Criminal Justice Activities for Federal Agencies

Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System

Noblis' Law Enforcement Systems Division support the FBI's development of the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) which will provide hundreds of thousands of users at over 72,000, agencies near real-time access to over 40 million criminal history records and on-line identification services that rely on a 40 terabyte fingerprint image database. Noblis served as a key technology advisor to the IAFIS Program Office, in a number of technical challenges; such as: (1) the incorporation and assists and integration of pre-existing systems at the federal level down through the state and local levels; (2) the update and reintegration of existing systems; (3) implementation of full-scale replacement systems and system elements; (4) design and implementation of new systems and system functions; and (5) full-scale integration, testing and verification, and deployment of the continually evolving IAFIS. In addition, Noblis provided acquisition assistance to the IAFIS Program Office. For example, Noblis formulated a program strategy coordinating four "stove pipe" development contracts into a development sequence with incremental deployment capability. Then Noblis developed practical approaches, such as a revised time-phased fee structure, to coordinate the award fee process across the four separate contracts to ensure that the program strategy could be implemented successfully.

National Crime Information Center 2000

Noblis' Law Enforcement Systems Division supported the FBI with building the National Crime Information Center 2000 (NCIC 2000) which replaced the 25-year-old NCIC. NCIC 2000 provides a modern, on-line clearinghouse of information on wanted and missing persons, stolen vehicles and property and criminal histories. It consists of a central database, state and local agency workstations and mobile imaging units at patrol cars. The imaging units will capture, compress, and transmit fingerprint or mugshot images to the central database for probable cause determination. Noblis provided critical system engineering and technical oversight to develop and field the NCIC 2000. In addition, Noblis helped to keep state and local agencies informed on NCIC 2000's progress and current interfaces, and worked with the FBI and state and local agencies to see how NCIC 2000 capabilities can best be integrated into criminal justice information systems.

National Incident Based Reporting System

The National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) was developed by the FBI so that localities could report criminal activity in a standard and sufficiently detailed manner. Noblis assisted the FBI in identifying, defining and quantifying the costs local police departments could expect to pay to implement an automated incident-based records management system and an incident-based crime reporting system that is compatible with NIBRS.

National Instant Check System

The National Instant Check System (NICS) was developed by the FBI in accordance with the Brady Act of 1994 to check available records on persons who are disqualified from receiving firearms. Noblis reviewed proposals for a call center to support NICS and performed an earned value cost evaluation of work done by the contractor to create and operate the NICS central database. 

  
U.S. Department of Justice
 

Consolidated Assets Tracking System

The DOJ tasked the Defense Information Systems Agency to support development of a Consolidated Assets Tracking System (CATS) to track seized assets for forfeiture. Federal forfeiture proceeds are shared with state and local agencies, so accurate tracking of such assets is important to all levels of criminal justice. Noblis provided general systems engineering expertise, proposed network alternatives and recommendations for both local area and wide area networks, and recommended a transition strategy to an open systems environment for the development of CATS. States will need to be poised to respond to this increased demand for information as well as to take the lead in facilitating appropriate access to new types of information being requested. Such systems will require the technology to allow the access of information residing on distributed, often incompatible machines, as well as to preserve the privacy and individual rights of citizens. Noblis is working with the U.S. Department of Justice officials to:

• Identify relevant information technologies along with pros, cons, and costs.
• Prepare planning guide(s) for how to integrate technologies into systems of this nature.
• Prototype promising concepts and architectures.