FBI wants justice data exchange help

The FBI needs help storing and disseminating the vast amount of data generated by the U.S. criminal justice system while improving the way data is shared at all levels of law enforcement.

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What: A request for information to support the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division's National Data Exchange (N-DEx).

Why: The FBI is looking for help in gathering, storing and disseminating the vast amount of data generated by the U.S. criminal justice system, and it wants to better automate the process of sharing that data with all levels of law enforcement agencies.

The FBI said N-DEx is the only national system that allows local, state, tribal and federal agencies to search, link, analyze, share and collaborate on criminal justice information.

N-DEx records span the entire criminal justice system and include incident/case, pretrial, probation, parole, booking and incarceration reports; traffic citations; mug shots; and information on distinguishing marks such as scars and tattoos. Law enforcement officers use the data while on patrol and to aid in offender supervision, victim safety and other justice system programs.

The FBI's RFI, however, highlights a significant challenge for N-DEx. The system draws data and reports from more than 1,000 agencies and stores the information in a centralized location. Those multiple points of origin can result in data incompatibility.

Therefore, the FBI is looking for companies that can capture multiple data elements from multiple sources and make that data compatible for sharing.

Read the full RFI.