Survey of Public Defenders

BJS Survey of Public Defenders

Connects research teams and institutions for BJS Survey of Public Defenders in cross-sector innovation.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Survey of Public Defenders (SPD) is a competitive cooperative agreement that funds a single national grantee to conduct a comprehensive census and survey of public defender offices across the United States, producing statistical reports on the structure, staffing, caseloads, training practices, and operational characteristics of indigent defense systems. BJS, the primary statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Justice and a component of the Office of Justice Programs, administers the SPD as part of its broader portfolio of national justice system surveys, which also includes the Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies, the National Corrections Reporting Program, and the National Victimization Statistical Support Program.

The FY25 solicitation (O-BJS-2025-172531) is a competitive cooperative agreement. Based on the nature of the work — administering a national institutional census involving data collection from public defender offices in all states and territories — eligible applicants are nonprofits, universities, and research organizations with demonstrated capacity for national-scale survey administration and statistical reporting on criminal justice topics. For-profit organizations and individuals are not eligible. The JustGrants application deadline was March 9, 2026; the cycle is now closed. Award amounts and detailed eligibility requirements are contained in the PDF solicitation document rather than the web-page listing.

The SPD follows BJS's annual solicitation cycle, with the FY26 solicitation expected in late 2026 or early 2027 via bjs.ojp.gov/funding. The competitive field for this award is narrow, as the work requires deep familiarity with indigent defense system structures, established relationships with state and local public defender associations, and institutional capacity to process large-volume administrative data. Applicants should review previously published SPD reports on the BJS website to understand the scope of deliverables and the statistical methodology BJS expects.