BJS FY 2026 National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) Training and Technical Assistance

This program will continue to support activities under the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP), the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP), and portions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (Pub. L. 117-159) in fiscal year (FY) 2024. Direct technical assistance is provided to states, territories, and tribal jurisdictions to ensure that records systems are developed and managed to conform to FBI standards, ensure jurisdictions are using the most appropriate technologies, and adhere to the highest standards of practice with respect to privacy and confidentiality. This program also routinely collects and evaluates performance measures to assess the level of improvement of state and national records holdings, as well as information sharing and exchanges. BJS has supported the NCHIP TTA program since 1995. 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.