2020 National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP)

The NCHIP grant program aims to improve the nation's safety and security by enhancing the quality, completeness, and accessibility of criminal history record information; and by ensuring the nationwide implementation of criminal justice and non-criminal justice background check systems. Achieving this goal is contingent on accomplishing four objectives: . Provide direct financial and technical assistance to states, state courts, and tribes to improve their criminal record systems and related systems to support background checks, including NICS checks. . Ensure the infrastructure connects criminal history records systems to the state record repository or appropriate federal agency record system, and ensure records are accessible through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) records systems. . Provide the training and technical assistance needed to ensure that records 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 records holdings and background check systems.