The Federal government’s latest stab at modernizing Federal worker and contractor vetting has improved screening processes but left many agencies unable to fully comply with updated policies due to incompatible IT systems, a new watchdog report finds.
The government launched its Trusted Workforce 2.0 (TW 2.0) effort in 2018 to reduce onboarding time, enable workforce mobility, and improve insights into workforce behaviors during government-wide personnel vetting – including by introducing automated continuous vetting across agencies.
But the National Background Investigation Services (NBIS) system – the Federal government’s IT system for end-to-end personnel vetting – has run into challenges that have slowed down adoption of TW 2.0 and presented problems for many agencies in adapting their personnel vetting IT systems, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report that surveyed agencies about their experiences.
“Officials designed TW 2.0’s reforms to streamline government-wide personnel vetting and address problems, such as lengthy background investigations, inconsistent practices across agencies, and security concerns,” said GAO. “These and other problems within the personnel vetting processes can negatively affect the ability of federal agencies and contractors to onboard new personnel, manage risk, and achieve objectives.”
One agency told GAO that its own vetting system was antiquated and that it worked with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) – which oversees NBIS – to support a system that was planned for NBIS but was later canceled. The unnamed agency reported that without a new case adjudication system it couldn’t comply with TW 2.0 reporting requirements.
A second agency said that its reliance on multiple IT systems for personnel vetting increased its risk of inaccurate information and would affect its ability to mitigate risk.
Other agencies – about 47 percent of those surveyed by GAO – said that planning for the adaptation or replacement of legacy or current systems to meet TW 2.0 requirements has also proved challenging, with difficulties including data accuracy, visibility across systems, and compatibility and interoperability with other systems.
“Agencies reported multiple challenges with implementing TW 2.0 to date, with the most challenging related to technology and resources,” said GAO. “Forty-one agencies for which it was applicable reported that securing adequate resources to support TW 2.0 implementation has been at least somewhat challenging.”
Government contractors reported their own set of challenges with the NBIS system, reporting barriers in obtaining information about ongoing background investigations and continuous vetting alerts. Contractors also said they have seen increased workloads caused by training needs, system inefficiencies, and delays.
Contractors also noted that delayed migration from older Federal vetting systems – such as Defense Information System for Security (DISS) – has forced them to use multiple IT systems.
While many agencies and contractors experienced difficulties with NBIS, agencies also reported improved access to real-time information on personnel through continuous vetting, which they said helped them mitigate risk across their agencies. Contractors said NBIS has helped with the efficiency of security clearance investigations and shortened the time it takes to receive a preliminary clearance.
In January, DCSA launched a new product roadmap for NBIS to help its customer agencies better plan their transition to use of the system. A month before that, DCSA also announced that it had fully transitioned all required customer agencies to its NBIS eApp for the initiation of background investigations.