The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is seeking applications for funding for the fiscal year (FY) 2021 National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP).

This year, BJS is prioritizing the use of funds for two purposes: (1) to improve reporting of dispositions and (2) to improve reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) of persons who are prohibited from possessing firearms for reasons related to mental health.

Goal: 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 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

• 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 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.

Funding Informmation

Award Ceiling: $53,000,000

Eligibility Criteria

The NCHIP application must be submitted by the agency designated by the governor to administer NCHIP or a federally recognized tribe. States and tribes may choose to submit applications as part of a multi-state consortium, a multi-tribe consortium, or another entity. In such cases, contact the BJS program manager for further information. Also, as required by the Crime Identification Technology Act of 1998 under 34 U.S.C. § 40301(c), to be eligible to receive an NCHIP grant, the application must specifically attest that the state, territory, or tribe:

• Has the capability to contribute pertinent information to NICS established under Section 103(b) of the Brady Act.
• Is or will be following a comprehensive strategy for information sharing systems to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system, with an emphasis on integration of all criminal justice components, law enforcement, courts, prosecution, corrections, and probation and parole. Further, the strategy must be developed in consultation with appropriate federal, state, or local officials, with emphasis on the recommendation of officials who oversee, plan, and implement integrated information technology systems, and contain the following:
  • A definition and an analysis of “integration” in the jurisdictions developing integrated information sharing systems.
  • An assessment of the criminal justice resources being devoted to information technology.
  • A description of the resource needs.
  • Federal, state, regional, local, and tribal information technology coordination requirements.
  • Priorities for planning and implementation of information technology systems.
• Coordinates the programs funded by NCHIP with other federally funded information technology programs, including directly funded local programs.
• Assures that the individuals who developed the grant application considered the needs of all government branches and specifically sought the advice of the top official of the highest court of the jurisdiction, with respect to the application.

For more information, visit Grants.gov.