Interior Selects Niche Records Management System to Support Department's Law Enforcement and Security Operations

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of the Interior has selected Niche Technology Inc.'s Records Management System to implement Interior's nationwide, integrated law enforcement and security information and records management system, creating one of the largest geographic law enforcement data sharing deployments in the world.

The Niche Records Management System will enable seamless data sharing for the Department's Incident Management Analysis and Reporting System, or IMARS, which serves more than 6,000 Interior law enforcement officers and administrators from several bureau enforcement programs as well as Native American tribes across the nation.

Niche's system will support the operations of Interior's Office of Law Enforcement and Security as well as agencies with law enforcement and security responsibilities, including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the National Park Service. The total contract value for the project, including licensing and associated services over the four-year period of performance, is about $9.9 million.

Interior has the Executive Branch's third largest police force -- with responsibility for protecting people, natural and cultural resources, and facilities on more than 500 million acres of Interior-managed lands. These resources include Indian trust lands, national icons/monuments, national parks, wildlife refuges, public lands, recreational areas, dams and significant portions of the U.S. border. Many of the sites are in remote, isolated locations.

“The information sharing potential of IMARS will greatly enhance the safety of law enforcement officers and the people and lands they protect,” said Kim Thorsen, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Management. IMARS will also provide better information to focus security on protecting key assets and critical infrastructure. This day is long overdue. It's time to move forward with implementing a system that will increase safety and security for our people and our nation.”

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