State Agencies

Pilot Project:

Pilot Project:

In November, TDCJ received clarification that a Grant Award Modification (GAM) was not needed to expand the search to hire eligible applicants to oversee the San Angelo area. TDCJ reported that they have since created another position description with the Office Administration and that the vacant position will be posted on the state employment site within seven days. TDCJ also reported that since the last monthly meeting, they posted and since closed Huntsville’s position. TDCJ states that the posting yielded good applicants who are now going through the screening and interviewing process.

Pilot Project:

In October, there were no TTA calls about the pilot project due to scheduling issues. There were email correspondences throughout the month between CSG Justice Center staff, TDCJ, and a senior policy advisor at BJA regarding clarification about hiring for the two vacant program specialist positions. TDCJ asked BJA if they must submit a Grant Award Modification (GAM) to expand the hiring search outside of San Angelo. BJA advised that a GAM is not needed, as they did not identify San Angelo as the sole location for the employment search.

Technology Tool:

Pilot Project:

In September, TDCJ asked to change the hiring location for one staff member from San Angelo to another location and asked if this required a grant modification. They did not specify a locale where staff will be hired. It states “Position 2-Region V” and then lists the counties this position will serve. Neither position is linked to a specific location, but rather the counties they will serve. CSG Justice Center staff told them that it should not require a grant modification, but program staff reached out to BJA to confirm.

CSG Justice Center staff had phone call with Andy Barbee (Director of Research) at TDCJ to discuss latest IT updates, timeline, site visit, internal support for the project, and potential to add new technology tool. 

In October, the chief of corrections program research at NYDOCCS emailed CSG Justice Center staff to cancel the monthly TA meeting because a number of people are out of the office. CSG Justice Center staff inquired about the Request for Information (RFI) and were told that an update will be provided at the November TA meeting. Then, the director of internal operations at NYDOCCS shared that the RFI was ready to go, and they are waiting for final input from the Contract Procurement Unit.

NY DOCCS issued the Request for Information (RFI) “Smartphone Technology and Smartphone Devices” on 11/9/23 with questions due on 11/30/23, and the concluding date for responses on 12/21/23. The grantee will then schedule conferences with vendors, and the CSG Justice Center TA coach will join these meetings.

In December, on the monthly call with NY DOCCS staff, CSG Justice Center and NY DOCCS staff discussed the status of the Request for Information (RFI) for Smartphone Technology and Smartphone Devices that NY DOCCS released in November with a December 21 due date. As part of the RFI process, NY DOCCS received 23 questions seeking clarification on the device requirements, if vendors can host GPS monitoring on the device, and if they would be open to proposals that involve victim applications.

Prior to the September monthly TTA call, Tim O’Brien (Director of Internal Operations, NY DOCCS) sent out the draft Request for Information (RFI) for Smartphone Technology and Smart Phone devices to review together as a team on the call. Don Arras (Assistant Commissioner, NY DOCCS) will work with the contracting unit on Attachment A vendor questions to include with the RFI. The team discussed potential questions to include, such as data storage, data analytics, data capacity, and training.