The iowa department of public safety (DPS), division of criminal investigation (DCI) requests funds for three projects related to the betterment of the DPS-division of criminal investigation's…

The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics awarded the Iowa Department of Public Safety Division of Criminal Investigation a $1.873 million cooperative agreement on July 1, 2026, under the National Criminal History Improvement Program (CFDA 16.554) to strengthen the state's computerized criminal history system and multi-biometric identification system.

The award funds three projects. Project 1 procures cardscan and livescan equipment and associated hardware, including central processing unit replacements for local Iowa sheriff's offices to support the multi-biometric identification system and achieve CJIS compliance by upgrading from Windows 10 to Windows 11. Project 2 engages the state's contracted vendor to deliver software programming enhancements, data sharing interface improvements, user interface capabilities, and data dashboard analytics for criminal history records staff; it also includes development of a web portal application for non-criminal background check access to support the National Fingerprint File. Project 3 provides software programming enhancements to modify the existing criminal history system database from unstructured text and comma-separated values to XML format in accordance with National Information Exchange Model and NLETS standards, documenting the exchange package based on NIEM specifications.

Performance occurs in Des Moines, Iowa through June 30, 2029. The award strengthens the state police agency's ability to provide accurate, complete, and timely criminal history information to local, state, and federal law enforcement from arrest cycle to final disposition.

The iowa department of public safety (DPS), division of criminal investigation (DCI) requests funds for three projects related to the betterment of the DPS-division of criminal investigation's computerized criminal history (CCH) system and its automated fingerprint identification system/multi-biometric identification system (AFIS/MBIS). The entirety of these projects will strengthen the CCH and MBIS so that the state police agency can provide the most accurate, complete, and timely CCH information to local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies from arrest cycle to final disposition. Project 1 will provide cardscans, livescans and associated equipment, and a central processing unit (CPU) replacement to local iowa sheriff's offices all in an effort to support the MBIS. To maintain cjis compliance standards, cpus will be updated from windows 10 to windows 11. Project 2 will leverage the state of iowa contracted vendor(S) to provide software programming enhancements, data sharing interface improvements, user interface capabilities, and data dashboard analytics for the DCI CCH records modification staff to support the national fingerprint file and the creation of a web portal application for accessing non-criminal background checks. Project 3 will provide software programming enhancements for the development of relevant information exchange package documentation based on the national information exchange model (NIEM). This project will modify the existing CCH system database nlets message keys from the current unstructured text, CSV (comma-separated values) to XML (extensible markup language) as recommended by nlets/ NIEM standards.