In what it describes as a move to gain efficiencies in
the investigative process, and part of an effort to weed
out the use of non-accredited degrees in employee hiring
and advancement, the Office of Personnel Management has
announced that it has streamlined the personnel security
questionnaire with e-Clearance, a secure database of
investigative files.
An automated information collection tool called eQIP
would reduce error rejection rate of applications and
shorten the information collection period so that
investigations can be scheduled sooner, said OPM.
It said a new clearance verification system (CVS) would
monitor and provide access to existing security
clearance information and streamline employee assignment.
A new OPM training lab teaches CVS and eQIP to personnel
security officers, but an e-Clearance team will travel
to larger groups to train them. So far 28 agencies have
received training at the Crystal City, Va. lab and three
agencies have received offsite training on the system,
said OPM.