that their current or prior TIG project was
successful and that they have a reasonable plan for building on that
success.
LSC recommends a minimum amount for funding requests in this
category of $40,000, but projects with lower budgets will be
considered. There is no maximum amount for TIG funding requests that
are within the total appropriation for TIG.
SEA Grants will require a pre-application for 2025. LSC will open
the application system and provide guidance for this project category
by January 29, 2025. The pre-application deadline is March 21, 2025,
and the full application deadline is June 18, 2025.
D. Available Funds for 2025 Grants
The amount of funds available for TIG awards for FY2025 depends on
LSC's final appropriation. LSC currently operates under a Continuing
Resolution for FY2025, which funds the Federal Government through March
14, 2025. The Continuing Resolution maintains funding at $5,000,000.
TIG award decisions for FY2025 will be made in the summer of 2025. LSC
anticipates publicizing the total amount available for TIG awards when
Congress enacts the FY2025 appropriation.
LSC will not designate fixed or estimated amounts for the three
different funding categories and will make grant awards within the
total amount of funding available.
[[Page 1550]]
E. Grant Terms
Applicants to the TIG program may propose grant terms between 12
and 36 months for general category projects and between 12 and 18
months for Technology Improvement Projects. For SEA Grants, the grant
term is set at 24 months. The grant terms for projects in the General
TIG and SEA categories will begin on January 1, 2026. TIP Grants will
have a start date of October 1, 2025. Alternate start dates may be
available.
III. Grant Application Process
A. Technology Initiative Grant Application Process
The TIG application process will be administered in LSC's unified
grants management system, GrantEase. Applicants in the General TIG and
SEA categories must first submit a pre-application to LSC in GrantEase
by March 21, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET, to be considered for a grant.
After review by LSC staff, LSC's president decides which applicants
will be asked to submit a full application. Applicants will be notified
of approval to submit a full application by late April 2025. Full
applications are due to LSC in the GrantEase system on June 18, 2025,
at 11:59 p.m. ET. Once received, full applications will undergo a
rigorous review by LSC staff. LSC's president makes the final decisions
on funding for the TIG program.
As noted above, applicants applying for TIP funding are not
required to submit pre-applications. LSC will launch the online
application system for TIP by April 1, 2025, and set a submission
deadline of May 23, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET. LSC follows a similar
review process for applications in these categories, which includes LSC
staff conducting a rigorous review of all proposals and the LSC
president making final funding decisions.
B. Late or Incomplete Applications
LSC may consider a request to submit a pre-application after the
deadline, but only if the applicant has submitted an email to
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#94e0f1f7fcf3e6f5fae0e7d4f8e7f7baf3fbe2"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a1d5c4c2c9c6d3c0cfd5d2e1cdd2c28fc6ced7">[email protected]</span></a> explaining the circumstances that caused the delay
prior to the pre-application deadline. Communication with LSC staff,
including assigned program liaisons, is not a substitute for sending a
formal request and explanation to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#097d6c6a616e7b68677d7a49657a6a276e667f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5c28393f343b2e3d32282f1c302f3f723b332a">[email protected]</span></a>. At its
discretion, LSC may consider incomplete applications. LSC will
determine whether it will consider late or incomplete applications on a
case-by-case basis.
C. Multiple Pre-Applications
Applicants may submit multiple pre-applications. If applying for
multiple grants that require pre-applications, applicants should submit
separate pre-applications for each funding request.
D. Additional Information and Guidelines
Additional guidance and instructions on the pre-application and
application processes for Technology Initiative Grants will be
available and regularly updated at <a href="https://www.lsc.gov/grants/technology-initiative-grant-program">https://www.lsc.gov/grants/technology-initiative-grant-program</a>.
(Authority: 42 U.S.C. 2996g(e).)
Dated: January 3, 2025.
Stefanie Davis,
Deputy General Counsel, Legal Services Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2025-00214 Filed 1-7-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7050-01-P
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