Deadline: 22-Oct-2025
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has launched the 2025 CEBR Formula Program to help publicly funded forensic laboratories expand their capacity to process DNA samples for entry into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
The program is designed to reduce existing backlogs, accelerate case resolution, and improve the timeliness of DNA testing, ensuring faster justice and safer communities.
The program provides laboratories with flexible funding to address their specific resource gaps. It supports the processing of both crime scene and database DNA samples, the purchase of DNA collection kits, and the use of essential supplies or personnel funding to enhance laboratory output. Jurisdictions with different population sizes, crime types, and operational demands can tailor the funding to strengthen their unique forensic infrastructure.
Funding can also be used to boost laboratory capacity through the purchase of new robotics or instrumentation, such as Rapid DNA machines, or to improve laboratory systems through upgrades to Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS). These tools can streamline case management, ensure quality control, and reduce turnaround times. Support is also available for accreditation activities, process evaluations, and training, enabling laboratories to maintain high operational standards while increasing efficiency.
The core goals of the program are to increase the number of CODIS-eligible DNA samples analyzed and to build long-term laboratory capacity. This includes reducing the backlog of DNA samples awaiting analysis, cutting turnaround times for forensic and database cases, and supporting the validation and implementation of improved laboratory procedures. Both short-term efforts, such as overtime staffing or contracting private vendors for sample analysis, and long-term enhancements, like acquiring new instruments and upgrading systems, are encouraged.
BJA plans to award approximately $87.5 million under this funding opportunity, with about 130 awards anticipated. Individual awards may reach up to $3.5 million, and projects will have a performance period of 24 months starting on October 1, 2025. Eligible applicants include state, county, city, township, and special district governments, as well as public and state-controlled institutions of higher education and other local government units across the United States and its territories.
Through this program, BJA aims to accelerate the pace at which DNA evidence enters CODIS, helping solve crimes more quickly, preventing repeat offenses, and strengthening public safety through more effective forensic science capacity nationwide.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
