DCSA has Moved the Submission of eAPPs from NBIS to DISS-JVS

The Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency’s planned move of the eAPP system for submitting the SF-86 (soon to be the Personnel Vetting Questionnaire) from the National Background Investigations Services (NBIS) to their Defense Information System for Security (DISS) Joint Verification System (JVS) has finally occurred after many delays, system glitches, and outages. Now, security professionals only have to look into one system to see if an eAPP was initiated or is in progress of being filled out by the applicant.

The military components, civilian government agencies, and industry received training on how to use the new functionality to initiate, review, and approve background submission straight from DISS-JVS. General comments from the security professional community laud the ease of navigation within DISS-JVS and simplified review + approval process. DCSA has published notification to all partners that NBIS will sunset on November 30, 2026.

For those applicants that still have an eAPP in progress with NBIS, they will be allowed to continue processing it in that system, but no new applications will be allowed after September 30, 2026. If applicants don’t get it submitted by the end of November, they will have to have it reinitiated in DISS and start all over again. This is the latest step in background investigation and security clearance reforms to make the processes more streamlined and efficient. The next big hurdle for DCSA is the implementation of the PVQ for all background investigation tiers. The pilot test phase was completed and a phased roll-out is expected in late 2026 with full adoption in early 2027.