Background Investigations

DIA to Partner with ADC Ltd. NM for SCI Clearance Background Investigations

Thursday evening, the Department of Defense released its rundown of government contracts valued at $7 Million or above. Infrequently are contracts directly related to the security clearance process – making this announcement all the more interesting. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Personnel Security Division will depend on ADC Ltd. NM for background investigations support services. This will assist in their mission to make sensitive compartmented information (SCI) clearance eligibility determinations.

As we see from ADC Ltd’s website, they are experienced in the federal sector and employ many former federal employees as background investigators:

ADCL can support Federal and state agencies and commercial firms beyond routine pre-employment and background investigations. We have access to an established team of over 1,300 trained and experienced Associate Investigators, (AI), strategically located throughout the United States. Our contract investigators, most of whom are former Federal Agents hold agency credentials. We are available to assist Federal agencies and commercial firms with complete personnel security background and suitability investigations, pre-employment checks, and personnel security adjudication services for Federal clearances required for work in Classified areas.

This is the full award announcement:

ADC Ltd. NM, Albuquerque, New Mexico, was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract (HHM402-18-F-0236) with a maximum value of $34,711,277 over a four-year ordering period for background investigations support services to support the operation of the Defense Intelligence Agency Personnel Security Division’s mission to make sensitive compartmented information (SCI) clearance eligibility determinations. Background investigations will be performed worldwide and will be coordinated in Reston, Virginia. This award has a base year value of $3,989,716, and an estimated completion date of April 13, 2023. This contract was awarded via www.gsaadvantage.gov under full and open competition in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 8.405-2. The basis for selection was best value-trade off with four proposals received. The funding type will be operations and maintenance. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

Will this help break up the investigation backlog? Will it help ensure that another Alexis, Snowden, or Manning doesn’t slip through the cracks? Here’s hoping…

Discussion

  1. The inventory contains primarily DOD secret cases (last I checked), so probably not. This wouldn’t appear to help OPM, just DIA.