Victims of Crime Act Lead Entity Services to Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, or Child Advocacy Center Services to Child Abuse Victims

Who can apply

Government Organizations, Nonprofit Organizations Eligible applicants must have a statewide network of direct services providers in place and possess subject matter expertise, an established record of providing services specific to the VOCA grant, and the structural capacity in place to oversee all aspects of monitoring its sub-grantees. The agency must be pre-qualified through the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act Grantee Portal, www.grants.illinois.gov, to become eligible to apply for an award. During pre-qualification, Dun and Bradstreet verifications are performed, including a check of Debarred and Suspended status. The pre-qualification process also includes a financial and administrative risk assessment utilizing an Internal Controls Questionnaire. If deemed ineligible, the applicant will be notified that it is ineligible for award as a result of the Dun and Bradstreet verification. The agency will then be informed of corrective action needed to become eligible for a grant award. Before applying for a grant, all entities must be registered through the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) Grantee Portal at www.grants.illinois.gov/portal. Registration and pre-qualification are required annually. During pre-qualification, verifications are performed including a check of federal SAM.gov Exclusion List and status on the Illinois Stop Payment List. The Grantee Portal alerts the entity alerts of “qualified” status or informs how to remediate a negative verification (e.g., missing UEI Unique Entity Identifier assigned in sam.gov, not in good standing with the Secretary of State). Inclusion on the SAM.gov Exclusion List cannot be remediated. Failure to meet an eligibility criterion by the application deadline will result in the return of the application without review and will preclude ICJIA from making a State award. Applicants are also required to submit a financial and administrative risk assessment via the GATA Grantee Portal, utilizing an Internal Controls Questionnaire (ICQ) for the current state fiscal year and obtain approval from their cognizant agencies before execution of the grant agreement. Delay in obtaining ICQ approval will result in a delay in grant execution.