Redbook Season

Redbook Season describes a period of time in federal government, generally February to September, when the [Office of Justice Programs] [http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov] (OJP), [U.S. Department of Justice] [http://www.usdoj.gov] processes millions of dollars in federal grant funds to local, state, tribal, and national agencies and organizations for law enforcement and criminal justice initiatives.

Prior to the implementation of OJP’s electronic [Grants Management System] [https://grants.ojp.usdoj.gov/] (GMS) in 1999/2000, these grants were processed, or “redbooked,” solely through hard copy documents, enclosed in red binders (“books”) to indicate the urgency of the actions required for awards to be completed within the federal fiscal year. Despite GMS eliminating the need for the cumbersome "redbooks," the moniker—constantly referenced by staff largely unaware of the term’s origin—remains to this day.