The so-called TW 2.0 was announced in 2018 to address issues such as lengthy background investigations, persistent backlogs, inconsistent practices across agencies and information security concerns. Image: fizkes/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffFederal agencies overall report experiencing IT-based and other challenges in carrying out Trusted Workforce 2.0 and only half say they have observed improvements in risk management under that initiative to streamline government-wide personnel vetting, the GAO has said.
The so-called TW 2.0 was announced in 2018 to address issues such as lengthy background investigations, persistent backlogs, inconsistent practices across agencies and information security concerns. “Compounded, these delays and other problems within the personnel vetting process can negatively affect the ability of federal agencies and contractors to onboard new personnel, manage risk, and achieve their objectives,” the GAO said.
Final core policies were released last year and as of January, the focus has been on agency-level implementation of policies such as transitioning from five to three investigative tiers and expanding continuous vetting. All national security personnel have been enrolled in CV and the entire non-sensitive public trust population was to be enrolled by October, but “delays associated with the National Background Investigation Services IT system have slowed further progress,” the GAO said.
In surveying 45 federal departments and agencies that together account for about three-fifths of federal employees, GAO said that 42 of 43 of those for which the question was applicable “reported that adapting their agency personnel vetting IT systems to the requirements of TW 2.0 has been at least somewhat challenging.”
“About 51 percent of the agencies we surveyed reported that their ability to manage risk while on-boarding new personnel had at least somewhat improved under the implementation of TW 2.0 thus far. About 27 percent reported that there had been no change; about 9 percent reported a somewhat reduced ability to manage risk; and about 13 percent reported they had no basis to judge,” it said.
The major reported benefit “has been the ability to access real-time information on personnel, primarily through CV” both for new hires from outside the government as well as for employees coming from other agencies, it said.
In a separate survey of more than 600 contractors, GAO found that only 22 percent saw improvement in their ability to manage risk when onboarding new personnel, while 45 percent said it had not changed, 8 percent said it had been somewhat reduced and the rest said they couldn’t judge.
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