--- title: NICS Direct Certificate Renewal Is No Longer Required url: https://www.fastbound.com/faq/nics-direct-certificate-renewal-is-no-longer-required/ description: "Renewing a NICS Direct certificate is no longer something you have to do. FastBound now manages the certificates and secure connectivity the FBI requires as part of the service, for every customer. If you followed a link to an older article about renewing your certificate, that process no longer applies to you. Only service providers… Continue reading NICS Direct Certificate Renewal Is No Longer Required" --- Renewing a NICS Direct certificate is no longer something you have to do. FastBound now manages the certificates and secure connectivity the FBI requires as part of the service, for every customer. If you followed a link to an older article about renewing your certificate, that process no longer applies to you. Only service providers like FastBound can run NICS background checks without managing static IP addresses, digital certificates, or dedicated servers. FastBound has always absorbed as much of that technical burden as the FBI’s requirements allowed. Working in collaboration with the FBI, and ahead of any other service provider, FastBound has now taken on the rest — there is nothing left on your side to set up, renew, or keep track of. If you received a certificate renewal email That email means your account is still connecting with a certificate issued to your own organization. You do not need to renew it. When that certificate comes up for renewal, FastBound will move your account onto its service provider model automatically. You will not need to create a certificate, send anything to the FBI, or activate anything — and afterward there will be nothing left for you to maintain or renew. What you no longer have to manage Certificates — issuing them, sending them to the FBI, and activating them Annual renewals, and the reminders and deadlines that came with them Static IP addresses and the network configuration behind them Expiration dates, so a lapsed certificate never interrupts your background checks Once your account is moved over, the Certificates section no longer appears on your Originator page. There is nothing there that needs your attention. What this replaced NICS Direct used to require each licensee to stand up and maintain their own encrypted connection to the FBI. That meant: Creating a Sandbox certificate in FastBound, downloading it, and sending it to the FBI Running test transactions and waiting for the FBI to clear you for production Creating a Production certificate, sending that to the FBI, and clicking Activate Arranging a dedicated static IP address for the FBI to recognize Repeating the certificate steps every year, because each certificate expired after 365 days If a renewal slipped, background checks stopped until a new certificate was issued, sent to the FBI, and activated. FastBound sent reminder emails as the expiration date approached, but the work — and the risk of missing it — sat with you. What you still need to do Keep your NICS Direct Contact Phone Number current in your user profile. The FBI uses it to reach you about a transaction, and NICS Direct will not submit test cases without it. See Update NICS Direct Contact Number in FastBound. Everything else about running a check is unchanged — complete the 4473 and submit as you always have.