DPSAC will be issuing the new Restricted Local Access (RLA) badge for physical and logical access to all summer students this year.

The RLA Badge requires the normal two appointments. During the first appointment the student will be identity proofed, fingerprinted and photographed; at the second appointment, the student will be issued his or her RLA Badge. Issuance is subject to DPSAC's successful review of the fingerprint-check results.

Any issues identified through the fingerprint check (i.e., issues that might impact the suitability of the summer student to do the proposed work at NIH), must be reviewed by the Personnel Security Office in DPSAC and the respective IC prior to issuance of an RLA Badge.

DPSAC Adds Badging Stations
DPSAC will temporarily expand enrollment and badging capabilities in the south lobby of the Clinical Center to ensure that the badging experience for these new arrivals is easy, quick and uneventful.

Helpful tip: DPSAC is encouraging ICs to advise their incoming students to make their enrollment and badging appointments as soon as they are able to do so to avoid a possible badging 'crunch.' The sooner a student can get on the DPSAC appointment calendar, the more likely he or she will find a convenient time and avoid any delay in the ID badging process. 

The RLA Badge Lifecycle

An RLA Badge will be valid for the duration of the summer student's appointment, but will expire no later than September 30 of the year it is issued. The badge will provide perimeter physical access to NIH. Summer students must remain under escort in restricted areas.

Badges should be collected and returned to the appropriate badge issuance office when the summer student leaves.

To learn more about summer student badging policies and procedures at NIH, including the badging of summer students at remote locations and the processing of foreign summer students, click on: http://www.ors.od.nih.gov/ser/dpsac/badge/Pages/students.aspx 

 

When an AO uses Track Badge Status in NED, s/he will see two new possible status categories under the "What" column (Figure 1): "Waiting for DPSAC to authorize ID badge issuance" & "DPSAC authorized ID Badge issuance."

                                                 Figure 1.

FIPS 201-2 introduces a third requirement for the issuance of a PIV Card, namely, that DPSAC must review the e-QIP submission and related forms for accuracy and completeness and then release the reviewed background investigation package to OPM.

The steps in authorizing an HHS ID Badge
Once DPSAC has reviewed all of the documents from the applicant for accuracy, and has determined that there are no gaps or obvious errors, DPSAC will release the materials to OPM.

The action of releasing the reviewed documents to OPM triggers a new status message in NED, "DPSAC Authorized ID Badge Issuance." Once authorization has been confirmed, the applicant will automatically receive an e-mail advising him or her to schedule an appointment.

Note: DPSAC personnel typically require seven calendar days to review and follow up on incomplete submissions before it releases the completed package to OPM.

If DPSAC is unable to release these materials due to missing or inaccurate information, the applicant should expect his/her badge issuance will be delayed.

In practical terms, a delay in the badge issuance process will mean that the individual will have to access NIH facilities as a visitor every day that s/he doesn't have a PIV Card, and, s/he may have no logical access until s/he receives a PIV Card.