Deadline: 24-May-23
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) seeks applications for funding for the fiscal year (FY) 2023 National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP).
This program furthers the DOJ’s mission to reduce violent crime and address gun violence by improving the accuracy, utility, and interstate accessibility of criminal-history and related records in support of national record systems and their use for name- and fingerprint-based criminal history background checks.
Goals
- This funding will assist states and tribes with finding ways to make more records available to NICS, including records in NCIC, criminal history record information available through the Interstate Identification Index (III), and records in the NICS Indices. Therefore, through the funded activities, BJS expects that more records (including improved quality, completeness, and timeliness) will become available in these systems.
Objectives
- An applicant should address the objectives that are relevant to their proposed program/ project in the Goals, Objectives, Deliverables and Timeline web-based form:
- Provide direct financial and technical assistance to states, state courts, and tribes to improve their criminal history record systems and related systems to support background checks, including NICS checks.
- Ensure the infrastructure connects criminal history record systems to the state record repository or appropriate federal agency record system and ensure records are accessible through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) record systems.
- Provide the training and technical assistance needed to ensure that criminal history and related record systems are developed and managed to conform to FBI standards and appropriate technologies, while ensuring that contributing agencies adhere to the highest standards of practice with respect to privacy and confidentiality.
- Use systematic evaluation and standardized performance measurements and statistics to assess progress on improving national record holdings and background check systems.
Deliverables
- Improve the automation, quality, completeness, and availability of criminal history information at the state and federal level.
- Updating and automating case outcomes from courts and prosecutors in state or tribal records and the FBI’s Criminal History File
- Improving access to information concerning persons prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm for mental health reasons and transmitting relevant records to NICS
- Supporting participation in the III and the National Fingerprint File (NFF), including adoption and implementation of the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact
- Supporting efforts to seal and expunge criminal history information in accordance with state laws and policies
Funding Information
- Anticipated Number of Awards: 40
- Period of Performance Start Date: 10/1/23
- Period of Performance Duration (Months): 12 to 24 months
- Award Ceiling: $70,000,000
- Award Floor: $35,000,000
Eligibility Criteria
- State governments
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
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The NCHIP application must be submitted by the agency designated by the governor to administer NCHIP or by a federally recognized tribe. States and tribes may choose to submit applications as part of a multistate consortium, a multitribe consortium, or another entity. In such cases, contact the BJS program manager for further information. States and tribes are also encouraged to collaborate with courts, prosecutors, and correctional agencies on projects that improve the identification, quality, completeness, and availability of criminal history information.
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For purposes of this solicitation, “state” means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
For most information, visit Grants.gov.