DPSAC News: Differentiating Between Emergency Designation Tier vs. Background Investigation Tier

DPSAC News

A bi-weekly newsletter from the Division of Personnel Security and Access Control

Providing timely information to help keep NIH safe and secure.

October 6, 2021 Issue of DPSAC News

In this issue:

Differentiating Between Emergency Designation Tier vs. Background Investigation Tier
Provide Your Feedback to the DPSAC Office
FAQs – Will the person’s existing badge remain active until their new badge is issued when they change their classification from FTE to Contractor and vice versa?
Badge Processing Times
Helpful Tips: Avoiding Additional Delays in Processing New Hires
AOs Who Wish to Obtain Sponsor Authority

Differentiating Between Emergency Designation Tier vs. Background Investigation Tier

The Division of Personnel Security and Access Control (DPSAC) has noticed that there would be occasional requests for a Tier II background investigation. After investigating, we have learned that several of these requests were inadvertent updates to the Background Investigation Tier indicated in the NIH Enterprise Directory (NED) as opposed to the person’s Emergency Designation Tier. This article will help distinguish between these two categories of “Tiers.”

Emergency Designation Tier Overview

The Emergency Designation Tier is a value entered in NED for NIH employees (FTE). This value is used to outline the working status of FTE staff in the event of an emergency impacting NIH operations.

There are three values to select from:

Tier I – Emergency Employee
Tier II – Non-Emergency/Teleworker
Tier III – Non-Emergency/Non-Teleworker

When an FTE record is created in NED, the designation of an Emergency Tier is mandatory. This value is contained in the “Work Information” section of an individual’s NED record. The Emergency Designation Tier can be updated at any time. For assistance in updating someone’s Emergency Designation, NED has created a job aid available HERE.

Background Investigation Tier Overview

The Background Investigation Tier is a different designation in NED that is utilized by DPSAC to ensure the correct type of background investigation is completed for a given person. The Background Investigation Tier is required for all NIH staff (employees, contractors, fellows, etc.) who will be at NIH for more than six months.

The different Background Investigation Tiers are as follows:

Tier 1 (Formerly NACI or level 1) – non-sensitive position.
Tier 2 (Formerly MBI or level 5B) – public trust position.
Tier 3 (Formerly ANACI or level 2) – non-critical sensitive national security position. This investigation makes the staff member eligible for a secret clearance.
Tier 4 (Formerly BI or Level 6) – public trust position.
Tier 5 (Formerly SSBI or Level 3) – critical sensitive national security position. This investigation makes the staff member eligible for a top-secret clearance.
Tier 5+ (Formerly level 4) – a select designation for staff needing TS/SCI security clearances. Only a very select few positions are within this scope.

These different tiers direct the scope of an individual’s background investigation (e.g., 5 years vs. 10 years of historical data, need for a credit check, etc.). The Background Investigation Tier is a value stored in the “Position Information” section of an individual’s NED record. The correct Background Investigation Tier is determined using the Position Designation Tool (PDT) located at: https://pdt.nbis.mil/.

For more information on the PDT at the NIH, please visit HERE.

Isn’t a Tier a Tier? What Difference Does It Matter?

As you can see, there is a big difference between the Emergency Designation Tier and the Background Investigation Tier. Updating the wrong one could subject someone to an unnecessary background check or show that someone is no longer eligible for telework.

If you have any questions about Emergency Designation Tiers, please contact the NIH Office of Human Resources. They have published additional guidance about Emergency Designation Tiers at: https://hr.nih.gov/sites/default/files/public/documents/2019-12/ETDGuidelines.pdf.

For any questions about Background Investigation Tiers, please contact DPSAC at: ORSPersonnelSecurity@mail.nih.gov.

Provide Your

Feedback to

the DPSAC Office

We at DPSAC would love to hear from you regarding any feedback you may have for our office and how we can continue to improve. As part of your feedback, please answer the following survey questions here. This should not take more than two (2) minutes. Thank you for taking the time to provide such feedback, as your thoughts are very valuable to us.

Q1: Our IC has a Contractor who is going to be an FTE. When I update NED to change the classification from Contractor to FTE, will the person’s existing Contractor badge remain active until their new FTE badge is issued?

A1: YES. Non-FTE staff (e.g., contractors, fellows, etc.) can retain their existing ID badge until the new FTE badge is issued.

Q2: Our IC has an FTE who is retiring and coming back as a Contractor. When I update NED to change the classification from FTE to Contractor, will the person’s existing FTE badge remain active until their Contractor FTE badge is issued?

A2: NO. FTE staff cannot retain their existing FTE ID badge until the new Contractor badge is issued. This is true for all non-FTE staff (e.g., contractors, fellows, etc.).

Badge Processing Times

For the JUL/AUG/SEP time frame, the average processing time for issuing an ID badge is 23.6 calendar days.

Avoiding Additional

Delays in Processing

New Hires

Processing times are often delayed due to reasons outside of DPSAC control, which include, but are not limited to:

Incomplete or not submitted OF-306
Candidate response time
Issues requiring clarification by the candidate
Untimely submission of initial e-QIP or corrected e-QIP

How the AO and HR communities can assist:

By ensuring all required documents have been uploaded into HR's 'Onboarding Manager' prior to establishing a NED account
By entering candidates as early as possible but no later than 8 weeks prior to their Entry on Duty (EOD) date
By working with DPSAC to ensure candidates respond in a timely manner to inquiries

ALT cards -- should be returned to the IC ALT card coordinator - NOT to DPSAC.

Administrative Officers (AOs) who wish to obtain sponsor authority must complete the sponsor training. To access the training module, click on: Sponsor.

Upon completion, the AO should sign and email a copy of the certificate found at the end of the training module to Alex Salah at: salaha@ors.od.nih.gov.

Upon receipt of the certificate, Mr. Salah will authorize the AO as a Sponsor.

Note: ONLY individuals with an Administrative Officer role in NED are eligible to be HHS ID Badge/PIV Card Sponsors.

Are there topics you would like to read more about in future issues of DPSAC News?

Please send your suggestions to: Judie.Kuo@nih.gov. Your input is greatly appreciated.

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A biweekly e-newsletter from the National Institutes of Health, Office of Research Services, Division of Personnel Security and Access Control (ORS/DPSAC) to keep its readers informed of personnel security and access control policies and practices designed to safeguard the NIH and its workforce. DPSAC is responsible for verifying personal identity, validating suitability, reviewing background checks, authorizing facility access and issuing ID badges for NIH personnel.

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