Global Justice Information Sharing Technical Assistance Project

This program is funded under both the Edward Byrne Memorial Competitive Grant Program (Byrne Competitive Program) and the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. Authorized by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2009 (Pub. L. 111-8), the Byrne Competitive Program helps local communities improve the capacity of state and local justice systems and provides for national support efforts including training and technical assistance programs strategically targeted to address local needs. The JAG Program (42 U.S.C. 3751(a)) is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions, and JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system. The JAG Program authorization also provides that 'the Attorney General may reserve not more than 5 percent, to be granted to 1 or more states or units of local government for 1 or more of the purposes specified in section 3751 of this title, pursuant to his determination that the same is necessary ' (1) to combat, address, or otherwise respond to precipitous or extraordinary increases in crime, or in a type or types of crime.' (42 U.S.C. 3756).

The National Justice Information Sharing Initiative, administered by the Office of Justice Programs' (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), helps improve criminal justice systems and provides national programs and national efforts such as training and technical assistance to strategically address the needs of state and local justice systems and communities.

The SEARCH Group Inc. will provide technical assistance to the criminal justice community on a broad range of topics supported by BJA's JIS Initiative. They will provide onsite coordination and delivery of technical assistance services in collaboration with appropriate JIS subject matter experts and practitioners, facilitate remote communication, online seminars, and other mechanisms to enable rapid assessment and response to assist the field in deploying new JIS technologies and best practices, support the development of best practice solutions in the field, and enable technology transfer and sharing of lessons learned nationwide, and collaborate with other BJA JIS national partners to ensure effective coordination and delivery of technical assistance services. The SEARCH Group Inc. will also provide support to DOJ's Global and other working groups as required to ensure that ongoing JIS programs are based on the latest technology developments and capabilities of private industry. Topics will include but not be limited to implementation of: National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), Justice Reference Architecture (JRA), Fusion Center Guidelines and Baseline Capabilities, Global Federated Identity and Privilege Management (GFIPM), and Privacy and Civil Liberties Protections.

CA/NCF