The connecticut judicial branch will use FY 2025 consolidated national criminal history improvement program funds towards the protection order and national instant criminal background check system…

The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics awarded the Judicial Branch, State of Connecticut a $1.75 million cooperative agreement on July 1, 2026, under the National Criminal History Improvement Program (CFDA 16.554) to develop processes and systems enabling Connecticut's courts and state record repository to submit protection order records and related criminal history information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and related federal criminal justice information systems.

The project will establish a secure, 24/7 automated system for Connecticut's courts to record approximately 45,000 individual protection orders annually and instantaneously transmit the information to criminal justice agencies through the National Protection Order File, NCIC, and Interstate Identification Index. The system will align with FBI Criminal Justice Information System Security Policy and NCIC policy, enabling NICS to access additional court records across categories including mental health adjudications and post-sentencing protection orders against violent offenders. The project involves extensive collaboration with federal, state, and municipal partners and victim service providers.

Place of performance is Hartford, Connecticut. The period of performance runs through June 30, 2029.

The connecticut judicial branch will use FY 2025 consolidated national criminal history improvement program funds towards the protection order and national instant criminal background check system (NICS) improvements project that will assist the state court and state record repository in developing processes and systems to make more records available to NICS, including relevant records in the national crime information center (NCIC), criminal history information available through the interstate identification index, and records in the NICS indices. The completed project will result in a secure and sustainable system for connecticuts courts to promptly record the issuance and maintenance of approximately 45,000 individual orders of protection per year, with a round-the-clock (24/7) connection that instantaneously makes the information available to criminal justice agencies through various external systems including the national protection order file. Connecticuts protection order registry and NICS improvement project will involve extensive collaboration with external partners in the federal, state, and municipal sectors and will align with the FBI criminal justice information system security policy, NCIC policy, and complex information exchange agreements with the criminal justice community and victim service providers. IT is anticipated that this project will improve the quality and increase the number of court records available to the NICS across other categories of firearms disqualifications, including mental health adjudications and post-sentencing protection orders against violent offenders, and is expected to contribute to public safety by improving the efficiency and stability of connecticuts interface with the NCIC protection order file.