• Prioritizing and actioning badge, prescreening and background investigation requests according to employee classification and status (e.g. VIP, clinical fellow, etc.) and new-hire employee Enter on Duty (EOD) date

• Working on internal system enhancements to increase efficiency of DPSAC processes

• Working to increase internal DPSAC staffing to accommodate for increased workload volume

• Working with the NED team to develop coordinated system enhancements that benefit the community (for example, to have NED display more accurate badge statuses, as well as to more effectively prescreen classification changes)

• For new federal candidates, coordinate with the Office of Human Resources to ensure the individual completes and submits the ***OF-306 Declaration for Federal Employment*** into USA Staffing Onboarding Manager prior to being sponsored for a PIV/RLA badge in NED. Applicants must read each question carefully and provide any additional required information for any “yes” answers.

• Ensure the Position Description and Position Sensitivity Level for the individual are accurate. Failure to do so may put the NIH community at risk. Please note: It is wrongful for sponsors to misrepresent an individual’s Position Sensitivity Level or Background Investigation Requirement to circumvent the process in an attempt to avoid delays. Violators will have their sponsorship privileges revoked**.

• Ensure candidates are registered and sponsored into NED as early as possible but no later than 8 weeks prior to their Enter on Duty (EOD) date.

• For foreign nationals, DPSAC processing does not start until the AO sponsors the badge request in NED and the NIH Division of International Services (DIS) validates the individual's legal/work status. DIS validation may result in additional processing time before DPSAC can start processing these individuals. 

• Ensure that the candidate’s email address in the NED system is correct and is used by the candidate to receive important correspondence. EMAIL IS THE PRIMARY METHOD DPSAC USES TO COMMUNICATE REQUIREMENTS TO NEW CANDIDATES. 

• AOs and Supervisors should advise the candidate of the criticality of completing DPSAC requests in a timely manner and assist them in understanding DPSAC’s processes (please click here for an overview of the DPSAC Process).

• Work with DPSAC to ensure candidates respond in a timely manner to DPSAC inquiries. 

• If possible, vet questions and status requests through a single point of contact to avoid overwhelming DPSAC's limited resources via phone/email requests. Delays can occur if DPSAC receives duplicate status requests from multiple requestors, such as the applicant, AO, Supervisor and Project Officer.

• Instruct candidates to READ INSTRUCTIONS from DPSAC carefully to avoid delays - particularly the Prescreening & e-QIP instructions - as this is where DPSAC sees most delays

• Incomplete or not-submitted OF-306; applicants' delayed submission of initial e-QIP or corrected e-QIP

• Candidate response time, incomplete entries, not reading instructions carefully, and issues requiring clarification by the candidate

• Incorrect email address in NED

• ***NED Data Entry Discrepancies*** (i.e. incorrect Personal Identifiers, Citizenship or Legal Work Status information). For example, selecting that the individual is a “Lawful Permanent Resident LPR” in NED when the individual is not an LPR.

• Unnecessary Position Sensitivity Level upgrades/downgrades: Position Sensitivity Level Upgrades/Downgrades are only authorized if there is an actual change in the individual’s position and must be accompanied by a justification.*

• System dependencies: DPSAC relies on successful operational status of several systems in order to process requests on time (i.e. OPM, FBI, HHS and NIH systems)

• Badge renewals: every five years, DPSAC experiences a large influx in processing requests due to the badge renewal cycle.

• The Position Information section of the person’s NED record should be updated to show the position the person will be occupying in the new IC. This will ensure DPSAC is conducting the correct background investigation (if one is required). 

• The NED record should not be transferred to the new IC at this time. Doing so will revoke any IT system access the person has in their current IC. 

• The Enter on Duty (EOD) date should not be changed. Changing the EOD date will revoke the individual’s current ID badge. 

• Since this process is not tracked via NED, the 'View Badge Status' feature in NED will only reflect a message of “Waiting for DPSAC to determine investigation requirements.” 

• If DSPAC determines a new background investigation is required, they will notify the individual to complete the required forms.

• The record should not be transferred prior to the EOD date as this will revoke network access to the current ICs IT systems.

• The new IC will need to complete an ‘Update’ task in NED as part of the transfer process to ensure that the new information is recorded (e.g., SAC, Supervisor, Servicing AO, etc.). 

• 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

• 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.