NCHIP/NARIP

The National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) awards grants to States to help improve the Nation’s safety and security by enhancing the quality, completeness, and accessibility of criminal history record information and by insuring the nationwide implementation of criminal justice and noncriminal justice background check systems.

The National Criminal History Improvement Program is administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The NCHIP program serves as an umbrella for various record improvement activities and funding streams, each of which has unique goals and objectives.  The goal of the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) is to improve the Nation’s safety and security by enhancing the quality, completeness, and accessibility of criminal history record information and by insuring the nationwide implementation of criminal justice and noncriminal justice background checks to connect the States records systems to national records, and in turn, to connect each state’s background check databases to each other. 

Achieving this goal is contingent upon accomplishing four objectives:

1. Providing direct financial and technical assistance to states to improve their criminal records systems and other related systems in an effort to support background checks;
2. Ensuring the infrastructure is developed to connect each state's records systems to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) records systems and, in turn, to connect each state's background check databases to one another;
3. Providing the training and technical assistance needed to insure that records systems are developed and managed to conform to FBI standards, as well as the most appropriate technologies and that states adhere to the highest standards of practice with respect to privacy and confidentiality; and
4. Assessing and measuring through systematic evaluation and standardized performance measurement and statistics, progress made implementing improvements in state and national records holdings and background check systems.

In the past, appropriations for the NCHIP program have been made pursuant to the Crime Identification Technology Act of 1998, and the procedures for applying for NCHIP grants generally reflect the provisions of that Act. The NCHIP program implements the grant provisions of:

1. The Crime Identification Technology Act of 1998 (CITA), Pub. L. No. 105-251, 112 Stat.1871 (1998), codified at 42 USC Section 14601 et seq.;
2. The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (Brady Act), Pub. L. No. 103-159, 107 Stat.1536 (1993), codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. Section 921 et seq.;
3. The National Child Protection Act of 1993 (NCPA), Pub. L. No. 103-209, 107 Stat. 2490 (1993), codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. Sections 3759, 5101 note, 5119, 5119a, 5119b, 5119c;
4. Those provisions of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (Omnibus Act), Pub. L. No. 90 351, 82 Stat. 197 (1968), codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. Section 3711 et seq., as amended; and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (Violent Crime Control Act), Pub. L. No.103 322, 108 Stat. 1796 (1994), codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. Section 13701 et seq., which pertain to the establishment, maintenance, analysis, or use of criminal history records and criminal record systems;
5. Relevant requirements of the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act, Pub. L. No. 103-322, 108 Stat. 2038, Megan's Law, Pub.L. No. 104-145, 110 Stat. 1345, and the Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-236, 110 Stat. 3093; and Title 1 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, Pub L. 109-248;
6. The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106-386, 114 Stat. 1464 (2000) and related laws pertaining to the identification, collection, analysis and interstate exchange of records relating to domestic violence and stalking (including protection orders);
7. The Violence Against Women Act of 1994, codified as amended at 42 U.S.C. Section 14031 et seq; and
8. The Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-162, 119 Stat 2960 (2006).
9. Relevant requirements of the Tribal Law and Order Act, Pub. L. No. 111-211, 124 Stat 2299, Section 251(b)(1) (2010).

NCHIP grants generally are limited to a 12-month period. Applicants are asked to establish a project period of October 1st through September 30th.

The Project Director is responsible for timely submission of completed program and fiscal reports. Inability to submit required reports in a timely fashion is considered a failure of required contract obligations.

NOTE: The subrecipient is required to gather and maintain statistical data relating to grant project activities as required by the Office of Criminal Justice Programs. The data collected should support the information submitted on the annual reports. OCJP may periodically request to see the back-up data that supports the information submitted on your output and outcome reports.

(CFDA #16.813)

NICS Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP) grant is awards to states to improve the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) by providing assistance to states to improve the completeness, automation and transmittal to state and federal systems the records utilized by the NICS.

Section 103 of the NICS Improvement Act, regarding implementation assistance to the states, provides that the grants "shall be used by the States and Indian tribal governments, in conjunction with units of local government and State and local courts, to establish or upgrade information and identification technologies for firearms eligibility determinations." In accordance with the Act, a grant to a state, territory or Indian tribes may only be used to:
 

• Create electronic systems, which provide accurate and up-to-date information which is directly related to checks under the NICS, including court disposition and corrections records; 
• Assist states in establishing or enhancing their own capacities to perform NICS background checks; 
• Supply accurate and timely information to the Attorney General concerning final dispositions of criminal records to databases accessed by NICS; 
• Supply accurate and timely information to the Attorney General concerning the identity of persons who have a federally prohibiting mental health adjudication or commitment; 
• Supply accurate and timely court orders and records of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence for inclusion in federal and state law enforcement databases used to conduct NICS background checks; 
• Collect and analyze data needed to demonstrate levels of state compliance with the Act; and 
• Maintain the required relief from disabilities program in accordance with the Act – however, not less than 3 percent and no more than 10 percent of each grant shall be used for this purpose.