Industry Cautiously Optimistic About Changes to Processes

Signal, Aug 2008 by Lawlor, Maryann

Industry is one sector that has a large stake in improving the security clearance process. While clearances for contractors make up only about 20 percent of the workload for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the effect on companies can be 100 percent of opportunities lost because they do not have enough secured personnel to bid on a contract. Organizations that represent industry have been active in trying to improve the timeliness of the process and endorse the security and Suitability Process Reform plan.

Nine organizations, including AFCEA, have formed the security Clearance Reform Coalition. Trey Hodgkins, senior director of defense and intelligence programs, Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), Arlington, Virginia, is one of its leaders. He explains that the coalition is focusing on process improvements that can occur in the existing system and supporting the plan the Executive Branch's Joint Reform Team designed. "We think it goes in the right direction. We hope it will move as fast as they say it will move. There's a lot of doubt about that," he says.

Hodgkins explains that with the upcoming change in administration, industry will be the one consistent actor, and as such must ensure that the momentum for change stays strong. "Congress is going to have some changeover. Certainly the administration will have a lot of changeover, and it is going to fall to industry to be a major water carrier here to make sure that this remains a priority in the next administration. My biggest fear is that we're not going to have this alignment of leadership that we currently enjoy. ... To me, industry's number one task is to see that the next administration builds this level of leadership commitment to change and then sustains that," he states.

Members of the coalition were part of the discussions during the development of the Joint Reform Team's plan. Many of the concerns and suggestions they expressed were addressed and accepted by the government team, Hodgkins notes. He is encouraged by the fact that the new plan promises consistency in the application process.

The improvements in the applicant questionnaire are likely to quicken the pace of security clearance approvals, he says. "On a case management level, it will be much more efficient than it is today, where you have Defense Department case management entirely disconnected from OPM case management. cases that start in the Defense Department only have transparency as far as they're touching it; the department doesn't see what's happening to the cases when they go to OPM. Then it's reconnected again when it goes back to the department. It's very disjointed. The new process will not be disjointed like that," Hodgkins notes. One of the benefits is that this system preserves an electronic file so items such as credit reports and criminal records can be appended to it, he adds.

Another advantage of the new process is that it will enable the ability to capture and read digitized fingerprints. This is one of the drawbacks of some of the systems currently in place, including the Defense Department's Joint Personnel Adjudication System.

In addition, the plan calls for technology that recognizes electronic signatures. The existing electronic application, called eQIP, requires applicants to print out the last two pages of the form, sign them, attach a fingerprint card and then mail them to OPM. "And you pray that OPM gets the electronic application and the mail arrives in time so that they can put it all together. And if they don't have those three pieces, they won't start the investigation. This is where we lose a lot of time," Hodgkins points out.

Hodgkins is not the only one disillusioned by the current system. William Golden, chief executive officer and senior recruiter, IntelligenceCareers Incorporated, Woodbridge, Virginia, notes that changes to the system have been promised for more than 30 years and yet it is still broken.

Golden contends that change can only occur if resources are provided to support it. "At the end of the day, only the president can change things, but he can only change things if he gives money to change them. Well, the changes have not had money that goes with it [in the past], so the agencies have had no reason to cooperate, and they won't. They say they will, but they won't," he states.

In some cases, even the corporate sector can be unwilling to change, Golden maintains. The law of supply and demand means that companies with more cleared employees are eligible to bid on more contracts.

Despite this advantage, the majority of the corporate sector realizes that the problems with the security clearance process are costing it money. Estimates are that as much as $8 billion worth of business is lost each year because companies cannot find enough cleared employees to fill government contract requirements, Golden shares. This also means that agencies are unable to complete their missions, he adds. -ML