DPSAC Expands Badging Services for Incoming Summer Students  

Background Investigation
Billing Information    

What accounting information does DPSAC use in e-QIP?

Understanding the mechanics of how accounting information is used with requests for background investigations and where DPSAC retrieves this information from the ICs can be a bit puzzling. Yet ICs need to understand this process in order to track their expenses and plan their budgets accordingly.

DPSAC provides various components -- Intra-Governmental Payment and Collection Code (IPAC), Agency Location Code (ALC), the Security Office Identifier (SOl), Submitting Office Number (SON), and Treasury Account Symbol (TAS) -- to pay for the investigation on each case submitted within e-QIP. The IPAC, ALC and SOI will remain constant; only one TAS and SON is used for each IC. These have been automated in e-QIP to minimize human error.*

Without accurate codes in e-QIP, requests submitted by DPSAC to OPM will be returned with an error message stating that the codes are not valid.

These codes will remain constant for the life of the investigation, impacting all subsequent bill events, which may cross multiple invoices. Therefore it is critically important that these codes are properly and accurately included within each case submission through e-QIP.

Additionally, DPSAC will use internal NIH Common Account Number (CAN) information to help further identify proper disbursement for billing. DPSAC will obtain this information for from an individual's record in the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED).

When an Administrative Officer (AO) registers an individual for a position in NED, he or she is required to complete position information, which includes the individual's position sensitivity and risk designation. This in turn identifies the type of background investigation required for the position and automatically determines how much this will cost the IC.

During registration of the position in NED, the AO is also required to provide a CAN that they are authorizing DPSAC to use.      

If ICs discover discrepancies during the billing process, DPSAC will only be able to double check the CAN information that was authorized for use by the IC in NED and confirm that this was the information used with the electronic request transmitted to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

When do charges appear? 

DPSAC is often asked, "When should we expect the charges to occur for the background investigations?" According to Personnel Security Specialist Lindsay Gorewitz, there is no straightforward answer to this question since it depends on the successful completion of a set of mandatory events, all of which may have varying time frames.

All of these events, illustrated in Figure 1 below, must be completed in sequence by the respective participants (the AO, the applicant, DPSAC, and OPM) before the IC can expect to see a charge.

Figure 1: The Sequence of steps that must be completed before the cost of a Background Investigation is charged to the IC. Click here to view an enlarged  graphic.

 

Board Members and the Badging Process

This article first appeared in the January 7, 2015 DPSAC New.  

Distinguishing Between Special Government Employees (SGEs), Representatives and Federal Employees for Badging Purposes

On September 2, 2014, NIH implemented revised policies and procedures for issuing "Extended Visitor Badges" (a type of NIH Legacy badge) as part of a continuing effort to improve security at NIH. These changes were conveyed to the Administrative community via a November 3, 2014 e-mail from the HSPD-12 Program Office (see: New Extended Visitor Badge Application Policy [pdf]) and in DPSAC News articles (e.g., September 17, 2014 DPSAC News).

Each year, NIH's National Advisory Councils/Boards, Boards of Scientific Counselors and Program Advisory Committees generally replace one quarter of their members. Below is an explanation of the three classifications of board members and the required level of background check for each one.

Board Members at the NIH may include the following classifications of individuals:

1)    Federal Employee - NIH Federal Employee, who has a PIV Card issued by NIH, or Non-NIH Federal Employee, who has a PIV Card issued by another Federal entity. This individual is in the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED) and subject to the requirements to obtain a PIV Card. Please note that if a federal employee already has a PIV Card, he/she will not be required to complete additional background checks to serve as a Board Member.

2)    Special Government Employee (SGE) - is a member of an NIH Advisory Council, Board of Scientific Counselors or Program Advisory Committee who receives an honorarium and/or per diem and travel benefits the same as a federal employee.

The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Director of NIH, or the Director of an Institute/Center(IC) appoints these individuals to serve on an NIH Advisory Council, Board of Scientific Counselors, or Program Advisory Committee. This individual is entered into NED and the NIH Police will conduct a name check before issuing an NIH ID (Legacy) Badge. This individual will not be fingerprinted and is not considered a full time federal employee or a contractor.

3)    Representative - This individual is a representative of an organization outside of the federal government, (e.g., the American Lung Association), and not compensated in any way by the NIH. This individual is not in NED and is subject to a name check to obtain the NIH ID (Legacy) Badge. Please note that this individual will not be fingerprinted. S/he is not a federal employee or a contractor.

Process for Requesting an Extended Visitor Badge (Legacy Badge) for Special Government Employees (SGEs)

1. The IC Administrative Officer (AO) must enter the SGE into the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED) and sponsor the individual for an ID badge. This will notify the NIH Police that a badge has been requested.
    
2. The NIH Police will run the individual's name through the FBI Criminal Information Database.
    
3. The NIH Police will issue the NIH ID (Legacy) Badge to the Representative when the name check results return favorably.
   
   
4. If the results come back as unfavorable, the Security and Emergency Response office will contact the IC. 

Process for Requesting an Extended Visitor Badge (Legacy Badge) for Representatives  

1. The Representative fills out the Extended Visitor Badge Application form (pdf) noting that he or she is a Board Member. Please note that a PIV-trained Administrative Officer must sign as the Sponsor on the form.
    
2. The Representative submits the completed form to the NIH Police for a name check -- the same name check that is conducted for an SGE.
    
3. The NIH Police will issue the NIH ID (Legacy) Badge to the Representative as soon as the name check results return favorably.
    
4. If the results come back unfavorable, the Security and Emergency Response office will contact the IC.

1. The individual has a supporting role to the NIH mission
2. The individual has a recurring requirement to enter the campus for the purposes of supporting the mission
3. The individual is sponsored by an Administrative Officer (AO), who is authorized to enter persons into NED for an HHS ID Badge (PIV Card)
4. The individual allows the NIH Police to take his/her fingerprints and the Division of Personnel Security and Access Control to adjudicate the results, if issues are uncovered.  
5. The sponsoring IC pays for the cost of processing fingerprints, which is currently $21.50 (FY2015)

How to Enroll

The NED courses are posted on the CIT Training site where visitors can view availability for any class and receive a confirmation immediately after registering. The catalog of NED classes is posted at: http://training.cit.nih.gov/coursecatalog.aspx under "General Seminars." 

When you see a course you want to take, just click on the course name (listed in the right column of the table). You will be taken to the HHS Learning Management System (LMS) where you can register for the course online.

To log on to the HHS Learning Management System, you can use either your PIV card and PIN or your NIH credentials. If you experience any difficulties accessing the LMS, please contact the CIT Training Program at 301-594-6248 or send an e-mail to: [email protected].