As part of the 2018–19 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the Australian Government approved the use of $59.1 million from the National Policing Information Systems and Services Special Account to fully fund the first Tranche of the National Criminal Intelligence System (NCIS). The funding for NCIS at MYEFO is not captured in the MYEFO papers as its considered an extension to an existing measure which was announced in the 2018/19 Budget.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission is Australia’s national criminal intelligence agency with investigative and information delivery functions. Our role is to reduce serious and organised crime threats of most harm to Australians and the national interest, and provide national policing information systems and services.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is focused on the nexus between terrorism and serious and organised crime. The agency contributes to the prevention of terrorist financing, combating the foreign fighters’ threat and the threat posed by ‘lone-actor’ terrorism.

The former CrimTrac Agency (now part of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission) contracted NEC through an open tender process to deliver the Biometric Identification Services (BIS) project to enhance the biometric capability of police and law enforcement. BIS will be a national capability for identification using fingerprints (including palm print), footprint and facial recognition.