What Happens When You Have Multiple Investigations Going on at the Same Time

Here are some recent scenarios posted on ClearanceJobsBlog.com regarding applicants undergoing two background investigations (public trust and national security) at the same time:

• Applicant #1 was offered a job that required a moderate risk public trust (Tier 2) background investigation that was started 45 days ago. They have now been sponsored by a company for a position that requires a national security background investigation (Tier 3).
• Similarly, applicant #2 was undergoing a national security background investigation (Tier 5) and had already completed the security interview with the investigator. Subsequently, they were offered another position that only required a high-risk public trust (Tier 4) background investigation.

The question that came up for both scenarios: can both investigations for each applicant run concurrently or does one cancel out the other? For applicant #1, the Tier 3 would trump the Tier 2 investigation and DCSA would use the parts of the Tier 2 that were already completed, pull them over and apply them to the Tier 3. For applicant #2, if they were no longer in the position that required the Tier 5 for a security clearance, it would be discontinued and any parts already completed would be applied to the Tier 4 as needed. This, theoretically, is the way it should work, but it is dependent upon the personnel security folks making all the proper notifications to DCSA. When notifications are not made, it makes the record in DISS confusing and difficult to determine what was actually completed.