Preparing and implementing a peer review process.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) submits applications it receives in response to its competitive solicitations to review by experts outside the Department of Justice (DOJ). Cygnus was awarded three successive 4-year contracts to provide peer review support services to BJA and the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) on this joint Treasury-DOJ anti-money-laundering initiative.
Cygnus was responsible for all preparations and implementation for the peer review process to select grant recipients including:
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Forming a pool of state and local practitioners with expertise in the investigation of and/or prosecution of money laundering or related financial crimes;
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Processing all grant applications received and forwarding to BJA;
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Developing application report formats, review procedures, scoring forms, and summary reviewer comments forms in cooperation with BJA staff;
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Contacting approved potential reviewers to confirm availability and notifying program managers of progress made in locating reviewers;
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Making panel assignments;
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Managing the transfer of application materials to and from reviewers;
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Notifying the BJA Program Manager of any conflict of interest situations and locating replacement reviewers if necessary;
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Creating, scoring, and ranking reports based on reviewers’ scores;
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Entering (and editing) reviewer comments into the final report format submitted to BJA;
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Producing written summaries of grant applications;
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Preparing rejection letters and reviewer comment summaries for unfunded applications; and
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Preparing letters and instructions for program finalists.
