NCIC_N3G Supporting Statement

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Federal Bureau of Investigation

National Crime Information Center (NCIC)

The FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, NCIC Operations and Policy Unit requests approval of a new collection.

A. Justification.

1. Necessity of Information Collection

Under the authority of:

• Title 28, United States Code (U.S.C.), § 534(a) and (c), Acquisition, Preservation, and Exchange of Identification Records; Appointment of Officials, June 11, 1930;

• Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), Part 20, Criminal Justice Information Systems.

The NCIC is a computerized information system available to law enforcement and criminal justice agencies nationwide. NCIC became operational on January 27, 1967, with the goal of assisting law enforcement in the apprehension of fugitives and locating stolen property. This goal has expanded to include locating missing persons and further protecting law enforcement personnel and the public. The average transactions per day in FY 2013 were 9.6 million. On September 13, 2013, NCIC had a peak daily transaction volume of 12.21 million transactions. The system was available 99.75 percent of the time in FY 2013.

The last major upgrade to NCIC occurred in July 1999, with the transition to NCIC 2000. The CJIS Division has implemented many enhancements to the system since 1999, in an effort to continue to meet the needs of the stakeholders. The NCIC stakeholders include law enforcement and criminal justice users at all levels (federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal). As the lifecycle of NCIC 2000 nears its end, the CJIS Division is preparing for the next major upgrade to NCIC known as NCIC 3^RD Generation (N3G).

The mission of N3G is to partner with stakeholders to identify new functionality and information sharing services that will improve, modernize and expand the existing NCIC system so that it will continue to provide real time, accurate, and complete criminal justice information to support the NCIC user community. With Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval, the CJIS Division will be conducting a requirements canvass in FY14 and FY15 for N3G. The purpose of the requirements study is to gather and evaluate the needs of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities. Subsequently, the needs of the users will be documented in concepts and scenarios that will ultimately become the Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for the development of the N3G. It is vital that the new capabilities and functionality are detailed in a robust CONOPS to ensure that the system is developed to meet the current and future needs of the users.

2. Needs and Uses

Results obtained from the N3G Canvass (see attachments) will be used to obtain requirements for the development of the new NCIC system. NCIC operates under a shared management concept through the CJIS Advisory Process. Top administrators from federal, state, local, territorial and tribal criminal justice agencies throughout the United States make up this advisory process. Data maintained in the system is owned and contributed by all levels of law enforcement (federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal). The general policy concerning the philosophy, concept, and operational principles of the system is based on recommendations of the CJIS Advisory Policy Board (APB) to the Director of the FBI. The CJIS APB is authorized by 28 C.F.R. 20.35 and was initially approved by the Director of the FBI in March 1994. The APB was established in accordance with the provision of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended, 5 U.S.C. App. 2. Criminal justice agencies enter records in the NCIC, which are then accessible to law enforcement agencies nationwide. A CJIS Systems Agency (CSA) at each federal, state, district, or territory is responsible for the administration and usage of NCIC within their respective area. Throughout this cooperative network, law enforcement personnel have direct on-line access to enter data or search millions of records. Since NCIC is managed under this cooperative effort with the federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal agencies, it is imperative that the affected entities are involved in the decision making regarding the composition of the next iteration of the NCIC system. The N3G Canvass will provide an opportunity for users at all levels to provide valuable feedback for the development of the new system.

3. Use of Information Technology

The N3G Canvass will be conducted through an on-site interview process. The Advisory Process NCIC Subcommittee’s N3G Task Force, comprised of state and federal representatives, provided significant input and guidance on the questionnaires for the CJIS Systems Officer (CSO) and local levels and recommended this canvass and requested the on-site requirements gathering approach. It was determined that on-site interviews would encourage participation and allow collaboration between the various levels of law enforcement being interviewed. On-site interviews also allow the communication to continue beyond the structured questionnaire. Interviewers have the opportunity to follow-up with subsequent questions and maintain a valuable communication with the audience.

Conducting interviews at a focal point in each respective state will allow additional levels of users, as well as professional organizations, to attend the respective meetings and provide valuable input. It will also allow the state(s) to collaborate with the local users and assist the local users in understanding terminology and functionality that may not be familiar at the local level. This process will ultimately create a better understanding of the users’ needs and enable richer data to be collected resulting in developing the most robust requirements for the next iteration of NCIC.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

The NCIC is a computerized information system available to law enforcement and criminal justice agencies. NCIC is the sole system that houses actionable criminal justice and law enforcement data from more than 90,000 users nationwide. This includes wanted person information; missing person information; unidentified person information; stolen property information; information compiled in the course of investigation of crimes that are known or believed on reasonable grounds to have occurred, including information on identifiable individuals; and information on identifiable individuals compiled in an effort to anticipate, prevent, or monitor possible criminal activity. Since NCIC is the only database of this nature, no other entity has researched the needs of the law enforcement community from a national perspective. Therefore, no data exists to assist in the next iteration of NCIC. As indicated earlier, the last upgrade to NCIC occurred in 1999 with the transition to NCIC 2000. Since that time, advances in technology among law enforcement has created the need for a new system.

5. Minimizing Burden on Small Entities

This information will have no significant impact on small businesses. However, there will be minimal impact on participating law enforcement agencies, including local law enforcement. Allowing agencies to provide feedback during the preliminary development will consequently minimize the burden during the transition phase to the new system. Please see answer #12 for additional data regarding the estimated burden hours.

6. Consequences of Not Conducting or Less Frequent Collection

It is crucial for the development of the new system to begin with an accurate requirements document. If inaccurate requirements are gathered and identified at the preliminary stages of N3G, the following potential consequences could occur: inability to address user needs; failed or flawed development and implementation; and less use of the system. These potential consequences could jeopardize officer and public safety.

The requirements will be formed through communication with the users of the system at all levels. The feedback obtained from those entities will create the foundation for the new system through comprehensive requirements document.

7. Special Circumstances

Participation in the N3G Canvass is voluntary.

8. Public Comments and Consultations

The 60 and 30 day notices have been submitted to the Forms Desk and published in the Federal Register with no public comments received.

9. Provision of Payments or Gifts to Respondents

The FBI NCIC Program does not provide any payment or gift to respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality

During the on-site interview, the following information will be collected from the respondents: name, position, agency name, and agency phone number. This information will be maintained and used for any follow up questions that arise during the results analysis. The data may also assist in the analysis process by determining that a specific level of respondent or a specific job type may have unique concerns. In addition, it could determine that the concerns may originate from the local level and not necessarily be addressed by the national database. The FBI CJIS Division will maintain confidentiality as Personally Identifiable Information will not be disseminated. In addition, the FBI N3G Program will not share details outside of appropriate and authorized law enforcement and criminal justice entities as collected information will be deemed law enforcement sensitive.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

This information collection does not collect information of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimate of Respondent’s Burden

The N3G Canvass will be conducted at a focal point in all 50 states. The canvass will include interviewing the respective state CSO along with any technical and policy staff, i.e., Computer Engineer(s), they deem appropriate. The on-site canvass will be conducted at the CSA facility and the additional individuals will be required to travel to that respective facility. The CSO and their staff will be at the location for a total of two hours for the state based interview. The state employees will remain at the location during the local level interview process. This interview will include up to twelve local law enforcement personnel during an additional two hours. It is expected that four of the local personnel will be within the respective city incurring no travel burden. It is anticipated that eight of the local law enforcement personnel from two different districts will require up to four hours travel time (two hours each way) to the interview location, thus four hours burden for eight people.

It is anticipated that ten additional interviews may be conducted as needed that do not fall within the CSO location. These are to canvass Law Enforcement National Organizations, select U.S. Territories, and their affiliated users. These two hour interviews will consist of up to ten personnel.

The estimate of the respondent’s burden for this data collection is as follows:

Number of N3G respondents 880

Frequency of responses One session (2 hours each) for up to 12 Local Law Enforcement personnel

Two sessions (2 hours each) for CSO and two Computer Engineers except when interviewing at a CSA

Total annual responses Once for Local Law Enforcement personnel and twice for CSOs and Computer Engineers

Hours per response 2 hours

Hours for Travel for 8 Local LE 4 hours

personnel per location

Annual Hour Burden 3,660 hours

Total Annual Labor Burden $117,184.65

13. Estimate of Cost Burden

The only direct costs to respondents to the N3G requirements canvass will be the travel costs incurred by the local law enforcement personnel. The calculated travel cost is estimated at

$6,120. This annual burden will affect 100 local law enforcement officers as they travel to the interviews, thus $61.20 annual burden per persons driving. Respondents are not expected to incur any capital, or start-up costs associated with this information collection, due to the federal government collecting the information.

14. Cost to Federal Government

According to the 2014 cost object provided by the FBI CJIS Division, Resource Management Section, Financial Management Unit, the following are generalized projections based upon a prior collection activity as well as activities anticipated over the next year for the N3G requirements canvass. It is anticipated that the effort will take a year to complete. Five and a half months of this time will be conducting interviews and documenting the results. The remaining time will be used to develop the CONOPS. Travel costs are based on using two personnel to interview the respondents and are based on travel to the CSO and/or criminal justice agency locations. Per Diem, hotel, rental car, and miscellaneous costs have been included in this estimate.

It is anticipated that eleven federal government (CJIS Division) personnel will be responsible for conducting the N3G requirements canvass devoting 50% of their respective time on the initiative. No additional resources such as computers, software, and other office items are needed for this effort.

Costs for Data Collection and Processing

Staff Labor $473,359

Travel $114,642

Total Cost to Federal Government $588,001

15. Reason for Change in Burden

This collection has never been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval; reason for change is not applicable.

16. Anticipated Publication Plan and Schedule

It is anticipated that interviews to respondents will take place from September 2014 through February 2015. Concepts will be authored from October 2014 through March 2015. The CONOPS will be authored from April 2015 through August 2015.

17. Display of Expiration Date

All information collected under this clearance will display the OMB Clearance Number and Expiration Date on the N3G technical specifications.

18. Exception to the Certification Statement

The FBI’s CJIS Division does not request an exception to the certification of this information collection.