FBI Announces Contract Award in Information Sharing Program

Washington, D.C. - The FBI announced today it has awarded the contract with Raytheon Company for the development of the Law Enforcement National Data Exchange (N-DEx). This program is a Department of Justice effort to bring together federal agents and state and local officers in a secure system to improve the efficiency of investigations.

FBI Chief Information Officer (CIO) Zalmai Azmi said, “The development and deployment of N-DEx will provide nationwide capability to share information derived from incident, arrest and event reports. This will expedite coordination across law enforcement so that we can remain one step ahead of the criminals and terrorist despite jurisdictional boundaries.”

N-DEx will allow for the sharing of complete, accurate, timely and useful criminal justice information across jurisdictional boundaries and will provide new investigative tools that enhance the nation’s ability to fight crime and terrorism. N-DEx will enable law enforcement agencies to collaborate with one another by connecting the dots between seemingly unrelated criminal incidents. In addition, it will provide contact information and collaboration tools for law enforcement agencies that are working on cases of mutual interest that span across the nation.

N-DEx will leverage the existing data contained in the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division systems, as well as law enforcement information maintained by local, state, tribal, and federal agencies. At a minimum, federal information in N-DEx will be contributed by ATF, DEA, Bureau of Prisons, FBI and US Marshals. N-DEx will not supplant the need for, or use of, any existing CJIS systems or their governance.

N- DEx is part of FBI’s National Information Sharing Strategy (NISS) which is strategically aligned with other key information sharing initiatives such as the Information Sharing Environment (ISE) mandated by Congress in late 2004. N-DEx is a key part of the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Law Enforcement Information Sharing Program (LEISP) strategy, which was completed in December of 2005. The DOJ LEISP strategy includes a DOJ-wide technology architecture and standards to enable streamlined sharing of data within the Department and with other partners.

The project is an important collaboration with the CJIS Advisory Policy Board, which includes representatives from criminal justice agencies throughout the nation, including national security. Furthermore, representing the leadership of the nation’s law enforcement community, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Major Cities Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs’ Association, and the Major County Sheriffs’ Association have worked closely with the FBI and DOJ in the planning and requirements for N-DEx . As the system becomes operational, the concept of nationally coordinated law enforcement information sharing will become a reality through the N-DEx project.

The solicitation for the N-DEx performance based contract used the National Institutes of Health government-wide contracting vehicle. A thorough evaluation process was conducted based on factors including prior experience with successful development of similar projects, technical and management approaches, security, and cost.