FY 2023 National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) Training and Technical Assistance Program | O BJS 2023 171460

Opportunity Information: Apply for O BJS 2023 171460

The FY 2023 National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) Training and Technical Assistance Program is a discretionary federal grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). It is designed to strengthen the quality, completeness, and accessibility of criminal history and related justice records by funding a dedicated training and technical assistance effort. In practical terms, the program is meant to help jurisdictions and stakeholders improve how criminal history information and other critical records are collected, updated, shared, and used, especially when those records support public safety decisions, background checks, and justice system operations.

A central theme in the solicitation is alignment with OJP-wide priorities. The opportunity explicitly ties the work to advancing civil rights and racial equity, increasing access to justice, supporting crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthening community safety, protecting the public from crime and evolving threats, and building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. This framing signals that the assistance provided under the award is not only about technical upgrades or compliance checklists, but also about improving fairness, consistency, and transparency in how records systems affect real people, including in contexts like employment, housing, firearm background checks, and court processing.

The solicitation focuses on supporting activities connected to three related efforts in FY 2023: the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP), the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP), and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Put together, these programs emphasize record improvement and record availability. NCHIP broadly supports better criminal history record systems; NARIP specifically targets improving records that determine firearm purchase eligibility through NICS; and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act further elevates the importance of timely, accurate, and complete records as part of national public safety and violence prevention strategies. The training and technical assistance funded here is intended to help agencies and partners implement, sustain, and modernize the kinds of record improvements these programs require.

The funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, which typically means substantial federal involvement in the work compared with a standard grant. In a cooperative agreement structure, BJS generally expects to collaborate more closely with the award recipient on planning, deliverables, progress monitoring, and coordination with other federal initiatives. The funding activity category is listed as Information and Statistics, consistent with BJSs mission and with the records and data quality focus of NCHIP and related record improvement programs.

Eligibility is broad and includes public and state controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations (both with and without 501(c)(3) status), and for-profit organizations other than small businesses. This range suggests BJS is open to a variety of capable providers, such as universities with criminal justice information systems expertise, nonprofits that specialize in justice data and policy implementation, and private sector organizations with strong technical capacity in information systems, data quality, interoperability, and training delivery.

The opportunity anticipated a single award, with an award ceiling of $1,500,000. The CFDA number associated with the opportunity is 16.554. The funding opportunity number is O-BJS-2023-171460. The solicitation was created on November 17, 2022, and the original closing date was January 24, 2023. Overall, the program is structured to fund one lead organization to provide training and technical assistance at a national or multi-jurisdictional level, helping state, local, tribal, and territorial stakeholders improve justice records in ways that support both public safety outcomes and equitable access to justice.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics in the information and statistics sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "FY 2023 National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) Training and Technical Assistance Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 16.554.
• This funding opportunity was created on Nov 17, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 24, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses.

Apply for O BJS 2023 171460

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