WASHINGTON – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder regarding the decision made by political appointees at the U.S. Department of Justice to make several of the grants administered by the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) either noncompetitive or only partially competitive for Fiscal Year 2014 by limiting grants to only past grantees or to those “invited” to participate. At today’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the Justice Department, Attorney General Holder was not able to provide an adequate defense as to the reasoning behind this decision or the legal basis for it when asked by Chairman Goodlatte.

In their letter, Chairman Goodlatte and Senator Grassley express concern that this decision potentially bars more deserving and innovative candidates from receiving grants to provide life-saving services for sexual and domestic violence victims, displaces the incentives that current grant recipients have to efficiently manage and continually improve upon their grant services, raises concerns of improper favoritism in the process of picking who receives or does not receive funding, and uses valuable taxpayer dollars imprudently. Below are excerpts from the letter.  To read the entire letter, click here.

“It has come to our attention that the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) has decided on its own initiative to make several of its grants either noncompetitive or only partially competitive for Fiscal Year 2014 (FY 2014).  OVW grants are a vital source of funding to countless victims of sexual and domestic assault and abuse across the United States. Today, you testified before the House Judiciary Committee and were not able to provide an adequate defense as to the reasoning behind this decision or the legal basis for it. Accordingly, we write with questions about OVW’s decision to suppress competition in the grant application process, as well as to request that the Department promptly provide us with a full explanation as to why OVW has made these changes to its grants programs and how it specifically selects those “invited” to participate.
            
“For FY 2014, OVW has made either noncompetitive or only partially competitive at least three OVW grant programs that were fully competitive in FY 2013, despite OVW grant funding increasing since FY 2013 … For a number of reasons, we are very concerned with the Department’s decision to make these important grants anticompetitive and invitation-only.  An anticompetitive grant application process by definition limits the number of applicants who may apply for these grants, which in turn is likely to prevent otherwise deserving programs from receiving funding that could more effectively curb violence against women and children.  

“In addition to potentially barring more deserving candidates from receiving grants to provide life-saving services for sexual and domestic violence victims, noncompetitive grants also have the unfortunate effect of displacing the incentives that current grant recipients have to efficiently manage and continually improve upon their grant services.  The findings of a recent DOJ Inspector General (IG) audit of an OVW grant recipient vividly illustrate how pernicious grant mismanagement can be when grant recipients take their funding for granted.  

“Finally, an additional concern with an invitation-only, anticompetitive grant application process is that it gives the appearance of an administrative earmark and raises concerns of improper favoritism in the process of picking who receives or does not receive funding.  By greatly restricting the already limited pool of applicants for these grants, OVW is inviting allegations of rigging the grant application system in favor of the recipients it prefers, as opposed to those most meriting the awards.  In short, it appears there is already a predetermined “winner” of the grant before the selection process even begins.

“OVW’s decision to make its grant programs anticompetitive appears at odds with practices that serve to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used both effectively and efficiently.  Consequently, we request a full and immediate explanation as to the legal basis for the decision to alter the application basis for these grants, why OVW has altered the manner in which its grants are awarded in light of funding for OVW grants increasing from last fiscal year, and a detailed analysis of what criteria the Department used or will use to determine which entities are invited to participate.”
 
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