Administration officials have laid out a timeline for carrying out recently announced changes in how the government conducts investigations for security clearances needed for many federal positions.
Backlogs in that process long have frustrated managers who have had to wait to get new employees on the job, but since last year the main focus—as at a House hearing last week—has been on the breach of OPM’s background investigation database. Among the responses, officials announced in January that a new Federal Background Investigations Bureau would be created in OPM to take over responsibilities of its Federal Investigative Services operation but that the IT aspects, including cybersecurity, will be controlled by DoD.
An OMB official told the hearing that the next step, to be accomplished in the coming weeks, is to establish a transition team to stand-up the NBIB, ensure that the transition timeline fully aligns with business needs, transition the management of new investigation IT capabilities to DoD, migrate the existing mission, functions, personnel, and support structure of FIS to NBIB, and provide continuity of service to FIS’s customer agencies during the transition.
By October 1, the administration expects to establish the NBIB with the new governance and organizational structure, including absorption of FIS.
By the end of this year, the administration expects to “begin delivering new, modern government-wide capabilities such as eApplication and eAdjudication that will greatly improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and security of key aspects of the background investigation process.” Also by that time, interagency groups will “also develop and implement outcome-based metrics that measure the effectiveness of the vetting processes.”
