The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is seeking applications for its National Criminal History Improvement Program.
Donor Name: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/06/2024
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: 2 Years
Details:
With this solicitation, BJS seeks 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.
Areas of Focus
- Updating and automating case outcomes from courts and prosecutors in state or tribal records and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (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.
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 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
The objectives of this program are to—
- 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 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.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Program Funding: $70,000,000
- Award Ceiling: $70,000,000
- Award Floor: $35,000,000
Period of Performance Duration (Months)
12 to 24
Eligibility Criteria
- State governments – Agencies designated by the governor of their respective state to administer NCHIP
- Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized)
For the purposes of this notice of funding opportunity, “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 more information, visit Grants.gov.
