DVIDS – News – DCSA Explains Onboarding of US Industry to New National Background Search Service

McLean, Virginia – Jeff Smith as he imagines the National Background Investigation Service (NBIS), a unified personnel screening platform that includes background investigations, adjudications, and ongoing reviews for homes under construction , encouraged industry security personnel cleared.

NBIS Executive Program Managers from the Defense, Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) will attend the 2022 NBIS Industry Conference in person and virtually to discuss the industry’s transition to a new personnel security screening system with approximately 1,500 industry personnel security personnel. He shared with leaders and managers an analogy to explain his NBIS vision. .

Speaking at the October 18 event, Smith said: “The first row of concrete, pillars, and blocks is a cross-cutting investment that impacts the rest of the house. It is built and laid down as an integral element.”

Initial analysis based on the traditional acquisition process indicated that in 2028, the company would be ready to deploy a complex information technology system for end-to-end personnel screening. However, the DCSA leadership (including the NBIS technical team and agency adjudication, ongoing review, and background) investigative team did not accept that timeline and decided to build the NBIS infrastructure collaboratively, innovatively, and rapidly. proposed a revised blueprint that included an ambitious timeline for

“In order to present NBIS in the best possible way, we have changed the baseline of our analysis,” said DCSA Director William Lietzau in his welcoming remarks. “We have a new program developed with clear milestones and a finish line to get there, and I am happy to say that we are on a good track with NBIS. , unlike any other DOD acquisition.You’ve heard of agile software, it’s more than agile software development.This is agile programmatic, development and onboarding.”

NBIS is built on Agile development principles that emphasize flexibility and incremental delivery of functionality. It is designed with a single glass concept that provides configurability, scalability, and cross-cutting capabilities for all users.

“It’s also an agile deployment because we’re actually using a system that hasn’t been built yet,” says Lietzau.

In addition to leveraging proven agile methodologies, NBIS applies a DevSecOps pipeline approach to software development. These proven methodologies facilitate rapid, coordinated, and incremental technology releases, alleviating the need for extensive system overhauls, providing faster delivery, improved functionality, and customizable solutions. , and enhanced security. This approach allows NBIS users to provide feedback and inform the generation of requirements, leading to continuous implementation and improvement.

“NBIS is a comprehensive system for the U.S. government that assumes a very secure foundation of cybersecurity,” said Smith, adding, “It is highly configurable, scalable, multi-tenancy, cross-cutting. The industry is onboarding to systems with better systems,” he added. Benefits integrated with ”

To improve the user experience during onboarding, DCSA has taken a deliberate and step-by-step approach to moving industry partners through a step-by-step process, which is thoroughly reviewed during meetings.

Industry onboarding to NBIS is gradual and based on the geographic designation of facilities identified in the National Industrial Security System. The incremental approach begins with the DCSA Western Region, then the DCSA Eastern Region, the Central Region, the National Access Elsewhere Security Monitoring Center and Headquarters, and finally the Mid-Atlantic Region.

“Because NBIS is an integrated platform, it empowers businesses while reducing overall costs,” Smith told the audience. “Our focus is on improving interoperability and the overall user experience. person) submits a case through the system.”

At that point, Smith suggested that his audience of industrial security professionals was asking why they should care.

“The fact that we’re putting it all in a single user interface—the fact that we’re storing all the data across the enterprise in the NBIS central repository—is a big reason to care,” Smith said rhetorically. said while answering the question. “You’re no longer in seven different systems. You don’t have to enter information into this system and wait for the mission area business to move the data through another system to answer or respond.” Everything is done within one unified platform, which is a big deal.

The seven major systems that will be transformed on an integrated platform built on the foundation of a robust cybersecurity foundation will ultimately serve a major set of missions (case initiation, subscription management, ongoing review, adjudication, and background research) to create a seamless experience.

Case initiation (known as initiation, review, and approval functionality) is now fully functional, along with various aspects of adjudication and ongoing review to support Trusted Workforce 1.5. According to Smith, the aim is to migrate all legacy data to his NBIS so the organization can perform subject management functions and extend DCSA CAS.

NBIS is the backbone of the Trusted Workforce 2.0 government-wide background screening reform effort, which overhauls the personnel screening process by creating one government-wide system that enables cross-organizational interrelationships. This includes moving from periodic review every 5 to 10 years to a continuous surveillance program that protects trusted employees in real time. To reach its final state by October 1, 2023, DCSA has developed two transition phases for him: Trusted Workforce 1.25 and Trusted Workforce 1.5.

“I hear a lot,” said Smith.

In response to these questions, Smith said DCSA recognizes that corporate and small business facility and human resources security personnel do have an interest in case initiation and subject management. said.

“You’re going to hear a lot about it today,” he said of the case opening. Some of you here today actually crossed that threshold and I’m going to talk about my experience in the early days and in fact your perspective as one of the early adopters of the industry It was probably clunky from the point of view, and that’s fine, that’s what we want to know, and we’re continuing to develop NBIS with the customer impact in mind, with the customer in mind, and that can be done correctly.”

To ensure DCSA and industry customers get it right, the rest of the conference will include NBIS industry onboarding, NBIS capabilities and training for industry, NBIS help desk support, and actions taken by NBIS It consisted of a DCSA briefing to industry security experts on a panel discussion. It is the result of feedback from the industry.

“Our personnel security missions have improved speed and quality,” says Lietzau. “Without the introduction of information technology that didn’t exist[to create the NBIS]we wouldn’t be able to do the ongoing research that we are doing now. was able to start putting things together, which is what pushed everyone in this room into a continuous review environment over the last few years, which is what pushed NBIS for sequencing. Now, we’ve lowered the price three times, so it’s easier for taxpayers, and that’s good news.”

DCSA assumed operational management and responsibility for the still-in-development NBIS from the Defense Information Systems Agency on October 1, 2020. The traditional background research information technology system replaced by NBIS is being phased out through 2023.

Overall, NBIS will utilize traditional background checks and case management IT systems from the Office of Human Resources and the Defense Human Resources Data Center, including electronic questionnaires for investigation processing known as e-QIP, in addition to secure web fingerprinting. replaces the suite of , Mirador, defense information system for security, job designation tool, personnel investigation processing system, etc. Security managers, investigators, and adjudicators have access to case status throughout the background investigation lifecycle in one integrated system, synergizing through increased capacity and easier data validation effect is produced.

“We need to partner with us to get NBIS off the ground and fully built much faster than would normally have been possible using normal acquisition methods,” Lietzau told an industry audience, adding that the system emphasized the importance of their feedback to move forward. NBIS enables migration from Trusted Workforce 1.5 to 2.0.