Objectives

Funded projects and the resulting recommendations will help policymakers, and system and community partners, improve the effectiveness of implementation and enforcement of the state’s firearm relinquishment laws. This NOFO is intended to complement COMMERCE’s other SCIP-funded projects to collectively improve the implementation and enforcement of the state’s firearm relinquishment laws.

Scope of Work

The following lists the project areas for the award of funding to Proposals submitted under this NOFO. Proposals should cover only one of these project areas. Proposers interested in submitting for more than one project area should submit separate Proposals for each project area. COMMERCE intends to award one contract to cover each of the following project areas.

PROJECT AREA 1: Data Collection and Analysis Building on previous research at the city or county level, this project will collect and analyze trends in available data on ERPOs and OTSPWs issued in civil and criminal cases, including data reflecting jurisdiction (i.e., court, county, law enforcement agency), demographics of petitioners and respondents (i.e., gender, race, ethnicity, age), types of orders, basis for and duration of orders, any delay between order and relinquishment of firearms, number of firearms removed, data related to compliance, violations, and sanctions, and cases where there were multiple relinquishment orders for a single respondent/defendant. The project should be replicable in future years and could result in recommendations for additional types of data to be collected, measures to increase cross-jurisdictional data availability and comparability, ways to synthesize data from multiple sources, and/or steps to make existing data more accessible and accurate.

OR

PROJECT AREA 2: Dashboard Design and Implementation The design and implementation of a dashboard populated with real-time data for law enforcement agencies, courts, prosecutors’ offices and other system partners, at the time of petition request or first appearance, issuance of full orders, service, and compliance review. On a county, regional or other jurisdictional basis, the dashboard would track active orders, and flag obstacles in issuing, processing, serving, and enforcing orders. Where available, the dashboard should include: type of order; criminal charges; duration of the order; dates of issuance, service and compliance finding by court; agency that served the order; date, number and type of firearms recovered at time of service or through verification; proof or surrender or declaration of non-possession filed; search warrant issued or sanctions imposed; or previous or subsequent orders involving the same respondent. This project could result in a standardized, recommended codebook and training to ensure fidelity and integrity of data and adherence to operational definitions. The dashboard should also be able to create data visualization and generate reports.

OR

PROJECT AREA 3: Data-Sharing This project will develop and implement approaches for data-sharing mechanisms among law enforcement agencies, courts, prosecutors, jails, Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts, State Department of Licensing and related federal agencies. The approach would allow direct and inter-jurisdictional access to data for case investigation, threat and lethality assessments, ensuring timely service and firearm removal, enforcement, search warrants when there is non-compliance, victim notification, and more comprehensive information for judicial officers. This project could recommend opportunities for improved integration of databases, and standardization across system partners, and best practices in electronic report-writing, consistent fields and uniform coding.

OR

PROJECT AREA 4: Support for and Coordination with Tribal Partners Additional research is needed to understand the challenges to implementing and enforcing firearm relinquishment laws between tribal and other jurisdictions. This project should include analysis of available, relevant data, a review of how data and information is being shared, and a needs assessment to identify improved approaches in light of tribal sovereignty and tribal-specific needs. Outcomes could include recommendations for refined jurisdictional and state-level protocols, training and assistance for tribal domestic violence advocates, tribal law enforcement and other tribal system partners.

Proposals should address each of the following:

• The singular corresponding project listed above that the Proposal is intended to support.
• Proposed data elements, data sources, and data collection strategies, and challenges for accessing that data.
• Proposed methods for assuring data quality and maintaining confidentiality and research tasks and activities to support the project framework.
• Any additional research to be conducted, including file review, interviews, observation, or focus groups that will be proposed to contextualize the data outcomes and recommendations.
• How the Proposer will work with system partners to gather data and review conclusions and recommendations.
• How the Proposer will secure the cooperation of third parties, including any data-sharing agreements or other statements of intent to participate.
• How the Proposer will conduct data analysis and alignment.
• A strategy and timeline for the design and creation of a final outcomes report including recommendations for additional data gathering or collection by system partners, ways to increase data availability and comparability across jurisdictions and system partners, policy changes in law, and/or the investment of public funds.

As applicable, Proposals should result in recommendations for:

• Steps to better implement and enforce Washington’s firearm relinquishment laws;
• Additional types of data to be collected;
• Measures to increase cross-jurisdictional data availability and comparability;
• Ways to synthesize data from multiple sources;
• Steps to make existing data more complete, accessible and accurate; or
• Tools, technologies, or databases to improve real-time, consistent and comprehensive tracking of data and orders.

Minimum qualifications include:

• Expertise in gun violence research, related social or health research, and/or public entity research experience in data collection, program evaluation, and analysis as demonstrated by projects led by and/or participated in by Proposer.
• Licensed to do business in the state of Washington or submit a statement of commitment that it will become licensed in Washington within thirty (30) calendar days of being selected as the Apparent Successful Grantee.

Proposals that do not clearly meet or exceed all minimum qualifications listed above are non-responsive and will not be evaluated.

Given the need to expand and diversify the pool of researchers studying firearm-related issues in our state, and COMMERCE’s commitment to diversity and equity, COMMERCE encourages projects that are proposed by multi-institution or multi-disciplinary teams (for example, public health, medical, public policy and criminology researchers), which include researchers who have not previously received funding from COMMERCE, or projects led by or with key roles for researchers of color, women, and/or impacted individuals. Although addressing each of these priorities is not required for all Proposals, Proposals that address any or all of these concepts are strongly encouraged by COMMERCE