The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is accepting applications for its Consolidated National Criminal History Improvement Program.
Donor Name: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/24/2026
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: 3 Years
Details:
This consolidated funding opportunity seeks to provide grants to assist states, state court systems, territories, and federally recognized tribes under the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP), the National Criminal History Improvement Program Supplemental Funding (NCHIPSF) under the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP). The goal of the funding opportunity is 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 finger print based criminal history background checks. Funding is also made available for updating the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) with certain mental health, protection and restraining order, domestic violence conviction, and other criminal history record information which may disqualify individuals from purchasing or possessing firearms.
Goals and Objectives
Goal 1: This funding will assist state record repositories, state courts, and tribes with developing processes and systems to make more records available to NICS, including relevant records in NCIC, criminal history information available through 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.
- Objective 1: Provide direct financial assistance to states, state courts, and tribes to improve their criminal history record systems and related systems to support background checks, including NICS checks.
- Objective 2: 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.
- Objective 3: Allow recipients to secure 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.
- Objective 4: Use systematic evaluation and standardized performance measurements and statistics to assess progress on improving national record holdings and background check systems.
- Objective 5: Ensure records of arrests are fingerprint-supported, linked to case outcomes, and accessible through the state record repository and FBI record systems.
- Objective 6: Ensure that accurate records are available for use by law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts and to protect public safety and national security.
- Objective 7: Automate and electronically transmit records, including relevant juvenile records permitted under state or tribal law, to state and national systems.
- Objective 8: Permit states to identify:
- ineligible firearm purchasers
- persons ineligible to hold positions involving children, elderly persons, or disabled persons
- persons subject to protection orders or wanted, arrested, or convicted of stalking and/or domestic violence
- persons ineligible to be employed or hold licenses for specified positions
- persons potentially presenting threats to public safety.
- Objective 9: Improve the completeness, automation, and transmittal of records to state and federal systems used by the NICS. These records include criminal history, felony convictions, warrants, protective orders, convictions for misdemeanors involving domestic violence and stalking, drug arrests and convictions, mental health adjudications, and other information that may disqualify an individual from possessing or receiving a firearm under federal law.
Funding Information
- Total Amount To Be Awarded Under This Funding Opportunity: $135,000,000
- Anticipated Award Ceiling: Up to $2,410,714
Project Period
36 months
Eligibility Criteria
The types of entities that are eligible to apply for this funding opportunity are listed below:
Eligible Applicants for NCHIP
- Government Entities
- State governments
- Native American Tribal governments (federally recognized) Eligible Applicants for NARIP
- Government Entities
- State governments
- Native American Tribal governments (federally recognized)
- Other
- Courts: The state central administrative office or similar entity designated by statute or regulation to administer federal grant funds on behalf of the jurisdiction’s court system.
Eligible Applicants for NCHIPSFBSCA
- Government Entities
- State governments
- Native American Tribal governments (federally recognized)
- Other
- Courts: The state central administrative office or similar entity designated by statute or regulation to administer federal grant funds on behalf of the jurisdiction’s court system.
State Government Entities: For the purposes of this NOFO, “state” means any state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
