Contractor Background Investigator Morale at Low Point

There is a long-running discussion thread on ClearanceJobsBlog.com that current, past and future contractor background investigators are using to discuss the current state of affairs for their career field. Most investigators are what are called 1099ers, meaning they are independents performing work for the company who is under contract to the Office of Personnel Management to conduct background investigations. Basically, this means that they do not get the usual benefits of a salaried company employee like medical, paid time off, and 401K. This discussion thread has brought a lot of insight into what is going on in the contractor background investigation world. Here are some highlights.

• Contractor BI’s workload has trickled to almost nothing while federal investigators’ workload has increased.
• Field reviewers and managers have gone silent on why there is not enough work getting pushed out.
• Those investigators working for subcontractors to the prime companies have taken the brunt of reduced workloads.
• Continuous Vetting and Evaluation, as well as reduced scope of timelines for scope of investigations and periodic reinvestigations have reduced the workload.
• The year-long hiring freeze and contractor support reductions in 2025 had an enormous impact on the workload.
• Lack of getting work means not getting paid = investigators leaving for other career fields.

This topic was discussed by Lindy Kyzer on ClearanceJobs.com back in 2022 and is still relevant today. Looking forward to 2026, the hiring freeze has thawed, and more contractor support is needed to do the work that was done by federal employees who left the government. There is an anticipation that the workload will increase, but no one really has any insight into how much and when, and if there will be a need to ramp up on investigators.